Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

[JeffB]

I've been noticing lately that as I've gotten older, I've come to dislike a great many things (gear/sound related) I used to swear by, or have become much moreso exclusive to some pieces of gear than I used to...how has your gear/tone evolved?

E.G.s

1) PUPS: In my younger days, the hotter the pup the better...I couldn't get enough gain out of anything back then. I loved Custom's, JB"s and DD's. I would always swap out pups in my guitars for something "crunchier". NOwadays however, I can't stand a "hot" pickup...HB or Single Coil. I'm much more interested in PAF style tones..59's, BB's, Seth's etc. I still like Customs as they retain some PAF-ish tone, but it's no longer my first choice in humbuckers, and JBs and DD's are flat out never even considered.

2) The Marshall Sound. For years I chased the "perfect" Marshall tone. I kept making my way back through older and older amps/rack mount preamps/poweramps until I found my 1987X reissue. Great amp. Classic 70's Marshall sounds. I didn't really care alot for 800's, 900's, etc, and the new stuff is ho-hum at best (IMO of course). Again, nowadays, I'm getting darn near "sick" of the Marshall sound. Whether it's an actuall Marshall, a modded Marshall or any of the Boutique amps that are basically modded Marshalls (VHT, Bogner, ENGL, Soldano, Rivera, etc). I still LOVE to hear those sounds on recordings, but when I play through a Marshall/esque amp these days it is kind of boring. The tone & dynamics are just not there for me anymore. I switched over to a MESA about 4 months ago, and am totally zoning in on "my own sound"..something I never really did..I was always chasing the eleusive perfect Marhsall sound instead finding my own. I sure as hell never thot I'd buy (a MESA). Strange.

3) Guitars. I was heavy into Gibsons for many years. Especially when they weren't cool and everyone bought super-strats from Ibanez/Jackson/Charvel, etc. Then thanks to Slash and others in a revival of classic rock tones, I kinda drifted away from Gibsons..and went to Fender Strats that I dropped full size buckers in. After not playing for several years, I went right back to Strats/Super_Strats, and was just not happy totally..It got to the point where I was actually preferring a totally stock strat and hating the HB equipped supers. I still love the tones of a stock strat but the "connection" with the instrument is missing. Now I'm back to Les Pauls and "everything is right with the world"..great tone is there..the right feel is there.

4) Distortion. Related to #s 1 & 2. I find myself going for less and less gain than I used to use. I usually get more inspired with a great medium crunch tone (think late 70's Thin Lizzy, Ritchie Blackmore or Peter Frampton) than I do with the pups soaked. I still use and like higher gain, but the kind of gain amps are capable of these days is just totally uneccessary or desired by me. I used to think 800s didnt have enough gain at all. Now they are just about perfect for the max amount of gain I like to use (though the voicing is not my cup of tea).

5) Effects. When I was young I went through a "bought every pedal BOSS made", phase then starting hitting all the rackmount stuff with my Marshall/ADA preamps rack setups. Then eventually back to a handful of pedals as I prefer the sound before the amp vs. in a loop (barring a delay). Nowadays I hardly EVER plug in my pedals or use the built in ones on the modelers I have. Maybe a little reverb...sometimes a fairly slow delay time with lotsa repeats for heavy melodic leads (like say Parisienne Walkways or Still in Love with You), and once in a blue moon I'll uses the Leslie simulations for Frampton type sound. But 99% of the time it's jes a guitar into an amp..with a very very slight amount of reverb or dry.


Am I just getting old ? (well of course...but )

Do others experience this as well?

 

[FenderStratRock3]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

First off, I'm new here, this is my first post...so hi everyone!



