Are you happy with your "tone"?

[robert(original)]

addly enough bachus, i have had people say that they loved my sound when i was playing with sirens and i was using a cyber twin and my ds-od1 along with the ehx nano muf and square snakes, i thought it was... o.k.
i have only played out two times with my bassman, no remarks, but then again i was playing bass, and no one pays attention to the bass player....
ever.

[Bacchus]

addly enough bachus, i have had people say that they loved my sound when i was playing with sirens and i was using a cyber twin and my ds-od1 along with the ehx nano muf and square snakes, i thought it was... o.k.
i have only played out two times with my bassman, no remarks, but then again i was playing bass, and no one pays attention to the bass player....
ever.

I always feel when people say about my tone. The only time I've ever talked to a guitarist about his tone is when I can't think of anything else to say.

[robert(original)]

i rarely ever say anything about tone but rather talk about gear.
I.E. i saw a band called backyard tire fire open up for the reverend horton heat and i talked to the guitarist about his 80 les paul(reliced to shit with p-90s!)
and his 66 princeton amp, granted his sound was good, i was more interested in his gear and the history of it.

[Fran]

And I have spent hundreds, thousands of pounds even, to get back (satisfaction-wise) to where I was in 1997!

I know the story Thom.
I've owned shitloads of pedals and a ridiculous amount of guitars with this and that pickup. I've generally viewed my amp as a blank canvas and colored it in with the aforementioned.
But in truth, i've always arrived back at a good overdrive/distortion sound. Whether that be my Marshall valve amp or a Tubescreamer combined with a Big Muff.
Its been a cool journey and i have had fun, i would also like to think i have 'broke even' as well although that is quite an ambitious thought. So i would say yes, based on the fact i always gravitate back to them two pedals or amp.
I do have issues with 'low end' and volume from time to time but that is more a transportation problem than a reflection of my equipment.

[robert(original)]

as far as "low end" once i got my first Eau claire thuner, low end was never more a problem.
couple that with a simple 2X12 cab run by a simple bassman circut and im in heaven. it was never a problem to get "thump" out of anything, but a good driven low end sound with my mid style playing wasn't really revealed till i got the E.C. thunder. i can honestly say that its the best "overall" distortion/fuzz/ grind box i have found.

[robrtnickerson]

I've had the same basic setup for 6 years or so and am always wanting to change it. It's probably a good thing that I rarely have money to do it because I think my impulse to change is out of boredom or just the nagging "what if?" that I constantly have. I do get compliments on my tone quite often but I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of the shows I play I'm the only guy they see that isn't playing the standard hard rock or metal setup. All they get are players with 100+ watt half stack using about 2% of their amps' potential sound where I use a relatively small combo and attempt to blow it the fuck up every time I play. All in all I'm happy with the sound I get but would definitely upgrade if I had the opportunity. Blues Deville to a bassman, Big Muff to something that would make people vomit, shitty beat to hell epi wildkat to shitty beat to hell epi wildkat w/ new pickups and a fo real bigsby wang.

[robert(original)]

if you get an E.C. thunder not only will your tone improve but u will also time travel to before the show to beat up the non-believers.
trust me, i have done this.

[robrtnickerson]

I'm afraid they're all non believers, but at least there's only 6 of 'em

[taylornutt]

I started out as a pure acoustic player, so it took me a while to find an acoustic tone I like. I eventually settle on Taylor guitars and just love how they make me sound.

The electric tone has been a little more complicated for me. Started out with a great guitar and amp. I am still in love with the amp(Marshall JTM 30 with 12" speaker), but I am about to sell the PRS because it just didn't suit me. I love how my amp has such a clean "Fender" tone but the dirt channel is all Marshall. I get the best of both worlds and it handles pedals great.

My pedals have slowly evolved over time as I have expanded my musical influences. Some effects, like delay, have taken longer to incorporate into my sound. I had a period where I was afraid to mess with my gear cause I was afraid I would mess it up or something. I definitely know what I like and my pedals work well together. I just need to clean up the rig and make it more portable

I am still working out the electric guitars. I am obviously still searching for the right mix and feel, but I finally feel I am getting closer. My custom Jagmaster that I built is my favorite and once I get a couple of issues fixed it will perfect. I have really loved my Squier Duo Sonic and it has really opened me up to new ideas. I hope that adding a Jaguar and maybe a Mustang and/or Baja Telecaster will round out my tone.

I don't have a signature tone yet, but I hope the new guitars will help me find my voice and that translates to cool music.

[Haze]

hardly, my amp has been sounding more and more like mud lately.

Amp - Currently have a line 6 spider 3, 30 watt solid state modeling amp. Sounds alright clean, i dont use any other settings or effects that are built in. Its started to fart out a lot depending on what pickups and effects are going on. Working on a tube amp to replace it, i'm picking up a Bugera 4x12 cab today for cheap. I was looking for the 2x12 but a 4x12 popped up for a cheaper price and figured why not. As far as the amp goes i looked into the v55 because it was well featured and affordable but now i'm looking more into vintage bassmans.

