Guitarists

I swear that you could have an original Dumble, a collection of Dr. Z, vintage Marshalls and Fenders and you still would get a guy who would insist on recording with his Peavey solid-state and a Pod.

LOL

you know, it doesn't really matter what someone uses, they're going to sound like themselves out of a sears silvertone solid state amp, or a hand-wired custom Marshall.

getting the high end gear, is only about dialing in that last 1-5% of the 'tone' you hear in your head.

there's nothing worse than hearing someone play half-assed blues scales out of a $6,000 dollar rig....

but when you get a killer player, on a peavey........or a pod....

magic,
and easy.

I would love a Sears Silvertone!

Rim

I prefer the feel or vibe of playing through a great amplifier and some cool pedals, but I am told I still sound like me when I play through a POD. Not sure if that is a compliment or not! (And I do have a Silvertone Twin 12)

Well, my son (he's a DJ at a college station) has told me that "lo-fi" is a growing music form (see "lo-fi music" on Wikipedia - last two paragraphs).  If that's what you're going for then great, right?

But really you're reminding me of when I was 16 (in the 70s) and wanted to mail order a Carvin tube head, but my Dad talked me into a solid-state Peavey instead.  He meant well... but I should've stuck to my guns.

Im Lovin the PodX3Live. If you take the time to learn how to get what tone you want out of all the programming in it, there isnt a tone you cant achieve. Being able to go direct into an interface and X1 and still have that huge, deep rock tone of a mic'd Marshall stack, a subtle acoustic sound, bass or even vocals-I couldnt tell the difference, not to mention Im sure the neighbors appreciate me being able to plug in some cans and not wake the dead    Just my opinion

MakeShift


That's funny Danny.

I work pretty close to a Guitar Center.  About once a week I will trot on over to just noodle around on a lunch hour and a half.  I will plug into various amps just to give them a spin.  I always grab a LP or a 335 off the rack so that I am playing something guitar and pick up-wise similar to my own rigs.  Inevitably, no matter what amp I plug into, I will eventually dial in a tone similar to what I dial up on my own amp.  I twist all of the gain and eq knobs around and eventually, I am playing my tone.  Its as you say, I have a tone fingerprint.

What's funny is everytime I am thinking I want to buy a new amp, I go away frustrated that what I was playing does n't sound any significantly different or better than what I have.  That  could be a good  thing I guess.  The biggest change I have noticed as I age though, I am going lower wattage.  I just don't have the need to blow out the windows any more.

Well see that's the only other reason to maybe get a new amp if you were shopping for one. The new amps today have a beefier pre-amp section. There's really no need to crank them as loud. Most times, the old amps being loud couldn't get enough drive or sustain so the power tubes needed to cook to get that sound. Ok, there's only one way to get that sound...a super loud amp.
 
However, you can come darned close with the new amps today. Keep in mind, there's a difference between the pre amp section and the power tube section. I still prefer a 12ax7 tube front end, but I could care less about power tube output. For the high gain guitar stuff I play, power amp tubes are moot and are not needed. Now if I needed that Agus Young tone, yeah, that's glowing output tube power. But even still, you can come close enough today to where you won't kill your ears and you just turn up a bit for some feedback while raising the gain stage to compensate.
 
I have a few Mesa 90/90's here and some Rocktron Velocity power amps that I use with my tube pre-amp. I can't tell the difference between the Mesa's and the Rocktron other than I smell the tubes when the Mesa is on. The tone is nearly identical. The cool thing there is, the Rocktron power amps are modeled off of tube output power....which is a bit different than trying to model pre-amp tubes. Output tubes, they can model easy enough. Pre-amp tubes, have been way more challenging.
 
Yeah Mike, after you play for 100 years like us, that tone print in your fingers is what it is. But sure, certain amps are going to bring other elements out of us. A tranny amp may sound cool, but the harmonics of it will be different than something with a tube pre section. Which sounds better to your ears? That's the one you go with. I do lots of lead guitar type stuff. Tranny amps just don't give me that same excitement and they don't react or sound like 12ax7's. I just need that at all times and prefer that sound. One thing that makes me cringe is when a guy does pinch harms on a tranny rig...it just sounds so piercing and synthetic. Then I listen to Eddie VH do pinch harms that hit you in the chest that are so hard and thick, it almost sounds like a coughing type sound with the pinch in there. Tranny amps and modelers don't get that. The only one I know that can is Guitar Rig believe it or not. :)
 
-Danny

I agree that it's far more guitarist than equipment. I've a fair smattering from a JCM600 head - Laney Linebacker (tranny) and a Session Rockette 30 plus on of the Marshall Valvestate practice amps and I always end up sounding like me. Not necessarily a good thing.

