Does tone come from the guitar or the amp.

[Basshole]

now this may sound like a stupid question to most of you guys, but ive been listening to my brother and listen to other guitarist play. To get the desired tone, which do you need more the amp or the guitar. You either have a crappy guitar through a good amp or a good guitar through a crappy amp. which is more important? like a les pual through a solidstate peavey or peavey guitar through a marshall or whatever.

[t.a.f.k.a.i.]

both .

tone is an over-used very vague word

changing your plectrum changes your "tone" ;)

[Col F]

Guitar, Amp (and effects) and the Player's/Artist's Hands!

[Guitar slinger]

Since we're in a Gibson forum, people might bite me for what I say now, but I think that a cheap guitar in a good tube amp is probably a better combination than a crappy SS amplifier with a Gibson 59 RI

 

Actually, I think I've got a Gibson mail that was discussing good tones with small tube amps and cheap old guitars.

 

And I'm sure that tone (the way people use that word) comes from anything related to you playing situation. Plectrum, guitar, room...

But I think the core of the tone is the guitar player.

[BreeeZe_]

Don't forget to put Pickups in the equation

[Blackened]

It really is a broad question to ask but I will throw my .02 in on it...

 

Tone comes from the combination of several different things. The guitar, amp, pickups and the player himself. All four have to work in conjunction in order to proplerly work.

 

Some things you can fudge a little bit. You can get a cheap guitar, slap some good quality pickups in it and put it through a good amp and still get a good tone from that part of the equation. The way I have always thought of electric guitars is that 90% of the sound comes from the pickup and 10% of it comes from the guitar itself. The pickups produce the sound and the woods used give it color. In Acoustics, the wood plays a tremendous part in the tone of the guitar, but in electrics not nearly as much. This was proven to me by a luthier friend who took a pickup and put it into three different guitars. One of which was made from press board. All three had a unique sound, but none of them sounded bad!

 

Amps are what the sound actually resonates from so you have to be sure what you get is going to do what you want it to do. If you just love that marshall sound, you cant get it anywhere but a marshall amp. Some people LOVE the sound of fender amps, some love the sound of Mesa's or Soldano's it is ultimately the player that has to determine which amp best compliments his style.

 

Fianlly the player... You can take the best combination of equipment in the world and put it in the hands of an a novice player and it sounds like poo. But give that same rig to a player that has good skill with his hands and the sound seems to magically spring to life. There is a video of Joe Satriani playing a low end ibanez through a line 6 spider on you tube and he is tearing it up like you couldn't believe. Whats crazy is he makes the guitar just sing.

 

Hope that helps at least a little.

[thejay]

Everything matters when coming up with a tone - the guitar and its wiring/wood/pickups, amps, cables and the way the player plays the instrument. It is what you what to hear though, many manuf all sound different so its finding the initial palette of sound you want to hear.

[RichCI]

now this may sound like a stupid question to most of you guys' date=' but ive been listening to my brother and listen to other guitarist play. [b']To get the desired tone, which do you need more the amp or the guitar. You either have a crappy guitar through a good amp or a good guitar through a crappy amp. which is more important?[/b] like a les pual through a solidstate peavey or peavey guitar through a marshall or whatever.

 

IMO, you can get a good tone playing a crappy guitar through a great amp but seldom the reverse. Some guys will go on about the actual player being a part of the equation, but that wasn't your question; if you plug a Les Paul into some little crap transistor amp with a 6 1/2" speaker, it's not going to sound good but if you plug a Squier Strat into Marshall 2204 halfstack, it's going to sound pretty darned good.

[deepblue]

Tone is 95% in the hands.

SRV, Beck etc...Will sound the same whether they are playing a $100 guitar, or a $3000 guitar. You know instantly that its them.

[vanceen]

now this may sound like a stupid question to most of you guys' date=' but ive been listening to my brother and listen to other guitarist play. To get the desired tone, which do you need more the amp or the guitar. You either have a crappy guitar through a good amp or a good guitar through a crappy amp. which is more important? like a les pual through a solidstate peavey or peavey guitar through a marshall or whatever.[/quote']

 

Lots of replies have said "it depends", and of course it does.

 

One major guitar/amp factor is how much distortion you use. If you play through three distortion pedals and a fuzz box, it really does not matter at all what guitar you are playing, apart from playability. The guitar is only acting as a trigger for the square waves your pedals are producing.

 

If you play clean, or if you play clean with a modest amount of break up, the guitar matters much more.

 

I think it's safe to say that apart from high gain stuff, the guitar matters the most, in that a distinctive sounding guitar usually sounds like itself through any amp that's decent at all. A bad guitar through an excellent amp will give you excellent, faithful amplification of a bad sound.

[KSG_Standard]

That's a trick question! IDK, but I can tell you from personal experience, if you have a sh1tty amp and a decent guitar, and you play it all the time, you will learn to make it sound pretty good. On the other hand, there's a guitar player named David Lindley who used to play for Jackson Browne and he is know for playing cheap, crappy guitars on-stage and in the studio (don't know what kind of amp he uses). I think that most of the mojo comes from the picker, not the equipment.

[Guitar slinger]

Tone is 95% in the hands.

SRV' date=' Beck etc...Will sound the same whether they are playing a $100 guitar, or a $3000 guitar. You know instantly that its them.[/quote']

 

+1

[Bram]

If you plug a Les Paul into some little crap transistor amp with a 6 1/2" speaker' date=' it's not going to sound good but if you plug a Squier Strat into Marshall 2204 halfstack, it's going to sound pretty darned good.[/quote']

 

+1, but then you dig the LP in that same Marshall 2204 halfstack and it will eat the Squier for breakfast

[RichCI]

Tone is 95% in the hands.

