Seriously, no joke.
- Thread starter Demanic
- Start date
LLL
New member
What is the fascination with, how shall I put it, smooth, creamy, round, buttery, thick tones?
I mean, I just don't get it. Jangly, twangy, cutting, percussive, raunchy, sizzling, searing.
That I get.
What is it that I'm missing?
Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
Try soloing sometime.
Typically those adjectives you used (buttery, etc) fit perfectly with a righteous guitar solo tone.
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Gtrjunior
New member
From what I’ve read , what Ed was describing as a “brown sound” was Alex’s snare drum sound.
Of course, it’s not 100% known from what I understand.
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
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I like both... I want my bridge pickup to be twangy, cutting, percussive, raunchy, sizzling and searing for rhythms but fluid, articulate and howling for leads.
I want my neck pickup to be warm, transparent, and articulated by also fat, round, buttery and thick.
Tone pot and right amps get me there, the pickups are just one link in the chain. I can't live in 1 tonal zone. I need diversity.
HardisS
New member
You sad perfect, bro. I think the same
Lewguitar
New member
It does seem like the "kidz" are going for grinding super distorted tones guys like me are not interested in at all.
When I want to listen to a review of a new amp or new speaker or new guitar or new pedal, and I go online and listen to the reviews, the tones these guys tend to dial in are just horrible.
Lots of what I think of as Death Metal. All two note chords.
Lots of super distorted "diddily diddliy wee-e-e-e-e-eeeee...." lead tones.
Tones I never hear on the radio and certainly never hear in the music I listen too.
I like Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Andy Timmons...but that's about as much overdrive as I like to use.
When I watch these kidz review their new EVH 5150 or Warehouse speaker they use twice as much diftortion as Eddie.
And it's not as if some of these kidz can't play. Some of them are fast as hell.
But their tones are horrible.
When I want to listen to a review of a new amp or new speaker or new guitar or new pedal, and I go online and listen to the reviews, the tones these guys tend to dial in are just horrible.
Lots of what I think of as Death Metal. All two note chords.
Lots of super distorted "diddily diddliy wee-e-e-e-e-eeeee...." lead tones.
Tones I never hear on the radio and certainly never hear in the music I listen too.
I like Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Andy Timmons...but that's about as much overdrive as I like to use.
When I watch these kidz review their new EVH 5150 or Warehouse speaker they use twice as much diftortion as Eddie.
And it's not as if some of these kidz can't play. Some of them are fast as hell.
But their tones are horrible.
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Lewguitar
New member
I only listen to the radio when I'm driving. Same as most folks.
Usually NPR, college town radio (Boulder and Fort Collins) and the local jazz station in Denver.
No talk radio tho...other than NPR.
Lewguitar
New member
Do you still buy CD's Artie? I stopped a couple of years ago. How do you save your favorite music? I have Amazon Music on my laptop. And I still have alot of vinyl and CD's.
Artie
Peaveyologist
I do. Flea-markets and pawn shops. People seem to think that CD's are dead. They forget that the music is still alive. I "rip" them to my computer, then transfer them to little memory cards.
I also have a huge vinyl collection. I almost own as many turntables as I do guitars. I'm into vintage audio as much as guitars. I have old Marantz, Pioneer, Sony, Luxman, etc., etc. I still have active cassette decks. Nakamichi and Sony, just to name two.
AllHailDIO
New member
Haha everyone taste is different as many have iterated
Warm & tubey tone is not my cup of tea either (with some exceptions: will mention below). Mainly because it's often associated with heavy compression... albeit many times its naturally occurring in a tube amp. Nevertheless, it can be too much compression, at least for my taste (sorry Slash or certain people who really like Dumble voiced overdrive pedals but use too much gain with them).
I like hearing the attack of my notes. The dynamic range between my notes. Everything from spanky or punchy to emotive and soft. I want it to sound like a guitar and not a flute or violin, if you know what I mean. However, that doesn't mean I like strident treble... A smooth top-end can be achieved without being "warm & tubey". In fact, Dumble is great with this at low gain. Also, Dumbles (and Tweeds too) are my favorite amps... to listen to because who has that type of money to own one? :laugh2:
One of my favorite guitarists of recent is Chris Buck. I love his tone. A perfect marriage of attack transients & dynamics and smooth top-end & fatness (but not necessarily warm & tubey). Very emotive and quite masterful IMO.