For guitars, I've always liked strats (hence the screen name!). I think I've changed the most with tone/amps. When I first started playing, it was all clean, didn't even thinking about going to second channel on my Princeton 65. Now, after going through a couple more amps after that to get to the Fender Blues Jr. I have now, I kinda like overdriven stuff a little more. Not real high-gain, kinda smooth stuff (think SRV, or as close as you can get to with a Boss SD-1, a Blues Junior and an American Strat ). I guess it has to do with personal taste and your ears developing. You like different music as you go along, and also your ears become more accustomed to "good tone" and "bad tone," which is obviously subjective.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I definitely hear ya

I started out thinking the Gibson Les Paul was going to be "the end" for me. I swore by the Ibanez Tube Screamer I had and played through my grandfather's Vibrolux Reverb. I wanted a Marshall and I thought something like the JCM 2000, 900 or 800 would work for me. The very first guitar I had was a MIM Fender Strat and I thought the thing was complete crap and sold it.

Years later, I find I just can't get along with Gibson Les Pauls. Too thick and too muddy for my taste. I used weak output humbuckers and grew tired of them. Switched to a strat! Love single coils, especially ones wound in the 7-9 ohm range, and I do love a humbucker in the bridge. Within the past month or so, I've realized just how much I love p90s (something I thought was "weak" before). For cleans, I prefer the fuller, thicker, and chimier tone of Vox amps more than Fender. I still love Marshalls, but I love the thick, smooth sound of the JTM-45s and Mk II JMP Plexi's the most instead of the more modern, higher gain JCM stuff.

In my head, I know now that I like jangly cleans, crunchy distortion and smooth leads. In the past, I wasn't sure what I really wanted or what would get me there, but I've pretty much got it now: U2 clean rhythm, Goo Goo Dolls crunchy rhythm, Robben Ford type singing lead and couldn't be happier.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I dunno....I just had this "perfect" tone in my head when I started out, and after like 10 years or so I actually got close enough to stop looking unless something blows me away (which hasn´t happened in about 5 years)....so at this point, I´m still set

I have noticed that I´m starting to use a bit clearer tones, though....

 

[Tony_H]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I'm experiencing shifting taste too, though it's a bit different from you. I don't think that I consider any of my former tones or equipment wrong. I was basically trying for the best that I could afford at various points in time.

I started with a funky guitar (I still have that one), a lousy home-made Dist pedal and an even lousier home-made combo (an old radio cabinet with a 5W power section and an ugly, 5-ohm 8" speaker). The dist was always on and I could get any tone - I was all about the guitar's volume knob, and the guitar could go from cello-like sustain to piercing twang.

Then I got a real Les Paul and a two-channel amp, and for a time it was just the clean channel OR the dirty channel. I got a tremolo pedal but that was it. I learned that lower gain worked best for me, and that a clean tone is the most dynamic.

Then the amp got stolen and I got a single-channel amp again. Back to the volume knob... just the amp and the tremolo pedal - for a few years I took pride in not even using an OD pedal.

Then all hell broke loose. I started buying pedals and guitars, then I had to sell some of those (including that Les Paul that took me a year of saving to buy ... oh well). Then I bought some more guitars and pedals, and sold some others and so forth.

The tones that I hear from my band's old demos and live records are fairly similar to those I go for today. Sometimes I think I sounded better back then although I probably have some better equipment now.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I started out playing a Hagstrom thru a Reverbarocket! I eventually replace my Hagstrom with a Jaguar, which was stolen and I replaced it with a '69 SG Standard. The SG's tone was so much better that I felt I needed a new Amp to compliment it. I bought a Vibrolux. That was my Rig until I blew up the Vibrolux. I then bought an Ampeg Amp. I used the Ampeg and the SG for a few years (Until I stopped playing out). I then Bought my first Strat in 1987. I also bought a Jazz Chorus Amp to go with the Strat. I did not care for that sound and eventually bought a 1969 Super Reverb. After I bought the Super I needed something that was going to give me some more edge than I was getting, so I bought a Marshall 900. I am still using the 900 A/B'd with the Super reverb. I have also added a lot of other guitars, and they all work well with this combination of Amps. As far as PUPS go I have only replace PUPS in one of my Strats. I think all of my guitars sound fine the way they are.... Stock... I have one Custom made guitar that is essentially a thinline TELE and this has a '59 in the bridge, and a Jazz in the Neck. It sounds great and I see no reason to change. As far as effects go.... I only use Chorus and Delay. I use A DD3 in my SR along with a CE3 and a tubescreamer modded by Stratdeluxe97. This works real well. In the Marshall I have a DOD TR3 which has chorus, Delay and OD. I never use the OD (I don't need any more the 900 gives me more than I really need). I also have a vintage Crybaby. That is all I really use. I do not put a big focus on adding a lot more gear. Although I will probably buy a Deluxe Reverb, and a Bogner Shiva at some time in the future.! It all about playing great music

