# Favorite guitarist with lousy tone?



## celticelk (Sep 28, 2011)

Who do you like *in spite of* their tone rather than *because of* it? My top contender has to be Vernon Reid: awesome playing, but his distortions always sound too fizzy to me - they don't have the warm weight that I like from a good rock/metal guitar. (Warren Haynes, on the other hand....)


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## MUTANTOID (Sep 28, 2011)

Edit: Abbath from Immortal. At the Heart of Winter has less than awesome guitar tone, but the riffs are nothing but spectacular.


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## Lagtastic (Sep 28, 2011)

I just can't get into the tone from his LAG signature. Love the riffs, hate the tone.


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## edsped (Sep 28, 2011)

Not 100% on topic but I hate the guitar tone on Operation Mindcrime just as much as I love the album itself. The first solo in The Needle Lies is the worst, sounds like a buzzsaw.


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## Louis Cypher (Sep 28, 2011)

Hendrix is the first one springs to mind.... fcuking shocking at times especially live, but well, he is Hendrix ain't he...


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## cronux (Sep 28, 2011)

Dimebag... love the guitar skills and studio albums, his live playing is 

but live sound...now that's something that's waaaay off... fuzz city


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## Harry (Sep 28, 2011)

I can't really pick one (as I don't really have a single favorite guitarist), so yeah.

Megadeth, Gojira, Testament, BTBAM, Nevermore (plenty more examples out there, but those are some favorites that came to mind) have gone from having terrible production (which not only effects guitar tone, but just vocal tone, bass tone and drum tone), to their more recent stuff which sounds great including great guitar sounds.
Bulb is an absolutely fantastic guitarist and musician, but I'll be honest and say I absolutely hate that style of production that 'djent' bands go for and that super digital, excessively percussive and dry guitar sound that seems to come with the territory.

I like nearly everything Meshuggah has done.
But man, once they started to use amp modeling (starting from _Nothing), _you can really hear (if you have a reasonable music listening setup) just how flat and dull the guitars and bass guitars sound.


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## USMarine75 (Sep 28, 2011)

Louis Cypher said:


> Hendrix is the first one springs to mind.... fcuking shocking at times especially live, but well, he is Hendrix ain't he...


 












OMG my favorite tone of all time is Hendrix's tone... especially his live sound at Woodstock! Star Spangled Banner? Voodoo Chile?


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## celticelk (Sep 28, 2011)

USMarine75 said:


> OMG my favorite tone of all time is Hendrix's tone... especially his live sound at Woodstock! Star Spangled Banner? Voodoo Chile?


 
I think the "at times" disclaimer was probably important. I love me some Hendrix too, and certainly he and Eddie Kramer worked hard to get his tone faithfully reproduced on record, but live is a different and fickle beast, and live recording in the '60s wasn't necessarily all that.


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## DLG (Sep 28, 2011)

tony macalpine might have the worst riff tone ever. especially recently.


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## USMarine75 (Sep 28, 2011)

My submission is... anybody that uses _too much_ of a good thing... too much wah... too much talkbox... etc...

e.g.


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## Thep (Sep 28, 2011)

Decrepit Birth. I understand the theme he is after, I just dont like it.

Hoffman brother's tone on later Deicide was terrible but I still loved it.


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## Louis Cypher (Sep 28, 2011)

USMarine75 said:


> OMG my favorite tone of all time is Hendrix's tone... especially his live sound at Woodstock! Star Spangled Banner? Voodoo Chile?



To defend myself against your  LOL!! I did say "...at times...."  

Seriously though some of the later live performances such as Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 I think it is are pretty pants quality from a sound point of view... not denying the mans performance or skills at all I am a huge Hendrix fan and its as a fan that I am commenting that some of his Live tone was sh1t at times. Yeah Woodstock and Filmore East and Monterey are some the best Live albums ever imo but some of his Live stuff was god awful as well


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## USMarine75 (Sep 28, 2011)

Louis Cypher said:


> To defend myself against your  LOL!! I did say "...at times...."
> 
> Seriously though some of the later live performances such as Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 I think it is are pretty pants quality from a sound point of view... not denying the mans performance or skills at all I am a huge Hendrix fan and its as a fan that I am commenting that some of his Live tone was sh1t at times. Yeah Woodstock and Filmore East and Monterey are some the best Live albums ever imo but some of his Live stuff was god awful as well


 
Well in Hendrix's defense... it sounded really good to him.


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## Joeywilson (Sep 28, 2011)

Jason Becker


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## Louis Cypher (Sep 28, 2011)

USMarine75 said:


> Well in Hendrix's defense... it sounded really good to him.



LOL!! And to probably 99% of the fucked up crowd! Ahh the 60's.....


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## shanejohnson02 (Sep 28, 2011)

Jimmy Page...sometimes his tone is an icepick to the ears, and he had some pretty sloppy / haphazard solo technique. BUT nobody will argue that Led Zeppelin is a HUGELY influential band. In his defense, he is a master orchestrator and solid rhythm guitarist.

I will also have to say Meshuggah is one of those bands where each guitarist individually has a very nasal/abrasive tone, but combined within the context of 2 guitarists/bass/drums, it comes together to make something huge-sounding.


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## Hosenbugler (Sep 28, 2011)

Paul Gilbert is a great guitar player, no question, but I've always thought his tone is bloody awful.


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## SirMyghin (Sep 28, 2011)

I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, different style, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.

There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.


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## Mordacain (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.
> 
> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different.



I agree with the assertion that tone can't be objectively decided as 'good' or 'bad.' That being said, you can form a consensus based on group opinion. Still doesn't make it right or wrong, but its still an interesting discussion.

For instance: I used to think Mark Knopfler's dirty Les Paul tones were kinda crappy. Then I learned some of those tunes and tried substituting different guitar tones and they all absolutely sucked. The original tone was the only one that imbued the proper vibe and attitude for the composition.


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## celticelk (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, different style, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.
> 
> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.


 
I don't disagree. My use of the phrase "despite their tone" was meant to convey a subjective instead of objective disapproval. Sorry if that didn't come across. And personally, I still listen to and love Vernon Reid; I just don't love Vernon's tone. I presume that Vernon likes *his own* tone - he's certainly got ample access to high-end gear if he wanted to change it!


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## Louis Cypher (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, different style, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.
> 
> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.



In the words of Futurama's Bureaucrat Number 1.0:


> Bureaucrat Conrad, you are technically correct -- the best kind of correct. I hereby promote you to grade 37



But one mans good tone is another mans killer bees and so I would say that even though it may be from a very personal, completely subjective or even a possibly biased way, any one can sit down and objectively decide what is good and bad tones to them. For example Vai's tone especially on Slip of the Tongue is pretty duff to me, especially when you compare it to John Sykes tone on 1987. Someone else on here may love Vai's tone on that CD... we are both right, and that's whats cool bout theses threads...


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## Murdstone (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.



What do you have against killer bee music?
Be more avant-garde


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## celticelk (Sep 28, 2011)

Murdstone said:


> What do you have against killer bee music?
> Be more avant-garde


 
One could simply play "Killer Bee Bop" for them, and then make an escape while they're all grooving to Satriani.


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## celticelk (Sep 28, 2011)

To those of you who posted unidentified pictures: I'm sorry, I'm not from your musical country. Who are these people?


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## great_kthulu (Sep 28, 2011)

becker, fantastic player, fantastic writer, meh tone.


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## linchpin (Sep 28, 2011)

COW


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## AxeHappy (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, different style, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.
> 
> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.




I thought it was fairly obvious from the usage of words such as, "...you like..." in the original post that this entire thread was subjective?


Anyways:
Dimebag. Fantastic player but I can't stand mid-scooped guitar tones.


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## eurolove (Sep 28, 2011)

rusty cooley, jeff loomis sound so shrill and thin to me. especially when tosin abasi and chimps spanner can get such a smooth full tone with emgs.


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## Malkav (Sep 28, 2011)

John Mclaughlin...I love whenever he picks up an acoustic but get the man on electric and I have to leave the room...


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## edsped (Sep 28, 2011)

Hosenbugler said:


> Paul Gilbert is a great guitar player, no question, but I've always thought his tone is bloody awful.


Listen to anything from Superheroes or Technical Difficulties. He went from having some of the worst tone ever with the ADA to having some of the best with the Laneys.


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## asher (Sep 28, 2011)

- Frederik and Mikael's overfuzzed 70's tone on Heritage. Really not a big fan of it.

- Petrucci. Maybe not lousy, but overrated I think; not quite enough bite to the rhythm sometimes and I don't like how round his lead is.

- not the biggest fan of Cynic's tone either, though I guess it works for what they do.


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## Cheesebuiscut (Sep 28, 2011)

Devin townsend on addicted xD

Imo the guitar tone sounds like shit but I love every minute of it.


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## BrianUV777BK (Sep 28, 2011)

I have a hard time even getting into the music if I don't like the guitar tone.


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## Cabinet (Sep 28, 2011)

Hosenbugler said:


> Paul Gilbert is a great guitar player, no question, but I've always thought his tone is bloody awful.



I agree his tone never seemed that great to me, but his tone on Fuzz Universe is spectacular IMO.


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## Guitarmiester (Sep 28, 2011)

Petrucci's tone has gone downhill after Octavarium.


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## Doug N (Sep 28, 2011)

Cabinet said:


> I agree his tone never seemed that great to me, but his tone on Fuzz Universe is spectacular IMO.


 
He had good shred tone when he was in Racer X, but I haven't been a fan of his tone with Mr. Big or his solo stuff. I guess I need to check out FU.


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## Remission (Sep 28, 2011)

Robby Krieger. 

Huge Doors fan, but my god, it's as if he plays with a wah completely open all the time. Torrent of treble.


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 28, 2011)

cronux said:


> Dimebag... love the guitar skills and studio albums, his live playing is
> 
> but live sound...now that's something that's waaaay off... fuzz city


 
Is it weird that i like his tone?

Also... I agree that Paul Gilbert's tone is a little 

I did like his tone on Technical Difficulties though...


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## MobiusR (Sep 28, 2011)

Guitarmiester said:


> Petrucci's tone has gone downhill after Octavarium.



BLASPHEMY! Maybe cause he stopped using the Roadkings right after. But i dig his BC&SL and the new album alot


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## Lagtastic (Sep 28, 2011)

celticelk said:


> To those of you who posted unidentified pictures: I'm sorry, I'm not from your musical country. Who are these people?





Lagtastic said:


> I just can't get into the tone from his LAG signature. Love the riffs, hate the tone.



This is Stephen Forte from Adagio. Fantastic Prog/Power metal band if you like that sort of thing. Here are a couple of my personal favorites:


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## edsped (Sep 28, 2011)

Petrucci's tone got way better when he ditched the Rectos and went back to Marks IMO.


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## JohnIce (Sep 28, 2011)

Pain of Salvation.






Love every second of every album as far as music and performance. Tones and mix have always been horrible. Road Salt sounds better, but that's because they started playing a completely different type of music where the gritty, dry 60's rehearsal space tones actually sounded appropriate.


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## Andromalia (Sep 28, 2011)

His tone has been going downhill since the 90es. :/


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## Konfyouzd (Sep 28, 2011)

MobiusR said:


> BLASPHEMY! Maybe cause he stopped using the Roadkings right after. But i dig his BC&SL and the new album alot


 
I liked his tone all the way up until the latest album. Although I LOVE the songwriting on the newest ablum. 

I'm on the fence about his tone on Suspended Animation honesty.


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## guitareben (Sep 28, 2011)

Guthrie Govan  *Trollface*

I'm kidding obviously, his tone is perfect (especially in the aristocrats debut)



Jason becker

Sometimes... Hendrix

Paul gilbert, except for recently when he's been playing the fireman, which has SICK tone, has had pretty shit tone :/ (IMO, obviously...)

And Tony Macalpine. Yuck tone :/ (but really awesome player)

Oh and (don't kill me  ) Ron Jarzombek...


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## Floppystrings (Sep 28, 2011)




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## Guitarmiester (Sep 28, 2011)

MobiusR said:


> BLASPHEMY! Maybe cause he stopped using the Roadkings right after. But i dig his BC&SL and the new album alot



Eh. I found his tone of the last few albums to be very dry and bland. I do like previous tones with the Mark IV, but lately no.


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## Xaios (Sep 28, 2011)

JohnIce said:


> Pain of Salvation.



