Can you tell the difference?

[some_dude]

One is a mahogany guitar, the other is an alder guitar....can you tell the difference?

Sample 1

Sample 2

 

[big_black]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I have always been of the opinion that tone woods are very difficult at best to "pick out" by only their tone. Signal clipping makes it even harder. I would say clip #2.

What do I win?

 

[big_black]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I must admit though, the single coil hum in the first one kind of gives it away...

 

[kaknight]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

i think that I couldn't tell if you were playing a guitar or electrocuting a cat with that much distortion turned on (and even overloading your recording system too on top of that!)

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

i think that I couldn't tell if you were playing a guitar or electrocuting a cat with that much distortion turned on (and even overloading your recording system too on top of that!)

agreed. You should done them clean or at least with a natural overdrive.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I must admit though, the single coil hum in the first one kind of gives it away...

Both guitars have humbuckers.

i think that I couldn't tell if you were playing a guitar or electrocuting a cat with that much distortion turned on (and even overloading your recording system too on top of that!)

agreed. You should done them clean or at least with a natural overdrive.

I agree, but they're not my clips....I had a hard time telling the tones apart on the first half of the clips, but if you listen to the second half of both clips, the two guitars do sound different....

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

You guys can't tell?????

Dear god, number 2 is brighter and clearer, Alder.

 

[Cory_Dylan]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

Hmm, I'm gonna have to call number 1. They're 2 completely different clips though. All that fake distortion is disturbing, like X said should have been clean or at least natural OD. The second clip is cleaner, I would expect alder to get a little more wild under that kind of distortion, like the first clip. It sounds to me like the first clip might have a bit of reverb, and the second doesn't. Maybe I'm just tired. I'm voting for 1..

those clips suck

 

[sosomething]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

For the record, one kind of wood isn't going to be any "wilder" under distortion than any other kind. Output is determined solely by the electronics!

The biggest difference I can tell between the two clips is that #1 has more lower-mids and high-end complexity, where #2 the mids shift up slightly and there is a narrower tonal range overall.

I'm not sure which is which. I prefer #1 - I know that much.

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

The clips are poor and the signals are highly processed.

#1 is more chewy, suggesting alder. However it has more mids, suggesting mahogany.

#2 is brighter, suggesting alder. However, it has a slightly deeper bass as well, which I associated with mahogany.


Overall I voted for #2 as being alder. The chewness can come from having more mids, as does the more boxed-in frequency profile. Need to have better clips though.

 

[Breaking the law]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

With my subwoofer and cheap satelite speakers, I couldn't tell the difference..
I votet for I dunno..
Still, I'd say no.2 is alder, just to check out how my mojo is doing..

:laugh2: Don't tell me they were both the same geetar!

 

[HamerPlyr]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I mean no offense sd, but asking someone to determine the type of wood used in a clip is absurd IMO, no matter the distortion or anything else. There are too many other variables that come into play (p'ups, effects, the amp, the tubes in the amp, the speaker in the amp, the type of enclosure, and so on, and so on).

You can certainly hear the differences in woods, but there are variations even in guitars that are identical in construction. One ash guitar may be much brighter than another otherwise identical ash guitar, for example.

I think that the idea is that the individual should start with the tone that they are trying to achieve and change things in the chain until they achieve what they are looking for.

 

[B2D]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

Assuming all things are equal I'm gonna have to say #1 is alder. Listening through a pair of good Altec-Lansings and a sub the first clip sounded a little more crunchy on the high end of things, which I normally associate with alder. Assuming the other guitar is ALL mahogany without a maple cap or things like that it sounded a little less defined on the high end but the bass was a tad fatter.

Of course there's a LOT of unknown variables here but just assuming all things are equal I call #1.

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

i think that I couldn't tell if you were playing a guitar or electrocuting a cat with that much distortion turned on (and even overloading your recording system too on top of that!)

Agreed it wld have been nice if the clips were clean and yes If distortion was needed kinda a light. I voted for 1

 

[diggamark]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

2 is way brighter... I'm going with 1 as alder too...

 

[benji657]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

Assuming all things are equal I'm gonna have to say #1 is alder. Listening through a pair of good Altec-Lansings and a sub the first clip sounded a little more crunchy on the high end of things, which I normally associate with alder. Assuming the other guitar is ALL mahogany without a maple cap or things like that it sounded a little less defined on the high end but the bass was a tad fatter.

Of course there's a LOT of unknown variables here but just assuming all things are equal I call #1.

yup, that's what i think too..but its quite hard to distinguish between those two since they are piled with distortion...and i was using a pair of altec lansings through creative speakers..

benji

 

[MattPete]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

You guys can't tell?????

Dear god, number 2 is brighter and clearer, Alder.

Assuming they have the same pickups, #2 is alder. It's especially evident at the end of the cllips.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I mean no offense sd, but asking someone to determine the type of wood used in a clip is absurd IMO, no matter the distortion or anything else. There are too many other variables that come into play (p'ups, effects, the amp, the tubes in the amp, the speaker in the amp, the type of enclosure, and so on, and so on).

Two different guitars, same pickups, same amp, same settings, same enclosure...the only thing that should really vary is the playing technique, and I don't think that should make a huge difference to the end result, though it will make it much less scientific.

You can certainly hear the differences in woods, but there are variations even in guitars that are identical in construction. One ash guitar may be much brighter than another otherwise identical ash guitar, for example.

I think that the idea is that the individual should start with the tone that they are trying to achieve and change things in the chain until they achieve what they are looking for.

There's a point to this thread, and I'll say what it is tonite, once more people have had a chance to sample....

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

I think it's a mistake to put to much stock in tests where a reviewer tests two differant guitars through the same amp with the same settings because those settings always favor one guitar over the other. Usually it's the first guitar the user plugged in because that's the one he tweaked the amp's settings for.

Lew

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: Can you tell the difference?

It's also possible that its' the same guitar with different EQ settings. :wizard: