Who here has a completely original tone?

[garey77]

Nobody

 

[Steinmetzify]

Nobody

Lol...don't be sad about it bro...was just a question.

Some guys threw up some interesting stuff. Kaspar's was cool for what he does and a couple other guys are working it.

 

[Bob Savage]

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.

Not taken as starting a fight at all.

My point is that unless you're playing a synth guitar or an amp that is just outright modifying what the guitar is inputting to the amp, your only differences in "tone" are going to be that of gain/distortion and timbre, but within the constrains of what a guitar is. It's the same way an electric piano will always sound like an electric piano in varying degrees, a harmonica will sound like one even when run through amps, etc. You might say "what about a synth?" Well, the answer is in the question. That device has a keyboard on it but it's not a piano, it's synthesizing sounds. You can have soundbanks that sound like virtually anything including gut wrenching belches.

There's also the factor of the player's technique which does change the sound of what's coming out (Ed Degenaro and I tested this very thing while in the same room playing the same gear), but we were still not doing anything completely original.

Am I explaining this clearly enough?

 

[Steinmetzify]

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.

Not taken as starting a fight at all.

My point is that unless you're playing a synth guitar or an amp that is just outright modifying what the guitar is inputting to the amp, your only differences in "tone" are going to be that of gain/distortion and timbre, but within the constrains of what a guitar is. It's the same way an electric piano will always sound like an electric piano in varying degrees, a harmonica will sound like one even when run through amps, etc. You might say "what about a synth?" Well, the answer is in the question. That device has a keyboard on it but it's not a piano, it's synthesizing sounds. You can have soundbanks that sound like virtually anything including gut wrenching belches.

There's also the factor of the player's technique which does change the sound of what's coming out (Ed Degenaro and I tested this very thing while in the same room playing the same gear), but we were still not doing anything completely original.

Am I explaining this clearly enough?

You are.....so basically the only way to get a 'new' tone and not have it be something that someone else has already done is to change what's readily available in the production of that, i.e. modding the amp like EVH did to have something that no one else did at the time and have it be original.

I guess I should have said 'sound' instead of tone, you think?

 

[Bob Savage]

You are.....so basically the only way to get a 'new' tone and not have it be something that someone else has already done is to change what's readily available in the production of that, i.e. modding the amp like EVH did to have something that no one else did at the time and have it be original.

I guess I should have said 'sound' instead of tone, you think?

Well, if you think about it, what Eddie was doing tone-wise was not really all that different than what a lot of guys at that time were already doing. Think about Schenker's tone on Stranger's in the Night. Now plug Eddie into Schenker's amp and guess what? It's Eddie.

Eddie's so called brown sound was unique in a way but in my opinion, it was more unique because of his playing than it was because of what he played through so from my perspective, EVH did not innovate a tone so much as he did a style.