Agreed, I love EVERYTHING about Pain of Salvation's first 5 albums (Entropia through BE), but their live tone flat out sucks, and the tone on some of the albums isn't much better. "The Perfect Element" and "Remedy Lane" sound okay, but that's as good as it ever got and it's only gone downhill since.

Also, this guy (and it surprises the crap outta me that no one's mentioned him yet):


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## kung_fu (Sep 28, 2011)

I would have mentioned Romeo, as i never liked his tone....but i also never really dug his playing or his band. Not really my thing.

Two guys i dig who have sketchy tone at times are Mike Stern and John Abercrombie.


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## Insanity (Sep 28, 2011)

No one had mentioned Zakk Wylde?... Odd


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## mondertonian (Sep 28, 2011)

ron jarzombek. my god. so good, yet so bad.


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## AdamMaz (Sep 28, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is.


You make the assumption that the aim of the thread is to be conclusive.


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## Blood Ghost (Sep 28, 2011)

Insanity said:


> No one had mentioned Zakk Wylde?... Odd



This. It always sounded digital to me, like pixels turned into sound. As far as I know he uses 100% analog and tube equipment.


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## Mysticlamp (Sep 28, 2011)

iommi,


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## eaeolian (Sep 28, 2011)

Harry said:


> I can't really pick one (as I don't really have a single favorite guitarist), so yeah.
> 
> Megadeth, Gojira, Testament, BTBAM, Nevermore (plenty more examples out there, but those are some favorites that came to mind) have gone from having terrible production (which not only effects guitar tone, but just vocal tone, bass tone and drum tone), to their more recent stuff which sounds great including great guitar sounds.



Wait, you think Nevermore's more recent stuff sounds better?  The Kernon produced albums (excluding the ST that was a remixed demo) sound great. Everything else ranges from meh to ugh.


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## eurolove (Sep 28, 2011)

great_kthulu said:


> becker, fantastic player, fantastic writer, meh tone.



wha? i love that searing hair metal tone, altitudes wouldn't be the same without it.


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## edsped (Sep 28, 2011)

eaeolian said:


> Wait, you think Nevermore's more recent stuff sounds better?  The Kernon produced albums (excluding the ST that was a remixed demo) sound great. Everything else ranges from meh to ugh.


TGE sounded pretty good to me.

And to one of the guys from earlier, I was gonna say Michael Romeo but just didn't. At least his tone has gotten gradually less bad over the years.


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## orakle (Sep 28, 2011)




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## Xaios (Sep 28, 2011)

eaeolian said:


> Wait, you think Nevermore's more recent stuff sounds better?  The Kernon produced albums (excluding the ST that was a remixed demo) sound great. Everything else ranges from meh to ugh.



I enjoy the stuff that was done by Neil Kernon as well as Andy Sneap, but there are obvious differences. One of the reasons why Dreaming Neon Black is my favorite Nevermore album is because the production and sound engineering, even though it doesn't sound super slick by current standards, really enhances the vibe that the album is going for. It's got a sort of distant, wistful quality and is almost another instrument in itself.

Andy Sneap's production, while being full-bodied and distinctly "Sneap-ish," is pretty sterile by comparison.

Furthermore, I'd be lying if I said I was fond of Jeff Loomis' current tone. I think that has more to do with the guitar than the production, however. I liked his sound a lot more when he was playing Hellraisers. Ash with EMGs just sounds too shrill.


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## ChrisRushing (Sep 28, 2011)

I will place another vote for Jarzombek (someone should also take away that god awful 1986 keyboard Bell/chime patch he is obsessed with). 
I will also submit IA from Freak Kitchen. His live tone wasn't nearly as offensive but on "Move" it is probably one of the weirdest guitar tones I know of on recording.


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## ittoa666 (Sep 28, 2011)

kung_fu said:


> Mike Stern



 His tone is absolutely sterile. No effects, no nothing. His playing is great, but the tone is just plain. I liken it to eating a cheese sandwich.


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## Captain Shoggoth (Sep 28, 2011)

IMO

Bulb (dat djent, my ears disapprove)
Chuck Schuldiner (As Stealthtastic so eloquently put it, FIZZFIZZFIZZFIZZ)
Abbath Doom Occulta (lacks balls)
Karen Grigoryan (floppy, flabby, gross)
Paul Ryan (so thin)


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## edsped (Sep 28, 2011)

ChrisRushing said:


> I will place another vote for Jarzombek (someone should also take away that god awful 1986 keyboard Bell/chime patch he is obsessed with).
> I will also submit IA from Freak Kitchen. His live tone wasn't nearly as offensive but on "Move" it is probably one of the weirdest guitar tones I know of on recording.


Yeah I've gotta say, I love Laney and I love Freak Kitchen but I'm not a big fan of IA's tone on any of the albums. I don't hate it (except on Appetizer), I just don't like it.


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## CrownofWorms (Sep 28, 2011)

Dare I say it.....Fuck it, I'll say it anyway






More so on the lead tone than Rhythm.


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## Dayn (Sep 28, 2011)

I'd say Michael Romeo's rhythm tone. It works, but... it doesn't sound as 'thick' as it could be to me.

I'd say Yngwie Malmsteen, Mr Cheese Grater, but this thread is for _favourite_ guitarists...


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## HaMMerHeD (Sep 28, 2011)

I'm a bass player, so I'll pick a bassist.

John Myung.

It has gotten better now that he is playing Bongos. As much as I hate the aesthetic design, they sound pretty good. But back when he was playing Yamaha and Tobias basses, he took all of the definition and attack out of them. His Tung basses sounded nice, but he rarely used them.

Also Cliff Burton. I really hate the sound of a Rickenbacker.

Both of the dudes have mad talent, but I hate the sound of their instruments.


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## Blood Ghost (Sep 28, 2011)

I'm also going to make a submission for both Daniel Antonsson and Ola Frenning on Soilwork's _Sworn To A Great Divide_. There is something really weird to me about that rhythm tone and I don't really know what it is. It's almost nasaly. However I love the album. And though I didn't say it earlier, *This* to Abbath. Immortal is amazing, but uh... his tone sounds like the letter Z or S to me.  On the contrary, it does sound like something cold, or ice, so I suppose he accomplished what he wanted to get accross.


