How to chose a tone for a band?

[Misanthrope189]

Hey,
I was curious what you guys do to decide whose tone you use in a band. I would think that if you join a band, it would be your obligation to make your tone sound like their current tone, unless they wanted something new. And if you had a band and brought someone in, they would need to match your tone, as well. So what do you do about having different amps, or getting together with people and having two different tones? How do you decide which to use, and if your amps can't match each other, what then? I mean, I know Glenn Tipton from Priest had a Triaxis going into a Marshall 100/100...and KK Downing had a Rocktron Chameleon, maybe, or something similar, and ran that through the Marshall 100/100, and they had the same tone, or at least very similar. Pink Floyd Tribute Band - Several Species - lead guitarist used a Crate, rhythm guy used a Mesa Rocket 44, tones sounded good. But say you like a clear, thrashy tone and some other guy likes a bassy, deep crunch tone, what do you do to decide on a tone if you're playing together, or do you say to hell with it and just have two different tones?

Thanks, and sorry it's so wordy.

Cheers,
Nick

[terrax]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

i've always found that some of the heaviest good tones, come from a bunch of different sounds mixed. With two guitar players, i think different sounds would help.

Say your tone is real scooped, and the other guy has that marshall honk, that would fill the mix up real nice.

dave

[ScarredDollFace]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

As long as it don't sound bad, it's good. Could they try to make their band sound better by mixing different amps together? Sure, but that takes time.
That is where studios can came in handy because studio can give you the chance to experiment and find those magical hidden tones. By the time that a band hits the big time they most like have found "their" tone.

Nek

[Chuckracer]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

In my band, Mark is using a Mesa Single Recto and likes to pump the mids, and I'm on the other side with the SLO, taking the bottom and top. It works very well together.

[chrisolson]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

These are all setups of bands that have sounds I really enjoyed...

I know some guys that used the folowing: one used a Marshall JCM900, and the other used a Peavey 5150. Very complimentary. They eventually both got Flextones...scary!

Another band I really enjoyed - one played a Line 6 Flextone Plus, one with an ADA MP1, and one with a JMP-1 (when he wasn't playing keyboards). Again, probably one of the most versatile and best-sounding bands I've heard.

Another -- Soldano SLO and the other had a Yamaha T50 (which was stolen), and then moved to a Laney Pro Tube series.

[ChickenScratch]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

I don't play with another guitar player but my bass player has a nice midrangy tone from his Carvin amp and bass. As for me I go for a scooped mids sound and not too much distortion, as Tony Iommi once said "Too much distortion thins out your sound and actually makes it sound smaller." With that in mind I go for an old school marshall sound that's just starting to clip so every note has great definition.

[Outlander]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

The style or character of the song usually goes a long way in dictating the tone you want to use. Unless you want everything you play to sound the same.
In playing with a group you have to balance your tone to fit with all instruments including bass and drums.You have to reach an agreement with the other guitarist if you have one so you both have definition and clarity. Other wise every thing gets lost in the mix!
I don't know how many times I dialed up a killer sound at home on my own only to find that it got lost in the mix of the group.Very frustrating to say the least. If your in a 3 piece you don't have a lot of these problems, but then you need to fatten your sound.

[metallicarocks]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

Just jam out and see how it sounds. If the guy doesn't really like your tone and it doesn't mix well, try different amps and effects (as mentioned above). Who knows? You may stumble onto a tone that you can both agree on.

Same thing happened in my band. Some dumbass punker came in and wanted to play stink 182 style of crap. He doesn't know a damn thing about guitars or amps, and since he's a punker he couldn't play worth 5hit. (Now an ex-member) So simply playing with your controls and shifting them back to there original position will work in the case that your mate was like mine.

My 2 cents.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: How to chose a tone for a band?

So those punkers can't play worth **** huh? Try to play songs that fast all night long and see how great you are compared to most punk guitarists, bud.