If you think getting that perfect drive tone is a headache, playing clean would put you in equal hardship. I'm not much of a clean fan but I do indulge in clean tones time & again for variety's sake. Also, playing clean is a sure check for techniques. If you are hiding behind high gain for much of your fretboard gymnastics, playing clean is a reality check.
OK, where do I begin? I don't have a dedicated, clean-only amp to begin with (after selling off my Vox) but I always overlook what my Marshall JVM could do in this aspect. The JVM is one of the best non-Fender clean performer out there, that awesome cleans without being too chimey (think Fender) to begin with. What does one complement clean tones with? A chorus would make perfect sense for ambience & depth. This is especially crucial for amps without reverb. However I ditched the chorus for a compressor instead. If you remove your gain laden tones & listen to all things clean, you'd realize how uneven your volume could become when playing fast especially. Those thinner plain strings can sometimes be too soft & you wouldn't want to hit the strings harder as this results in inefficient picking (for high output pickups, this would induce drive) & mistakes. I have always preferred single coils for cleans & the Edwards you see above got picked. So last weekend, I was a clean camper but that's because I was bored. 😁