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## rlott1 (Sep 28, 2011)

Yngwie Malmsteen....possibly the worst tones ever recorded.....but an awesome soloist

Zakk Wylde....crap tone and totally overrated


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## ChrisRushing (Sep 28, 2011)

Let's toss Randy Rhoads in there as well. Blizzard of Oz is just .......well you know haha


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## All_¥our_Bass (Sep 29, 2011)

Varg, but I couldn't imagine that music like Burzum would "work" as well with "good" tone.

Plus, his tone is one of those "so bad it's good" types-I'm actively trying to dial in a "Burzum" tone out of my gear.



Blood Ghost said:


> Immortal is amazing, but uh... his tone sounds like the letter Z or S to me.  On the contrary, it does sound like something *cold, or ice, so I suppose he accomplished what he wanted to get accross*.


I find certain black metal music sounds better with this style of tone-older Anaal Nathrakh has a cold/fizzy tone, but it works *for* the music rather than *against it*.


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## AdAstra2025 (Sep 29, 2011)

Metallica - St Anger and Death Magnetic


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## yingmin (Sep 29, 2011)

Surprised nobody's mentioned Trey Azagthoth yet. His tone can be absolutely maddening, but it does enhance the mood of their albums.


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## MFB (Sep 29, 2011)

Jake E. Lee

His tone is awesome and all, but it's fucking slathered in phaser


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## CrushingAnvil (Sep 29, 2011)

yingmin said:


> Surprised nobody's mentioned Trey Azagthoth yet. His tone can be absolutely maddening, but it does enhance the mood of their albums.



Your argument = invalid.


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## JP Universe (Sep 29, 2011)

Why is John Petrucci included in this thread


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## Mordacain (Sep 29, 2011)

JP Universe said:


> Why is John Petrucci included in this thread



 The thread calls for lousy tone. Petrucci has never had lousy tone...never.


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## ROAR (Sep 29, 2011)

Mark from VoM. 
-First time I heard ID I was just like wtf. Now I love that album. Still not a great tone.
Tosin's tone in Reflux.
-just....wow.
Painted in Exile.
-love the EP, hate the tone. Seriously trade up those amps.
Omar from Mars Volta... but
-can I really say that? He kind of goes for that... Super harsh tone. Weird.

I love all these guys though.


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## TheBloodstained (Sep 29, 2011)

Mick Thompson and Jim Root's tone.

I love SlipKnot, but the guitar tone on the albums is crap to me. I like their playing though.
The live sound they had on the Disasterpieces dvd was epic, and when I saw them live in Copenhagen in 2008 they also had the sickest live tone...
I don't know what they do when they produce the album, but the guitar sound has been crap since Iowa...






EDIT:
Maybe it's worth mentioning that I'm a huge fan of Misha Mansoor's tone?


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## Neptical (Sep 29, 2011)

Slappin' my own face here to my fav player of all time..but Lifeson in the 2112 era. Love the playing and everything about the band on that album, but I've never been a fan of that particular vintage tone - same applies to any of Zepplin/Page sound. I could just never get into it.


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## shanejohnson02 (Sep 29, 2011)

SirMyghin said:


> I love threads like this as you can apparently sit down and decide, objectively, what 'good tone' is. Every player has a different voice, a different sound in their head, different style, and a different band dynamic. All of these require different tones, I generally end up as far as every song requires different tone.
> 
> There is no good or bad tone (unless killer bees are coming for your ears), only different. Consequently I listen to what they are saying, not the voice they use to say it.



I never use the terms "good" or "bad" tone, because you can't measure that...and I HATE the term "more tone", as in "this guitar has MORE TONE than that one".

As subjective as it may be, you can still describe the texture of a sound. For instance, a trumpet tends to be more abrasive-sounding than a clarinet, typically. Classically-trained musicians have been describing sounds like this for years. So it's really musically sound to say that Frederik Thordendal's rhythm sound is abrasive and brash, and Jimmy Page's sounds tend to be nasal and have an extremely sharp attack.


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## cronux (Sep 29, 2011)

machine head... live...
IMO it's like they don't know how to reduce the bass and treble frequency's...

so much "wet" sound


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## piggins411 (Sep 29, 2011)

Big change in the style of bands you guys are naming, but the guitarist(s) (don't actually know names) from band Jawbreaker (in the one album I've heard) has a pretty awful tone. Love the album though.


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## jackfiltraition (Sep 29, 2011)

This thread really made me think. Love it!! Dunno what the general consensus of them on this board is but personally, I like me some Lamb Of God, love Willies riffage and think Mark has some great chops and lots of soul but their tones are just awful!!! Eeew!! Also Satriani, Vai and Gilbert.


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## Splinterhead (Sep 29, 2011)

mondertonian said:


> ron jarzombek. my god. so good, yet so bad.



this ^

Ronald is one of the most creative players out there, but man his tone...it just ain't right.


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## eaeolian (Sep 29, 2011)

Dayn said:


> I'd say Yngwie Malmsteen, Mr Cheese Grater, but this thread is for _favourite_ guitarists...



Now? Yes. In 1984? No. His tone was ridiculous, and it still is live. I have no idea how he mangles it in the studio.


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## eaeolian (Sep 29, 2011)

Next person that posts a troll face in this thread gets a seven-day nap.

I actually agree about Romeo - the last two discs are pretty good, but his tone before that (his lead tone, anyway) was seriously squished and ice-picky.

That said, some of you have some serious ear-cleaning to do. I may not like many of DT's albums, but the only one that has CLOSE to bad tone is WDaDU, and even it's not bad for the time period. Petrucci may not use a tone I'd use, but it's seldom "bad".


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## rythmic_pulses (Sep 29, 2011)

Harry said:


> I like nearly everything Meshuggah has done.
> But man, once they started to use amp modeling (starting from _Nothing), _you can really hear (if you have a reasonable music listening setup) just how flat and dull the guitars and bass guitars sound.


 

On the original Nothing it was recorded with Nevborn 27" scale seven string guitars, I heard in that Metalkult interview that they had to retune the guitars after every song and those Nevborn's were really dull sounding live too from 2002 to 2004 then they got those LACS Ibanez RG8's which sound far better than the Nevborn's but still you are right about the tone in the studio, there is no emotion at all and it still sounds dull.


