The One Thing Every Influential Guitar Tone Has In Common

[MarkRhodes]

Carlos' tone, at least for a time, was heavily impacted by the Mesa Boogie lead circuit. My guess is that any solid guitar with a humbucker can get in the right ballpark with that amp.

When I last saw him live, many years ago, he also had a huge pedalboard.

Yeah, that Mesa Boogie tone he got killed. I loved it. He was one of my favorite guitarists when I was a kid.
Still find this solo thrilling.

By the way, is that tone the reason (or a big part of the reason) he didn't play much rhythm guitar???? One thing I loved about Eddie Van Halen's tone was that it was great for rhythm guitar too. (Rock rhythm guitar, anyway.)

[Doctor Jeff]

Peak Carlos tone IMO was in the mid-70's--the album Moonflower. He was playing his Yamaha SG175 at that time as I recall.

Of course amps and recording played a big role. I would describe him as someone who obsessed about tone and found the right one to make his music come alive.

I was listening to Scofield's Uberjam today--highly processed guitar sounds. Kind of tiresome after awhile. He also has found a unique tone, and is a master at manipulating guitar sound.

Derek Trucks was on fire last night--as was the crowd, since the temp was in the mid-70's. I couldn't tell the amps onstage--I think they were Allessandros? Anyway, guarantee 99% of his tone was literally in his fingers.

[MarkRhodes]

[QUOTE=Doctor Jeff;1278083] Derek Trucks was on fire last night--as was the crowd, since the temp was in the mid-70's. I couldn't tell the amps onstage--I think they were Allessandros? Anyway, guarantee 99% of his tone was literally in his fingers. /QUOTE]

But I think if you listened to his fingers without the guitar, you'd notice a big difference in tone.

[Irishmuso]

Does my guitar sound fit in and complement the others in the band at a particular gig? Does it blend with the overall sound we're trying to achieve? When I take a solo, does it fit with the backing? Or does everybody have to adapt to what I consider to be my 'ideal' sound? Maybe, if I'm the group leader and the gig is all about my 'sound' (which is probably in my fingers).

I play with a good amp, a good guitar and a good lead and I haven't had any complaints for years. I know that some guitarists can get a tone which may be objectively better than mine, but I don't know that it would make much difference to my gigs. I'm not really minded to spend valuable playing/practice time in investigating this.

[ccroft]

Good place to be in Irish. But if you don't like the way you sound it kinda throws a hitch in your git-along, doesn't it?

On Carlos: I heard Mahavishnu and Devadip back in mid 70's and Carlos blew John off the stage, even though I was much more a fan of John's playing at the time and didn't much care to see Carlos at all. His tiny amp on a chair sounded glorious though. I couldn't really tell what John was doing thru his giant fridge-sized thing. Maybe a tech problem that night for him, but it was not good in any way. I thought how great it would be if John had Carlos' sound.

So I found out what Carlos had and ordered a Boogie just as soon as I could. (i was gigging full time in those days if that matters.) I didn't think about tone again up until 8 years ago when I started playing achtops, and different tone quest began. It took some doing, but I'm happy once more and can concentrate on playing.

It's a thing for all musicians. It's true we seem to waste more time with it than most other instruments. Too many variables! For a sax it's just reeds and mouthpieces for the most part. And time spent working on tone.

[Christian Miller]

Speaking of more rock and blues players.

I think of all the players I’ve heard Trucks had the best lead sound. Just amazing. Clapton’s sound is also not to be sniffed at - very clear even in a difficult room like the Albert Hall.

When I went to see Satriani and Vai years ago I felt the live sound was very muddy. Ot was hard to hear what they were playing at times. It was a dodgy room, but I feel those high gain tones suffer a lot in less than ideal acoustics.

[Christian Miller]

Another thoughtful Jim Lill video

I can’t help but feel he’s made this video to win an argument on Reddit. There’s a lot of bedroom guitar players with large wallets haha. There’s also a faux naïve quality to this video which I find a bit grating although I mostly agree with his conclusions.

Ideally the player should have a sound that helps them play well in the room and then it’s all down to the mix. However often in a recording session you get a sound on cans that’s a bit dry and unforgiving because that’s how close micing sounds on cans and you have to get used to that. It’s almost like recording is an artform in itself.

OTOH live you might be a bit low in the mix or something…

As far as shows on just on backline goes - well I play those all the time (without any microphone) and you have to EQ the sound to the room. In live shows with FOH I delegate that job to someone else, but I still tweak my backline sound to something I like (as best I can). The sound that comes out of the PA speakers is someone else’s problem.

Does anyone not do that?

[supersoul]

Speaking of more rock and blues players.

I think of all the players I’ve heard Trucks had the best lead sound. Just amazing. Clapton’s sound is also not to be sniffed at - very clear even in a difficult room like the Albert Hall.

When I went to see Satriani and Vai years ago I felt the live sound was very muddy. Ot was hard to hear what they were playing at times. It was a dodgy room, but I feel those high gain tones suffer a lot in less than ideal acoustics.

I bet Vai and Satriani played more notes in the first song then Clapton and Trucks played in their entire sets. A lot of fast notes can easily get lost if the acoustics aren't great.

[Christian Miller]

I bet Vai and Satriani played more notes in the first song then Clapton and Trucks played in their entire sets. A lot of fast notes can easily get lost if the acoustics aren't great.

Well there was that too. It’s a tricky one when your show is based on playing lots and lots of notes.

[Litterick]

Lill should get out more. He is a Nashville guitarist whose three favourite tones were played by Nashville guitarists on albums made in Nashville. He has never been to a gig that did not involve a PA. For him, a guitar played straight into the Neve is magic, which defeats all arguments about tones and rooms.

There is a world beyond the Tennessee state lines, where guitars are played in many wondrous ways, making use of acoustics and electronics. Amps recorded with microphones and guitars plugged into desks are really of no consequence. They are means to an end, which is capturing what the guitarist does out of the studio and in the real world.

[Peter C]

I think this kind of video distracts kids/learners from real musical goals. If you don't sound too good, don't worry about mic placement or getting a hand-wired boutique distortion pedal for now, because you need to get your shit together on the instrument first. The rest is just details.

As for "room sound", that affects everyone, electric guitarists, trumpeters, drummers alike.