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

For me, it's just gone in cycles, and has been dependent on what musical situation I'm in, and what the singer or band sounds like. I'll chart it out and make it easier to read.

84-87. JB through any cheap guitar I could afford. Ozzy/Maiden type guitar tone.

87-90 JB or Custom VH type frankenstrats into Marshall Jubilee. VH/Wylde type tone.

91-95 Shifted away from metal into Aerosmith/Crowes type sound with LP's/PRS JB-59.
Marshall JMP-1/Mesa 295 Rack

95-99 Moved into Strats, Fat 50's and stock McCarties. Straight blues/bluesrock
Endorsed by Blues Pearl (Fender boutique copies, like Victoria)

99-2002 Songoriented Rock ala Train/Matchbox/U2/Audioslave. Les Pauls C-5/59
Marshall, Matchless.......just purchased Bogner

2003-2005 Getting back into instrumental and blues with LP's, Strats, HSS, McCarties
Starting to favor purely vintage spec pickups like Seths, 59's, EVH, Surfers
Staying with Bogner and Matchless.

 

[colz10]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

welcome fenderstratrock3. I think my taste has changed a lot, and consequently my preference of gear and tone. at first i only listened to stuff like SOAD. i regret it very much but... At this time i just wanted a big amp, preferably marshall(i didn't even know about tube amps, so i'm talking like MG line). I was also into modeling pedals and lots of distortion. i also hated fender cuz i thought it was like squier unless you pay A LOT. soon that changed to classic metal like old metallica and iron maiden. I needed a less gritty distortion. Then as i moved into classic rock, i also learned to improvise. I began looking for my own tone. Quencho, who taught me to improvise taught me about tube amps, and FENDER.... oh how sweet it is(and i learned that my former opinion of fender was even more accurate for gibson). now i'm more into blues,jazz, and still classic rock( of course some metal too, but tasteful classic metal). I know what good tone really is, like SRV's and others. Learned to get cleans, stay away from modeling amps and go for simpler, like ds-1. and i also learned what really makes a guitar good, like wood, pickups, etc., not it's looks or how it can distort.
seems like i progressed as i went back in time throught music... he knew.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I think it's a natural thing for a guitarist to go through when he/she has been exposed to so many tones. I know I've gone through that many times. It's pretty fun never knowing where you and your tone are going to end up!

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I started off listening to shred/guitar intensive metal. I wanted a guitar with a Floyd, 1 bridge pickup, and a reverse headstock. I thought drop D tuning (and lower) was stupid. I got into grunge/alternative, then rap-metal/numetal.

Now I listen to shred/guitar intensive metal, play guitars with 1 pickup and Floyds, tuned to drop D or lower

 

[pac112]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

i'm still too "young" as a guitarist to post about my quest for the ultimate tone.

 

[kevlar3000]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

There was a time not too may years that 3 channels-FX loop were a must for me. I now play old non master heads pretty much exclusively. My newest amp is an 85 ( Da Plexi RI is gone )Laney Pro Tube the rest range from the early 60s to early 70s stuff. With a boost pedal and a guitar volume knob I have all the channels I could ever need, in a much more open tonal place. Hi gain is now lost on me, I like clarity with sustain and the roar of a wide open amp. I feel pretty liberated, all those needs were like driving a new fancy schmancy car with tons of gizmos. I gots tons of old muscle cars now, I just turn em up and hit you in the gut with em.