But worst tone I heard is Meshuggah's first album Contradictions Collapse, too much treble....


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## ChrisRushing (Sep 29, 2011)

rythmic_pulses said:


> On the original Nothing it was recorded with Nevborn 27" scale seven string guitars, I heard in that Metalkult interview that they had to retune the guitars after every song and those Nevborn's were really dull sounding live too from 2002 to 2004 then they got those LACS Ibanez RG8's which sound far better than the Nevborn's but still you are right about the tone in the studio, there is no emotion at all and it still sounds dull.
> 
> 
> But worst tone I heard is Meshuggah's first album Contradictions Collapse, too much treble....




Probably has a lot to do with all the hardcore gating as well. Lack of sustain=dull to my ears too. I get it, but it still isn't something I would ever want to try and recreate or use.


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## rythmic_pulses (Sep 29, 2011)

ChrisRushing said:


> Probably has a lot to do with all the hardcore gating as well. Lack of sustain=dull to my ears too. I get it, but it still isn't something I would ever want to try and recreate or use.


 
Too much Gating is really bad, it's like you go to chug and if you aren't careful it'll go CHUUU......., It is quite funny to hear it in real life though, This guy had an Axe FX Ultra and set the gate far too high and started complaining about it, I basically told him to "Turn down the Noise Gate"


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## All_¥our_Bass (Sep 29, 2011)

Neptical said:


> but I've never been a fan of that particular vintage tone - same applies to any of Zepplin/Page sound. I could just never get into it.



Not a fan of (most) "vintage" tone here either.


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## JaxoBuzzo (Sep 29, 2011)

I'm not a big fan of Tosin's tone.


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## decypher (Sep 29, 2011)

Ron Jarzombek for sure... Frank Aresti, Bill Tsamis (Warlord/Lordian Guard) - they all soundcmuch thinner than they deserve...


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## Daemoniac (Sep 29, 2011)

Dino Cazares.

I love his work, I love his playing, I think his tone sounds like someone slapping a wet dick against the guitar strings - especially on the earlier FF albums.


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## celticelk (Sep 29, 2011)

JaxoBuzzo said:


> I'm not a big fan of Tosin's tone.



Y'know, I'm glad to hear someone else say that. I don't *hate* Tosin's tone, but it doesn't stop time for me either. In fact, I've yet to hear anyone using an Axe FX (that I know of, anyway) that had what I consider to be killer tone. It doesn't have that fake-amp processed buzz that I associate with, say, early 2000s Digitech units (having owned a Genesis3), but it's serviceable at best. Maybe I'm coming from too much of an old-school blues/rock Marshall-crunch perspective.


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## edsped (Sep 29, 2011)

Tosin's tone sounds pretty good on the new stuff, but it's really bad on the first CD.


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## Demiurge (Sep 29, 2011)

jackfiltraition said:


> This thread really made me think. Love it!! Dunno what the general consensus of them on this board is but personally, I like me some Lamb Of God, love Willies riffage and think Mark has some great chops and lots of soul but their tones are just awful!!! Eeew!! Also Satriani, Vai and Gilbert.



I'm never going to fault a guitarist for turning down the gain and turning up the mids (a little), but LoG's guitar tone is just too dry- to the point where it takes up less space in the mix than it should.


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## vampiregenocide (Sep 29, 2011)

+1 on Slipknot and Periphery. Brilliant riffs, music is top notch, just can't get on with the production. 

Nile have ruined albums for me with their production. Painful to listen to sometimes.

Metallica write some great stuff but their production (Especially on recent material) is awful. It's a shame, because some of their songs would have sounded fucking huge if produced well.



On Lamb of God, the past couple of albums sounded perfect to me. Guitars sound fucking huge ad everything sits right. Earlier stuff didn't sound as good, but never bothered me.


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## Explorer (Sep 30, 2011)

celticelk said:


> To those of you who posted unidentified pictures: I'm sorry, I'm not from your musical country. Who are these people?


 
As a tribute to CelticElk, I have to note that although this guy has great chops...







...it's like he wants his tone to be the antithesis of these guys'.










These two have such great tone... why can't that first guy be persuaded to get away from that plunky rubberband sound?

























(okay, okay... the three guys are Robert Cray, Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. I'm fairly certain that none of the kids here have heard of any of them....)


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## MaxSwagger (Sep 30, 2011)

Jarzombek and Becker for me. Love their music, style, and what have you. But dat tone...


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## Xaios (Sep 30, 2011)

Explorer said:


> (okay, okay... the three guys are *Robert Cray*, Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. I'm fairly certain that none of the kids here have heard of any of them....)



Eff. that.

My dad is BIG fan of electric blues, so I was raised on Stevie Ray Vaughan, BB King, Buddy Guy, and yes, Robert Cray. The man has the most insane finger reach ever.

Haven't listened to much Robben Ford or Larry Carlton though.


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## metal_sam14 (Sep 30, 2011)

Emppu from nightwish, great player and holds down his part in the band well, but his live tone is horrid.


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## Stealthdjentstic (Sep 30, 2011)

Most death metal bands using the whole overly scooped sound. Especially on Effigy of the Forgotten. You can crank it all you want but still not be able to hear the guitar.


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## ittoa666 (Sep 30, 2011)

Ihsahn had some pretty bad tone back in the day, but the production was pretty horrible anyway. It's hard to listen to In the Nightside Eclipse.


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## lurgar (Sep 30, 2011)

I love AAL and I was so glad that live their overall tone was so much better than on the first album. I honestly think it's the production on the album and I hope the second album sounds better.


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## celticelk (Sep 30, 2011)

Explorer said:


> These two have such great tone... why can't that first guy be persuaded to get away from that plunky rubberband sound?



Explorer, you're officially my hero of the day.  Yeah, Cray's tone is a little heavy on the stingy treble for me - actually, it's not all that different from SRV's tone in general, although I like Stevie's tone better. It's probably those monster strings he used. Robben Ford has more of that creamy singing tone I like, and Carlton even more so. To be fair, though, Cray's a *much* better blues singer than Robben Ford. =)


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## Don Vito (Sep 30, 2011)

ittoa666 said:


> Ihsahn had some pretty bad tone back in the day, but the production was pretty horrible anyway. It's hard to listen to In the Nightside Eclipse.


