Thndrsn, thank you for taking the time to post this. Most apperciated.

Maybe the Late 50s and early to mid 60s was the Golden Age of tubes in recording?

FWIW my Neve and API pres are SS, tube and SS mics, amps are all tube, and then there's the representative from the collective conciousness, the Borg-like POD.

Times are great, never better for us recordists.

ORIGINAL: Bonzos Ghost
There's a lot to be said for technique. A not so good guitar player might sound pretty bad, and all the equipment in the world will NOT help. Practice will.

...

Does the guitar on Led Zep's "Communication Breakdown" sound professional?? It sounds like a tiny little 6" speaker. Definitely no hi-fi polish there. BUT....the player/performance was there, and in the end it fit the song. It never stopped that song from being as popular as it is/was.

The first Zep album was recorded with a Tele and a tiny Supro amp...this from Page interviews in the 70s.

Too many guys claim a tube amp will sound better than POD when recorded. I defy them to tell the difference. I have an original 1965 JTM-45 and the POD sounds just like it.

After 35 years of playing, I know most of the sound comes from the player. Eddie VH has also stated similar in interviews. Some guys think buying a new gadget will get better tone thus wasting a lot of time and $$$.

Why is it that Eric Johnson stresses over his battery brands and equipment, but he sounds the same every album and "live"?

ORIGINAL: stratton

About five years ago, while I was still in the I HATE POD camp, I was aksed by my engineer buddy what the guitar sound was in a tune he sent to me. I guessed blackface Deluxe. It was a POD. I know I don't have the best ears, but dang, was that a wakeup call.

It took me another couple of years (and 5 PODS!) for me to make peace with the little box, but I did and my workflow and sound is better for it.

Since I have a lot of the actual amps it models, sometimes I'll use the POD to audition amps sounds for a song, like Recto or cranked Marshall? Vox or Fender? So useful in so many ways. I even get keeper tracks out of it.

So....you've woken up and smelled the coffee.

Yes, Guitars. Damnit...

ORIGINAL: CJaysMusic

Yes, Guitars. Damnit...

Most interesting thread, I have to say... Learned a bunch, and Digidis got it right about it being mostly in the fingers... But just to be on the safe side, I'm checking out a Hot Rod Deville 2X12 this weekend, and hopefully a Traynor YCV-80 (waiting to hear back on that one). Just in case I've been in denial about my POD... Joe

P.S. And we also learned that Stratton has more crayons in his box than any man should be allowed to have...

ORIGINAL: GuitarPlayerSoCal

After 35 years of playing, I know most of the sound comes from the player. Eddie VH has also stated similar in interviews. Some guys think buying a new gadget will get better tone thus wasting a lot of time and $$$.

Why is it that Eric Johnson stresses over his battery brands and equipment, but he sounds the same every album and "live"?

I've also seen it stated that all electric guitars sound pretty much the same in a live setting so changing them between (or during) songs is not necessary for the audience. Still, we players know that we hear more than the audience does and it affects how we play (a feedback loop, so to speak). Of course different guitars feel different so we'll play them a bit differently but the same can be applied to all the rest of the equipment in the signal chain. There are many, many nuances the player will hear and feel that the audience will never be aware of. I personally can't "hear" a zinc battery vs an alkaline but I can accept that EJ can it can affect how he plays.

One problem with modelling is that the current s/w just doesn't respond the same as tube amps. A player can feel the difference even if an audience can't hear it.

Are you sure you're not talking about marcos69? Look at his avatar.

I sure hope you're wrong. I'm looking into a new guitar--maybe two of them--as we speak.

But can I really get authentic tone from a guitar made in China?

--thndrsn

ORIGINAL: thndrsn

Are you sure you're not talking about marcos69? Look at his avatar.

I sure hope you're wrong. I'm looking into a new guitar--maybe two of them--as we speak.

But can I really get authentic tone from a guitar made in China?

--thndrsn

I cant tell the difference between a guitar made in China and a guitar made in the usa. there's too many variables to measure.

CJ

I just bought a Squier `51 ( made in Indonesia ) - needed a setup, but I´ve never been satisfied with guitars out of the box - or most other people´s setup-work either.

Rod-adjustment, new strings, intonation & filing the nutslots - now it´s an amazing guitar, considering it´s price - 175$ in Europe.
There´s no way I can compare it with my well worn `59 strat ( if it´s stolen I´ll never be able to replace it ), but I need a "stage-guitar" & a backup, so I also bought a mex-Esquire, very good IMO - I ordered a set of Fender´s Nocaster`51 mic´s for it as I felt that to be it´s weakest point ( I´ll only put the bridge-pickup in off course - they only sell them in pairs here ).

Cheap guitars today are extremely good compared to in the early `80s.