Most Overrated/Underrated Tone

Smashedguitarist said:
This is how i feel 100%. And i feel like it is selfish to feel this way, because others obviously enjoyed his incessant tapping and non melodic solos. But i always think back to the back to the future dance when he is at his parent's prom and he plays that crazy lick that loses the song. Van halen did it in almost every song. When I hear a solo that complements the song or better yet is the climax, it is ecstasy. Eddie left those solos in the dust. And then I get to hear a bunch of others that struggle to stay with the song in favor of fitting as many notes as they can in a solo in under 10 seconds, jesus...
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WHAT !!!! Are you insane !!!!!!! Go listen to the solo in Push comes to shove, Secrets , Feel your love tonight , You Really got me , Little dreamer , Ice Cream man, Mean Street, So this is love, On Fire, Atomic punk, Your no good, Outta love again, Dancing in the streets , Hang E'm High .. just to name a few .

The reason Eddie was worshipped so much was not his tapping , you can take away the tapping and he would still be viewed the same way, his mind boggling rhythm mastery and ability to flow so effortlessly while playing is what really set him apart.


There are many brilliant guitar players but there's only one Eddie , he was cut from a different cloth and it's why he was the one everybody wanted to be and the one everybody wanted to interview . He wanted to be left alone but he never was , he was hounded by every guitar publication known to mankind in every part of the world his entire career . He hated it , he repeatedly said " I'm just a punk kid who likes to play guitar " . Dweezil Zappa grew up around Steve Vai from early childhood but who was Dweezil absolutely obsessed with and who did he worship ? The same guy every other up and coming guitarist on the planet worshipped and wanted to be, Mr. Edward Van Halen.

There will never be another , the two guitarists that get mentioned more than any others as far as the most influential ever ? Hendrix and Van Halen. They were and still are considered head and shoulders above everybody else and for very good reason .

Everybody has their own opinions and nothing wrong with that but it will never change the above facts.

PETE TOWNSHEND:
"It's completely tragic that we have lost him , he was not just an innovator and stylish player with great taste , he was also a laid back virtuoso showman who just blew us all away every time , every shredder today has lost their master teacher and guide. Enormous gifts , Immense talent , the great American Guitar player , I was hoping he might be President someday.
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-Pete Townsend-


TOM MORELLO :
Eddie Van Halen was one of the greatest, most inventive, truly visionary musicians of all time. He was an unparalleled titan in the annals of rock & roll. And on the Mount Rushmore of guitarists, he is neck-and-neck for the pole position.

Eddie Van Halen was a musician’s musician of the highest caliber. That guy could go toe to toe with any musician on the planet: jazz musician, classical musician, with both his improvisational skills and his rock & roll songwriting, and just his swag and his vibe — it was absolutely unparalleled.
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Techdeth said:
Ok . Thanks . White Bat sounds different to me . Interesting
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Yeah, no it's the exact same amp and cab, but with different settings on the amp, different boost pedal and I think different pickups. Obviously just mic'ing up a cab in different spots will give you a huge change in sound, I think that's most of what you're hearing.
 
Nolly said:
Yeah, no it's the exact same amp and cab, but with different settings on the amp, different boost pedal and I think different pickups. Obviously just mic'ing up a cab in different spots will give you a huge change in sound, I think that's most of what you're hearing.
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That’s pretty cool . It sounds very different in that album . Great tone . Love it
 
ccn said:
I think Randy's live tone was much worse than the studio tones , I actually like the studio tone but live it's complete mush with no definition along the same lines as Van Halen's latter tones with Hagar .
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When did you see him?
 
Overrated would be Randy Rhoads but I love the guy, love his riffs and to be honest is just a tone issue for me.

Underrated is Tony Macalpine for me. Most people don't even know who he is but he is accomplished on guitar and piano and has some killer stuff. I heard Autumn Lords when I was in high school and blew me away.
 
311splawndude said:
I have been obsessed with this tone for the last several weekends now :yes:
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This would be the Rivera M100 for STTG album. I first read this here, from Curt(Chubtone)…..Saigon Kick opened for SR on the first tour; and they loved Jason Bielers tone so much they went Rivera for the 2nd album. Jason used a TBR 1SL and the Skids picked up some M100s, which are similar circuits with less options than the TBR 1SL. I had one of Jason’s TBRs; it was signed in solder “to Jason from Paul” on the chassis. Killer amp with just a slight boost needed for Lizard tone. He used either a DS1 or SD1 for the boost when I asked him.
 
ccn said:
I think Randy's live tone was much worse than the studio tones , I actually like the studio tone but live it's complete mush with no definition along the same lines as Van Halen's latter tones with Hagar .
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?? Lol crazy how we all hear things.. the blizaard tones are horrible imo.Diary is beefier though.
 