Pedals - Fairly happy, box of cake is my main drive but it doesn't get that marshally flavour that i love for rhythm. For lead stuff it overdrives nice but it really farts out with louder pickups and becomes very gated and splatty. Other than that i'm good. I might look into a DLS for a rhythm pedal unless whatever amp i end up with has a good rhythm channel

Guitars - MIM tele is easily my favourite guitar. The 4-way switch has some hum with the GFS Neovin pickups that i have installed in it, but it does get me another tonal option that i use. My strat has Lace Sensors in it, which sound like shit to me now, they used to sound pretty good but i've jumped ship since i guess. P-Rails Tele is super awesome comfortable to play and hold, but the humbucking mode and even the p90s fart out my pedals and amp so its a huge boner shrinker

much should change soon, i'm getting into tube amps [finally] and building a kick ass jazzmaster too!

[aen]

Often I like my tone. Often i do not. Depends on the room, and what mood the equipment is in.

Ever since I started building pedals, I've become pretty much unpleasable as far as distortion goes. If I can just tweak ECT so it doesnt have too much high end through the twin, but sounds great with a wah, I'll be set.

[BoringPostcards]

Somedays I love my tone and other days I hate it. Even if I change nothing about my setup. My ears are cranky bastards. I've gone through several guitars in the last 13 years and I'm sure there'll be a lot more before I kick off ye olde mortal coil.

Aen, I checked out your site and I love your pedals, especially the Eau Claire Thunder and the Rot Yr Brain. Joysticks on a pedal?! Excellent. I noticed that it only has one input, is it kind of like it's own instrument? Irregardless, I like what it does.
I also dug the two Ronald Raygun albums. Awesome Show! Great Job!

also, your demoes are fuckt! Pizza! Pizza!

[Rayjaysonic]

I am probably the most happy with my tone now than I have ever been. The Bugera V55HD as my first Valve amp is a winner. There is a lot of tonal scope and it takes pedals very well. I just need to upgrade my patch cables and I am a happy bunny.....for now. I would have to say I have the best tonal sound/range/ that my current finances will allow. Bugera V55HD amp, home made 2 X 12 with Jensen C12R's, Epiphone Les Paul, Standard Fender Telecaster, all the pedal essentials covered (reverb, delay, phaser, Wah, overdrive, fuzz, distortion, trem, chorus....could do with a flanger though). If I had £4000 to spend, well, I know what I would buy but would I be any happier with the end results???? Probably.

[Freddy V-C]

I was much happier before I knew what I wanted and all I cared about was it being loud and distorted. Ignorance is bliss.

This.

I remember hours of fun sat playing through a Marshall MG with the gain on full. Since I started to find out what sounds good, and how I want to sound, I don't think I've ever been completely happy with my tone. At the moment I feel like I'm getting close, I'm hoping once I get my hands on a Tiny Terror I'll be pretty much there.

[laterallateral]

I've complimented players on their tone before but only when I was truly blown away. Last time I did, I was seeing a band called Daughters from Ottawa, Ont. at a small loft show. Dude was playing a standard strat trough a little Ampeg J-20 driven to within an inch of it's life. No reinforcement, no pedals, no channel switch, just rock (and a little bit of cock, as it turned out). Found out he had bought the amp at HOG...

[Doog]

A singlecoil into a RAT has been my main squeeze for a long time, and it still works for me. HOORAY PROCO!

[Fran]

There was this guy last night using a Yamaha Pacifica and a DS-1 with my amp, sounded fucking awful but i kind of envied him.

[laterallateral]

I really like the neck on those Pacificas. I wish Yamaha they made cooler guitars with that neck profile on them.

[Mike]

Pretty much.

For years now I've been all about bright Fenders into Marshall amps and have tried various types of both. I love my JCM800 but in a live situation it's a shame to use it as a clean amp for pedals when it crunches up so well, so I've found myself moving back to my trusty old 6100 these days. I could easily get by going straight into that and using only the clean and crunch channels, but I have a few pedals for extra flavas and colours:

Blackstone - light gain/breakup stuff
Crunch Box - heavier gain
Saltbooster - makes stuff louder/gainier when I need it
Saltbreaker - a good low gain pedal for leads and chording

and then I have the confetti pedals:

Saltshaker - shimmers and chops
Small Clone - wobbles
Memory Boy - echoey stuff.


Like I said, I could live without all this but it's nice to have the following gain spectrum from clean to mean:

6100 Clean channel
Blackstone
Saltbreaker
6100 Crunch channel
Crunch Box

[James]

I love my JCM800 but in a live situation it's a shame to use it as a clean amp for pedals when it crunches up so well, so I've found myself moving back to my trusty old 6100 these days.

How do you find that? Are you aware of the fact you're playing into the 6100 other than having the footswitch on your pedalboard (if indded you do)? What I mean is, are the clean sounds similar enough that when you're not interacting with the amp somehow you can forget which amp you're even playing?