guitar_randy Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 I think that's more of an issue of playing style' date=' 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.[/quote'] i agree.And I think if it was entirely the hands ,you could save alot of $ and buy a walmart guitar instead of couple grand for a Gibson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_randy Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 498t pickups=poor tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CannaJ Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Tone comes from your body' date=' hands, guitar, amp, placement of amp, and strings. Simple stuff to consider, now add a effects loop with a slew of pedals...... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh[/quote'] dont forget about the pick you use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRV-Zeppelin Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Hands down the guitar. Eric Clapton recorded "Layla" through a 60s 5-watt Fender jr. amp, but he had a kick-*** guitar. Case in point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRV-Zeppelin Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Turning the knobs on the guitar would be part of the playing wouldn't it? Seems to me adjusting the amp is part of the playing too. It's all part of getting the tone you hear in your head. Why can 10 guys sound different through the same Marshall' date=' Fender, whatever, setup? Because the tone comes from the player (or knob twiddler if you prefer). [/quote'] +1 I love knob-twiddling!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MReynolds Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 And to give an really stark example' date=' there is no way that this sounds like Jimmy Page playing a Les Paul. White Summer/Black Mountain Side And which guitar was that?.... Pssst....a Danelectro...Page's favorites being the 3021, which was later reissued as the 59-DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MReynolds Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Yes. You do realize that's my point' date=' don't you? For an example, listen to the solo in "Stairway to Heaven" on Zoso; it sounds like Jimmy Page playing a Tele. Why didn't he use a Les Paul for that solo? Because he wanted the sound of a Tele.[/quote'] What's a real hoot is he used the '58 Tele to record "Stairway.." then used the EDS-1275 for the onstage version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 498t pickups=poor tone +1 I find the high output pups to be tone suckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eracer_Team Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I'm certain that this will make anyone and any rig sound great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stymye Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 tone is created by....... Player - Guitar - Amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 tone is created by....... Player - Guitar - Amp. That about sums it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esch Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 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'] +1 Obviously the guitar itself is critical to the equation but if you need to cheat, the amp is "more important" IMHO. The only problem here is you're stuck playing a shitty guitar with bad intonation, action,etc. through a great amp. That is no fun!! But you don't need to - you can buy a great guitar plus a cheap low powered tube amp and have the best of both worlds. If you are considering a purchase you could do what I did. For example: Buy an Epiphone Valve Junior (not a bad amp to begin with) and send it off to randy bemis at bemis amplification, for him to rebuild: email him at randy@bemisamps.com or call 619-248-2362. He basically rips the Valve Junior apart and rebuilds it with better components and does some other stuff - whatever hocus-pocus he did on it worked. Randy is not the only guy who will customize small low power tube amps for you, there are many others on the net just check it out. PS...IMHO if great tone is what you desire, you can forget about solid state.. that should narrow your shopping list down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarooster52 Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 That's exactly it' date=' Bram. You grab the right tool for the job. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm ranting but, dammit, if some people don't think that different guitars will sound different in the hands of a given guitar player, why the **** did they spend all that money on a Gibson in the first place? If "it's all in the hands," they should have saved themselves a bundle of money and bought some POS guitar at Walmart because they obviously don't appreciate the difference that a Gibson guitar makes. Okay, the POS Walmart guitar won't feel the same, but your audience doesn't know any better and, apparently, neither do these guys.[/quote'] Amen! I'm happy to say that my LP sounds like I think an LP should sound like, but what I appreciate more is the feel of the LP. I like the different sounds of the Fenders and others that I have, but when I pickup the LP, I just think to myself...I don't know why I play anything else?! ...then I actually hear what they sound like in my hands, and think I should sell all guitars and play the spoons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynadude Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Tone comes from your ability to translate your feelings into your guitar. If you don't feel it, it won't sound good. You need to express yourself through the music. If you just mimic others, it will sound sterile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 ... Okay, the thread is just about run down in ways, but... I think "good tone" has a lot to do with a degree of player comfort and skill matching what style is being played and with whatever the combination of electronics has to offer. For example, I've a hunch that the old Jazz greats would have sounded good on an LP or SG with a good amp whether tube or digital. Django played acoustic at first on what I think sounds odd, even for the