Does My Tone Suck?

[willo]

That, really, is the big question.

Well, you see, I'm quite happy with my tone in a way, but I posted some random clips over at another forum, and someone commented that:

i agree with the money waster part, no offense, but all of the sound clips you have posted have sounded awful...

Now, I respect his opinion, and I certainly believe that the free Dell soundcard and 56kbps encoding of mp3s doesn't really help the guitar sound good, but it did get me thinking. Without a doubt this is the forum where I've posted the most soundclips and everyone has been damn nice, but then we're just a bunch of nice men aren't we? :lol:

So what I was wondering is, does anyone have any opinions regarding my tone - is it shite? Does it need more mids, bass etc? Or am I being overly paranoid? Knives out...

I know this is going to come across hugely self-obsessed and for that I apologise. I'm just geniunely curious as to what others think of my tone, honestly - were you all just being kind to me? If its shite, well I'd like to know and improve it ASAP!

Some examples (links to players room):

Early one (fuzz into solid state amp)

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=485

High gain into solid state:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1337&start=0
Old clean tone:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1136

Most recent tone, slightly overdriven:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2598

I mean, I thought all those tones were OK, but damn, its hard to be objective about your own tone - so forumers, please, any help?

[sambo]

well im not the best to comment on this as im 15 and have virtually NO experience or knowledge when it comes to the PHAT world of sound that is 'tone'....

to me the:

fuzz seemed to take the word 'fuzz' a bit too literally and sounded like a dodgy TV.

high gain seemed pretty good (i can only distinguish between really bad and really good tones nothing in between) and to me that really wasnt bad at all pretty nice.

clean sounded good no problems there at all.

slightly overdriven sounded great like the clean.

could have done with some more chord work in all of the clips though as in my opinion chords reveal LOADS more about tone than leads....

anyway... thats my meaningless take on things...

[schmendict]

They all sound fine to me, but the high gain one, at the start, theres what seems to be the solo guitar whining, its unpleasant. I dont want to stir any offence, but some of the notes used in your solo dont fit with the backing. The solo itself is fine, with some hiccups and too many sustained notes...but still good.
I hope this has been some help, i know i always hate getting criticism, so im sorry.

[sambo]

ok slight change to my first thoughts- the guitar itself doesnt sound bad its just the constant background fuzz. the tone of the actual playing is cool.

[Cattivo Ragazzo]

None of them sound very nice, the high gain one especially, but good tone comes mostly from good technique, not pickups or guitar, even the makers will say this although maybe they might not want to. The recording method will not produce good sound no matter what, so first you have to improve the recording somehow, with a good soundcard/interface and mic, then make a recording minus the backing/cubase drums, for us to make a GOOD judgement on the quality of your tone. I don't know why people want to put drums and backing into the mix of what is only a soundclip of a pickup, it just gets in the way, the quality or complexity of a mini tune does not matter for this purpose IMO.

[jt]

:D OK 1st, your Tones fine mate if there`s any problem at all it will be with the recording process. Are you using a good interface, sound card etc. how good was your speakers for monitoring the sound etc. i no how these P/U`s sound going straight through an amp the problem is allways trying to "Capture" it on Tape as it were.....

The reason some of us give clips with full backing is so that other players can hear what the P/U`s sound like in context of a band type scenario..... there`s no point having godly tone in your bedroom only as no bugger will ever hear it. [ except the neighbours ! ] It helps to hear thing in some kind of context.....

 :D  8)

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

None of them sound very nice, the high gain one especially, but good tone comes mostly from good technique, not pickups or guitar, even the makers will say this although maybe they might not want to. The recording method will not produce good sound no matter what, so first you have to improve the recording somehow, with a good soundcard/interface and mic, then make a recording minus the backing/cubase drums, for us to make a GOOD judgement on the quality of your tone. I don't know why people want to put drums and backing into the mix of what is only a soundclip of a pickup, it just gets in the way, the quality or complexity of a mini tune does not matter for this purpose IMO.

If good tone only comes from good technique, why doesn't every one play guitars and amps bought from argos? Good tone is a combination of technique, guitar, pickups and amp - end of story.
Drums are often used in clips, because they are in songs and help you keep time. I dont understand how people cant destiguish between guitar tone and drums.

Willo, there are always people on the net ready to critisize other people, but you'll find these people never post clips and are very poor players, all talk, no action. If you are happy with your tone then that is all that matters.

[lepersmeesa]

Having good tone in a non band situation is almost pointless. So clips with drums and bass and other instrument really help grasp an idea of how everything sits in the mix.

