What's the secret to your tone?

[DutchMF]

For me, it's literally everything, from guitar to fingers to fx to amp. If one thing is not there, it's just not 'my' sound. Both a plus and a minus from this is that my sound is always evolving, especially since I started building pedals. It's also the reason some pedals I really, really like are not on my board permanently. Lately I've been not to happy with how the whole deal sounds, but a lot of that comes from me putting off re-tubing the Ol' Marshall.... 

Paul

[muddyfox]

Willy what guitar is that? I usually dislike that sort of thing but this one is strangely appealing! :-)

sent from my mobile device

[Clayford]

This guy right here.


Naw in all seriousness - it's mostly in the hands. All the gear in the world won't make a lick of difference if you don't know how to play. Compare Jon's rig and mine, now get out your wallet and I'll bet $20 you Jon sounds just like Jon if he played mine. Equipment is a factor, but not the only one. It does make a difference though,  between my pedal board and that Jet City - I do sound a lot better than I ever did with the Line6 150HD, and that sounds loads better than the Acoustic G20 that sets on my bench.




edit reason: Incomplete thought

[neve1272]

wife says i dont sound like me without these

[jimijam]

Generally, it's probably the mutt guitars with aftermarket Dimarzios and Duncans.

Specifically these days it's the Blackstar HT-Dual pedal and the Hulk Snot.

Digital effects and 'special' effects suck all the life and personality out

I tend to agree with this statement. 

For a long while I used just my guitar and wah into a Marshall VS102r (yeah, tube/ss hybrid thing), and when I chucked a DS-1 in front of that and used just the DS-1 for dirt..... it just felt flat, lifeless, and relatively lo-fi.  Maybe that was the DS-1, but further experience leads me to feel that multis/ampsims/COSM/ect just make everything a bit too cookie cutter and what comes out of the box is all you'll get out of the box regardless of wood, pickups, or gauge.  I think they're probably well suited to recording - you'll get a great usable sound no matter what.

I'm not purveyor of tube vs ss or anything like that, but I think the simpler the signal chain, the more nuance or differences between guitars can come out.  Again, bury it in dirt and it'll sound much like anything else anyway.  Interesting article from a local builder here:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/searls-guitars/tonewood-myth-and-magic-or-complete-bullcrap/582133191868519

Very cool guitar mate. I'd swap out the black hardware though. did you build that one?

[davidnlsw]

I suppose the most distinct thing about my tone is my '73 Sears and Roebuck 40xl amp.

[zilla]

There isn't one thing that contributes to my tone... Lots of little things:

1.  Clean boost/tube screamer/etc
2.  Medium output pickups. They give you awesome clarity and note definition.
3.  Longer scale length 26.5 or 28" with thinner strings. Gives you that awesome snappy sound.
4.  More of a maxim: reduce the gain by 15-20% from where you think it sounds good for recording and double track.

[Cortexturizer]

4.  More of a maxim: reduce the gain by 15-20% from where you think it sounds good for recording and double track.

Amen!

[Willybomb]

Very cool guitar mate. I'd swap out the black hardware though. did you build that one?

Willy what guitar is that? I usually dislike that sort of thing but this one is strangely appealing! :-)

Lol, now you guys have started me off:

It's a custom Agile that I had built when Rondomusic were doing full customs every now and again.  The custom orders they do now are nothing like what it was when I got this thing.  In a nutshell:

- mahogany body with 3/4inch quilted maple top.
- black binding (I took this off the final order but it came with it anyway)
- 24 fret maple set neck, with their "uniform" profile, ~23mm at the nut and heel.  I specified that I wanted the 24th fret to be where the fretboard meets the body, and that's what I got.
- The green is a color swatch I emailed through.
- I chose the 59/JB combo in the quote but adjusted it to alnico5 pickups to bring the cost down to avoid AU import tax (GST), but it arrived with the Duncans, which I didn't realise until I went to swap the pickups out.  I put a tonezone in the bridge instead anyway.  So now I have a chrome covered PU in the neck, and a bare black one in the bridge.
- The body is Agile's AD shape, with their Hawker headstock shape.

It was a fair gamble given that it was ordered from AU, built in Korea (or Taiwan), shipped to the US, sent to AU, and I've never played an Agile before.  But, given the price, inc shipping and case..... I was happy to take the risk.  Took about 6 months to arrive.  Needed a fret dress after a couple of months, and the pickup selector switch is a bit dicky when trying to select the neck PU, but overall 

The combo of HT-Dual and this guitar just sustains forever, like strum a chord, it goes "AAHHHHH", you go away and have a bite, come back and it's still going "AAAAHHHH".

More of a maxim: reduce the gain by 15-20% from where you think it sounds good for recording and double track.

QFT.  I drop the gain even more than that sometimes.

[blackedition]

Love the spinal tap reference!

[jkokura]

I'd say there's no one secret. There's lots of things that add up to good sounds coming out of my amp. Fingers, pick, strings, pickups, pedals, and amp all create a very unique formula. I can say that when something's off, it's not fun to find out what's wrong.

Jacob

[Clayford]

Love the spinal tap reference!

The sustain, listen to it.

Willy - I do love rondo - They made my 7 the way I wanted it. They don't offer mine in a 25 1/4" scale very often and when they do it's usually with a stop tailpiece. I HAD to have a floyd rose - but didn't want the 27" scale - They got me one. And I blocked the floyd 3 months later.

[brand0nized]

BUT, the one thing that is crucial to my recorded tone is my Studio Projects B1 condenser mic (I have the older version before the switches were added).

I have one too! Except I might have dropped it once (on carpet) and it has a low hissing sound.. Don't know if the two things are related...

[Blues Healer]

i love this topic!

my quick answer, after a couple of brews, is fingers ... and a little bit of soul

the truth is though, it takes HARD WORK!!!!!! I've known players that were naturally gifted, and players who worked extremely hard, and the fact is it takes a little bit of both. I've even heard some people say they believe the DESIRE to get better, in itself, is a gift.

[billstein]

I think the "fingers" is a valid point. I'll never forget when I was living in England we took a train to spend the day in London and ended up at Piccadilly Circus. There was this old black guy busking on the street. His guitar and amplifier were pieces of junk, you probably wouldn't give a second look at in a garage sale. But he made those things sing! Just a wonderful player.
I watched in amazement and remember feeling very humbled. I had thousands of dollars of equipment back at home and could only dream of making it sound as musical as what I was hearing that day. I imagine this man could pick up anything and it would sound great. So, fingers and a ton of soul is a killer combination.