25 Tips on how to get great tone

vic

I found this interesting. Twenty five tips on how to get good tone and each tip is dicussed in some detail. Unfortunately some of the links are broken...?

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/ProductSpotlight/Tone-Tips/25-secret-ways-to-get-the/

stu

Cool stuff there. Thanks Vic 8)

mtmattan

Thanks!

needleshy

Great Read.... Thx Vic

Keira-WitherKay

nice post ........

singemonkey

There are some good tips here. This one in particular sounds very familiar:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Gibson%20Tone%20Tips%20Match%20th/

?

The only one I truly question (cables aside) is the guitar's finish. I don't believe that a guitar's finish has any audible effect on a solid body guitar.

vic

singemonkey wrote: There are some good tips here. This one in particular sounds very familiar:

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/Gibson%20Tone%20Tips%20Match%20th/

?

The only one I truly question (cables aside) is the guitar's finish. I don't believe that a guitar's finish has any audible effect on a solid body guitar.

Indeed.

What is commonsense but yet amazing is that the quest for THAT tone is influenced by sooo many things,.... from the cables, to the insides of the amp, to the plectrum, to the...etc etc. The permutations are almost endless.
Will one ever get there in a lifetime ? ?

AlanRatcliffe

They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

singemonkey wrote: There are some good tips here. This one in particular sounds very familiar:

The only one I truly question (cables aside) is the guitar's finish. I don't believe that a guitar's finish has any audible effect on a solid body guitar.

Believe it... ask Gareth Travis at Marshall's - his Fernandes Strat changed so much after I stripped off the two factory finishes that he ended up changing pickups to compensate.

vic

Practice is indeed an important element in the chain.

I am currently after a nice smooth jazz tone and have not nailed it yet with the solid bodies that I have. Then "commonsense" tells me that's why there are guitars specifically designed for that genre.

Jack-Flash-Jr

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

+100000
Are these tips really "secret"...? I think Gibsons trying to to weight google searches so that searching "secret illegal wood gibson" points to this article link... ?

Keira-WitherKay

Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

+100000

i'll beg to differ on this point......... but 1st let me agree to it ? cos yes i could do any of my pro gigs with any guitar even real cheapies as long as they had a descent action and stayed in tune ........cos sound wise it could do the gig and get paid ? without any complaints

but here's the disagreeing part ...... we as muso's have tones we want to work with and to me i have found the sound i like is a good tele into a fender type tube amp and you know until i actually bought a good fender tele and a tube amp , i could get close with my strat and the tele partcaster but something was always missing ............ and i'd spend the gig tweaking to get a "desired" tone not that the one i had was bad but just not perfect for me......... but soon as i plugged that Fender usa tele into my fender "frankenstein" jp design amp i can plug and play .....even at a recent studio session for a top selling artist ,i set up the amp and plugged the tele directly in and the sound guy just smiled and said perfect ......

so yes one should be aware that certain combinations of amps and guitars give certain "signature " tones and we all know it's better to have the gear that gives you that sound instantly that to try take a sound and change it into what you want........

so yes i'm by my experience definitely happy to say i believe the right guitar and amp and setup well makes all the difference ............. however refer to my 1st point that in an emergency i could play anything at a gig but it wouldn't be perfect

AlanRatcliffe

Obviously the gear is important (look who you're typin' at!), it's just it isn't only the gear - which is a point all to often neglected in the rush to market gear to guys (many of whom could probably do more to improve their sound by practising a few more hours a week than spending the money they haven't earned yet on the latest Pangalactic RectumfrierTM).

I suppose a good question is: Which sounds better, a crappy player on good equipment or a good player on crappy equipment?

vic

Keira WitherKay wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

+100000
i'll beg to differ on this point......... but 1st let me agree to it ? cos yes i could do any of my pro gigs with any guitar even real cheapies as long as they had a descent action and stayed in tune ........cos sound wise it could do the gig and get paid ? without any complaints

but here's the disagreeing part ...... we as muso's have tones we want to work with and to me i have found the sound i like is a good tele into a fender type tube amp and you know until i actually bought a good fender tele and a tube amp , i could get close with my strat and the tele partcaster but something was always missing ............ and i'd spend the gig tweaking to get a "desired" tone not that the one i had was bad but just not perfect for me......... but soon as i plugged that Fender usa tele into my fender "frankenstein" jp design amp i can plug and play .....even at a recent studio session for a top selling artist ,i set up the amp and plugged the tele directly in and the sound guy just smiled and said perfect ......