Also , I think its a bit rude " first of look at your recording setup ". You dont know if this guy is living off £10 a week let alone buy recording equipment.

Willo work with what you got, if you enjoy what your hearing keep it going. Take everyones opinion ( including what im saying ) with a pinch of salt. These people arent hearing what your hearing ( on so many levels ) so dont worry about.

Cool clips!  :D

[Cattivo Ragazzo]

If good tone only comes from good technique, why doesn't every one play guitars and amps bought from argos? Good tone is a combination of technique, guitar, pickups and amp - end of story.
Drums are often used in clips, because they are in songs and help you keep time. I dont understand how people cant destiguish between guitar tone and drums.

Willo, there are always people on the net ready to critisize other people, but you'll find these people never post clips and are very poor players, all talk, no action. If you are happy with your tone then that is all that matters.

Yes a combination but good technique wins every time, a player with good technique can sound good with mediocre equipment, a player with poor technique cannot, i'm not trying to create a argument, this is all true imo, it doesn't require an argument. btw, since I spent over £500 on bare knuckle pickups, I don't appreciate you insinuating I am a bad player here just to critizize others, that is not the case, and I am offended. What I said is in my opinion, and if you don't like it, that's fine, but there is no need to be snotty about it. I gave an honest opinion. As for putting other instruments into the mix, this is not what is generally done, it gets in the way, and if you listen to any other pickup clips from other pickup websites, or from guitar magazine reviews, you'll hear only the pickup, for a good reason. Pure naked guitar tone, nothing else, you can really hear it properly, and in this case it would help to give a better judgement on the tone overall.

[maliciousteve]

Mate it sounded fine to me. You could hear every note and it wasn't stupidly overdriven. I've heard professional players with the worst tone. David Shankle is one, he uses so much reverb and delay that you can hardly hear anything.

[Steve-Mr Pig 2U]

I wasn't refering to you, I was refering to the origional critisizm that Willo mentioned.

[Cattivo Ragazzo]

oh  :roll:

[willo]

Hi guys, cheers for the feedback.

TooMuchHipHop - don't worry about it, I appreciate your honesty! There were a few mistakes in that song for sure, but some of them that 'don't fit' were deliberate (not all though, I'll grant you that!) I like screwing around with things a bit!

Sambo - ha, yeah, I like the fuzz a bit too much! That sample was quite old, I used way too much back then. That final clip is basically the tone I use nowadays.

Cattivo - I hear you, mate. Unfortunately, I'm in no way able to afford recording equipment, so it's straight out of the Hotplate into my free Dell soundcard (no idea what the spec is, the computer was dirt cheap) and out to audacity at 40kbps...I guess that's screwing with my tone a bit. I only use the PC to get some quick ideas down.

JT- thanks again, you're a true gent :D Steve, thanks too

Steve - thanks too, I appreciate what you're saying. I'm well aware of 'internet shites'  :lol: , but this guy, well I don't care at all the music he listens to, but he's a decent guy. I think he just heard some really really rough boost pedal demo thing I made and made his point, and caught me at a particularly disillusioned point. I don't think he was just trying to knock me down aimlessly, though. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion I guess.

Lepersmeesa, thanks also. I appreciate what you're saying. In particular, I liked:

These people arent hearing what your hearing ( on so many levels )

I think I shall use that from now on as my excuse...makes me sound like John Coltrane or something! :lol:

One thing that I'm aware of, is that I guess I do have different ideas regarding tone to quite a few of the guys on here, because I don't particularly dig heavy metal/shred types. One guitar tone I love is Frank Zappa, which is a particularly nasal kind of tone. I think that's the thing I'm trying to determine, whether people don't like it because:

a) it doesn't fit with their idea of what guitar should sound like
b) cr@p recording
c) cos it genuinely is shite :lol:

Ho hum....things to consider...

Anyway, thank you all for your opinions and honesty, I appreciate it

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

i´m gonna listen to your clips and give you my review
Wait.
 :P

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Hails Man
i´ll judge only the tone.
Clip 1 , very good. i liked it very much. it shows the vh II tone very well.
Clip 2 , BAD, but i still can hear the pickup in the background. *
Clip 3, not good, Better than the clip 2. *
Clip 4, Better than clip 2, almost equally to clip 3. *

*= the playing technique not help enough to enphasys the pickup tone.
Except on the clip 1. good playing and very good
Q:)
and don´t get upset.
i´m just helping
$%&#ing Hails
J.P