To be fair though, Emperor's tone/production was a lot better than most other BM bands at the time. imo of course

For me, it's like 70% of death metal guitarist. Tosin's distorted tone on their(AAL) first album was also pretty lame.


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## Explorer (Sep 30, 2011)

celticelk said:


> To be fair, though, Cray's a *much* better blues singer than Robben Ford. =)



Well.. we're talking about the tone of their instruments, not their singing. *laugh*

I think I'm going to have to toss on the CD "Strong Persuader" later today. "She was just another notch on my guitar...!" What a great song.


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## eaeolian (Sep 30, 2011)

celticelk said:


> Explorer, you're officially my hero of the day.  Yeah, Cray's tone is a little heavy on the stingy treble for me - actually, it's not all that different from SRV's tone in general, although I like Stevie's tone better. It's probably those monster strings he used. Robben Ford has more of that creamy singing tone I like, and Carlton even more so. To be fair, though, Cray's a *much* better blues singer than Robben Ford. =)



I've never had an issue with Cray's tone, though it's not what I'd use personally.

No one's tone is better than SRV's was. The man had the hands of a god.


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## BucketheadRules (Sep 30, 2011)

I'm gonna come straight out with it:

Jimmy Page
Randy Rhoads
Chuck Schuldiner (outro of The Philosopher... ew)
Euronymous
Jason Becker (sometimes)
Ritchie Blackmore

That isn't to say anything against them as players, because they're all awesome and I have boundless respect and love for them as guitarists.

But everyone I've mentioned there tended to use a really shitty, trebly icepick of a tone. Of course, this isn't a blanket statement for their whole careers, because Chuck sometimes got a really cool tone, Jimmy and Ritchie too. Euronymous's tone was shit, but that was probably intentional.

Randy's tone is really harsh and nasal to my ears, and Jason's can be quite fizzy and trebly. Both were flawless as players, so it surprises me that they would record with such unusual (and IMO rubbish) guitar sounds.

All my opinion, of course.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Sep 30, 2011)

yingmin said:


> Surprised nobody's mentioned Trey Azagthoth yet. His tone can be absolutely maddening, but it does enhance the mood of their albums.


I've always loved his tone.

Different strokes for different folks though.


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## Alimination (Sep 30, 2011)

holy smokes, a lot of you are beginning to make me question my ears! O_O

I actually enjoy tones from Paul Gilbert, randy rhoads, petrucci, etc..


and to be honest even guys like hendrix to jason becker, I actually like the sucky tone rather then the new polished tones produced in a lot of music. Granted you gotta keep in mind a lot of these new technology wasn't available to them. I still enjoy the vintage tone more.



anyways if I had to pick one tone I hate is this Djent stuff. Can't wait till the damn trend ends.

*braces self for bashing*


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## Lukifer (Oct 1, 2011)

So, too drunk to read 5 pages of this s my opinion......
I hate Jeff Loomis' lead tone. So damn harsh and ice pick sounding. No warmth, or character. Just ear piercing high pitched shrill shit. Amazing lead work, I love Loomis' playing, he is an insane guitarist, But god damn I hate to hear his tone. Plus its so distinctive, like on the solo he did on the Periphery song Racecar, its like oh fuck theres Loomis. Awesome solo, shit tone!


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## yingmin (Oct 1, 2011)

The more I think about it, I hate most death metal guitar tones, but I think the worst tone from a death metal band that I actually like is Dying Fetus. I can't believe people want to emulate that tone.


All_¥our_Bass;2685558 said:


> I've always loved his tone.
> 
> Different strokes for different folks though.



Like I said, it works for what Morbid Angel does, but maybe we all only think that because that's how it's always been. Apply that tone to any random other death metal band, and you'd probably think it was garbage.


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## ittoa666 (Oct 1, 2011)

kennedyblake said:


> To be fair though, Emperor's tone/production was a lot better than most other BM bands at the time. imo of course
> 
> For me, it's like 70% of death metal guitarist. Tosin's distorted tone on their(AAL) first album was also pretty lame.



Yeah. Their sound on albums compared to Darkthrone's is pretty good. 

And yes, Tosins tone sounded like bad embodied on the first AAL.


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## guitareben (Oct 1, 2011)

jackfiltraition said:


> Eeew!! Also Satriani, *Vai* and Gilbert.



:O But how... Vai's tone is pretty much perfect...

Anyway, i gotta say, i really dislike Frank Zappa's lead tone. Just... razor blade sounding :O Amazing musician, phenomenal, but that tone


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## mikemueller2112 (Oct 1, 2011)

Explorer said:


> (okay, okay... the three guys are Robert Cray, Robben Ford and Larry Carlton. I'm fairly certain that none of the kids here have heard of any of them....)



Hey now, I've heard of em, a big fan of Cray and Ford. Cray's stuff is good now, has that really snappy Strat sound. His stuff in the 80s was pretty shitty, and now sounds really dated. Robben Ford has some of the smoothest tones out there. Larry Carlton I know of, but haven't listened enough to comment on his tone.


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## fwd0120 (Oct 1, 2011)

Hmmm. Nice thread!! I think I'll throw a few in.

Jimmy page - A pioneer, but can sound kinda annoying, great phrasing, but can get pretty sloppy.

Hendrix is difficult to list because He's just got so much mojo! Live though, is hit-and-miss. Like somebody mentioned, frampton could over-rely on effects, and I think Jimi could do that sometimes as well, Like on the star spangled banner, however, as annoying as it is, that tone is also kinda captiviating.... ya know, having the vibe in front with the wah halfcocked.

An honourable mention would be yngwie, net a gigantic fan of his music, but i do think he's a good player, but however identifiable his tone is, it can be equally abbrasive.

Not completely sure why vai is on the list, although, sometimes his evo's can be "too much" and almost sound scooped, but thats only hit or miss.


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## BMU (Oct 1, 2011)

I've been informed Eric Johnson supposedly has good tone, but it just sounds so limp noodle insipid to my ears. Now that is purely subjective cos it really just isn't my thing, no big deal.

To whoever said Decrepit Birth - really? Even on Polarity? The previous album production wasn't great but I like the Polarity tone a lot. It's very modern metal Engl yet very organic.