As far as pickups the lower output the better, 8.3 is about all can stand now!! lol 250k pots, Teles and Strats..... I did just snatch up an epi 67 RI V though.

 

[muttonchopsrule]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

my first serious amp i owned was my line6 flextone. for the first little while of owning it, i messed around with the "insane" model and the dual recto model, with the gain up ridiculously high. i played on a squier strat that had some dimarzio single-coil sized 'buckers in the bridge. (one thing i did pick up on pretty early was my distaste of single coils). the more gain i could get, the better. this was back when i thought marshalls were the worst amps ever, and tube amps in general were a waste of money.

i still prefer humbuckers on the hotter side, as you can see by having a JB in both my main guitars. i don't use nearly as much gain anymore, because i realized that it sounds much more clear and it suits my style better. and even though i play with my gain at about 6, i still like hotter pickups...i guess i just like knowing that i can dial in more gain even if i don't need it. after owning my rec, i refuse to play through any solid state amps (practice amps excluded), and i'm seriously opposed to modeling amps. my recently aquired taste for EL34's has made me want to try some old marshalls (jcm800's, plexis). but unfortunately i haven't had the chance yet.

i've also developed a taste for mahogany-bodied guitars with dual 'buckers. quite a difference from my first axe (a squier strat).

even though i'm still really young, my taste in gear has done pretty much a complete 180. interesting.

 

[Kac]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

Guitarwise: 1st electric was a plywood Peavey Raptor S/S/S made in Korea
Now I have 2 alder MIM Fender Fat Strats with Gibson Humbuckers.

Amps: I've owned a lot of solid state amps from very small to large half-stacks
Now I have a Fender HRD and I'm in love with tube tone.

Strings: Used to only use Ernie Ball Slinky's, now I only use Fender Super Bullets

Effects: I had a digitech multi-effects processor, got rid of it for a bunch of BOSS pedals....
Now I hate: SD Pup Booster => Fender Stage Tuner => Dunlop High Gain Volume => Crybaby Wah => Pro Co RAT distortion... :13:


Rock On :smoker:

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

Used to have Hetfeild syndrome: Scooped mids, too much bass, peircing highs.

I found my mid control . I still like hot pickups, but I dislike OD pedals.

My tone, instead of being scooped, buzzy, and unfocused like it used to be, is now like an EVH tone on crack, with 6L6's and more presence.

 

[stratovarius]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

First guitar:My brothers Custom RR1 with EMG's, thought it was god
Guitar now: My LP Black Beauty with a JB. EMG's sound fake and cold.

First tone: I played my first show with my band Seraphim with a Peavey Monitor amp which isnt even a guitar amp and running a Metal Master and a MultiChorus for leads. I thought it rocked
Tone Now:LP-fasel wah-Hughes and Kettner Attax 100. Simple and sounds KILLER and thumps like a mother.

I hate pedals, i hate messing with em, I hate them coloring my sound. At the most i would add a delay pedal for our shows now. Just to sweeten solo's a little.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

Although my gear has changed dramatically, my tone has essentially stayed the same for the last 12 years.

All my gear purchases have basically given me higher and higher quality versions of the sound I already had.

The only real change to my sound was when I switced from solid state to tube.....it was the first time I had real overdrive available to me, which I've integrated into my "clean" tone pretty heavily.

