Lets talk about amps & tone, and chasing a "sound"

[Animus]

One thing I have noticed about tube amps is that they will sound different depending on how "warmed up" they are. I had my Road King on standby for a couple of hours tonight. Flipped it back on and it sounded noticeably more fizzy than I had remembered playing it a few hours ago. After about 10 minutes out of standby it sounded awesome again. THose tubes need to cook for awhile to get at optimum sound quality.

[iplayguitar]

I think a lot of it is to do with the time spent dialing in the sound as mentioned above how warmed up the tubes are will affect the sound. Sometimes the reason it takes hours in a studio to dial in a sound is because it takes that long for the tubes to reach the rght level of warmth. The sound that the player eventually comes accross wasn't there when they started because the amp needed to warm up this is why the tone changes from day to day and venue to venue in my opinion

[tonemonster]

Good points on the tube temps.

[Endrik]

I understand the feel coming from the fingers, but not the actual tone. I mean you can influence how the guitar sounds with how you manipulate the strings and pick them, but I am talking about the actual tone of the gear. the amp, and the pedals, and the guitar.

tone comes from the player, "guitar sound" etc. comes from the equipment

[bratfink]

Air quality has a lot to do with it. As do room acoustics.

Your amp is never going to sound the same in 2 completely different rooms.

If you think that the only reason you can hear anything at all is because of air (In space no-one can hear you smeg!) then it would stand to very good reason that changing the quality of the air would have a big effect on what you hear. Density is a big one.

Room acounstics are also important since frequencies are cencelled in ear by overlapping from rebounded signals. Changing your position and the position of the amp in the room will affect which frequencies are cancelled.

This is why recording studios spend so much money on room acoustics and have a good air conditioning system (although that won't change density).

[micha]

A huge influence to my rehearsal sound is usually the ear protection.
There's no way I know of plugging these things into your head exactly the same way twice.

Another point would be my bandmates. You never know who's turned some knobs in between...
My bassplayer uses to travel around a lot lately due to his job, so when he's missing in reheardsal I tend to sound kind of shrill and turn down the high frequencies a bit.
Then couple of weeks later, he's back and blocks most of the low frequencies, so without these nasty high frequencies I have problems of hearing myself clearly at all.

At least that's what I think is happening all the time. Just blame others for it.

[tonemonster]

I will say this..... I have had very strange experiences with ear plugs while playing loud...... meaning that, when I use earplugs, I can hear EVERYTHING I need to be hearing!!!! Its wild. I mean I thought it would really make it difficult to be able to monitor my playing, drums, bass, other guitars, etc.... but I can hear it all, very well. It just cuts off all that excess noise and volume, and I get left with the fundamental sound. sure its not exact, but its very good in respect I can hear everything correctly.

[tonemonster]

tone comes from the player, "guitar sound" etc. comes from the equipment

Endy, stop that. your starting to sound like Tommy correcting me on my hair care products.

[wilkinsi]

I will say this..... I have had very strange experiences with ear plugs while playing loud...... meaning that, when I use earplugs, I can hear EVERYTHING I need to be hearing!!!! Its wild. I mean I thought it would really make it difficult to be able to monitor my playing, drums, bass, other guitars, etc.... but I can hear it all, very well. It just cuts off all that excess noise and volume, and I get left with the fundamental sound. sure its not exact, but its very good in respect I can hear everything correctly.

I was recommended drummers' earplugs. They're about 12 bux a pair, and don't muffle your sound like conventional earplug-type headphones.

[VitaminG]

tone is in the fingers. Which is why I never play through an amplifier - it messes with the purity of my tone

[Twitch]

tone is in the fingers. Which is why I never play through an amplifier - it messes with the purity of my tone

Well put, I think I too will join this camp. Look for my amps for sale in the classifieds.

[tonemonster]

tone is in the fingers. Which is why I never play through an amplifier - it messes with the purity of my tone

excellent idea. I am going to stop using amps as well. I am thinking I will just have to tell a bunch of raving fans to shut up so they can hear me play.