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## Edika (Oct 1, 2011)

eaeolian said:


> Wait, you think Nevermore's more recent stuff sounds better?  The Kernon produced albums (excluding the ST that was a remixed demo) sound great. Everything else ranges from meh to ugh.



Totally agree! POE, DNB and DHIADW have awesome production and tones. After that it's kinda downhill.


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## Lukifer (Oct 1, 2011)

Edika said:


> Totally agree! POE, DNB and DHIADW have awesome production and tones. After that it's kinda downhill.



Totally agree. That's when I started to hate Loomiss tone. Good rhythm sound back then and an ok lead tone but now i hate it.


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## edsped (Oct 1, 2011)

I think Loomis' lead tone has always been about the same, ie. really, really dry with a boost. None of it sounds particularly better or worse to my ears.


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## ilyti (Oct 1, 2011)

USMarine75 said:


>


I am the proud owner of this album on original vinyl. Just thought I'd mention that.

Here's a few that comes to mind for me. Great playing, cringeworthy tone (at times). 
Tony MacAlpine. Been mentioned before, but I just don't think he understands tone. Even on keyboards, it sounds like he just picked the first patch that came up and went "eh, sounds alright I guess". But I'm just jealous of his incredible playing.
Yngwie. At times, he sounds like the most amazing opera soprano, other times a giant bee-attack bathed in echo.
Ritchie Blackmore. I love just about every note he has played pre-Blackmore's Night... but for the most part, the sound was just so thin the high notes were actually painful to hear. Even when playing an ES-335.
Paul Gilbert in the Racer X days. However, his tone on the latest Mr. Big record is to die for. 
Frank Gambale. Is he killing that guitar, daddy?
James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett. Shut up, I still like 'em. But out of a nearly 30 year carreer, there's been 3 albums with halfway decent tones. (Metallica, Load, ReLoad)


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## edsped (Oct 1, 2011)

The rhythm tone on Ride the Lightning was heavy as shit.

And all you guys saying "Paul Gilbert in the Racer X days" need to listen past the first two albums.


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## BrainArt (Oct 1, 2011)

yingmin said:


> The more I think about it, I hate most death metal guitar tones, but I think the worst tone from a death metal band that I actually like is Dying Fetus. I can't believe people want to emulate that tone.



Yes, this. I love Dying Fetus' music, but the tone and production are terrible, so I physically can't listen to them.


And to whoever said Vai:


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## JaeSwift (Oct 2, 2011)

Marc Okubo, though I've heard worse tones ;<.<


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## The_Mop (Oct 2, 2011)

Louis Cypher said:


> In the words of Futurama's Bureaucrat Number 1.0:...
> 
> 
> > Bureaucrat Conrad, you are technically correct -- the best kind of correct. I hereby promote you to grade 37



Good job on working in quotes from my personal fave futurama ep 

The guitars on the first deftones album sound like ass. Good job they changed it quickly


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## Sikthness (Oct 2, 2011)

JaeSwift said:


> Marc Okubo, though I've heard worse tones ;<.<


 
I hated his tone at first too, esp on id. But its grown on me so much, I think it fits his music perfectly now.


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## The_Mop (Oct 2, 2011)

Oh and Nile. Seriously terrible guitar sound for their whole career...


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## zappatton2 (Oct 2, 2011)

Robbie Krieger of the Doors was brought up earlier in this thread, and I have to strenuously second that! For the past few years, I've been playing in a Doors tribute band, our singer has bankrolled most of it by buying period correct equipment, and I am basically playing Krieger with Krieger tone. It sounds AWFUL, and every sound guy we work with at shows tells me so before we even start, but every time I try to tweak to sound decent, I get the stare of death from the band. It's so weird trying to set up my rig to sound like shit, but to be fair, it does sound like the Doors.


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## signalgrey (Oct 2, 2011)

not my favorites but......

In Flames

just my opinion.


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## thedarkoceans (Oct 2, 2011)

hendrix is waaaaaay to overrated.


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## vampiregenocide (Oct 2, 2011)

signalgrey said:


> not my favorites but......
> 
> In Flames
> 
> just my opinion.



Agreed. Their production lets down some amazing songs.


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## vampiregenocide (Oct 2, 2011)

The_Mop said:


> Oh and Nile. Seriously terrible guitar sound for their whole career...



The latest album 'Those Whom The Gods Detest' and 'Annihilation Of The Wicked' sound pretty awesome. Only albums I can listen to.


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## Konfyouzd (Oct 2, 2011)

BrainArt said:


> And to whoever said Vai:



His tone can be a bit screwy some of the time, but it's often spot on for the song he's playing... *Most* of the time anyway...


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## Konfyouzd (Oct 2, 2011)

vampiregenocide said:


> Agreed. Their production lets down some amazing songs.



I've only *really* listened to Jester Race and I didn't think the tone was that bad on that one. Sounded a little bit like a garage recording, but not quite that bad.


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## JosephAOI (Oct 2, 2011)

JaeSwift said:


> Marc Okubo, though I've heard worse tones ;<.<


I knew someone would say him but I absolutely love his tone.
Why don't you like it?

(sparking the group discussion for what constitutes 'good tone')

I think good tone is fairly leveled with a slight to fair boost in the mids and highs for a distorted tone. Clean, bass boosted slightly more than highs but less than mids.

And I absolutely can't stand BM tones. It's like you're cutting into my head


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## All_¥our_Bass (Oct 3, 2011)

yingmin said:


> The more I think about it, I hate most death metal guitar tones, but I think the worst tone from a death metal band that I actually like is Dying Fetus. I can't believe people want to emulate that tone.
> 
> Like I said, it works for what Morbid Angel does, but maybe we all only think that because that's how it's always been. Apply that tone to any random other death metal band, and you'd probably think it was garbage.


Nah, I think it would rock!! 

But one tone that dopes fit the bill in "with anyone else it wouldn't work" is Nile's old guitar tone, specifically their first three albums. But it works for the music on those.

I described it once as "You can hear the desert sands on the records, like if you dug them up after 2,000 years."

An audio analogy to how the great ancient treasures as we know them today-scarred, broken, cracked, no longer "shiny", compared to how they must have been when they were new.

The "grainy" sound fits with albums about dead religions and creatures slumbering for eons. It makes it sound decayed and ancient. It's perfect for that.



