Wood affects tone (Anderton's video content)

Drew_TNBD

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting,

Depends on the songs. If you're playing Sex On Fire and Summer Of 69, then no matter what you do, I think you're fucking garbage and should be drinking jizz from a glass in a Bang Bros video.

guitarfishbay

Despite arguing about broad strokes differences mattering the most for the end result, I still want to own one of everything at some stage, even if I later sell them as 'not for me'.  Just making that clear!

I love cabs... honestly, I counted what I've owned in the past few years and I've had 8 different V30 cabs alone.  I could've probably just bought a Mesa 4x12 and called it quits (where I eventually ended up) but I still tried everything else anyway.  

I'm kind of posting from a 'don't do it' philosophical perspective at the minute.  I wish I'd put as much time into finding other musicians to play music with as I did finding my ideal gear over the past 10 years.  Ultimately the ideas and finished musical ideas matter more for the music than really small differences in guitar gear.  But it is so easy to get lost in minute differences..

I reckon a lot of us anal types probably register somewhere mild on spectrum disorders.  Maybe.

MarkGAK

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting, 

I've used this exact rig a few times. Some of the best gigs I've ever done are the ones where I haven't been able to use my normal gear!

carlos

We're straying from the initial question. Unless you're doing some A/B testing changing only the wood and nothing else then it's just a video of two salesmen trying to plug more expensive "tone woods". There's a lot of psycho-acoustics in this - we associate guitar models and associated woods with specific artists and recordings and attribute the characteristics of the latter to the former. On YT you can find Shawn Lane playing through an SG, a Les Paul, a Charvel superstrat and a Vigier among other guitars, and he always sounds like him... even tone-wise.

Pickups, yes, absolutely. Wood, not really no.

koneguitarist

martinw said:

The idea that 'the audience don't care' is bandied about now and then. Whether it's true or not (might be the case in the Dog when they're all pissed, probably not true at other times when the audience are actually listening to the sounds you're making) it's not really relevant is it?

Musicians ought really to be striving the make the best noises they can, as they perceive it. Music is about sound after all. To paraphrase Homer, via ICBM, they might not know about different woods, but surely we're not saying that all audiences are so wooden that they can't appreciate a pleasing sound?

I mean, I'm an elementary guitar player, but I can appreciate a good guitar tone that comes as a consequence of careful choices of elements as listed above. Even when I'm down the pub!

As they perceive it is the critical thing here. Good points, some audiences don`t care, some do, depends on the venue, audience and the band.

I think every band tries to do their best, but that is so subjective.

Personally I think choice of wood is lower down the list than a lot of things. Tele bodies have been made of Ash, Pine, Alder, Maple, Hickory, Rosewood and mine is made of Ash with a Beech top. All sound like tele`s.

As guitarists we pick what we like(excuse the pun) and make our arguments suit our taste.

 

Wolftone

An alternative opinion.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtnx-gnMrTQ 

)

OilCityPickups

Only guitarists have the ego to think that the whole audience is hanging on their every nuance and note.

Drew_TNBD

TheGuitarWeasel said:

Only guitarists have the ego to think that the whole audience is hanging on their every nuance and note.

No-one said that. Wonderful contribution though.

ChrisMusic

Well done @Wolftone, I was thinking just that.  Scott Grove should shake things up a bit.  Beat me to it mate 

carlos

Spectrum analyzer or it's rubbish

koneguitarist

Drew_fx said:

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting,

Depends on the songs. If you're playing Sex On Fire and Summer Of 69, then no matter what you do, I think you're fucking garbage and should be drinking jizz from a glass in a Bang Bros video.

Not that I like Sex on fire etc, but if that's what the crowd wants and expects, then that's equally as valid as anything else. Some people are just too precious !

Drew_TNBD

koneguitarist said:

Drew_fx said:

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting,

Depends on the songs. If you're playing Sex On Fire and Summer Of 69, then no matter what you do, I think you're fucking garbage and should be drinking jizz from a glass in a Bang Bros video.

Not that I like Sex on fire etc, but if that's what the crowd wants and expects, then that's equally as valid as anything else. Some people are just too precious !

Drink up sir!!

ddlooping

Drew_fx said:

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting,

Depends on the songs. If you're playing Sex On Fire and Summer Of 69, then no matter what you do, I think you're fucking garbage and should be drinking jizz from a glass in a Bang Bros video.

And you are a shoegazing snob. :P

EdGrip

Another factor here is that though the audience would probably be able to readily hear a difference between you playing a JCM800 and a Dual Rec, they don't care. You will sound like you through either one, and will quickly adapt your playing to make either one sound useably good. The audience (even the guitarists) assume that the noise they're hearing is the right noise, because you're making it and you and your noise are what they came for. If you're diggin' it, they're diggin' it. No-one goes out to see a Damien Hirst piece and then judges the quality of the brine.

p90fool

EdGrip said:

Another factor here is that though the audience would probably be able to readily hear a difference between you playing a JCM800 and a Dual Rec, they don't care.

Oh yes they do. Sometimes my "audience" is a producer I've actually heard of.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some super hotshot - I play in a range of bands, do a bit of studio engineering and the odd session, build effects pedal circuit boards and sometimes even work in a supermarket to make ends meet - but I occasionally find myself somewhere "proper", with a couple of household names dotted around, shaking like a shitting dog whilst searching for a critical and appropriate tone for a simple three-note phrase.

Believe me, there are times when you DO sweat the small stuff, and times when you don't.

Roland

digitalscream said:

I use different picks on different songs 

It's attention to details like this that matter. As musicians our ears should be better attuned than those most of our audiences to nuances in sound and playability.  Regardless of whether anyone in the audience notices, it matters to the player. Even when it has little effect on the sound it affects the mindset, and that shows in the performance.

Moltisanti

i used to do shows with an Axe FX with tons of patches and subtle differences in drive, and delay times etc and after about 5 shows i realised that if i just had a JCM800 and a volume knob i could get 99% of what i was using and have a much simpler set up...no one that saw me play could ever tell the difference, even my band mates

dindude

I find myself largely agreeing with Drew here, and I don't do that lightly :P

Good musicians, in my estimation, are usually obsessive about their playing and their equipment alike.

If your serious about your music, then plugging into a bottom end line 6 amp is the equivalent of a photographer turning up at a wedding with a 5 megapixel point and shoot. It still takes photos so who the hell cares right?

Not caring deeply about minutiae, and taking the broad strokes "that'll do" attitude, has never led to anything good, ever - be it Architecture, music, art, business, cars, etc etc.

Drew_TNBD

ddlooping said:

Drew_fx said:

EdGrip said:

I would say that if you can turn up and be plugged into a pocket pod though the PA and still give the crowd the best night using classics like showmanship and crowd interaction and songwriting,

Depends on the songs. If you're playing Sex On Fire and Summer Of 69, then no matter what you do, I think you're fucking garbage and should be drinking jizz from a glass in a Bang Bros video.

And you are a shoegazing snob. :P

Pretty much

Fretwired

martinw said:

The idea that 'the audience don't care' is bandied about now and then. Whether it's true or not (might be the case in the Dog when they're all pissed, probably not true at other times when the audience are actually listening to the sounds you're making) it's not really relevant is it?

Musicians ought really to be striving the make the best noises they can, as they perceive it. Music is about sound after all. To paraphrase Homer, via ICBM, they might not know about different woods, but surely we're not saying that all audiences are so wooden that they can't appreciate a pleasing sound?

I mean, I'm an elementary guitar player, but I can appreciate a good guitar tone that comes as a consequence of careful choices of elements as listed above. Even when I'm down the pub!

There used to be a website with isolated guitar tones from famous recordings taken from master tapes. In isolation many of Jimmy Page's tones were horrid wasp in a bottle type tones, but stick them in a mix with the rest of the band and they stand out. The point is you need to listen to a tone in context - there's a difference between playing on your own in a bedroom and with a band where you don't want to clash sound wise with your band mates. So sometimes a 'bad' tone fits the bill.