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do you ever feel like you are on a neverending quest to find that perfect tone?? you know, that tone in your head that is perfecto? It is all subjective to every musician, and that is what makes it so awesome. You should sound how YOU want it to sound and not conform to anyone's idea of how your guitar, or bass, or whatever should sound. I spend hours tweaking the dials and switching around pedals to find MY sound. I want it to be unique and crushing and wrecking!!!! So have you found YOUR sound? How did you do it? Why did you do it? What helps you get THAT tone? Why do YOU do it? I am intrigued to know!! Are then any particular bands that you heard and went WO0o0o0oW that is how a guitar should sound, if so what bands/songs?

Keep it fuzzy and keep doing what y'all are doing and providing the world with fuzzy love!

No, get me in the ballpark and I'm good to go.

Yeah, there's definitely some equipments I like more than others, but if I need a particular piece of gear to get my sound I'm in trouble.

It really is more in my hands than in my collection of circuits. You put anything in my hands and I can make it sound like me.

Yes, I have that sound in my head.

No, its never occurred in real life (from my rig).

I come VERY close nowadays...

I get mine by stacking different low-gain fuzzes and od's until I get that nice mix.

My primary "sound" comes from a SHO pushing the tubes for a slight clean break... then I stack from there.

My go-to include an LP and KP from Devi Ever, and a Barber LTD SR

My favourite recent tone occurs in the opening notes to Bon Iver's "Perth". Just a haunting, warm guitar line with a hint of breakup. Not to mention a sweet riff!

I'm thinking it's not so much just about the pedals, but their interaction with his LP and AC30, and I believe the line was fingerpicked. He also uses a sweet collection of mics & preamps.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo6lKQYVUBU[/youtube]

As for slightly older tones, I really like the pure variety of cool tones on Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness by the Smashing Pumpkins. Every song was its own soundscape.

^That song slays me. I especially like the sound of the distorted tape echo that transitions into the next song.

Not as impressive from a youtube stream, but I'm enamored by the bass tone in this song. It's absolutely huge running through a proper stereo.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgZgr9kjs-4[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGwPSPIhohk[/youtube]

it'll never happen.

^
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (BC108)
Vox wah wah
Binson Echorec II
DeArmond volume pedal

Fender Stratocaster “The Black Strat”
- 1969 all stock with a black alder body, white pickguard and a maple neck with a large headstock. The same guitar is seen with a chrome volume knob at the Paris studio sessions (“night” footage).

3 Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
- with Mullard 4xEL34’s power tubes and 4xECC83’s pre-amp tubes (one head was a spare).
2 HH Electronic IC-100 100W solid state heads
– Paris studio location (overdubs and “night” footage).
4 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
- with 4×12” Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps.

you could get close but as far as the playing...no offense but it is David Gilmour

Derelict78 wrote:^
Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (BC108)
Vox wah wah
Binson Echorec II
DeArmond volume pedal

Fender Stratocaster “The Black Strat”
- 1969 all stock with a black alder body, white pickguard and a maple neck with a large headstock. The same guitar is seen with a chrome volume knob at the Paris studio sessions (“night” footage).

3 Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads
- with Mullard 4xEL34’s power tubes and 4xECC83’s pre-amp tubes (one head was a spare).
2 HH Electronic IC-100 100W solid state heads
– Paris studio location (overdubs and “night” footage).
4 WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets
- with 4×12” Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps.

you could get close but as far as the playing...no offense but it is David Gilmour

All of this I know, of course. By it'll never happen I mean i'll never to be able to play like him.

On the subject of the thread
I have been running my neck pickup to a fairly clean amp and my bridge pickup into a DE DB cranked into a Dwarfcraft plane ticket into a m13 using tron down into ringmod into chamber reverb into tube echo.
and it sounds pretty mean

adrianlee wrote:All of this I know, of course. By it'll never happen I mean i'll never to be able to play like him.

he has this strange way of playing ..
it really sounds like his guitar is talking
after 20 years I still cant get over it

i'm getting closer everyday. the biggest thing i'm missing is an incredibly loud tube amp and some decent reverb. but the main aspect of my sound is the use of open tunings in baritone range with lots of muffy fuzz, mids and bass cranked on the amp. dirty analog delays are always good too.

WeHuntKings wrote:i'm getting closer everyday. the biggest thing i'm missing is an incredibly loud tube amp and some decent reverb. but the main aspect of my sound is the use of open tunings in baritone range with lots of muffy fuzz, mids and bass cranked on the amp. dirty analog delays are always good too.

I tend to gravitate towards the sound of a muffy fuzz with the bass fairly cranked and the mids cranked, too. The treble is cut and I dial in some presence for the high end crispness to define the notes a bit more. I fortunately got a nice ole tube amp to crank and it was the best way to spend my money. I am thinking about adding a bit of verb or a touch of chorus to add a new element, but mostly I rely on the mid boosted, slightly distorted gain pedal running into a cranked fuzz pedal and it is sounded quite pleasant to my ears.

My guitar is a piece of shit beginner's guitar and I am saving up for an upgrade soon enough. I try to make the best out of what I got and go from there.

Also, what sounds good when you are jamming by yourself might sound like shit with a band, so I take that into consideration, too. I try to tone down my sound a bit, so it fits more nicely as a whole. I still leave the mids cranked but will dial the bass down a bit so the bassist and bass drum can cover that range of frequencies. I try to open up space in the sonic landscape for the others to shine, while still punching in and holding my ground as the guitar player.

great topic.
when i hear someone with a great sound, i think only that they have a great sound. i'm not interested in doing what someone else has already done. i admit that i am very much influenced by zappa's middy honky sound and it has creeped into my playing but it wasn't intentional, it's just an honest influence.

IMO your tone is in your fingers and head. the means to get it out will always change due to us being humans with emotions, and emotions change...eventually everyone worth their salt will get there or realize it's there and recognize it.
i feel 'personal tone' is more about the notes and the "eyebrows and attitude" used to get them across. i noticed long ago that i sound like me using anything. there is always a comfort zone and that comfort zone is 'your' tone. diff gear reacts differently and that in turn creates a conduit from your 'person'.
i sound like me unplugged and know in my head where it's going to take me. of coarse there are always happy accidents that happen with volume and that will never change for those that experiment, which we all do. but at some point you'll realize that "you" mos def have a sound...it's already there, you just have to keep trying other means to get it out so it remains inspiring. when we use different colors, the notes and mannerisms involved are from your head & heart.....it's who you are so while it's may sound diff at that moment, you'll soon realize the similarities between the past and the present....it's just colored differently.
those who don't follow will be the ones that lead...and the ones that realize their personal 'tone' faster.
at least that's what i think....

I have a couple tones I've always been trying to get. But they're constantly changing as I'm influenced by different things. It's all one neverending subjective quest to achieve a goal that is always being reevaluated.

That said, the "bridge" part in My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion by The Flaming Lips has haunted me for years. It's probably my "ideal" fuzz tone.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZBqsqvfj0Y[/youtube]

I've been getting pretty close running my velcroar into my Taste the Bacon boost. Nice thick and fuzzy single notes that stick out of the mix.

As for modulated tone, I've always loved No Matter What by Badfinger.