Who else’s tone has gotten worse thru the years?

[Manxmusicman]

Loved Samboras tone on keep the faith, these days and stranger in the town but anything after that is a brittle, thrashy mess.

Ya Keep the Faith was so crisp.
Might be my favorite Jovi album.

Samboras solo on Dry County is fantastic, one of his best. To me that was when he was at his peak, he went downhill after that.

 

[Rick Lee]

EVH's tone on the 5150 was awful, but it totally rocked on that tour. Ditto for OU812. Album engineering and mastering sucked, but his tone on the tour was great. Still, I can't see how anyone thinks his tone on ADKOT is in the same universe as the old Brown Sound on the first six albums. He makes plenty of money from his line of amps, but I just don't know how he can walk past that old '68 Plexi and Variac in favor of his current rig.

 

[Bloodrock]

Dimebag’s tone was much better with his Randalls than when he switched to Krank. But that was only for a short time before he passed. I doubt he would have stayed playing that garbage.

 

[Mailman1971]

Yeah the EVH tone on 5150 and OU812
Was.... weird? Little digitized?
But man they had great songs on them albums.

 

[godgrinder]

Dimebag’s tone was much better with his Randalls than when he switched to Krank. But that was only for a short time before he passed. I doubt he would have stayed playing that garbage.

That Damageplan album was Randall too, the Krank deal happened after that. Does he even have any studio recordings using Krank?

Krank is decent if you know how to dial it in though. That sweep control throws most people off.

 

[lespaul6]

agree with Zak.. his tone was great in the beginning and became worse in tandem with his beard and bloated appearance

 

[glpg80]

Eddie Van Halen
Zakk
Gilbert
Lynch


I personally loved Zakk's tone in the late 80's to early 90's. He was a monster and his rig was apparently a stereo setup of JCM800's and a boss chorus. Simple and killer sounding.

The same with Eddie - I loved his tone the most in the late 80's. This tone is iconic to this song IMHO:

Gilbert had a badass rig with the Laney GH100L's. By far my favourite tone of his, and those amps are no joke.

Lynch had killer tone back in the 80's but I believe he's guilty of not knowing when it's time to stop tweaking with something when what he currently has simply works. I think there's a little bit of that in all of us - I know I am guilty of that at least.

 

[Mailman1971]

Son of a bitch.....
That Zak solo was amazing

 

[romanianreaper]

That Racer-X video is one of the coolest covers I've ever seen!! Man that was badass!! Great vocals, incredible tone, etc.

 

[skoora]

All of our hero players tones were better with Marshall’s.

When the endorsements from other companies came in, the tones went out the window.

Quoted for massive truth.

+1

Same for insert any great vintage amp like Vox or Fender. Or they started with a Strat/Tele or Gibson and went to something else. But usually they switch to another guitar but still record with the Les paul...

Problem is, no matter how great your tone is at the start or a little after the start, you hear it long enough and boredom sets in and the changeup/tweaking begins to be inspired again. Usually ten years later you hear the early demo's etc and and wonder, why the fuck did I stop using/sell that amp/guitar!

 

[5150clone]

Great stuff guys! For me Zakk, I love Zakk too. It’s so hollow and boomy now.The biggest tone that has gone is Eric Johnson. His clean tone is still ok but all his dirty sounds are meh.. it’s like this round thud with no sustain, sounds like he rolled off all the treble and dimed the bass. Great take on Lynch tone being all over the place.

 

[Inca Roads]

LOVED Vivian Campbell’s Tone on
Holy Diver & Last in Line not too sure
about his current Tone.

I also LOVED Nuno’s Tone on Pornograffitti...
Didn’t care for Waiting for the Punch Line Tone.

 

[Detroit1973]

I Don't know if his tone has gotten worse but I miss Joe Bonamassa using Marshalls.

 

[Dingleberries]

I was really into Paul Gilberts tone while he was using Laney,

I'd say his tone is still really good, but personally I loved it during his Laney era.

Agreed.

 

[VH4_BigRig]

I felt Killswitch's tone has gotten progressively worse over the years, although I still consider their first few albums staples of the "modern metal" sound...

System of a Down's tone got thinner over time in a way i didn't like as well, although it's wasn't spectacular to begin with or anything. I'm not sure anyone misses the Marshall Mode 4

 

[fek]

System of a Down's tone got thinner over time in a way i didn't like as well, although it's wasn't spectacular to begin with or anything. I'm not sure anyone misses the Marshall Mode 4

Yeah, I didn't like the amp but I did pick up a MF280 cabinet a month or so go that is just killer! I thought I read somewhere a few years ago that someone posted one for sale and John Sykes stopped by to pick it up. I might look for that thread actually. Anyway, the cab sound awesome. Tight and big.

Edit: Did not find anything on Sykes and Mode 4 cabs. Short circuit in my memory somewhere.

 

[Markedman]

Alex Lifeson from Rush. He had really great tone and then it got thin.

 

[skoora]

I felt Killswitch's tone has gotten progressively worse over the years, although I still consider their first few albums staples of the "modern metal" sound...

System of a Down's tone got thinner over time in a way i didn't like as well, although it's wasn't spectacular to begin with or anything. I'm not sure anyone misses the Marshall Mode 4

I’ve been listening to a lot of SOAD lately and actually really dig his SG/Superlead tone. That early Carvin tone was big and gnarly but the clarity he gets on Mesmerize while still being heavy with the band sounds fantastic to me. I like the early tone too.

 

[japetus]

Adam Jones from Tool

 

[Mailman1971]

Alex Lifeson from Rush. He had really great tone and then it got thin.

Just listened to ‘spirit of the radio’ and man..
Goosebumps!!
I think the last album I had by them had the song ‘roll da bones’
Which I loved!