un-amped cabaret style; then later electric. Which was better? I think he played a bit differently. Strings, neck, "feel" of an instrument are important to "player comfort." A good quality guitar will probably feel better than a bad one. Personally, I'd rather have to play a miked classical guitar for a gig than a tele because a decent quality classical neck feels better to me than a tele. I guarantee I'll sound better because I think more like a piano than a horn. (Hmmmm. Which horn sounds better, a sax or a trumpet?) But then, if I hadda play a tele, I'd play it with a variation of what I "do" on a guitar largely because of the neck even more than the "tone" settings on guitar, stomp box(es) and amp. Hell, fancy amps nowadays can bend the tone about any which way. A poor player still sounds bad and a good player still sounds good. Nobody mentioned much about strings, but face it, even a beautiful old 20s or 30s Gibson F hole with extra heavy strings can be a bear to play. Does it have better "tone" than a more "medium" strung hollow electric, e.g. ES175? Segovia used to say that the guitar is an entire orchestra because of the different tones that might be coaxed from it, depending on one's technique. I'd say that's a lesson perhaps independently rediscovered by generations of talented and skilled rock, blues, country and jazz guitarists as well. Tone comes from the player. A guitar, string, style, amp and other electronic gadgets all are tools to impart the player's efforts to reach a tone he or she finds pleasing for his or her style. A quality combination probably will offer the better tools toward that end with greater player relaxation and better sound. But the talented guitarist, I firmly believe, will find something that works regardless of price tag simply because he or she is driven to to find it. If Gibson forced me to play "my thing" on an SG or LP and modeling amp, I'd make the best of it with what skill I have for the type of stuff I like to play. But I'd prefer an ES175 and a tube amp - maybe a Leslie on occasion to pretend that the guitar really is a B3 Hammond. I prefer a certain type of strings and setup. I don't care if I sound like the guitarist of the week. I like the tone I get today, I know I'm likely to dislike it tomorrow. In fact, I think when I stop feeling that tone and technique are a moving target, I hope somebody starts shoveling dirt onto my obviously dead body. So... there. From an old guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sg-I Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 It comes from your fingers via your soul re-routed through your brain receiving input from your ears-tone is a state of mind, transient as the moment it is created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flight959 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I'm certain that this will make anyone and any rig sound great. =D> =D> Flight959 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankfurter Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 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'] Think of it; the amplifier/drivers shapes and increases the signal recieved from the guitar and its pick-ups. It does not create the original tone. A high quality amplifier will always make the signal sound more pleasing, but an inexpensive guitar and its pick-ups send to the amplifier what it has to work with. So like others have mentioned, a good guitar can sound weak through a inexpensive amp, but a inexpensive guitar will stay inexpensive sounding through a good amp. It only gets improved to a certain degree, never becomming anything sweet sounding as compared to a nice guitar in its place. As for the artists' tone, that is specific to each ones' abilities and techniques. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildperv Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 From the soul... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T50 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 I alway wonder.... : in a same setting with a same guitar, would the sound or tone change when played by a 200 lb guy and 100 lb girl? If different, then does body mass of the player dictates the tone up to certain degree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Tone comes from my ***. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfpup Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Tone comes from my ***. The bottom end anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Ah, the endless quest for tone... To go back to the original question I agree with RichCI, a cheap guitar through a Marshall will have better sound than an LP through a crappy amp. You know Robert Johnson started learning his playing by strumming wires he had nailed to the shack where he used to live...he did upgrade to a guitar in the first opportunity...my point is that yes a player will put his style no matter what the guitar but there are limits to this, I mean a super crappy guitar is a super crappy guitar.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Looking for that .. 'signature sound' .. is the holy grail quest of all guitar players. Of all musicians really, and although the equipment can be all the same, what gives us our uniqueness is our individual playing technique. When I hear the 'crunch' of a plexi and identify with it, I'm hooking into someone else's 'tone'. If I had the right equipment and copy their technique just right, I might come close and then be able to add it to my own repertoire. I believe that's the way it works, it all gets down to a player's technique. The summation of technical skills that are acquired through practice, study and inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Thinking about this and reading some of the post made me think Is it easier to get a good sound from a crappy guitar with a great amp? or Is it easier to get a good sound from a great guitar with a crappy amp? Will the great amp simply amplify the crappy guitar sound? or Will the crappy amp totally mess up what would be a great sounding guitar? I think it's easier to make a crappy guitar sound better thru a top notch amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.