What has the biggest impact on tone?

[Vrad]

People who wish to argue tone is in the fingers, please post your rigs.

Here's my rig
Is it too much? Too little? Does it count for or against the "tone is in the fingers" argument?
EBMM Axis SS
Musikraft Charvel Clone
Charvel Mutt
Edwards Les Paul Custom

1971 Marshall Super Lead
Splawn Quick Rod
Budda SD80

Mojotone 4x12 w/Reissue GBs

OD808
MIJ SD-1
BF2
Roland SDE 1000

 

[SuperStratSlinger]

Vrad, I know from the clips you've posted you're a great player with great tone and I can respect the argument slightly more coming from you but what I'm getting at is try nailing Lynch's ULAK tone or Sykes' '87 tone with a Tele and a Twin Reverb, or EVH with a Line 6. Not gonna happen! That and most people who claim tone is in the fingers have an expensive monster rig!

I will agree that if all the common factors are humbuckers, a tube amp, and 12" speakers, then it boils down to more of the player's individual pick attack. I don't believe the left hand has ANYTHING to do with tone given that the notes are fretted properly.

To counter myself here's a clip I did with a Marshall AVT 20 although the speaker cab (bogner cube with v30) is doing a lot of the work

http://www.divshare.com/download/8926910-6ec

 

[amiller]

To me there are two things that a lot of folks confuse...Great playing and great tone.

Tone is a combination of gear and player.

Playing great is...hell, playing great. For instance, Satch will sound like Satch no matter what he's playing through. If it's a "great" rig it will sound like Satch playing through a great rig. If it's a shitty rig it will sound like Satch playing though a shitty rig...it will still be awesome playing...just shitty tone.

If you don't buy that, I challenge anybody on this forum to turn their treble all the way up and turn the bass and mids all the way down and then record a clip with that setup and show me the great tone.

 

[Mudder]

To me, one of the biggest keys is volume. Get some air moving, especially on a big amp, get that power section working.

I think this is a forum that appreciates good sounds regardless the gear. I've read lots of praise for Cubes, cheap beater old heads, and all sorts of other "cheap crap" right along with the $3500 heads.

Great players sound like themselves, typically great, regardless what they're playing through because they have their sound in their head and adjust to get close. Haven't most of us seen the Eric Johnson youtube with that little cyber champ or whatever?

FOR OP.....that Mesa should sound good set up right. Get rid of the hotplate, turn up the mids a bit, turn up the volume, dial the gain to just before it starts compressing, that was my formula for my Single Recto.

 

[Vrad]

Vrad, I know from the clips you've posted you're a great player with great tone and I can respect the argument slightly more coming from you but what I'm getting at is try nailing Lynch's ULAK tone or Sykes' '87 tone with a Tele and a Twin Reverb, or EVH with a Line 6. Not gonna happen!

I will agree that if all the common factors are humbuckers, a tube amp, and 12" speakers, then it boils down to more of the player's individual pick attack. I don't believe the left hand has ANYTHING to do with tone given that the notes are fretted properly.

I know what you mean... it comes back to the definition of "tone". Some people define it purely as sound. Others define it as quality. What you're saying is 100000% correct, you can't get ULAK tone from the rig you described, but often times, people get too hung up on the tinyiest details of their rig, all the while they're losing sight of how much of a factor technique and experience is. How many times have you seen people argue about whether a PCB or PTP Marshall sounds better? Or whether an amp that uses diode clipping is superior to tube distortion? In the case of the original poster, he has access to good gear and my advice would be simply to maximize your playing and learn to dial stuff in. I didn't think that with an EMG-loaded Ibanez and a Single Recto, he's trying to nail Charlie Parker's tone. If he is, he may have the wrong gear! LOL!

 

[Vrad]

To counter myself here's a clip I did with a Marshall AVT 20 although the speaker cab (bogner cube with v30) is doing a lot of the work

http://www.divshare.com/download/8926910-6ec

And there you have it... pretty much confirming what I'm trying to say... You know what you're doing and the results show that.

If you told people that was a Marshall VM, DSL, TSL, etc... would they have known the difference? Probably not. That's my definition of "tone".

 

[Vrad]

If you don't buy that, I challenge anybody on this forum to turn their treble all the way up and turn the bass and mids all the way down and then record a clip with that setup and show me the great tone.

Give me a bass amp with those settings and a tube screamer and I'll make it work! LOL!

 

[GRK]

Vrad, I know from the clips you've posted you're a great player with great tone and I can respect the argument slightly more coming from you but what I'm getting at is try nailing Lynch's ULAK tone or Sykes' '87 tone with a Tele and a Twin Reverb, or EVH with a Line 6. Not gonna happen! That and most people who claim tone is in the fingers have an expensive monster rig!

I will agree that if all the common factors are humbuckers, a tube amp, and 12" speakers, then it boils down to more of the player's individual pick attack. I don't believe the left hand has ANYTHING to do with tone given that the notes are fretted properly.

To counter myself here's a clip I did with a Marshall AVT 20 although the speaker cab (bogner cube with v30) is doing a lot of the work

http://www.divshare.com/download/8926910-6ec

Tone is in the fingers doesn't mean you're gonna be able to nail EVH with a Line 6. It means you're gonna sound good through any perfectly functioning gear. To nail one's tone doesn't mean shit to many of us. Well at least to me. If you sound like you through most amps and more importantly, if you sound good, then you have it. Does it mean you don't need great amps? NOPE.

