Twinfan's top 10 guitar tone 'wisdoms'

[sgmypod]

was a small laugh..not a large one

[rohlfo]

4) Name your gear. All of it. It just makes it all more personal. So far I have named my gear...

Not sure....I think at the end of the day it's an instrument...which isn't to say I don't 'love' my guitars (and I agree with your 1) as you can see from my above post).

so go out, have fun and PLAY, PLAY, PLAY, PLAY PLAY!!!!!!

Completely agree!  :D

[Fourth Feline]

Firstly , thanks to Twinfan for reminding me to order those 'Cleartone ' cables . :)  I have been playing into an ultra clean choice of amps through either the heavily coloured Monster 'Jazz' cable - or some unfeasably long Planet Waves I used to gig with years ago. It seems daft to have chosen the most 'open' amps and speakers without linking it properly.

Secondly I must admit to getting great results from my American N.O.S. valve stock. The Quad of 7581a in my Twin have given it an even bigger , glassier headroom & soundstage. Ditto for the tonic qualities of the pairs of Jan / Phillips 6L6WGB ( short bottle ) I have for my Laney LH50R-II.  I am not saying that the new production stuff will not be great, just that for my needs - they have pleasing characteristics.

I agree that a cheap gutar can really surprise you - and is worth the pickup / nut upgrade.  If my Gibsons benefitted, then not surprisingly my  budget semi-acoustic did too.  It was a great example of taking each guitar on individual merit and 'try before you buy' though.  I tried quite a few 335 copies, before a local dealer brought this slightly soiled ( but set up ) Tanglewood round - and it just felt 'right' - and the acoustic tone was sweet. I did need a set of M.QS to make the amplified tone equally pleasing ( I remember Twinfan saying that Black Dogs would probabably worked nicely as well ).

Twinfan also alerted me to the joys / potential of ( relatively ) neutral voiced speakers - through his Celestion 'Hot 100s'.  It was then I realised that as sweet as a 'saggy' Greenback sounds in a cranked 15 Watt Tweed - the bigger tonal fish where ( for me ) - to be found in an arena of 'reference' clarity drivers.  This also helps one get the basic Guitar / pickup / plectrum / leads combo right.  In that way it is now easier for me to replicate my prefered sounds through a larger variety of gear.

I therefore agree that your ( humble ) plectrum can make a lot of difference. I play predominantly lower volumes, and through my amp's clean channels - so a change of picks is like a drummer changing drum heads or sticks mid song.

The irony is that now ( under the topic of "you always sound like you " ) - whether I use a semi-acoustic, Les Paul or S.G. with M.Q.s, Stormy Mondays or Mules - I tend to E.Q a little until they all sound pretty much the same .  I suppose this is due in part due to the minimalistic Larry Carlton / Joe Pass / Miles Davies influences, where one is right hand damping a tad during phrases, as one would use the pedals on a piano.  I am NOT saying this would work for out and out Rock - or that it can be done on the ubiquitous 'Squier starter pack' - but I am saying it can be happily  approximated on a well set up £170 guitar and a £100 practice amp as it can be on a more elaborate rig.   I recently bought and watched the Larry Carlton 'Sapphire Blues Band ' DVD - and was intrigued as to how L.C. would sound on his Yamaha acoustic guitar . When he plugged it in - ( with sound hole blocked, pickup installed - and plugged into his Dumble ) - it sounded just like his 335 !   

I would like to add the favourite Fender 'Rule of 6' - which I once read of ,  to get a great basic setting on any Fender voiced / 6L6 powered amp.  The folklore is basically : Bass = 2   Mid = 3  =  Treble = 6 . Originally invented to get a level sonic playing field in the U.S.A recording studios of yesteryear - where Fender Twin amps used to be the default.

Now where are those 'Cleartones ' Mr. Postman ? ...  :)

[sambo]

Whilst obviously different gear sounds different and you're not going to get a humbucker to sound like a single coil in a hurry, the same person playing totally different gear will always sound pretty similar tonally.

Don't agree with that. If I heard you playing a Blackmachine with Warpigs through a Diezel Herbert and then a Tele with Country Boy's through a Fender HR Deluxe I'm pretty sure the difference would be stark.

[dave_mc]

Still it is a Panet Waves so not a false investment imo.

NOOOOOOOOOOO

I blew a load on a batch of planet waves just before I got cleartones. I now have them around only to lend to people in need of a cable. The cleartones CRUSH the planetwaves. Their superiority is akin to that of the Jedi over the Ewoks.

+1

the only reason i still have my old cables is that I've been too lazy to clear them away (seriously, they're still lying on the floor where i left them :lol: ), but mainly just in case i ever need a spare lead or something, it'll save me from having to immediately rush out to buy more, would work as a stopgap until my cleartones arrived.

Personally i think the "finger tone/gear tone" argument is a false dichotomy; at the end of the day if you're a killer player you probably don't need to play through a starter pack, and if you're not a very good player you should probably put your money towards lessons and practice a lot more. Bottom line is that if you take the same player, he/she will generally sound better through better gear, with the caveat that the better gear has to be better gear for the specific player in question (he/she has to like it and it has to suit his/her playing style). There's nothing more to it than that, if you ask me.

