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Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:11 pm
by Molly
Surprising that what we seem to know least about each other is our individual tonal / stylistic quests. I'd love it if next time you're noodling on your favourite tone you hit record on your phone and gave us a sample. Don't care if it's not the greatest example of your playing or the greatest recording quality. It'd just be interesting to get that bit of insight. Maybe also let us know what gear we're listening to.

I've posted this elsewhere but I'll start us off with the following (warts an' all). Unpotted Bare Knuckle Mules in a R7, into the Two Rock Studio Pro 22 and Vox Blue cab. Later with The Dude overdrive



Just for contrast same settings etc. with a Fender Wildwood 10 '61 Reissue with John Cruz pickups.


Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:43 pm
by Olderama
Ill lower the tone with this lol

Im happy with nice gainey chuggy tone tho i am kinda at the point where im disappointed in the sound if im not pushing it with a screamer or Boss OD and a touch of delay :)

Image




Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:46 pm
by Molly
Olderama wrote:Ill lower the tone with this lol

Im happy with nice gainey chuggy tone tho i am kinda at the point where im disappointed in the sound if im not pushing it with a screamer or Boss OD and a touch of delay :)
That sounded meaty as fuck. Even rattled the phone on to the floor!

Cheers for that, Oldie.

Next!

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:51 pm
by godgrinder

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:58 pm
by Molly
'kin 'ell. Can't imagine it gets much heavier than that does it? What tuning was it?

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 8:00 pm
by godgrinder
Both were Drop C I think? I used to do Drop G in my bands though...

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 8:42 pm
by willow13
Wife and kids are away on Thursday night so will try a "capture" the EVH in all its glory (every time I mic it under controlled volume it never sounds right)

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:04 pm
by JHorner
Messing around at "band practice" AKA drinking beers in the shed with the lads.

Demonstrates the kinda chainsaw fuzz I'm going for most of the time when I'm not going for totally clean.

https://soundcloud.com/cracklyjack/sheetemotion

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:13 pm
by Aquila Rossa
I am also going for less gain these days. Just a mild crunch that is then boosted. I quite like amps and pedals that have a little natural compression tbh, so get nice fat sustain without the fizz. Not really going for the 80s Randy Rhoads and Iron Maiden type tones lately. On a bit of a classic rock binge, so want less distortion but for it to still sound big. Hard to do at low volume.

I have a Laney IRT Studio arriving soon, which I will be running without a cab via USB. Will use Guitar Rig or Amplitube for post effects like EQ and reverb etc. If I get a tone I am happy with, I will put a sample up.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:19 pm
by Molly
Aquila Rossa wrote:I am also going for less gain these days.
Read an interview with Zakk Wylde where he said people try his rig and are amazed at how clean his tone is. Hard to imagine but I guess a lot of it is in his attack.

When I think how mates would run two TS9s in sequence to get insane levels of gain. Certainly covered a multitude of sins.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:40 pm
by Aquila Rossa
Molly wrote:
Aquila Rossa wrote:I am also going for less gain these days.
Read an interview with Zakk Wylde where he said people try his rig and are amazed at how clean his tone is. Hard to imagine but I guess a lot of it is in his attack.

When I think how mates would run two TS9s in sequence to get insane levels of gain. Certainly covered a multitude of sins.
There is that old instructional vid of Zakk's where he explains his tone. He just gets a loud ACDC type crunch and then hits it with wah and overdrive. Yeah, definitely a big part of his sound is his attack. Probably the main thing to glean from that vid is how hard he digs in and the effect it gives. How to take vibrato to the extreme too.

I was still doing the too much gain thing even back when I joined this board. Was running a MXR Dist+ and a 10 band EQ with the output gain jacked up in into the lead channel of a DSL100. BG called it a can of wasps. He was right, it was awful. When I got the 1959RR with those pedals I was thinking it did not have enough gain. Crazy. It was also too much. I later realized Randy's tone was a pretty crude and not so distorted sounding Superlead and they tidied it up at the desk and added delay etc. One reason he used Altec speakers is he wanted less distortion, because he thought he had enough from the amp. Cascaded Superlead is not very gainy by modern standards, but he gets a pretty heavy tone in some songs.

I think the extra gain when not running loud is something we get tempted to do to trick ourselves into thinking it sounds more powerful. POnly when we hear it recorded do we realized it is too much.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:43 pm
by Mini Forklift
Always surprised at how many people still think more gain = more volume.

Nice thread, I'll maybe post when I have something I'm not embarrassed of.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:47 pm
by Aquila Rossa
Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:Always surprised at how many people still think more gain = more volume.

Nice thread, I'll maybe post when I have something I'm not embarrassed of.
Hard clipping acts a bit like hard knee compression and can mean less volume.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:48 pm
by godgrinder
Lots of recordings have less gain than we perceive because the bass and the drums can make things sound heavier/more aggressive. And when you dial in something that sounds good at low volume by yourself it almost never work in a mix.

Re: Show Us Your Tone

Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 10:49 pm
by Molly
Mini Forklift Ⓥ wrote:Always surprised at how many people still think more gain = more volume.

Nice thread, I'll maybe post when I have something I'm not embarrassed of.
Thought you'd be a dead cert for a post. Screw tidying it up. You're a proper tasteful player. Just focus on showing your tone. :thumbup: