Does anyone have 'their own' sound anymore?

Caffeine_Vampire

In the era of a profile per song does anyone have a sound of their own?

monquixote

Idon't think that many people do profile per song.

I always found it was uneven and inflexible .

joeW

Not everyone uses modellers.  Jazz players still tend look for a personal sound. Peter Bernstein as one example has a sound I’d spot very quickly. 

maltingsaudio

Last few festivals I’ve done seems to be split about 50/50 between bands  using modellors or using amps. Regardless of the sound the bands using modellers are the most finickety to get a monitor mix for and most likely to have technical problems befor and during their set.

monquixote

maltingsaudio said:

Last few festivals I’ve done seems to be split about 50/50 between bands  using modellors or using amps. Regardless of the sound the bands using modellers are the most finickety to get a monitor mix for and most likely to have technical problems befor and during their set.

I think this is more because the sound people at festivals usually want to do a quick changeover and are much happier putting an sm57 on your cab. 

When I played festivals with a modeller I always did this as quite often people would freak out and not be able to deal with it if you tried to give them a DI. 

When we were doing our own sound it was perfect and completely consistent because it's always the same.

I would always stick to a handful of core sounds though. 

stickyfiddle

I do - I sound very similar regardless of what I play through - THR, Helix, TMDR, fancy valve amps

#toneinfingers... 

maltingsaudio

monquixote said:

maltingsaudio said:

Last few festivals I’ve done seems to be split about 50/50 between bands  using modellors or using amps. Regardless of the sound the bands using modellers are the most finickety to get a monitor mix for and most likely to have technical problems befor and during their set.

I think this is more because the sound people at festivals usually want to do a quick changeover and are much happier putting an sm57 on your cab. 

When I played festivals with a modeller I always did this as quite often people would freak out and not be able to deal with it if you tried to give them a DI. 

When we were doing our own sound it was perfect and completely consistent because it's always the same.

I would always stick to a handful of core sounds though. 

Actually my brain says just take the DI feed it will be fine , although I always stick a mic on the cab for belt and braces. Invariably a blend of DI and cab sounds the sweetest out front. What I’m alluding to is the players who use modellors only, in my experience tend to over complicate their rigs which inevitably leads to failure’s which take longer to sort. 

On your own gigs with time to sort stuff exactly how you want it, fill your boots.Taking exactly what you use on smaller gigs and plugging it in quickly on a short changeover, then expecting everything to work straightaway in a different environment is asking for trouble.

Dont get me wrong, I’m happy with whatever I’m presented with it’s your choice, it’s just my experience that players using modellors tend to be more of a problem than those who just use amps. Actually will go further and say players who have embraced modern technology for their whole set up tend to be more of a problem and less willing to compromise.

i refer you to this thread https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/284944/in-ears-mixing

monquixote

maltingsaudio said:

monquixote said:

maltingsaudio said:

Last few festivals I’ve done seems to be split about 50/50 between bands  using modellors or using amps. Regardless of the sound the bands using modellers are the most finickety to get a monitor mix for and most likely to have technical problems befor and during their set.

I think this is more because the sound people at festivals usually want to do a quick changeover and are much happier putting an sm57 on your cab. 

When I played festivals with a modeller I always did this as quite often people would freak out and not be able to deal with it if you tried to give them a DI. 

When we were doing our own sound it was perfect and completely consistent because it's always the same.

I would always stick to a handful of core sounds though. 

Actually my brain says just take the DI feed it will be fine , although I always stick a mic on the cab for belt and braces. Invariably a blend of DI and cab sounds the sweetest out front. What I’m alluding to is the players who use modellors only, in my experience tend to over complicate their rigs which inevitably leads to failure’s which take longer to sort. 

On your own gigs with time to sort stuff exactly how you want it, fill your boots.Taking exactly what you use on smaller gigs and plugging it in quickly on a short changeover, then expecting everything to work straightaway in a different environment is asking for trouble.

Dont get me wrong, I’m happy with whatever I’m presented with it’s your choice, it’s just my experience that players using modellors tend to be more of a problem than those who just use amps. Actually will go further and say players who have embraced modern technology for their whole set up tend to be more of a problem and less willing to compromise.

i refer you to this thread https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/284944/in-ears-mixing

Sounds like a lack of experience on the bands part.

When we were doing our own gigs it was all DIed silent stage in ears but when I was doing a festival I would put my modeller into a guitar cab through a power amp and let the sound guy mic it and use whatever monitoring was provided.

My view is if you keep the sound guy in his comfort zone you are more likely to end up sounding good with no weird problems.

Lestratcaster

I guess it depends on the venue and who's doing the sound. At the last show I played we had 2 Kempers and a half stack (there were 3 of us on guitar). We knew the sound guy and the venue had a decent PA so it was easier for him to control the on-stage volume as 2 of the Kempers were going straight to the monitors (1 of them was going in to a 4x12 though with a mic in front).

