Describe your tone

B Bent

Vibroluxologist
I thought this would be a cool thread. If you had to compare your tone to any well-known guitarist who would it be?

I would have to say mine changes depending on my mood. I can go anywhere from Warren Haynes to The Edge back to Jimi Hendrix. What about you?
 
Re: Describe your tone

Thin and buzzy! I need a tube amp - my current setup is for practise... which I guess is most of what I do.

Great idea btw, B Bent

Edit: Hmm, maybe I should post what I want my tone to be like, lol. Aggressive/cutting yet smooth/buttery
 
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Re: Describe your tone

my sound.. depends on my mood actually..

sometimes is the riff tone Treshold have on Freaks..sometimes it's the cutting sound of Dragonforce.. or Iron maiden... a lot actually.. i'm moody.. what can i say

but the one i got now.. well, i'd describe it closer to a double rectifier kind of thing..only more suck and buzz.. and not as defined
 
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Re: Describe your tone

B Bent said:
I would have to say mine changes depending on my mood.

+1
This is why I'm going to buy a full set of new SD Pickups for my strat soon... I NEED versatility... but my ground tone is somewhere between Fu Manchu & the Kinks ;)
 
Re: Describe your tone

I guess my tone is sort of "warm" but not "hard" and definitely not "brittle" but at the same time it's sort of "cold." :laugh2:

Tone descriptor words are hilarious.
 
Re: Describe your tone

Hmmm...

For high gain..the ultimate tone that I go for is Gary Moore's sound on his Live blues video "an evening of the blues " ( or somethin like that...lost the vid...the one at Hammersmith on the SGTB tour). He used a Soldano and his 59 Paul. My high gain sound is very similar but a little too compressed for my tastes. Hence why I want a Soldano (or VHT).

My Crunch tone would be closest to a cross between Brian Robertson and Peter Frampton. Same basic raw and fat Plexi/LP tone as Frampton but a bit tighter in the lows with a bit more gain like Robertson.

I can get close enough to the crunch tone on my MESA, but it just doesnt have the high mids and sparkle for the high gain tone. It has it's own very cool MK-ish sound that I love though. I was gonna get it modded for EL34's and some other tweaks to get it closer to that ultimate tone I'm looking for, but unfortunately it has to go...way too loud for my new place :(
 
Re: Describe your tone

My goal (I keep getting closer with every twist of a knob or pickup swap) is a cross between Carcass and Iron Maiden. Basically, the eq settings of classic 80's metal, but with more gain.
 
Re: Describe your tone

I'd say my tone ranges from:

Crunch - Free thru AC/DC
OD - Classic Kiss
Dist/Harder - Tesla Thru GNR, and some other 80's sounds like Great White, Dokken, ect.

I don't play much harder stuff than that. I think I've taylored my tone that way, because that's they music I like, and learned to play. I use mainly APH buckers, or A2 mag in most of my gear, and my amp is a heavily modded JCM 800.

I like thick, crunchy but not brittle bridge position, and smooth singing neck tone leads ala Slash.
 
Re: Describe your tone

My tone is pretty close to Metallicas Ride the lighting album and Master of puppets album
 
Re: Describe your tone

My tone is "crap".

:laugh2:

Nah... it's alright :D

Erm, I like my gainy tone to be a little bit aggressive, but not harsh. I know harsh is different to different people, but I like to avoid scratchy sounds while still keeping it kinda in your face.

My clean tone I like to be either hendrixey, or just a standard plummy neck hb sound.

I have a tendancy however, to make any guitar sound "small" when I play lead. I really really really don't get it. Like I took my guitar to my guitar teachers once after I swapped pups out for duncans, and showed him how it sounded. Then he played it, and it sounded fatter when he played it :smack: !!!!!!
 
Re: Describe your tone

nuntius said:
I have a tendancy however, to make any guitar sound "small" when I play lead. I really really really don't get it. Like I took my guitar to my guitar teachers once after I swapped pups out for duncans, and showed him how it sounded. Then he played it, and it sounded fatter when he played it :smack: !!!!!!

it's those weak skinny fingers of yours..


























:D:D j/k
 
Re: Describe your tone

The HARD tone I go for and like is John Christ's tone off of the Danzig II album. I'm a dialing that sucker in. :)

For my BLUES tone. I would like and am trying to get a Mato Nanji. That dude is good though. Especially in concert.
 
Re: Describe your tone

Clear, but full of tubey gain. Usually, I crank my Ibanez Tube King up until I can palm mute on the higher unwound strings and not have them sound like a chicken clucking. I like a lot of mids too. I always liked the tone on In Flames' album The Jester Race. I guess I shoot for that when I play heavy. Call me crazy, but I also like the tone on Metallica's black album. Very tubey.
 
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Re: Describe your tone

Fat and warm, with moderate gain, trebs rolled off early weezer style, its a total rhythm tone, deff not for leads.
 
Re: Describe your tone

Wow what a question!!!

Like I've said before, I have a core tone that consists of my amp, and pedals, pup booster and right now a BP-8 is in the mix. So each guitar is a variation of the core tone. It's really hard to describe b/c so few people have have heard a Dr. Z before and have used his crazy tone stacks.


In the general sense it is think with lots of mids and not too bassy. It has enough top end to cut through.

With my Heritage it's thick like Slash's, but not as syrupy, with low end crunch.

With my Strat it has an articulate, yet smooth quality kind of like Yngwie, but a bit more growl to the low end and smoothness in the high end.

With my Tele it's....uhhhh crunchy with much less high mids. My tele sounds almost wrong through this setup.

With my Godin it sounds much more chunky, and darker than my Heritage b/c it has no maple top and a bolt on neck makes it crisper.

With my ES it sounds like the Black Crowes on steroids and heroin.

Luke
 
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Re: Describe your tone

For most of the 25 years I've played, my benchmark tone could best be described as Santana meets EVH: sweet and saturated but with an aggressive edge.

My current band is a roots rock group so I've been going more for the 400 lb. cello tone as of late.
 
Re: Describe your tone

Hmm... the best way I could describe my tone is: "A deranged clown wielding an ice pick while being swarmed by mosquitoes under a wet blanket" yeah.. it's THAT bad.. I need a real amp.
 
Re: Describe your tone

People tell me my humbucker tone is kind of a cross between Eric Clapton with Cream and Jeff Beck on the Truth album. That's fine with me...those two guys are a huge influence on my playing.

My Stratocaster tone is usually cleaner. Like the tone SRV gets on Lenny or Hendrix got on Little Wing. I'm a big R & B and Blues fan so Curtis Mayfield is a big influenece as is Buddy Guy's 60's blues tone back when he played a 50's Strat and either a tweed Bassman or Super Reverb.

Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix would be the two guys who made me want to play a Strat.

My Tele tone is not much differant than my Strat tone, though I do get into a little of the Roy Buchanan thing when I pick up my Tele. I love that tone he got on the first two Polydor albums and his tone on Haunted House and the Messiah Will Come Again.
 
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