Don't you feel swamped by all the tone options?

Markk

Markk

New member
What I mean, is that the amount of customization available to guitarists is through the roof and it sometimes seems like such a daunting task to find a sound you like. Take for example:

Strings
Pups (and then magnets, split, tap...)
Picks
Bridge pieces and tuners
Frets
Pots
Caps on the pots
Cables
Truebypass or not
(and just the amount of pedals in general)
Amp (and all the knobs available)
tubes
bias
speaker
microphone choice (if you go so far as to record or play live through the P.A.)


Whereas I get this feeling that other instruments (violin, sax, piano, accordion) don't have this 'problem'. They of course have their level of customization, but it's nowhere near how much a guitarist can have control over.

And then there's the issue of forever falling into a Quest for the Holy Tone...
 
Re: Don't you feel swamped by all the tone options?

Here's my approach for the above:
a lot of it involves trial and error. Experiment! Read reviews. ask questions. try stuff! When you find what you like, don't b afraid to embrace it. Try to figure out when you're getting new gear just because it's new.

Strings: must be bright and long-lasting. GHS boomers. Gauge: 10's on fender scale, 11's on shorter scale. I figure "one gauge up from whatever comes stock"

Pups (and then magnets, split, tap...)
My strat needs handwound pickups to avoid the ice pick. Went with klein after reading about him. So far so good.
The epiphone got a '59n and is getting a JB. It just came down to "what do I want to use this guitar for?" and that is "ROCK". the 59+JB is my take on the jazz+JB but with a warmer neck, for a guitar that's not the awesomest. Magnets? A2 in the neck. A5 was boomy. bridge? A5 baby. I like the stock JB.

Picks
My first couple of picks I ever got were some fender celluloid mediums. I occasionally use thins, or Dunlop Delrins. They all feel similar to me, so go with what you know.

Bridge pieces and tuners
Get a guitar with hardware you know you like.

Frets
Not railroad ties. None of that Dunlop 6100 stuff. Vintage, medium jumbo, it's all good. Play it and if it works, it works.

Pots
no-load on the strat bridge tone. it just makes sense, why chose between the "wide open" sound and the control of a tone pot?
A les paul for me now requiers 500Ks all around. The bite in the bridge is necessary but it can be tamed.

Caps on the pots
age old guidlines, start with .022 for buckers and .047 for singles. The work is done for me! try .1 on singles though, you get a pretty crazy tone on 0 or 1.

Cables
haven't experimented enough here. Right now it's just the cheap stuff that works.

Truebypass or not
screw true bypass. It just happens that all the pedal-makers I like understand the marketing, and so they all come with it anyways.

(and just the amount of pedals in general)
I get a pedal for every amp I wish I had but can't afford. Thus, a crunch box and a les lius. And, a BD-2 to boost them when necessary/

Amp (and all the knobs available)
Went for the clean tone I like best after trying a lot of things

tubes
Old stock tubes for tone shaping sections. 12ax7s last forever. New production power tubes. They... don't last forever. Tung-sol has a good 6V6 reputation.

bias
turn the light out and look at your tubes. Increase the bias until you see the *faintest* red glow. Stop, and dial it back some. Now play some chords and move it just a hair at a time and if you like what you hear, stop.

speaker
fill in what the amp and guitar lack, or accentuate what the guitar and amp do best.

microphone choice
SM57 is the standard right?
 
Re: Don't you feel swamped by all the tone options?

Yes. Overwhelmed.

I'm currently making a quick-swap connect device for my pickups..plan to have 3 or 4.

As for the amps, I can only thank vox for making not-too-expensive pedalboards that I actually like.

I like it all. and can not afford too much. So I have my Peavy XXX head for hi-gain and vox valvetronix w/ old Airline 6v6-based combo for everything else under the sun.

I just know I'm going to obligate myself to experiment with different tubes in my amps...but quite content for now.

After switching back and forth through the last 10 years I think I've finally settled at 9's strings but am starting to down-tune half step since I think I like the more relaxed sounds...so now I'm prolly going to go to 10 bottomes and 9 tops...*sigh*

...and I still consider myself pretty casual as far as the whole tone quest thing goes.
 
Re: Don't you feel swamped by all the tone options?

Eh, it's all fun to me. I know what I like but I also love being surprised and inspired by tones I wouldn't normally dial in myself. I never let it all bog me down and hinder my playing. That's just crazy.
 
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