A million amps- same tone

[Subvamp]

Funny thing about me and amps: No matter what gear I'm using, I always seem to tweak the same tone from them....my ears must just dig a certain sound and pull it from whatever I'm using at the time.
Case in point: A buddy of mine that I've been jamming with in various bands since high school made a DVD of us playing the same song over the years. The way he edited it was that he took each section of the song, and clipped them together from each year. (I.E- verse part from '86, 87' 88, etc) The final result was a 30 minute version of an originally 5 minute tune!

Funny thing was, through ALL of those clips, my guitar sound never changed.

I was using a million different things over the years in those clips: Old Marshalls in one clip, a Music Man in another, an entire rack unit in a third, etc, as well as a slew of guitars and pickups, but all those clips back-to-back, my guitar tone was almost exactly the same though all those years.

Don't know why that is, but I thought it was definitely interesting!

[shadowcat]

You know what they say, tone is in the fingers!

[markD]

i am with you. i think i hear a specific frequency as my tone, and if an amp won't deliver it, i won't buy it!!!

i do believe my tone is in my hands at this point.....

[sl2lover]

Naw tone is in you rig! Your style is in your hands!!

[jgcable]

I agree, my tone has been the same for at least 20 years now.

[Soap]

When shopping around locally for an amp, I take my main guitar, chorus and ts9 tube screamer. I ask if possible and most times it is, to be placed in a lesson room or a room out of the way to better hear the amp without distraction/s. Why? Because if left out on the floor where most can see and hear ya, theres gonna be a point when I'm gonna have to turn up the volume a bit to really sample it effectively. Never fails, this draws attention and someone if not several feel compelled and just can't help themselves and have got to attempt to strike up a conversation. I either don't respond back and he or she gets the message that I don't wanna talk and he or she goes away. However, you do run into a smart one that doesn't get it and chooses to be persistent. I firmly but politely tell him or her that I'm checking this amp out and need to be left alone.

If there is a room out of the way, once in the room with the amp I'm hooking up my pedals and taking it for a spin. I'm focused while doing the basic run of the mill, turn knobs, sound sampling and tweaking stuff to get a good feel and vibe for it. Remember, its not gonna sound the exact same at home, but, being in the room will help give ya a better general understanding of the amps sound without distractions and interruptions.

Whats really sweet, if they let ya do a gig or two with it.
This use to be a very common business practice but not so much these days and understandably so. Nonetheless, gigging with it for a couple of shows is the best way to truly check out an amp and cabinet too.

[jrnic]

Why? Because if left out on the floor where most can see and hear ya, theres gonna be a point when I'm gonna have to turn up the volume a bit to really sample it effectively. Never fails, this draws attention and someone if not several feel compelled and just can't help themselves and have got to attempt to strike up a conversation. I either don't respond back and he or she gets the message that I don't wanna talk and he or she goes away. However, you do run into a smart one that doesn't get it and chooses to be persistent. I firmly but politely tell him or her that I'm checking this amp out and need to be left alone.

I also hate it when you are checking out an amp or guitar and want to hear how it sounds, you always get some jerk who tries to jam with you from across the room. Or better yet....I was at a store one day and there was a guy there minding his own business checking out a guitar, as he is trying to play, some a$$ across the store tried to out play him every time he played a lick! All the while, the a$$'s stoner friends are heckling the guy just minding his own business trying to test out the gear! While this is going on, a salesman came to me to ask if I needed help. I said "yeah, try controling your customers first to help out your OTHER customer over there (pointing to the guy minding his own business), then ask me again!"

[mantis]

I kinda agree with this thead to a point. My fingers do add alot to my tone as my style is based around harmonics. I bend the string and shake em alot. Hammers and pull offs are always going on. I'm a heavy metal (mostly older style) guitarist but my tone has changed over the years.

I'm learning more and more each day about tone. I know exactly what I wanna hear and if I can't find a rig that can do it then I'm not into it. I'm also open for exploring new tone. Clean I perfer a Fender tube tone with maybe Chorus and reverb of some kind. Dirty I perfer a nasty driven metal tone. Heavy on the bass with a sparkle up top. I basically run the mid's less then halfway up. Like 3 or 4 tops. Over the years I never used a drive channel. I alwys achived my tone with some kind of Distortion pedal or pedals. Today I use my drive channel and perfer it over using Distortion pedals. I don't even use a OD pedal of any kind as I get all the gain I want and need out of my amp. My amp today sounds very different then my last 2. But you can still hear my tone in all of them which is what I understand what your saying.

I'll say same tone with a different flavor.

Dan

[Shawn Lutz]

yup...98% of tone is in you, your hands and your heart.

I've recorded the same song before using 4-5 different amps . Its funny when mixing I pick not necessairly the best tone but the best take or performance...very little diffenence in the actual amp'd dialed in tone. While I love great tone its rock and roll and I don't over evaluate every nuance...I dont have the time to be that anal...if my playing is up to par then the amp doesnt seem to make a whole hell of a lot of difference

[Grandturk]

Yep, I have the same thing - I've got the POD XT with all the amp packs and no matter what I keep going back to one or two Marshall models or another amp that I can get to sound like a Marshall. I guess that's what happens - you find a sound you like, a sound that suits you, and you stick to it.

[sambencuda]

yup...98% of tone is in you, your hands and your heart.

I've recorded the same song before using 4-5 different amps . Its funny when mixing I pick not necessairly the best tone but the best take or performance...very little diffenence in the actual amp'd dialed in tone. While I love great tone its rock and roll and I don't over evaluate every nuance...I dont have the time to be that anal...if my playing is up to par then the amp doesnt seem to make a whole hell of a lot of difference

I can't agree more. I've been trying to find that perfect tone for years and I finally realised that what I'm looking to change isn't going to come from a different rig. The sad thing is, I hate my tone.

[charvelguy]

I used to work with with a singer who had a love/hate relationship with his voice.. same deal. It wasn't so much his vocal ability that made him a good/great frontman but also his personality because he had so many characters. Altho, when his voice was on and he wasn't struggling to keep it healthy he was as good as any major artist. Its not just guitar players who go through that.

[Sunbane]

I have never seen it that way, but I suppose there may be something in it. I'm pretty happy with the tone I have in my current ghetto gear, but I'm not at all happy with my phrasing - and no amp upgrade is going to make that better.