I would have though soundguys would love for amps to go direct to FOH as its easier to manage the mic bleed and on stage volume.

fretmeister

I sound like me.
Even with my Helix I don't use different patches.

1 patch for a gig, Has a clean and a dirty amp and then some pedals. Effectively recreating what I had with a real amp but with the advantage of Snapshots for ease of switching. 4 Snaps - clean, dirt, filth and then filth with a volume boost for solos. Pedals are Fuzz, Phaser, Drive, Delay. Those aren't on the snaps as I like to be able to add them when I feel like it. Clean has a tiny tiny bit of reverb on it.

Unless it is something very specific, like a Muse song or something, I don't go chasing tones of the original player.
I also use the same tones for my own songs. The only real change is swapping from a humbucker to a single coil guitar as needed.

Revolutions

fretmeister said:

I sound like me.

Yeah, I find the sound is more in the style & phrasing, rather than the amp. Me playing overdriven is different to me playing clean, but if I change the amps for either of those, you’ll still recognise my voicing.

When you know different band members’ writing style, you can start to recognise who wrote what parts etc

Danny1969

I used 3 different amps over a 4 year period of playing in a Thin lizzy tribute band .. I have recordings but I couldn’t reliably say what amp was used at what gig .. they were all dirty valve amps, that’s all I can say about it 

Roland

There are several different things tangled up in the idea of “my sound”. There’s note choice, there’s phrasing (the way I play those notes), then there’s tone (the amps and FX I use to play those notes).

In the 70s, when there was less choice of equipment, and less information about what and how other guitarists played, it was more likely that a guitarist would have “their sound”. It comes from constrained choice. Nowadays we’ve got a wider choice of equipment, much more knowledge of the instrument, and of how other guitarists play. 

In consequence I don’t sound like I did 50 years ago. There’s more variety. My note knowledge isn’t much different, after all there are only 12 notes (plus microtones), but my fingers are much more capable, so there’s more variety in the way I play them. I’m also making more use of FX. Back in the 70s I had a Cry Baby, and a home made overdrive pedal. Nowadays I use four different overdrives, two choruses, delays configured to song tempo, and a variety of EQ filters (think Mutron). 

Do I still have “my sound”. Nowadays I have a pallet of sounds, and a wider range of skills, all of which means I’m less recognisable. 

Cranky

I do

Dr_Necessiter

Unfortunately I do too. 

Petepassion

I’ve owned multiple amps and guitars over the past few years and when I listen back they all sound pretty much sound the same.
   I was actually trying to find an old vid tonight and stumbled across me playing my OBG Firebird through one of my much cheaper amps, a PRS HDRX20 and it sounded awesome.

ScreamingDave

Yeah, I definitely have my own sound. We’re a covers band, but we do all the songs our way, not trying to copy the originals, and I play just about everything with the same two basic sounds from the amp and a bit of seasoning from a couple of stomp boxes. Using a different patch per song would do my crust in. 

Dave_Vader

Yep.

Even though I've gone to modellers in the last year, I've dialled them all in to sound like the old Strat, Rat, DM-2 clone, Wem Dominator setup I've used for years.

Only now it has some kind of consistency whatever the temperature/whims of the gods/lack of memory over exactly where I should have the knobs. Which is why I did it.

So far, all festival engineers and sound guys have absolutely loved me for it.

Especially when I have the Tonemaster cab on stage with its easy to use XLR out on the back.

flying_pie

stickyfiddle said:

I do - I sound very similar regardless of what I play through - THR, Helix, TMDR, fancy valve amps

#toneinfingers... 

I#metoo

I think a lot of the tone in the fingers is dialling in your own sound instinctively regardless of the gear

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

I played a gig last week in a classic rock type band with a twin humbucker guitar, played into a blackface type amp with an od pedal in front.

I played the same venue last night in a 50s r'n'r type band with a S/S/S Stratocaster straight into a tweed type amp with no dirt pedal.

Regular punter there came up to me after and said he enjoyed both gigs, and it was amazing how I managed to make both guitars sound almost identical even though they were very different musical styles. On one hand I guess I should take the compliment that he enjoyed the sound both times, but on the other hand I was actually trying to have two totally different sounds! 

ScreamingDave

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

I played a gig last week in a classic rock type band with a twin humbucker guitar, played into a blackface type amp with an od pedal in front.

I played the same venue last night in a 50s r'n'r type band with a S/S/S Stratocaster straight into a tweed type amp with no dirt pedal.

Regular punter there came up to me after and said he enjoyed both gigs, and it was amazing how I managed to make both guitars sound almost identical even though they were very different musical styles. On one hand I guess I should take the compliment that he enjoyed the sound both times, but on the other hand I was actually trying to have two totally different sounds! 

I think this ties in very nicely with the other thread on here under guitars about chasing EVH’s tone. Basically, a competent player is going to sound like them, no matter what gear they’re using, within reason.