Author Topic: my theory of guitar tone (Read 3679 times)

JDC · « **on:** February 11, 2008, 02:26:28 AM »

from too much bored and random thinking, and being a technical person who analyses everything I thought I'd share a few thoughts on tone

now I'm not a tone wizard with magic ears, I just know when comparing 2 tones which one I prefer

I see tone as 2 different things, basic tone and tone shaping

basic tone being improved by good gear, string, pickups, technique, etc

tone shaping being the thing that changes the EQ or say an effect like delay or etc

so a good basic tone would come from decent quality gear, while the tone shape would come from getting the type of sound you want

obviously this is just an opinion and not actual fact but that's the way I see it and thought I'd share it and see what others think

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2008, 07:35:21 AM »

And the attack etc of the player has nothing to do with it? :S

Ian Price · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2008, 08:35:41 AM »

It's all in the fingers if you ask me. Prince has played a really cheap tele-alike for years and still sounds stunning with it (part of ths might have something to do with his amp set up though)

Scotty477 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2008, 09:39:39 AM »

Tone is a quirky concept. What one person hears as their 'perfect' tone - others will hear as just alright.

I'm not someone who normally gets really analytical about tone - or at least I wasn't until I put BKP's (Emerald) into my LP Classic. Now I take more interest in it - without (I hope) being too anal about it

I play in a wedding type band and to be honest the stock 496R/500T pickups that I used to have were ok for a variety of sounds, without any particular sound being outstanding.

Since I put Emeralds into my guitar I've been so much more aware of tone, due basically to the quality of the pups and how they match up to my guitar.

I'm pretty close to getting the tone that I want from my guitar and I would agree it's a variety of factors that contribute to a good tone. In saying that I would put ability right at the top of that list of factors. I'm not talking about notes per second here - just a certain level of ability to be able to utilise other factors.

The quality of guitar, amp, pickups, strings, effect units etc all come into play when it comes to achieving the tone in your head that you're after. It's like a jigsaw for me. Once I put all the factors together, I should be happy with the tone I can generate.

Twinfan · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2008, 09:47:10 AM »

Something I've noticed very recently, after a good 10 years of proper tone searching, is that your amp is everything. I'm finding that if I get that right, everything else is just flavouring.

Never underestimate the HUGE input your amp has on your tone.

Mr Ed · « **Reply #5 on:** February 11, 2008, 10:29:54 AM »

There is no such thing as "perfect tone" - there only exists "your perfect tone".

And yeah, amp more than anything else.

dave_mc · « **Reply #6 on:** February 11, 2008, 04:19:36 PM »

Quote from: Twinfan

Something I've noticed very recently, after a good 10 years of proper tone searching, is that your amp is everything. I'm finding that if I get that right, everything else is just flavouring.

Never underestimate the HUGE input your amp has on your tone.

+1

caveat being, of course, that if you want a strat sound, you're probably out of luck if you have a les paul, etc.

noodleplugerine · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2008, 04:44:03 PM »

Quote from: Twinfan

Something I've noticed very recently, after a good 10 years of proper tone searching, is that your amp is everything. I'm finding that if I get that right, everything else is just flavouring.

Never underestimate the HUGE input your amp has on your tone.

+1000

Go for the best sounding amp and the best playing guitar.

A good amp can make a piece of cr@p sound good.

sambo · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2008, 04:48:09 PM »

Yeah, I would echo that.

But of course as we all know, even the best amp in the world won't make a bad player sound good.

So fingers + amp = main ingredients in my opinion.

And then as noodle says, the playability of the guitar is the most important factor in terms of your actual axe in my opinion.

dave_mc · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:03:43 PM »

oh, fingers are a given as the most important thing. i mean in terms of things you can buy. :lol:

EDIT: and obviously, once you have that awesome amp, an awesome-sounding (and playing) guitar can make the difference between sounding good and sounding great. :)

everything's important in its own way. if you buy a dumble and then try to run a squier affinity through it, you're probably a bit daft.

sambo · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:08:35 PM »

^Agreed. :lol: :)

indysmith · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:13:46 PM »

i like my guitars to sound good too! :o

Will · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:18:13 PM »

Quote from: indysmith

i like my guitars to sound good too! :o

Me too... well I just want something about it to sound good

sambo · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:23:21 PM »

Obviously the guitar's sound is important, but if it plays as well as a photocopier then you can't take advantage of that sound, y'know? :)

dave_mc · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2008, 06:53:00 PM »

yeah... all these "which would you rather have, playability or tone?" threads that always seem to come up (much like the "would you rather run a £50 guitar through a £3000 amp or vice-versa?" thread) are kinda daft... they're using extremes to prove a point of principle, but to be honest if i had a £3000 amp and £50 guitar, i'd be buying a nicer guitar sharpish, or even trading in the amp to get a more even split.

playability versus tone? search until you find one with both. they do exist. :lol:

EDIT: ^ play many photocopiers, sam? how does that work? "hmm, the out of paper beep is an E flat, and i think the no toner left beep is a G a quarter tone sharp..."