What has the biggest impact on tone?

[Zachman]

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.

Tone is in the brain-- It gets there because of hands AND gear being utilized-- PERIOD. (Good or not )

Those who try to separate hands from gear, when discussing where tone comes from are (imo) misguided-- or communicating ineffectively.

Hands and technique can and DO impact the nuances achieved through gear, BUT the gear IS a part of the equation, as are the hands.

Great hands-- NO gear -- No tone, unless maybe you're clapping, snapping your fingers, or whistling.

 

[chunktone]

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

You are 100% right! TONE is NOT in the fingers. I know this is not a popular thing to say, but a players STYLE is in their fingers. That's why Lynch sounds like Lynch, and EVH sounds like EVH etc regardless of what their playing through.

Now, since everyones already covered the myth of tone in the fingers advice I'll go a different direction. I would get a different guitar. Ibanez guitars are highly over rated imho, and most have locking trems that suck tone out of the guitar. I'd go with something with a set-neck, or neck-thru with good quality PASSIVE pickups. I tend to prefer mahogany at least for the body wood. I know many people will likely post examples of players who got great tones with a Floyd equiped guitar. I'm not talking about listening to records, CD's etc...I'm talking about real world side by side comparisons, and the floyd looses every time. Sorry. I have a couple guitars with them, but use them when I have to have a trem only.

 

[amiller]

Ya know what's funny...we're on a site named Rig-Talk debating whether or not our rigs make any difference.

 

[Nigel]

I wonder if that boogie is biased cold.

That would make for shrillness.

Also, is the cab series wired?

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Barometric pressure.

 

[stabbyJo]

Wow, lots of great responses. Thanks for the suggestions, I'm learning a lot here.

Here's the clip my buddy sent me the other day that really got me thinking about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL_pPTNhTpw

The guy in this video is playing an Ibanez guitar though what I think is digital effects processor. Not sure what amp he's using. His tone is absolutely sweet though (in my opinion), it's like the guitar is singing. Especially when he rolls up the volume at about the 60 second mark. It's rich, and I don't know how to describe it other than "harmonic" sounding.

Granted, I don't have anywhere near the skill he does, and I'm sure a lot of this "singing" quality is due to his playing - which is spectacular I think. But still, my set up sounds very sterile and shrill compared to this, to the point of being annoying sometimes. Maybe I just need to get better at dialing it in (I know I need to get better at playing). And maybe I'll see what an OD pedal will do, or finally make that call to Satan (that one was hilarious! ) .

 

[stabbyJo]

I wonder if that boogie is biased cold.

That would make for shrillness.

Also, is the cab series wired?

Hi Nigel. I'm not sure how to measure the bias (had to google what that was actually). I looked inside the cab and it appears to be series wired. The speakers are each 16 ohm and connected to an 8 ohm input. Does the wiring have an influence?

 

[GRK]

Ya know what's funny...we're on a site named Rig-Talk debating whether or not our rigs make any difference.

No one on this thread has said gear doesn't make a difference so I guess we're on the right track.

 

[redrol]

sounds liek Mesa tone... I suggest getting a different amp

 

[TX6Strings]

Everything in your rig from fingers to speaker matter.

 

[Anonymous]

New strings and your fingers.

 

[Anonymous]

Your analogy is to extreme. Tone is in the fingers. Get 4-5 guitar players and play the same rig one at a time with the same guitar same amp settings etc. 1 of the 4 or 5 will sound better than the others.

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

 

[Anonymous]

I said SOUND better not Play better. WERE talking tone from the same rig regardless. Most likely the one with the better tone will be the better player but not always true.

 

[Zachman]

Your analogy is to extreme. Tone is in the fingers. Get 4-5 guitar players and play the same rig one at a time with the same guitar same amp settings etc. 1 of the 4 or 5 will sound better than the others.

In case you missed it:

Tone is in the brain-- It gets there because of hands AND gear being utilized-- PERIOD. (Good or not )

Those who try to separate hands from gear, when discussing where tone comes from are (imo) misguided-- or communicating ineffectively.

Hands and technique can and DO impact the nuances achieved through gear, BUT the gear IS a part of the equation, as are the hands.

Great hands-- NO gear -- No tone, unless maybe you're clapping, snapping your fingers, or whistling.

 

[bds9487]

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

+1. Tone is in the gear. Technique is in the fingers. Tone does not equal technique.

 

[Zachman]

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

+1. Tone is in the gear. Technique is in the fingers. Tone does not equal technique.

This, I believe-- is where a lot of confusion resides. Technique and body mass-- can and do allow for gear (w/ the same settings) to sound different with different players playing it however; without BOTH the player and the equipment in the equation, BOTH the gear and the player are irrelevant, as it comes to the topic of tone.

 

[Anonymous]

I suck no matter what I'm playin though or what my fingers are doing or what my brain is thinking or or..or....

 

[Anonymous]

Ok my best effort here. Get yourself a pre war martin d28 or 18 and go play with Doc Watson. If you cant see where im going now your pretty blind.

 

[Anonymous]

No fuckn way is tone in the gear. If it was everybody would have the same tone. DUH

 

[Zachman]

No fuckn way is tone in the gear. If it was everybody would have the same tone. DUH

Cool... Wait... huh???

If tone were in the hands... Using myself as the example, how come when I turn the Treble, Bass, MID, Presence controls-- the tone changes? -- Yes, In my example I am playing the same thing. If tone were in the hands the tone controls on the amp wouldn't work would they?