I make a distinction between "player tone" (how good a player is) and "gear tone" (how good the gear is). The quality of the final tone is a combination of both of those.

I always sound like me (unfortunately), but i sound a lot different if i'm playing a strat or tele compared to if i'm playing a gibson... or compared to if i'm playing a superstrat (in which case i struggle to keep the 80s under wraps :lol: ). i still sound like me, but my bluesier licks will come out more if i'm playing a strat... the shape of the neck, the guitar's tone, etc. will affect which licks i can play, and which i want to play... it's kind of strange.

[Jonny]

I haven't discovered the revolution that is Cleartone cables. And what's with all the options of cable? Is it just the ends of the cable (i.e. straight, corner, etc.) or is there something else?

[38thBeatle]

Well I have ordered a couple. I intend replacing all my cables with Cleartones but as i am watching the pennies, it'll take me a few more weeks.

[sgmypod]

am thinkin of getting a few try them against my planet waves

[rohlfo]

am thinkin of getting a few try them against my planet waves

let me know how that is - and how much of a noticable difference there is.

[sgmypod]

No worries

[Fourth Feline]

am thinkin of getting a few try them against my planet waves

let me know how that is - and how much of a noticable difference there is.

I have just been trying my Cleartone cable against the Planet Waves, and to be honest - I ended up thinking "these Cleartones are nice and sparkly" - but then putting them in the box and using my Planet Waves.  The difference ( for my purposes ) is that the Cleartones sound brighter and more sparkly at the top end, but sacrifice the silky treble and lucious bass that my Planet Waves give me.

I can see that for Rock ( not Jazz / Jazz Blues ) - the Cleartones would be ace for cutting through the gain at high volumes - but at low volumes played sweet ' n' clean , the Cleartones sounded 'stiff' in the upper register - neutral in the mids - and a bit anemic in the bass.  yes, the bass is detailed ( that preponderance of upper mids seeping down I guess ) - but it made my Alnico pickups sound a bit ceramic if you know what I mean.

Yes the Cleartones are nice sounding - and of course the build quality is excellent, but not the 3 dimensional soundstage wonder I had presumed.  Perhaps there is a difference with the new batch ( Van damme cable ) - as opposed to the older ( Klotz cable ) batch ?

It will still be nice to have the Cleartone in stock for future experimentation / needs ( and I did get one of their speaker leads delivered at the same time ) - but it's Planet waves for 'sweet music' according to my ears.  :)

[Matt77]

I'm a fan of planet waves for their durability
I'll watch this thread develop though as I will try some clear tones next month

[Fourth Feline]

I'm a fan of planet waves for their durability
I'll watch this thread develop though as I will try some clear tones next month

Yes, it is still a great idea to buy a Cleartone cable - as they " do what it says on the tin".  I have been swapping back and forth a lot during an extended jam / practice session, and to be fair to both Cleartone and Planet waves, here are my further observations :

The Cleartone cable is incredibly clear - and perhaps the perceived 'stiffness' and hard treble is me hearing the true single coil 'edge' of my Mississipi Queens for the first time.  I certainly had to use the neck pickup and tone controls with the Cleartones - to round things out a bit.  It may be a case of that old cinematic cliche " you want the truth ? you can't handle the truth ! " . The Cleartones certainly let you hear the vocal quality of adding subtle vibrato to the top strings, especially when applied during a string bend.

The Planet Waves certainly round things off a little bit in the upper registers, making the sound somehow more silky - but perhaps a tad 'blocky'.  The strong point is where the bass frequencies fatten and blur a bit, making excursions onto the bass strings sound very warm and fat.  In contrast The Cleartones evoke the Bass tone of something like a Fender precision - lean ( perhaps even skinny ) - but you can hear the grind, shimmer - and detail of the notes.

Of course ( whilst not used during this test ) - the Monster 'Jazz' cable is somewhere rounder, sweeter and more muted than the Planet Waves ( despite the Monster 'Jazz' claiming to be a fairly balanced cable in the E.Q).

It all does ( for me ) prove one thing beyond a doubt though, and that is that cables DO make a difference - and as Twinfan mentioned at the outset, it's about getting the right jigsaw pieces / components to make the sound you want. Everything in the signal chain chain counts.

I would be very interested to read what  Cleartone / Planet Waves / other cable users feel that they gain or lose from cable to cable - especially around the valid reference point of Cleartones. If this unintentionally hi- jacks T.F's original thread -  we can always lift the cable comparisons onto another ?

[rohlfo]

cool comments! really good description. Given all that I think I'm perfectly happy to carry on with my Planet Waves for now...

[dave_mc]

I haven't discovered the revolution that is Cleartone cables. And what's with all the options of cable? Is it just the ends of the cable (i.e. straight, corner, etc.) or is there something else?

you can choose the length you want too, and what type of connectors... normal neutrik or those silent ones. plus angled or straight jacks...