The little Rockette has one of the cleanest sounds I've ever heard very under rated amp. Clapton used one to record his August album with apparently

I also like & use the emulations on my Boss GT-6 and TBH unless I refer to track notes I can't tell what I've used when I go back to a song after some time away from it.

The only thing I don't seem to get the sound I want from are the software packages. I've used Revalver and GR and tried Amplitude too but they always sound quite 'brittle' to me but that may just be the way I set them up. Perhaps I like twiddling knobs too much.....

FastBikerBoy


...

The only thing I don't seem to get the sound I want from are the software packages. I've used Revalver and GR and tried Amplitude too but they always sound quite 'brittle' to me but that may just be the way I set them up. Perhaps I like twiddling knobs too much.....

To be honest, I am not a big fan of GR or Amplitube. Not that I can't get a decent sound out of them but to hear it while I play is no where near as satisfying as playing through my Carvin V3. Having said that, I do like Scuffham for some things, and for metal tones, AcmeBarGig takes the cake for me.

I turned to my other guitarist and said "why the hell are we luggin' these freakin half stacks around?"  haha   I think eventually we are both going to migrate to 2x12 combo amps because we never do gigs without full sound where we really need excessive stage volume anymore and these little combos are more than enough for rehersals, and would probably be better for recording too.

That's why I've got myself a JCM600 and a 4 x 10. It's the best of both worlds, great sound, more than enough volume and it looks the part but without the weight of one of the bigger heads and a 4 x 12. I wouldn't go back to that back breaking experience in a hurry. Of course if I had a gang of roadies......

Oh, poor guitar players lugging their amps and speaker cabinets around. Geeze! Try a 140lb. or 120lb. Fender Rhodes Piano and amp speaker system - get a two-wheel kart. Oh, poor guitar players with an amp in one hand and the guitar in another.

I think it all depends on your position in the scheme of things. If you are the producer...you get to have say so in the sound the guitarist ultimately comes away with..that's the producers job. If you're the engineer...you have no say so about it. You job is to capture what the producer tells you to capture. If your the guitarist and you have good chops but a crappy sound....well too bad bad you have good chops..cause you sound like crap.

MakeShift
Inevitably, no matter what amp I plug into, I will eventually dial in a tone similar to what I dial up on my own amp.  I twist all of the gain and eq knobs around and eventually, I am playing my tone.  Its as you say, I have a tone fingerprint.

Same for me - I think we all have a vision of what "our" tone is, and we end up tweaking whatever amp we're using to acheive that.  I used to play out with a Triaxis which I dailed in for my ideal tone.  My brother-in-law bought a little VOX amp with a modeler - When I was over for christmas I quickly dailed in "my tone" and it sounded great.  (that little amp had a tube front end and sounded fantastic)  When I use my PODX3 I've got my tone again.  It doesn't seem to matter all that much - I just need something that allows me to dail in the right kind of front end compression - high gain - that responds to my playing style.
 
I do have to admit that playing with real tubes "feels" better.  I'm not sure it sounds any better on playback, but there's something organic about it that I like.

wow.. my first amp was a sears silvertone. I loved that amp.. It came with a homemade cab with 2 15 inch and 2 12 inch jensons... It for the time, was kicking in sound. As for tone, it is what we play. We use our ears, to achieve that sound. So, just about any amp, will achieve that.

the whole point of gear,really, is to get you inspired.


i can not get inspired playing thru a modeler.
or a reamp situation.
or anything else, other than a real guitar/amp connection, usually at volume

i can play thru anything, make it sound decent, and pull off everything i do..


but i wont get inspired.

that, to me, is the whole point of 'gear' and the search for 'tone', etc, etc, ad naseum.