 

[DeadSkinSlayer3]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

First guitar:My brothers Custom RR1 with EMG's

Your FIRST guitar was a RR1? That's one of my dream guitars. :saeek:

 

[ex-250]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

i used to want every single peice of gear hetfield used :laugh2: then before i tried buying any of it i realized that would be rediculously expensive, and started listening to stuff other than Metallica anyway. im really really happy with my setup right now, does everything i want. the only changes ill be making anytime soon is a couple of new bridge pickups (for the gibson and bc rich)

 

[Destructone]

Re: Evolution of your gear/tone preferences through the years

I've been noticing lately that as I've gotten older, I've come to dislike a great many things (gear/sound related) I used to swear by, or have become much moreso exclusive to some pieces of gear than I used to...how has your gear/tone evolved?

E.G.s

1) PUPS: In my younger days, the hotter the pup the better...I couldn't get enough gain out of anything back then. I loved Custom's, JB"s and DD's. I would always swap out pups in my guitars for something "crunchier". NOwadays however, I can't stand a "hot" pickup...HB or Single Coil. I'm much more interested in PAF style tones..59's, BB's, Seth's etc. I still like Customs as they retain some PAF-ish tone, but it's no longer my first choice in humbuckers, and JBs and DD's are flat out never even considered.

2) The Marshall Sound. For years I chased the "perfect" Marshall tone. I kept making my way back through older and older amps/rack mount preamps/poweramps until I found my 1987X reissue. Great amp. Classic 70's Marshall sounds. I didn't really care alot for 800's, 900's, etc, and the new stuff is ho-hum at best (IMO of course). Again, nowadays, I'm getting darn near "sick" of the Marshall sound. Whether it's an actuall Marshall, a modded Marshall or any of the Boutique amps that are basically modded Marshalls (VHT, Bogner, ENGL, Soldano, Rivera, etc). I still LOVE to hear those sounds on recordings, but when I play through a Marshall/esque amp these days it is kind of boring. The tone & dynamics are just not there for me anymore. I switched over to a MESA about 4 months ago, and am totally zoning in on "my own sound"..something I never really did..I was always chasing the eleusive perfect Marhsall sound instead finding my own. I sure as hell never thot I'd buy (a MESA). Strange.

3) Guitars. I was heavy into Gibsons for many years. Especially when they weren't cool and everyone bought super-strats from Ibanez/Jackson/Charvel, etc. Then thanks to Slash and others in a revival of classic rock tones, I kinda drifted away from Gibsons..and went to Fender Strats that I dropped full size buckers in. After not playing for several years, I went right back to Strats/Super_Strats, and was just not happy totally..It got to the point where I was actually preferring a totally stock strat and hating the HB equipped supers. I still love the tones of a stock strat but the "connection" with the instrument is missing. Now I'm back to Les Pauls and "everything is right with the world"..great tone is there..the right feel is there.

4) Distortion. Related to #s 1 & 2. I find myself going for less and less gain than I used to use. I usually get more inspired with a great medium crunch tone (think late 70's Thin Lizzy, Ritchie Blackmore or Peter Frampton) than I do with the pups soaked. I still use and like higher gain, but the kind of gain amps are capable of these days is just totally uneccessary or desired by me. I used to think 800s didnt have enough gain at all. Now they are just about perfect for the max amount of gain I like to use (though the voicing is not my cup of tea).

5) Effects. When I was young I went through a "bought every pedal BOSS made", phase then starting hitting all the rackmount stuff with my Marshall/ADA preamps rack setups. Then eventually back to a handful of pedals as I prefer the sound before the amp vs. in a loop (barring a delay). Nowadays I hardly EVER plug in my pedals or use the built in ones on the modelers I have. Maybe a little reverb...sometimes a fairly slow delay time with lotsa repeats for heavy melodic leads (like say Parisienne Walkways or Still in Love with You), and once in a blue moon I'll uses the Leslie simulations for Frampton type sound. But 99% of the time it's jes a guitar into an amp..with a very very slight amount of reverb or dry.


Am I just getting old ? (well of course...but )

Do others experience this as well?

sounds like you got the "Metallica Syndrome"!!! :dance: :laugh2: :burnout: