Share your Secrets of Tone

[shobet]

I'm going to add to my earlier cliched statement another.

If you can't sound decent with a squier and a Marshall MG. Then chances are you wont sound any use with a '59 Les Paul and a Plexi. Gear NEVER makes up for lack of ability.

It's the player not the gear in my opinion.

I know Satriani's tone is somewhat divisive, but on a cheap strat copy and god knows what amp...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts&feature=related

[bobthemerciful]

My right hand. My left hand. My ears.

Cliched, but I think it's the greatest truth in the endlessly pretentious, mystic and superstitious world of the musician.

Think I agree.

To further substantiate this and your later comment ( just above this post ) NFE ; - here is a short video clip of an old man with his electric guitar plugged straight into the house P.A. system, no amp or pedals between.  The tone is ( to my ears ) enviable.

I know this won't impress the cranked valve amp affectionados - but ' listen without predudice ' .   :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsAiap_BwIM 

I probably fall into the "cranked valve amp afficionado" group.
Impressed me a lot.

I'm going to add to my earlier cliched statement another.

If you can't sound decent with a squier and a Marshall MG. Then chances are you wont sound any use with a '59 Les Paul and a Plexi. Gear NEVER makes up for lack of ability.

It's the player not the gear in my opinion.

I know Satriani's tone is somewhat divisive, but on a cheap strat copy and god knows what amp...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts&feature=related

And this one also shows how much of it is how the player attacks the instrument that affects the tone IMO.
Not saying that good gear doesn't make a difference, but I do think as I get older that a lot of it is psychological. If you have a sound that's close to the one in your head it makes you feel better and more inspired about playing. Have done some recording (nowt serious) at a mates where we swapped gear, and he still sounds like him, and I still sound like me.
My two penn'orth
 :)

[Tellboy]

Mine tone tips/secrets?  Buy the best gear you can afford.  More often than not, the expense is justified.

That's really just it. The rest is up to you!

+1 - BUT the most important part is the "you". Spend a few minutes looking at some Youtube videos and you will find some guys showing off their latest boutique gear and they sound cringingly bad whilst others with 'ordinary' gear sound amazing. Often they will use lack of technique/practice as an excuse to move on to the next mega expensive gear.

I think the John Suhr quote in my sig sums it up "Practice cures most tone issues"

[Twinfan]

And this one also shows how much of it is how the player attacks the instrument that affects the tone IMO.........Have done some recording (nowt serious) at a mates where we swapped gear, and he still sounds like him, and I still sound like me.

I agree with this too - myself and MartinW have swapped rigs many times when trying out guitars/amps and we still sound like each other straight away.

[sebby123]

When you get to that point its an awsome feelings, im very content with my mark iv i would love a diezel but i feel comfortable enough to know that if i were to A/B them it would just sound like me with a boogie or me with a diezel.
Allways a paul with me though :)

[sebby123]

Great example listen to this...

All of his clips from bogner, mesa, marshall all sound like him but with the slight taste of the amp hes using.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Treetopper

[hamfist]

Lots of good thoughts in this thread.

My addition is .....  good power !

Seriously, I think a key issue for tube amps pushing any amount of distortion is the quality of electricity that  the amp is getting.  At so many gigs, our band usually is running off one or (if we're lucky) two sockets (and that includes the PA and lights !).  I find my tone under those circumstances extremely variable, and often rather cr@ppy and bright. I am convinced that it is down to inappropriate power supply, and my amp simply not being able to draw the current it needs in competition with all the other stuff plugged into the same outlet.  There are many other stories of folks having these issues, and sorting it out with a proper (ie. expensive) power regulator.
  I don't get these problems at our rehearsal venues, which all have good, and multiple, power outlets.

 I'm getting so frustrated with these issues at the moment that I'm actually in the middle of changing over to a clean amp plus pedals rig for live use - I'm hoping that I'll get a much more consistent tone.

[hunter]

Lots of good thoughts in this thread.

My addition is .....  good power !

Seriously, I think a key issue for tube amps pushing any amount of distortion is the quality of electricity that  the amp is getting.  At so many gigs, our band usually is running off one or (if we're lucky) two sockets (and that includes the PA and lights !).  I find my tone under those circumstances extremely variable, and often rather cr@ppy and bright. I am convinced that it is down to inappropriate power supply, and my amp simply not being able to draw the current it needs in competition with all the other stuff plugged into the same outlet.  There are many other stories of folks having these issues, and sorting it out with a proper (ie. expensive) power regulator.
  I don't get these problems at our rehearsal venues, which all have good, and multiple, power outlets.

 I'm getting so frustrated with these issues at the moment that I'm actually in the middle of changing over to a clean amp plus pedals rig for live use - I'm hoping that I'll get a much more consistent tone.

There is only one solution for a real tone afficionado to overcome this. You gotta lug this to your gigs, only then have you full control:

[38thBeatle]

Tone starts in the heart and moves to the hands.

[Ratrod]

Apart from me as the player, it's my old 2X12 Bandmaster cab. I've been using it from day 1. It's the only consistent piece of gear throughout my playing career. it has always been there.  It's a big influence on my tone and probably my playing too.

[gingataff]

Use your Volume and Tone knobs! They can do a lot to alter your sound.

Definitely! I sometimes knock down the tone slightly to fatten up lead lines and if you use a noise gate and then roll down your volume you can get a kind of auto-swell effect which is rather pleasing.

[dave_mc]

I'm going to add to my earlier cliched statement another.

If you can't sound decent with a squier and a Marshall MG. Then chances are you wont sound any use with a '59 Les Paul and a Plexi. Gear NEVER makes up for lack of ability.

i agree that the player is the most important thing, but there is a certain level of cr@ppiness under which it's going to affect how well you can play. i mean, i don't see many formula 1 racing drivers trading in their F1 cars for vauxhall corsas... of course the person is more important, but the tools play a pretty big part too. "a poor workman blames his tools" is a stupid proverb, if you ask me, the tools CAN be bad enough as to not be suitable for the job. granted quality tools won't make a hack sound like a virtuoso... but sufficiently poor tools can make a virtuoso sound, if not like a hack perhaps, a lot worse than he/she should sound...

[Will]

Turn it up!  8)

+1 about vol and tone knobs, I find it more fun to play with them on a bright guitar though, rather than turning up the treble on the amp then cutting down the controls on a dark guitar.

Picks: I am quite happy swapping between Jazz III XL's and 1.22 britpicks, similar size, but different shape and tone.
Soon to try some SOB strings, which should be interesting, and a Bogner cab should be here in a week, will see how those kind of things change the sound.

My cleartone cables are getting noisy! Quite the revelation, considering how well they are thought of around here. Next time I may just get the standard jacks and use tuner mute.

[nfe]

I'm going to add to my earlier cliched statement another.

If you can't sound decent with a squier and a Marshall MG. Then chances are you wont sound any use with a '59 Les Paul and a Plexi. Gear NEVER makes up for lack of ability.

i agree that the player is the most important thing, but there is a certain level of cr@ppiness under which it's going to affect how well you can play. i mean, i don't see many formula 1 racing drivers trading in their F1 cars for vauxhall corsas... of course the person is more important, but the tools play a pretty big part too. "a poor workman blames his tools" is a stupid proverb, if you ask me, the tools CAN be bad enough as to not be suitable for the job. granted quality tools won't make a hack sound like a virtuoso... but sufficiently poor tools can make a virtuoso sound, if not like a hack perhaps, a lot worse than he/she should sound...

There's truth in this, but I think you have to get into really, really terrible gear before it starts to make a huge difference. A level of quality that virtually nothing you can buy in the current market new, obviously)  falls below.

I've always kinda thought if you can't comfortably get through, say a wedding gig, with a bargain bucket squire and a cheap as chips transistor amp then you simply can't play guitar.

It's just the implied snobbery of the the more expensive the better opinion of a couple folk in this thread annoys me.

Being skint and getting on with what you've got does more for your tone than any amount of money will. Actually, I'm going to make that my mantra.

[MDV]

Havent we been through the gear/player thing before?

Like, a meeeeeeeelion times?