One of my favorite artists of all time is Andy Timmons (not necessarily what he has recorded back in the day... IDK if its his gear at the time, the sound engineers, or how it was mastered but it doesn't sound as good as say, when I hear him at clinics, more recent online lessons, etc). Even though Andy is definitely on the warmer side (though he does also love his stratty-like cleans and use of chords). His demo with Dimarzio was really something special - especially the bit where he's talking about Jeff Beck. That type of warmth, I can dig. Really beautiful playing.
Warm & tubey tone is not my cup of tea either (with some exceptions: will mention below). Mainly because it's often associated with heavy compression... albeit many times its naturally occurring in a tube amp. Nevertheless, it can be too much compression, at least for my taste (sorry Slash or certain people who really like Dumble voiced overdrive pedals but use too much gain with them).
I like hearing the attack of my notes. The dynamic range between my notes. Everything from spanky or punchy to emotive and soft. I want it to sound like a guitar and not a flute or violin, if you know what I mean. However, that doesn't mean I like strident treble... A smooth top-end can be achieved without being "warm & tubey". In fact, Dumble is great with this at low gain. Also, Dumbles (and Tweeds too) are my favorite amps... to listen to because who has that type of money to own one? :laugh2:
One of my favorite guitarists of recent is Chris Buck. I love his tone. A perfect marriage of attack transients & dynamics and smooth top-end & fatness (but not necessarily warm & tubey). Very emotive and quite masterful IMO.
One of my favorite artists of all time is Andy Timmons (not necessarily what he has recorded back in the day... IDK if its his gear at the time, the sound engineers, or how it was mastered but it doesn't sound as good as say, when I hear him at clinics, more recent online lessons, etc). Even though Andy is definitely on the warmer side (though he does also love his stratty-like cleans and use of chords). His demo with Dimarzio was really something special - especially the bit where he's talking about Jeff Beck. That type of warmth, I can dig. Really beautiful playing.
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Lewguitar
New member
Guitar tone/pickup guys, are just as "bad" as wine tasters... describing the sensory experience. If not worse XD.
You can't transmit the experience of tasting an apple for the first time by describing it.
A person has to take a bite and experience it for his or her self.
But we try anyway.
I'm not sure everyone thinks of "warm" and "creamy" as being the same sound.
I think of Wes Montgomery when I think of warm. Or classic Miles Davis.
I think of Eric Johnson's clean tones when I think of chimey.
I think of the Byrds, Tom Petty, 12 string electric guitar and Vox amps and some of the Pretenders sounds when I think of jangle.
I think of Duane Eddy and Buck Owens and country guitar when I think of twangy.
Percussive? I think of that juvenile chugga chugga crap. :headbang:
Sizzling? Searing? I think of myself when I'm trying to sound like Eric Clapton with the Blues Breakers, but getting a terrible tone with too much treble and too much overdrive and I'm destroying my already damaged hearing!
Creamy? Buttery? Ya got me on that one. Sounds boring.
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Gtrjunior
New member
I just looked up Chris Buck on YouTube...I had never heard of him.
He certainly has great tone.
I fall more into the Slash tone camp as you put it. Lol
I do like a more saturated tone as my basic tone since I’m more of a hard rock guy.
Lately I have found that for “at home” playing, I’ve been chasing something closer to what Chris has going on though. Definitely expressive and dynamic, and I like that.
I find that I play differently with that type of tone too. In a good way.
Lewguitar
New member
But Slash has a nice range of tones. His cleaner tones have plenty of jangle.
People pay too much attention to his overdriven soloing tones and forget that what really makes him good are the rhythm parts and rhythm tones he's playing 90% of the time.
Rhythm guitar is an art and most players just want to stomp on their buzz saw and solo all day.