A MotoGP racer on a 250cc bike can own any half assed street rider with a 1000cc. But it doesn't mean he doesn't need a 800cc to go faster.

Not trying offend to you or prove a point btw. Just making sure it's clear what we're (or at least I am) saying.

 

[glpg80]

Vrad, I know from the clips you've posted you're a great player with great tone and I can respect the argument slightly more coming from you but what I'm getting at is try nailing Lynch's ULAK tone or Sykes' '87 tone with a Tele and a Twin Reverb, or EVH with a Line 6. Not gonna happen! That and most people who claim tone is in the fingers have an expensive monster rig!

I will agree that if all the common factors are humbuckers, a tube amp, and 12" speakers, then it boils down to more of the player's individual pick attack. I don't believe the left hand has ANYTHING to do with tone given that the notes are fretted properly.

To counter myself here's a clip I did with a Marshall AVT 20 although the speaker cab (bogner cube with v30) is doing a lot of the work

http://www.divshare.com/download/8926910-6ec

Tone is in the fingers doesn't mean you're gonna be able to nail EVH with a Line 6. It means you're gonna sound good through any perfectly functioning gear. To nail one's tone doesn't mean shit to many of us. Well at least to me. If you sound like you through most amps and more importantly, if you sound good, then you have it. Does it mean you don't need great amps? NOPE.

A MotoGP racer on a 250cc bike can own any half assed street rider with a 1000cc. But it doesn't mean he doesn't need a 800cc to go faster.

Not trying offend to you or prove a point btw. Just making sure it's clear what we're (or at least I am) saying.

well said

i believe i said it pretty well.. but you made some excellent points.

 

[Digital Jams]

1. Amp
2. Speakers/cabinet
3. Pickups
4. Pick attack (pick size, and location where the pick strikes the string)
5. Guitar (woods, construction, bridge, scale length, string gauge, tuning frequency)

People who wish to argue tone is in the fingers, please post your rigs.

Marshall Micro amp...

Great backpup to what I was going to say, it takes the player to bring out the best of what gear he has.

No, not say tone is in the fingers but tone is in the player's technic.

 

[riffy]

Something that will help you get that "singing" sound you really seem to crave is... Yeah, heresy, but it is true nonetheless! Throw a good boost pedal in front of the amp. Recto amps LOVE the Tubescreamer type pedals.
I have always used an OD808.

I think you will be surprised what a little less than a Benjamin will get ya.

 

[hunter]

If you ask me, the biggest impact when playing out live are Settings of the amp and Setup of the guitar, fingers too anyways ...

 

[Sick Michael]

I'd get a boost pedal and change the speakers to G12h-30s. Thats what I'd do. Would be awesome!

 

[Vrad]

1. Amp
2. Speakers/cabinet
3. Pickups
4. Pick attack (pick size, and location where the pick strikes the string)
5. Guitar (woods, construction, bridge, scale length, string gauge, tuning frequency)

People who wish to argue tone is in the fingers, please post your rigs.

Marshall Micro amp...

Great backpup to what I was going to say, it takes the player to bring out the best of what gear he has.

No, not say tone is in the fingers but tone is in the player's technic.

You remember when I did the 2203 vs Super Lead vs Marshall Microstack? LOL!

https://soundclick.com/share?songid=2498058
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=2491713
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=2491709

I had that picture of the little Microstack mic'd up with an SM57. This may have been back in the HCAF days...

 

[SFW]

technique

Bingo!

That's and a good ear. Once you begin to mature as a player, and develope your ear thet tones that you are able to produce will become richer.

 

[amiller]

If you don't buy that, I challenge anybody on this forum to turn their treble all the way up and turn the bass and mids all the way down and then record a clip with that setup and show me the great tone.

Give me a bass amp with those settings and a tube screamer and I'll make it work! LOL!

NO!

I think you should use a Roland solid state how ya do'n with the settings I put forth.

And no after tracking tweaking cheating!

 

[Random Hero]

Vrad, I know from the clips you've posted you're a great player with great tone and I can respect the argument slightly more coming from you but what I'm getting at is try nailing Lynch's ULAK tone or Sykes' '87 tone with a Tele and a Twin Reverb, or EVH with a Line 6. Not gonna happen! That and most people who claim tone is in the fingers have an expensive monster rig!

From my experience, it's the opposite in that it's the guys with the huge rigs who seem to insist they're needed for good tone.

 

[smdb]

be sure to turn down the highs on the boogie. the highs will sizzle big time on a recto. try to keep it around noon or lower.

 

[Isaac]

amp.

hands don't matter. hands are your note choices, phrasing, technique, whatever. its what makes you play like you. your tone however, is completely unrelated. tonality is what comes out of your gear.

think of it like this, the way a singer phrases, chooses notes, is his/her sound. the timbre and character of his her voice is the tone. same goes with amps and guitars.

 

[Zachman]

To me there are two things that a lot of folks confuse...Great playing and great tone.

Tone is a combination of gear and player.

Playing great is...hell, playing great. For instance, Satch will sound like Satch no matter what he's playing through. If it's a "great" rig it will sound like Satch playing through a great rig. If it's a shitty rig it will sound like Satch playing though a shitty rig...it will still be awesome playing...just shitty tone.

If you don't buy that, I challenge anybody on this forum to turn their treble all the way up and turn the bass and mids all the way down and then record a clip with that setup and show me the great tone.

DING DING DING... We have a WINNER here

The only thing I would add, which you would think is a given, but it's not-- and that would be the knowledge/ability to dial in great gear or "pedestrian" gear.