Edika said:


> Totally agree! POE, DNB and DHIADW have awesome production and tones. After that it's kinda downhill.


I thought EOR (original "Nu-metal" mix) had a beastly rhythm tone.
It punched you in the face and didn't stop, it was primal and impossible to ignore. The one thing that could possibly cause me to lust for a triple rec.

 Brutal 

The Sneap remix makes the album much clearer sounding (nice if you're trying to learn/transcribe some of it), but it doesn't anywhere near as big or powerful.
And in my opinion is less musically powerful.

I've always like the lead tone Loomis had as well. I guess I just like that dry "precise" kind of tone (I'm a Meshuggah fan as well, there's probably some correlation there)


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## Cadavuh (Oct 3, 2011)

Ryan and Stu from Misery Signals. Great music, awful tone. This is all pre-Controller of course, the production on that album was much better than their previous releases.


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## thedarkoceans (Oct 3, 2011)

Cadavuh said:


> Ryan and Stu from Misery Signals. Great music, awful tone. This is all pre-Controller of course, the production on that album was much better than their previous releases.




yeah.on controller the sounds are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better.


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## omgmjgg (Oct 3, 2011)

Layne while he played in Danza, I love everything about Danza II but the tone is not there.


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## fretninjadave (Oct 3, 2011)

The other guitarist from my other band is one of my faves . His solo tone is super sic but his rhythm tone is not very good .



This is from before i was in the band with them!


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## Ancestor (Oct 3, 2011)

wow, yeah... i thought about hendrix immediately. but it's hit and miss. i find all the experimental stuff he did to be pretty compelling. little wing? 

i liked his tone the best w/bog. but it's funny, because when he played the gibsons it just didn't sound right to me. 

srv was a huge hendrix fan, but his tone seems thicker to me or something.


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## primerib (Oct 3, 2011)

first names that come to mind:

Tony Iommi and his legendary riffage but the vast majority of his career, he had bad tone. now he has huge tone though.
Mattias Eklundh. An ungodly player but take a minute to dial in your Laney please!
Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman. You guys don't have to have the mids on 10 just because EVH used to do it!


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## Mordacain (Oct 3, 2011)

primerib said:


> Tony Iommi and his legendary riffage but the vast majority of his career, he had bad tone. now he has huge tone though.



By contrast, I love Iommi's early Sabbath tones. Dallas Rangemaster into Laney = awesome.

You have to remember what was available to guys at the time as well. Back then, that was heavy as heavy could get. 

There simply were no higain heads back then. Extra gain could only come from Fuzz boxes (higain diode clipping) or boosts (like the rangemaster).


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## rythmic_pulses (Oct 3, 2011)

Not in my favorites but here I go, Korn, their tone is really muddy and people want to emulate their tone on a 7 string and trust me I know some guys from a Deathcore band who do and well, the tone speaks for itself.


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## Sikthness (Oct 3, 2011)

omgmjgg said:


> Layne while he played in Danza, I love everything about Danza II but the tone is not there.




Wow this was awesome I cant believe I've never seen this! Also, Danza II's tone is awesome. Its way too muddy to really make out, but in this case I think it adds to the chaos. I wonder if Layne will do anythin else musically in the near future?


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## yingmin (Oct 3, 2011)

primerib said:


> Mattias Eklundh. An ungodly player but take a minute to dial in your Laney please!


Wow, I think his tone is phenomenal. It's about the saggiest tone I think I've ever heard, and he really uses it to great effect, like on Taste My Fist. I thought about getting a Laney for a while, and he was part of the reason why.


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## Lukifer (Oct 3, 2011)

Ok the be all, end all, person I like alot with bad tone is......... me!!!! If only I had the money to get something better!!!


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## omgmjgg (Oct 4, 2011)

Sikthness said:


> I wonder if Layne will do anythin else musically in the near future?



I think it's very doubtful he will, I'm pretty sure he is married now.


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## Ancestor (Oct 4, 2011)

Lukifer said:


> Ok the be all, end all, person I like alot with bad tone is......... me!!!! If only I had the money to get something better!!!



ha right there with you


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## BMU (Oct 4, 2011)

Nile's rhythm tone has always been good imo. Lead tone not so much. But like they say, tone is in the fingers and they're really not very polished lead players.


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## The Norsemen (Oct 4, 2011)

I don't like "Vintage" tones. Not a fan of Marshall tones and stuff either.
I hate fuzz, and trebly twang. But I do like some older bands that use those horrendous tones.

Page, Hendrix, Iommi. Hate it. Angus Youngs tone is disgusting.

If I don't like the tone, its hard for me to get into a band.
I don't mind LZ and Sabbath, (Fuckin hate Hendrix and AC/DC) but I cant get into it so much because the guitars sound like shit to me.

I also dig the musical styles of the new Djent movement (Here and there) but that processed, super compressed thing they got goin on isn't pleasing to me.
You can get the bulk of that tone with a foam block and the volume knob dialed back a hair anyhow


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## celticelk (Oct 4, 2011)

The Norsemen said:


> I don't like "Vintage" tones. Not a fan of Marshall tones and stuff either.
> I hate fuzz, and trebly twang. But I do like some older bands that use those horrendous tones.
> 
> Page, Hendrix, Iommi. Hate it. Angus Youngs tone is disgusting.
> ...



...so what DO you like?


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## The Norsemen (Oct 4, 2011)

celticelk said:


> ...so what DO you like?



Tone is very hit and miss with me.
I'll find that I dig it today but tomorrow I'll find something about it i don't like.
Same goes for the tone of my rig, which I tweak every day. (However it still sucks cuz my gear is )

On another note, I really find the application important.
More so than the obvious "You can't use death metal tone to play country"

So the tones I like have always shifted. For the most part I like Gain.
Cleans are cool, High gain is cool, but not the crunch in between. sounds like the battery is dying on something in your rig or somethin.
I've always really like Testaments tone, guitar and bass.
Niles newer albums I think is awesome. Lamb of God too.
I like the tone on Cannibal Corpses newer albums as well.


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## All_¥our_Bass (Oct 4, 2011)

BMU said:


> Nile's rhythm tone has always been good imo. Lead tone not so much. But like they say, tone is in the fingers and they're really not very polished lead players.


Their leads are still very, very cool sounding, and I think they might lose something, if they were played too perfect/cleanly.


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