Who here has a completely original tone?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steinmetzify
  • Start date Start date
Steinmetzify

Steinmetzify

Well-known member
I'm serious. It's 3 am here...just finished watching Iron Man 3, hit the deck for a smoke and some RT. See all the VH threads and it got me wondering. Are you so heavily influenced by your heroes that you sound like them (tone-wise) or do you have your own thing going on? Whaddaya got? Throw up some clips of your tone.

I always have some type of edge...SS type of thing maybe, influenced by Dime and play a lot of palm muted chug stuff, and some delays on leads ala Devin Townsend with some note blending on the neck pickup that I snagged from Slash. Those are my three heroes and it shows. I haven't played as long as some here and attribute it to that.

Who's got a tone that doesn't sound like anyone else? Throw it up.
 
Good thread IMO :thumbsup:!

I try to make my tone "original" with some flavors from my heroes. Most times I feel I get a tone that sounds like an elephant with a terrible flu though...I mean, it's hard for me to find a tone that I like. Mind you I'm talking about recorded tones now! I'm sure my tone's like 1000+ other hard rock guys' tone...

We have 2 guitarists in the band, so usually I let the other guy tweak his rig to his liking (very Adrian Smith & Dave Murray influenced I might add) and I try to find a tone that a) pleases my ear b) is different enough from the other guy and c) compliments the other guy's tone so that we sound good together.

I also like to KISS when it comes to tweaking ;).
 
Since I built my own amp does that count as yes? :lol: :LOL: Like others though I'm so heavily influenced by the music I listen to my dirty tones have obvious marshall flavors and my clean tones have obvious fender flavors so I guess that means no :doh:
 
I don't know if it's original, but I like it.

You can check it in the video below...

It's Telecaster (SD Humbucker in the bridge), .12 gauge, and a Dr Z (38 I think?), original Princeton and a Vox (can't remember which one), all of them dimed. The lead break is a Custom 24 straight in via an API lunchbox module.
 
When I dial in an amp I neither think about making it sound like someone else nor do I consciously think about making not sound like anybody else.

I dial in an amp so it sounds like what I want it to sound like at that moment for what I'm playing at the moment.

Almost all guitars through any amp is going to give you a tone that sounds similar to what others have already done.

The focus for uniqueness should be in your playing and composition far more than trying to make an amp sound like an Oboe.
 
Bob Savage":18t0r9e7 said:
When I dial in an amp I neither think about making it sound like someone else nor do I consciously think about making not sound like anybody else.

I dial in an amp so it sounds like what I want it to sound like at that moment for what I'm playing at the moment.

Almost all guitars through any amp is going to give you a tone that sounds similar to what others have already done.

The focus for uniqueness should be in your playing and composition far more than trying to make an amp sound like an Oboe.
Click to expand...
:thumbsup:
 
My tone is usually very good. Original? Nah. Big ballsy Marshall and Fender flavors.

My main focus when I'm either recording or playing live is to play something very cool that compliments the singer and at the same time stay out of his way.

For me my originality is how and what I play. I usually end up playing through many different amps, so it comes down to me.
 
I think it's hard to have an "original" tone as most popular, even boutique amps are based of a Fender, Marshall type starting point. I think my tone is great but I am sure it can be copped by other amps.
 
not me
but i have taken several influences and mixed them with my touch, ears and choice of gear

i do have a pretty clear vision of what i want to hear out of my gear
 
No such thing, every tone is a derivative of other tones of the guitars and amps. Its like saying who has a completely original sax tone or strings tone...the tone of that instrument is the tone of that instrument hence all of the different instruments in the world. The instrument and amps define the tone(s) you get within the space it can occupy in frequencies it reproduces.
 
RG955TT":1z4n4sng said:
No such thing, every tone is a derivative of other tones of the guitars and amps. Its like saying who has a completely original sax tone or strings tone...the tone of that instrument is the tone of that instrument hence all of the different instruments in the world. The instrument and amps define the tone(s) you get within the space it can occupy in frequencies it reproduces.
Click to expand...

Of course there is.
 
RG955TT":3vrn1ub2 said:
No such thing, every tone is a derivative of other tones of the guitars and amps. Its like saying who has a completely original sax tone or strings tone...the tone of that instrument is the tone of that instrument hence all of the different instruments in the world. The instrument and amps define the tone(s) you get within the space it can occupy in frequencies it reproduces.
Click to expand...

