Tone could be one of the most misused words in the guitar lexicon. It's a word that gets thrown around to describe any number of attributes of a guitar's (or guitarist's) sound. "Oh, he's got great tone." I'm sure you've said it yourself, but did you really know what you were talking about? Is it the touch, the attack or the bloom? Is it the balance and relative amplitude of the different frequencies—or is it all of the above and more?
Even more frustrating can be the fact that not everyone hears things the same way. I think Robert Cray has a great sound, but you think he sounds thin and weak. Who is right? Well, that's easy, I'm right—but that's another story. One can only imagine the amount of energy required to archive and serve the number words of internet babble about Clapton's "Woman Tone" or Peter Green's out of phase sound on old Fleetwood Mac recordings.
Here's a funny little thing that occurred as we were filming Jon Herington's video segments. Jon was demonstrating how the neck pickup sound on his Talladega Pro was so fat that he used the EQ on his Tube Screamer, not to add distortion, but to cut the bass and add clarity to the notes. As he played the "undesirable" sound of the guitar unmodified, I noted that a lot of players would like to get such a sound. "It doesn't work for me" was his reply, as he forged ahead with his explanation of how he changes it to fit into the Steely Dan format. Take a look:
One of the things you can take away from this is that even a great sound may not be appropriate in every setting. Of course, I'd take it one step further and say that any sound can be used in the right place. This probably comes from spending a lot of time in the studio, dissecting mixes and adding overdubs. You learn very quickly that there's not a lot of room for big sounds once the rest of the band is in the mix. If you listen to "Outside Woman Blues" you'll hear that it's primarily the hook—and the huge holes that the rhythm section leaves for Clapton's fat sound is why, in that case, it works.
Tone is what we all talk about on the forums, what we love and what we cannot stand and the endless chase remains even though you should be just playing more! We talk about our legandary tones, like John Sykes on the 1987 Whitesnake cd with his boogie MK III coli slaved into a Stratagy power amp to yes of course RVH and the "Brown Sound"!
Jon is a gear freak, I see either a real deal Dumble or a Bludotone dumble clone for starters. This just shows just how goos a Hamer can be to a guy that chases around the rarest of rare tones.
Posted by: Scott Wheeler | October 20, 2009 at 10:51 PM
I totally agree with you about the beholder thing. Jon Herington is a master journeyman guitarist who needs to pick and choose his tones to fit a variety of material so he's not in a position to use some tones like a Clapton or Green would.
Whitesnake is about as generic a sound as one could imagine! Not talking about the riffs or the tunes, but three notes from Sykes wouldn't tell me who it was not like Jeff Beck or Van Halen. Just because you like a sound don't mean it's a classic.
Posted by: Sammie | October 21, 2009 at 11:09 AM
For most of the 80s tones I would agree, esp in the later 80s when the monster ADA racks appeared but Sykes on that 87 album had a monsterous boogie sound that most of us could not figure out. That was due to him slaving that MK III, listen to the solo for Is This Love and that opening sustained note, it just blooms and stays there for days. Everyone else was using Lee Jackson or Jose modded amps while Syke's boogie tone was something of it's own.
Was just playing Cold Sweat last night on the Monaco with a marshall!
Posted by: Scott Wheeler | October 21, 2009 at 02:59 PM
I would kill for that tone! Thanks, I'm waiting to get a Talladega Pro when I sell off some of my Gibsons and PRS. I've had it with mass produced guitars.
Posted by: Gregg | October 21, 2009 at 09:09 PM
That tone is worth the price of the Talladega Pro alone!
Posted by: Jim Falco | October 22, 2009 at 09:45 AM
Keep posting these little nuggets, I love them! I learnt a bunch already.
Posted by: Bobby G. | October 22, 2009 at 01:32 PM
Tone is something that you 'feel' is either just right or just 'bad' but it is very dificult to put into words.
It reminds of wine tasting and the way wine tasters try to describe flavours.
For example, I would say that Brian Setzer's tone on some of his early recordings was 'edible' and 'chunky' and sounded like 'vanilla'.
I sound like a crazy man now! But then so do most wine tasters.
Posted by: Keith Douglas | October 25, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Most of the generic 1980s bands had a processed, rackmounted, squeezed sound that was probably fun to play but miserable to listen to nowadays. If I wanted a synthesizer I'd buy one of those instead of one of those hotrodded Lee Jackson style P-O-S. Listen to SRV or Robert Cray or Setzer, Angus Young or Van Halen if you want to hear the sound of a guitar. Just plug it in and let it rip.
Posted by: Bobby G. | October 30, 2009 at 01:15 PM
+1 to Bobby G.'s comment above.
Posted by: James Falco | October 30, 2009 at 11:06 PM
It's a Bludotone
Posted by: Steven Scholten | November 19, 2009 at 10:38 AM