SRV' date=' Beck etc...Will sound the same whether they are playing a $100 guitar, or a $3000 guitar. You know instantly that its them.[/quote']

 

I think that's more of an issue of playing style, not sound. You'll identify their style but it's still going to sound like SRV or Beck playing on a crappy guitar or through a crappy amp.

[Thundergod]

It comes from the pickguard. I already explained it on another thread... creme pickguard: great for leads. Black pickguard great for metal. Black pickguard painted (you can use spray paint) creme, great for crunch. Creme pickguard painted black; great for classic rock.

 

Any pickguard painted white: jazz, country, rockabilly.

 

 

 

Really, tone is in your fingers man, I have owned tons of gear over the years and always have sounded like me... there was a time I thought I sounded like adrian Brian May but then I woke up.

[Bram]

'Tone' is MOST in your fingers indeed.

 

Be honest: If you were playing a cheap *** Epiphone LP and a real 2008 Gibson LP Standard side by side, you'd sound better on the Gibson. It's just the truth.

[kubog]

'Tone' is MOST in your fingers indeed.

 

Be honest: If you were playing a cheap *** Epiphone LP and a real 2008 Gibson LP Standard side by side' date=' you'd sound better on the Gibson. It's just the truth.[/quote']

 

I agree with that, it´s just the feeling from the guitar. IMO if Epi and Gibson sounded the same, Gibson would still be better, just feels much better

[Flight959]

It comes from the pickguard. I already explained it on another thread... creme pickguard: great for leads. Black pickguard great for metal. Black pickguard painted (you can use spray paint) creme' date=' great for crunch. Creme pickguard painted black; great for classic rock.

 

Any pickguard painted white: jazz, country, rockabilly.

 

 

 

Really, tone is in your fingers man, I have owned tons of gear over the years and always have sounded like me... there was a time I thought I sounded like adrian Brian May but then I woke up.[/quote']

 

Thunder... You got it all wrong man...

 

Its the way in which you brush your hair which reflects the way you play....

 

You of all people should know that!

 

Flight959

[ckledzepplin]

 

IMO' date=' you can get a good tone playing a crappy guitar through a great amp but seldom the reverse. Some guys will go on about the actual player being a part of the equation, but that wasn't your question; if you plug a Les Paul into some little crap transistor amp with a 6 1/2" speaker, it's not going to sound good but if you plug a Squier Strat into Marshall 2204 halfstack, it's going to sound pretty darned good.

 

[/quote']

 

sorry but you're wrong hello kitty squire strats are the best guitars in the world and would totaly slay any les paul

[Boston004681]

Their Both HUGE Factors.

 

But personally, i would rather have the crappy guitar and the monster amp. Depending in HOW crappy we're talking about. One of these is fine. A pawnshop guitar isn't. I currently have the AWESOME guitar(Gibson SG) and the crappy amp(Solid-state Fender Frontman 15G ) Not that's its a bad amp i just need something better. Leaning towards a fender blues jr.

 

Next guitar will either be a taylor or guild acoustic or a les paul. If a get the les paul im gonna have it faded. They dont make 'em faded anymore..... stinks... every time i bang the SG i get pissed at myself.... The acoustics would be natural.

[Flight959]

 

sorry but you're wrong hello kitty squire strats are the best guitars in the world and would totaly slay any les paul

 

LMFAO...

[Guitar slinger]

 

sorry but you're wrong hello kitty squire strats are the best guitars in the world and would totaly slay any les paul

 

IF you get a pink one. The pigment composition on the black finish totally restrains the tone.

[RichCI]

 

I agree with that' date=' it´s just the feeling from the guitar. IMO if Epi and Gibson sounded the same, Gibson would still be better, just feels much better[/quote']

 

That's true about feel but, if the only thing that mattered was the player, none of us would be obsessing over pickups, amps and all the other trappings of playing electric guitar and Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and a lot of other great guitar players wouldn't have switched from Telecasters to Les Pauls and to Strats and whatever else those guys played. They must have had some reason for grabbing different guitars, often times in the middle of a show for certain songs, and nobody is ever going to convince me that if you put a Strat in Page's hands and then had him play a Les Paul that they're going to sound the same. This isn't directed at you personally, but I think the "it's all in the hands" argument is largely BS; different guitars sound different and, while you'll recognize the player's style, they're still going to sound like whoever they are playing a Strat or a Les Paul or whatever.

[Guitar slinger]

 

That's true about feel but' date=' if the only thing that mattered was the player, none of us would be obsessing over pickups, amps and all the other trappings of playing electric guitar and Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and a lot of other great guitar players wouldn't have switched from Telecasters to Les Pauls and to Strats and whatever else those guys played. They must have had some reason for grabbing different guitars, often times in the middle of a show for certain songs, and nobody is ever going to convince me that if you put a Strat in Page's hands and then had him play a Les Paul that they're going to sound the same. This isn't directed at you personally, but I think the "it's all in the hands" argument is largely BS; different guitars sound different and, while you'll recognize the player's [i']style[/i], they're still going to sound like whoever they are playing a Strat or a Les Paul or whatever.

 

You do realize that he recorder many many songs with a tele, don't you?

[Guitarooster52]

No shortage of opinions here so I'll throw my .02 in as well. Given the choice of only guitar or amp which was your question, my answer would be the amp. I've heard very good guitars sound terrible in a bad amp and I've heard cheap guitars sound great in a good amp.