When I read people say they hated Ed's tone on VH and VH 2 it makes me wonder what year was it when you heard it for the 1st time. It was 1978 and there was nothing anyone had ever heard that sounded like that. If you heard it then when it was released as I did , I doubt you didn't t like his tone. At that time no one had any idea what in the hell they were even hearing. Unreal

Had to edit, I think some people understood what I initially meant. Marked safe from great typing
 
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Beandust said:
When I read people say they hated Ed's tone on VH and VH 2 it makes me wonder what time of your life you heard it for the 1st time. It was 1978 and there was nothing anyone had ever heard that sounded like that. If you heard it then when it was released as I did , I doubt you didn't t like his tone. At that time no one had any idea what in the hell they were even hearing. Unreal
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I couldn't have said it better myself. I always imagined you'd have to be a Millennial living in your moms basement with a poster of Tom Morello on the wall to talk shit about Eds tone on VH-1. 😆 🤣 😂 At the time it was released people including myself were picking their jaws up off the floor hearing it for the first time. It was literally life changing for me. With that said... I will never apologize for standing up for that tone. Got my first guitar because of it... so sorry , not sorry.
 
ccn said:
There will never be another , the two guitarists that get mentioned more than any others as far as the most influential ever ? Hendrix and Van Halen. They were and still are considered head and shoulders above everybody else and for very good reason .
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Well said. I agree.

The pinnacle of guitar tone and innovation, that's what these two men gave to us all and we followed them the most.
 
Over-rated:

Dimebag - All slice and no thump. Fizzy top end. Lack of clarity.

Under-rated:

Doug Ott (Enchant) - Great Mesa Boogie rack tones, singing leads.
Shawn Lane - Great mid range and vibrato.
After the Burial (Justin Lowe etc) - A unique 8 string tone with loads of upper mids.
 
I'm glad I don't use the ignore function as I wouldn't have much to read if I put everyone on ignore that says Randy and Dimebag had bad tone.

I don't even think most people gave their tone a second thought until the internet told them it was bad. Now they just repeat it like a parrot and somehow get others to do the same.

Kindve like the who's the greatest guitarist question. 95% of people just say Jimi like a parrot repeater. Although Noone I've ever met in my life owns any of his music, or even listens to it on purpose.
 
Fret-Shredder said:
I couldn't have said it better myself. I always imagined you'd have to be a Millennial living in your moms basement with a poster of Tom Morello on the wall to talk shit about Eds tone on VH-1. 😆 🤣 😂 At the time it was released people including myself were picking their jaws up off the floor hearing it for the first time. It was literally life changing for me. With that said... I will never apologize for standing up for that tone. Got my first guitar because of it... so sorry , not sorry.
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Great story man! I know I was like 14 9th grade 1st year a HS brought in 9th grade , new buildings..etc , Super po dunk town , there was a canteen cage they would.open at lunch, all the freaks would gather in a huge swarm and smoke cigs and weed, some cat has a huge jam box, loud for back then, VH starts playing and I looked at my best friend and I said who is that???? RWTD then Eruption, just discovering Mary J and hearing VH , after that I was never the same, never asked the guy who it was, to much of a punk to ever talk to anyone I didn't know, eventually I found out, my mind will never be that impressed with a guitar sound ever again. That's saying alot, but I had heard tons of good shit, zepp, skynyrd even Boston was really good for back then, all the stuff in that time,
 
hairydangler said:
I'm glad I don't use the ignore function as I wouldn't have much to read if I put everyone on ignore that says Randy and Dimebag had bad tone.

I don't even think most people gave their tone a second thought until the internet told them it was bad. Now they just repeat it like a parrot and somehow get others to do the same.

Kindve like the who's the greatest guitarist question. 95% of people just say Jimi like a parrot repeater. Although Noone I've ever met in my life owns any of his music, or even listens to it on purpose.
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man back in the 90s when I was in high school I didn’t know anyone that didn’t listen to Hendrix, you couldn’t turn rock radio on and not hear him or open a guitar magazine without seeing him. That seems to have faded off with time for whatever reasons. I agree about dimebag though, no one ever talked shit about his tone back then, that’s definitely more an internet than real life thing.
 
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