Tone advice from JVHT!

[MartinBarre]

FUCK all this nonsense. I don't care what anyone says - I want my fucking gain turned up to 11.


And then I'll add a DS-1.

[markD]

To be completely fair to the jackass, it took me years to realize some of those things, and I'll bet a lot of other young people are in the same boat. Granted, with the internet these days, it's a lot easier to come by this kind of advice, and undoubtedly, most people here on the JCF take this advice for granted. After all, most of us are older, and have discovered these little secrets for ourselves.

In my case, I started playing guitar seriously at age 15. I had an NJ series BC Rich Bich (I bought it from a guy who worked at McDonalds with me), and a Peavey Bandit 112. I didn't even know about power chords at first, and when a friend came over and showed me how to make a power chord, it was as if he had taught me the secrets of the universe. Now we all know that when you're playing thrash in your bedroom, on a crappy little practice amp, you scoop the mids, and crank the distortion as high as it goes. That's just the way it is. Try playing a Peavey Bandit at bedroom levels with the mid turned up. It sounds fucking horrible. Anyway, as I progressed, joined my first band, got my first proper amp, I continued to scoop out the mids, because hey, it sounds good in my bedroom.

I think everyone at some point arrives at the Eureka moment where they realize that mids make all the difference when you're playing with a band. Plus, as you get better, and have more control over your tone, you realize that you don't need so much gain.

All I'm saying is, maybe this thread would be helpful in a forum with a lot of younger, less experienced guitar players. Here, not so much.

totally agree with you. this place is mostly filled with geezers, and we learned this crap aeons ago...for the youth of the world "shredding" in their bedrooms, this info is gold...though they won't believe it until they realize their 100 watt amp can't be heard even though it is cranked to 10.

[Spivonious]

Yep, eventually I realized that the guitar is a "mids" instrument. Why compete with the bass player and cymbals if you don't have to?

[phill_up]

I just turn every knob on my amp to eleven.

Then conjure up the images from Stonehenge.

My amp goes to 12! I swear!

[Da' Melta']

Yep, eventually I realized that the guitar is a "mids" instrument. Why compete with the bass player and cymbals if you don't have to?

Bravo, Spivonious! Thank you for pointing that out. The bass players have families to feed too.

[lerxstcat]

Dude..

you know, if you shove your pud in a vag..it feels pretty good.

I have noticed that this is consistently true! In fact, never has it failed for me!:ROTF:

[emperor_black]

All I'm saying is, maybe this thread would be helpful in a forum with a lot of younger, less experienced guitar players. Here, not so much.

The high mids dont work for me in the band. the other guitarist in the band loves the scooped tone and so to compensate my high mids tone, he turns his shit up so freakin loud, I cant hear myself over his bass and treble. He has this sharp megadeth, children of bodom like trebly thin sound. So, what do I do? I scoop my mids too and tell him to turn his stuff down. I must say, I do love the scooped mids tone when playing in the band LOUD!!

I will not turn my gain down for anybody!! But I do keep it under control. Passive pups, clean power, so no annoying noise and hum shadowing the notes being played. Yeah, I read the James Hetfield interview in GW and how they are re-discovering their tone by turning down their gain. I'm listening to DM and I think their tone sucks!! Well, the songs suck too, but that's a whole different story.

[Endrik]

I've practiced my tone for almost 50 years, and if I can't hear my tone, I can't play. If I can't play, then I won't get paid. If I don't get paid, then I lose the house, you know?
It's like a chain reaction. If I lose my tone, I can't fuck, can't make love, can't do nothin'. I'll just walk into the ocean and die, if I lose my tone.
-Miles Davis

[emperor_black]

I think when it comes to tone, its like personalities. At home, you have one, at work you have another. At home, for your personal tastes, have the tone you want. Scooped, dimed, whatever, but in a band, you've got to get the song going and not worry about the tone.

When I'm playing at 190+ bpm, I could care less about my tone... just if I can hear myself or not. I want to hear the drummer's changing patterns, the other guitarist finish his lead so I can start...lots of stuff happening and tone is the least of my concern. My pick keeps falling down!

[VitaminG]

My amp goes to 12! I swear!

p'eh. My amp STARTS at 11.

[Burn]

UH, dont forget.....

[AK47]

UH, dont forget.....

I know alot of bands that use that pedal. Most of the new Emo bands use it like Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco.

[bibz]

p'eh. My amp STARTS at 11.

Lucky all your gigs are 8-10 then

[Vass]

Lucky all your gigs are 8-10 then

I see what you did there. Very well done