misterwhizzy
Well-known member
That was one of the ideas behind the thread when I posted it. What do you think modern guitar tone is, and where did it start? I think us each having different opinions is interesting.
Where/when did "modern" guitar tone begin?
- Thread starter misterwhizzy
- Start date
That was one of the ideas behind the thread when I posted it. What do you think modern guitar tone is, and where did it start? I think us each having different opinions is interesting.
i have no idea so would bow out of that conversation
Yea he died some years back. Story goes I guess he fell down stairs at his home and broke his neck. Sad
beaubrummels
Well-known member
I'm not an expert on modern guitar tone, but I've lived through all the trends and changes. Like all things in music, I think it was a long evolution.
Late 70s - people were goosing Marshalls with pedals to get more sustain and distortion
1978 - EVH first used an under-powered Marshall, which introduced way more saturation/distortion than anyone had heard before.
1980s - Dokken, RATT, et al took EVH's saturated tone and expanded the music made with it, called 'metal' but was still somewhat pop songs, only the guitars sounded heavy, even the drums were thin and not heavy
1987 - Soldano SLO-100 straddled between old Marshall and more heavily saturated tone, able to do all kinds of music
1990s - 'headbangers', I started hearing way more heavy chuggy/djenty/mechanical/industrial sounding guitar music with heavy industrial beats
1992 - Mesa Dual Rectifier totally saturated tone machine; however it's worth noting when I played an early one, it was the only amp that sounded EXACTLY like a 1968 Marshall Plexi flat out, so is it really modern tone?
1996 - Krank amps founded; this was about where I thought, ok, everything's changed, they are now making amps just for a particular kind of music
...but I'm not an expert on it, that's just my impression from my experience.
Late 70s - people were goosing Marshalls with pedals to get more sustain and distortion
1978 - EVH first used an under-powered Marshall, which introduced way more saturation/distortion than anyone had heard before.
1980s - Dokken, RATT, et al took EVH's saturated tone and expanded the music made with it, called 'metal' but was still somewhat pop songs, only the guitars sounded heavy, even the drums were thin and not heavy
1987 - Soldano SLO-100 straddled between old Marshall and more heavily saturated tone, able to do all kinds of music
1990s - 'headbangers', I started hearing way more heavy chuggy/djenty/mechanical/industrial sounding guitar music with heavy industrial beats
1992 - Mesa Dual Rectifier totally saturated tone machine; however it's worth noting when I played an early one, it was the only amp that sounded EXACTLY like a 1968 Marshall Plexi flat out, so is it really modern tone?
1996 - Krank amps founded; this was about where I thought, ok, everything's changed, they are now making amps just for a particular kind of music
...but I'm not an expert on it, that's just my impression from my experience.
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Where does fuzz play into all this. I think there are a lot of old Muffs that sound "modern"
Binnerscot
Well-known member
I'm gonna throw 1992 out there. Some noteable high gain amps came out that year, I think that is the point that those tones became more available to the masses. I agree with @misterwhizzy that the earlier SLO and IIC+ may be the emergence of higher gain tones, at least out of the box higher gain (vs the modded Marshals and Fenders).
Animal
Well-known member
I'd say it's the difference from Kill 'Em All to Master of Puppets. Released less than three years apart, the latter sounds space age by comparison. Almost every metal band had adopted a variation on that sound by 1990.
Also need to give a nod to the Roland JC-120, despite being released much earlier.
Also need to give a nod to the Roland JC-120, despite being released much earlier.
That's a great comparison! How about two Whitesnake albums: Slide It In and 1987 (recorded in 1986 btw!), the shift in tone as recorded is dramatic, a few years apart only.
So I stick with 1986 as the year when the "modern" guitar tone was born. Going by what I hear when listening to the recorded songs exclusively.
Coma
Well-known member
And then Black Album. Regardless of one's opinion on Metallicas output after AJFA, sound-wise it was a turning point that really set the template for a lot of what metal would sound like a long time afterwards.
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beaubrummels
Well-known member
That I can't answer for (like I said, I'm no expert, just reporting what I witnessed at the time). I've almost never used a fuzz myself. The players I know that used them were doing doom/sludge and most of those seemed to come much later. The earliest doom/sludge I know of was Sleep and I think they just used Oranges; I don't know if they even used any pedals.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Yeah, but I think "hot rodded Marshall" is a very loose term. I mean, a Soldano is technically a hot rodded Marshall. And a Recto is more or less a Soldano clone. Yet I don't think you can get the sound you get from Red Modern on a Recto out of a Marshall.
But I agree. Something like a Friedman or something that's more directly Marshall-inspired pulls off both modern and vintage.
But I agree. Something like a Friedman or something that's more directly Marshall-inspired pulls off both modern and vintage.
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Phantasmagoria
watch where you point that sabre
Axe Fx & Kemper. That shitty, flat, overcompressed, zero dynamics modeler metal sound based on the same 5150/6505 thru V30's patch that all those bands use.
SirJackdeFuzz II
Active member
. . . max your mids ?
I remember very vividly, not too long abo, that scooping your mids to hell and gone wasall the rage !
When did this change to boosting your mids to 10 ???
Funny thing is...both are capable of so much more, but that's all you ever hear in many YouTube videos.
Phantasmagoria
watch where you point that sabre
Yeah I'm sure that's true, I've got nothing against modelers per say, but that crappy 'standard modeler metalcore' tone is what I think of when I hear the term "modern" metal.
Securb
One of Jerry's Kids
I think the same era, MOP, Slayer, Death, Pantera, Agnostic Front before that yeah there were hot rodded 800s but they were scooped and thin sounding.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
It's been like 15-20 years, man. It's the current internet trend. The whole "you need mids to cut through the mix" thing everybody keeps repeating. The current go-to settings on 5150's are "6-6-6", (which I personally think sound bad, but each to his own).
I agree! It was interesting when the first person did it, but after that, I got bored of it.
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