I can't consciously agree with this....if you're saying what I think you're saying. EVH Didn't really sound like anyone else, given his tone (and how much people chase it) Dime sounded vaguely like Exhorder, but mostly had his own thing going on....there are numerous others. Are you saying that there are no more tones that people can find, because they've already been discovered?

Bob Savage":3vrn1ub2 said:
When I dial in an amp I neither think about making it sound like someone else nor do I consciously think about making not sound like anybody else.

I dial in an amp so it sounds like what I want it to sound like at that moment for what I'm playing at the moment.

Almost all guitars through any amp is going to give you a tone that sounds similar to what others have already done.

The focus for uniqueness should be in your playing and composition far more than trying to make an amp sound like an Oboe.
Click to expand...

Again, same thing Bob.....are you saying that with all the wealth of new amps since the 60s, plus new guitar technology (active pickups, better tech, modeling etc...) there are no more new tones to be found? I get what you're saying about playing/composition but to me playing with distortion and delay is a lot more fun and inspiring of new material to me than just a dry Fender clean tone.

Not trying to start a fight, was just wondering...I know we have a lot of cats on here that are gigging musicians and trying to make a go of it with their bands. Just seems to me you can't really do it unless you're going to be original about it...no one that sounds JUST like Pantera has achieved their level of success...same for EVH or Deftones or Crowbar, and I was wondering who has come to the same conclusion and done something about it in their lives/bands.
 
Everybody's tone is original. No matter what one is trying to copy. Too many variables i.e. Gear, influences, touch, interpretation, personalities, etc....they all contribute to tone. Like fingerprints, no two are alike.
 
My tone varies quite a bit but there are days when I set out to sound like someone. That's generally short lived though, few songs at best.. This is all in my basement of course so I'm good with it.
 
Is it possible to have a completely original tone these days? I didn't model mine after anyone; just what sounded good to my ears (1978 Fender Twin Reverb and Egnator Vengeance concurrently through a bunch of pedals), but I'm sure it's not 100% original. I have a couple of pedals that are ALWAYS ON like my MXR eq and my TC Electronics chorus.
 
I wouldn't say my tone is very original. I don't even think you can really do that these days. What you can do is learn to get the best from your gear. Lots of modern bands have trademark album tones but that's achieved by production more than anything. See the song in my sig. That was a VH4, Mark IV and Rivera mixed (mostly VH4 for rhythm and Mark for solo) but when I jam at home on my Fender amp with a couple overdrives, obviously I get a much different tone. Tone is mostly in the gear, but technique is what makes players unique IMO.

What my friends tell me or the people that come see my rock, metal or country bands is that I have a unique vibrato and I do subtle quick bends before going into a legato lick, or even on chords sometimes. I'd say that the way I play ties all the different genres that I play together. Shit, I'll take that in these cookie cutter times.
 
I like this thread.

I have a theory that if you want an original tone, less is more, and you need to get to know your guitar and amp long enough to establish an understanding of their capabilities. More knobs/channels/switches/etc. is not going to get you there. Neither is flipping amps every month. Stick to single channelers and get it right with your ears and hands (YMMV).

Bruce Lee had a saying (I am paraphrasing here): I am not afraid of the guy who has performed 10,000 kicks one time. I am afraid of the guy who has performed the same kick 10,000 times.

I dig that saying, and if I extract that to the guitar realm, my take would be that I'm likely to have a better tone playing the same good rig 10,000 times rather than playing through 10,000 rigs once each.
 
I think it's difficult to separate "tone" from the guitar players style, cause to me they are linked, in terms of "original".

I can see who a tone can be similar, but it's still the players playing that will change it.
We could set up one rig and then not touch it and then have 10 different players play through that set up and the overall sound will be different.
Sure we'll hear the basic tone of the set up, but the more original the player the more the overall tone will be affected.

As other's have said, I too don't have a "tone" in terms of an amp sound that is constant. I find that kinda boring in a way, when an album's guitar "tone" is pretty much the same on the whole thing. Way too many modern metal metal players use their one tone, and too many times the playing and the tone could easily be interchangeable between bands.
A lot of originality has been lost.
That's one reason why I really dig Zeppelin's music, for example. They were not afraid to create a sound that changed to fit different songs.
Pink Floyd was like that as well, and Steely Dan of course cause they used different players as well, and great ones at that. :)

On the other hand, certain guitarists have a style to their playing that I can still dig even when they don't change their tone very much, for example Angus Young. His tone changed over the years, but he tends to use the same or very similar sound in an album.

Part of originality is using different sounds and tones and creating tonal texture to add to a song.
Still, I say it's not so easy to separate "tone" from the player.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top