so yes one should be aware that certain combinations of amps and guitars give certain "signature " tones and we all know it's better to have the gear that gives you that sound instantly that to try take a sound and change it into what you want........

so yes i'm by my experience definitely happy to say i believe the right guitar and amp and setup well makes all the difference ............. however refer to my 1st point that in an emergency i could play anything at a gig but it wouldn't be perfect

Well put Keira. This is excactly why I'm not entirely happy with the "smooth jazz sound" I'm trying to get out of a Les Paul into an AC30 or Fender Bandmaster or -Showmaster. I would need a "jazz-box" with the right pups for that...I think

Keira-WitherKay

Vic wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

+100000
i'll beg to differ on this point......... but 1st let me agree to it ? cos yes i could do any of my pro gigs with any guitar even real cheapies as long as they had a descent action and stayed in tune ........cos sound wise it could do the gig and get paid ? without any complaints

but here's the disagreeing part ...... we as muso's have tones we want to work with and to me i have found the sound i like is a good tele into a fender type tube amp and you know until i actually bought a good fender tele and a tube amp , i could get close with my strat and the tele partcaster but something was always missing ............ and i'd spend the gig tweaking to get a "desired" tone not that the one i had was bad but just not perfect for me......... but soon as i plugged that Fender usa tele into my fender "frankenstein" jp design amp i can plug and play .....even at a recent studio session for a top selling artist ,i set up the amp and plugged the tele directly in and the sound guy just smiled and said perfect ......

so yes one should be aware that certain combinations of amps and guitars give certain "signature " tones and we all know it's better to have the gear that gives you that sound instantly that to try take a sound and change it into what you want........

so yes i'm by my experience definitely happy to say i believe the right guitar and amp and setup well makes all the difference ............. however refer to my 1st point that in an emergency i could play anything at a gig but it wouldn't be perfect
Well put Keira. This is excactly why I'm not entirely happy with the "smooth jazz sound" I'm trying to get out of a Les Paul into an AC30 or Fender Bandmaster or -Showmaster. I would need a "jazz-box" with the right pups for that...I think

oh yeah as you know i have my tele and a jazz box...and the tele i like cos it gives me that new age experimental jazz sound like jim campilongo gets .but if i want traditional jazz tone ala joe pass/george benson ect ) ........ my jazz box is instant fat jazz tone again no tweaking required just plug it in and there it is..... and it sounds authentic cos it is a 40 odd year old jazz box...... btw i am selling it if you keen ?

vic

Keira WitherKay wrote:
Vic wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote:
Jack Flash Jr wrote:
Alan Ratcliffe wrote: They miss the most important one (maybe 'cause it's the one they do not sell you anything for ? ): Practice. Playing and practising more is of more benefit to your tone than anything else. That's why a good player can make anything sound good.

+100000
i'll beg to differ on this point......... but 1st let me agree to it ? cos yes i could do any of my pro gigs with any guitar even real cheapies as long as they had a descent action and stayed in tune ........cos sound wise it could do the gig and get paid ? without any complaints

but here's the disagreeing part ...... we as muso's have tones we want to work with and to me i have found the sound i like is a good tele into a fender type tube amp and you know until i actually bought a good fender tele and a tube amp , i could get close with my strat and the tele partcaster but something was always missing ............ and i'd spend the gig tweaking to get a "desired" tone not that the one i had was bad but just not perfect for me......... but soon as i plugged that Fender usa tele into my fender "frankenstein" jp design amp i can plug and play .....even at a recent studio session for a top selling artist ,i set up the amp and plugged the tele directly in and the sound guy just smiled and said perfect ......

so yes one should be aware that certain combinations of amps and guitars give certain "signature " tones and we all know it's better to have the gear that gives you that sound instantly that to try take a sound and change it into what you want........

so yes i'm by my experience definitely happy to say i believe the right guitar and amp and setup well makes all the difference ............. however refer to my 1st point that in an emergency i could play anything at a gig but it wouldn't be perfect
Well put Keira. This is excactly why I'm not entirely happy with the "smooth jazz sound" I'm trying to get out of a Les Paul into an AC30 or Fender Bandmaster or -Showmaster. I would need a "jazz-box" with the right pups for that...I think
oh yeah as you know i have my tele and a jazz box...and the tele i like cos it gives me that new age experimental jazz sound like jim campilongo gets .but if i want traditional jazz tone ala joe pass/george benson ect ) ........ my jazz box is instant fat jazz tone again no tweaking required just plug it in and there it is..... and it sounds authentic cos it is a 40 odd year old jazz box...... btw i am selling it if you keen ?

Aai Keira thanks....but not at the moment though.... :-\