That perfect tone.... is it an illusion?

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  • AnacharsisAnacharsis Frets: 200
    edited May 2018
    This is it summed up perfectly in less than 3 minutes 



    I love that Nick Jaffe video. It makes its point quickly and elegantly.

    I don't believe in a perfect tone. I believe in a tone that fits the player and the music and the mix.

    I also think that all I need is to know gear well enough to know what will get me in the general vicinity. An SG through a Mesa Mark I isn't going to get me REM tones. But I don't need a perfect, Stradivarius-wood Rickenbacker with handwound, vintage-correct pickups using alchemist-produced magnets into an AC30 that was left unscathed in the original Vox factory for 50 years in order to get them.

    Get me in the right general area with the gear, and the rest is up to me.
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  • BigsbyBigsby Frets: 2913
    carlos said:
    ATB_Guitars said:

    I think there is a lot more variance in the tone of vintage instruments compared to todays CNC machined, modern guitars. I also think Fenders have more diversity of 'tone' than Gibsons do. Maybe it is the combination of body mass and/or the way the ash or alder ages compared to Gibson's mahogany but I guarantee you two 60's Teles or Strats with identical set ups, strings amps etc will sound subtly, but noticeably different in tone. But hey, this is all part of the fun of vintage which for many is a big part of the appeal...
    A load of bollocks by someone with a business interest in perpetuating a marketing narrative that pays their bills. 

    As for the discussion, £500 spent on lessons or learning time will improve your tone much more than £500 extra on the price of gear. 
    Having said that, placebo effect is very important especially in something as subjective as tone.
    Three very good points.

    And when a single vintage Fender can cost you more than buying one of each of the entire range of Reverend guitars, it really doesn't matter if two vintage instruments actually would offer more tonal variation than two modern guitars. The compassion is more like; 'do two vintage guitars offer more tonal variation than 120 modern guitars?'. Unlikely.
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  • jonnyburgojonnyburgo Frets: 12257
    Yep, all in your head, if I'm a bit depressed I can pick up my Tele and think "I'm shit, this is shit, I need something different"
    Next week I may watch a really inspiring guitar vid on youtube, be all buzzed up, pick up the same guitar and feel and sound (to my ears) amazing.

    A good mindset, nicely set up guitar and an amp that doesn't sound like a wasp in a coke can is all you need.

    I just wish I walked it like I talk it though!
    "OUR TOSSPOT"
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  • mkendallmkendall Frets: 13
    edited May 2018
    I think if you could extract and record the perfect tone you're searching for from your head at various points in time in your life and maybe even day to day it would be different. I've loved pieces of gear for years and then gone back after a break and not been able to find usable sounds. The person changes more than the gear. To almost anyone else, your playing is all that matters. Great players can play the gear they're using and make it do what they need. 
    However - I think quality instruments and gear are like quality tools - they reduce the barriers to getting good sound and therefore connect you more directly to the music. There's a TED talk from PRS that makes the point quite eloquently about instruments being essentially 'subtractive' - the energy comes from the player and is filtered through the gear. I liked that.
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  • ATB_GuitarsATB_Guitars Frets: 214
    edited May 2018
    mr-mac said:
    @ATB_Guitars ;;; wonder if the neck wood has more varience or maybe scratchplate material due to size of plate and mounting of pickups it probs can effect things more than a humbucker ring or pickup mounted direct to body.
    Good question. It could be, certainly as far as the pickups are concerned, Tele pickups for example, will sound quite different to one another as they age. They tend to get more our less microphonic and this does affect the tone. Some players (in fact I would say most) actually like a little bit of Tele microphonics going on as long as it is not too much.

    Fingerbard material also affects the tone and I although I have not done a blind test (that would be interesting..) I swear I can tell the difference between a rosewood and maple board.

    I think there is more to this 'tone' thing than you first think and certainly with vintage, it is not clear cut.
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  • TA22GTTA22GT Frets: 362
    Perfect tone for me was achieved when I realised that no matter what guitar or amp I played I still sounded like me.

    It was quite the epiphany!
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  • shaunmshaunm Frets: 1591
    edited May 2018
    TA22GT said:
    Perfect tone for me was achieved when I realised that no matter what guitar or amp I played I still sounded like me.

    It was quite the epiphany!
    I absolutely agree with that. 

    The last album recorded I sounded largely the same regardless of which guitar I used

    I sounded shit


    only kidding I sounded amazing regardless. But it didn’t matter if I used a tele/LP or Sheraton I think I largely sound no different on any of them.

    What is far more telling when changing between guitars is how I play rather than what I sound like. I play more flamboyantly on a strat than I do a semi. I have no idea why but it’s true.
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