Tone, How do you hear it?

[4stringslow]

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1471806251' post='3116045']
And Eric is a rank amateur in terms of golden eardness when it comes to the serious hi fi brigade!
[/quote]

Beat me to it. Seekers of the ultimate tone should take a leaf of the hi-end Hifi brigade's book of magic spells where there are all manner of snakey oily things to deplete their wallets and assuage their golden ears. Anyone without gold plated mains plugs, for a start, is really not taking their tone seriously

Edited August 22, 2016 by 4stringslow

[FuNkShUi]

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1471849015' post='3116240']
I like this definition. Despite my original post I do have a Peavey Cirrus which always sounds growly and[b] lacks the thump[/b] and to my ears distinctly less pleasant than the P, My band mates like the sound of it, which is probably why they dont play bass in the first place.
[/quote]

Boost your lower mids. That's what i do

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1471814877' post='3116151']
On "Eliminator" his guitar tone was almost entirely due to using Rockman gear, not a valve in sight.
[/quote]

There's been a fair bit of heated debate about this, in part because Gibbons [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]once claimed they'd[/url] 'combined that direct (Rockman) signal with a number of other traditional setups – amplifiers in the studio'.

Terry Manning the engineer on Eliminator offers a different view: "There was absolutely no Rockman used on this recording. Not a little bit, not a tiny bit, not any. I don’t know how these stories get started".

Manning goes on to [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/30/engineer-billy-gibbons-eliminator-gear/"]say[/url]: “The amp used, almost exclusively, on Eliminator was a Legend. This was about a 50w hybrid unit, employing a tube/valve preamp and a transistor power amp.

“Legend were later bought by, or at least distributed by, Gibson, but they were independent when we started using them. I still have this amp – it is almost new. A couple of years ago I plugged one of the Eliminator guitars into it, just to see…there was the sound!"

It is agreed that a Rockman was used as [i]part[/i] of the signal chain on Afterburner but as a component of a much bigger rig. [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]Gibbons[/url]:

"We built this thing that was nicknamed the Amp Cabin. This was a pile of Fenders and Marshalls that were stacked up on top of each other and then supported to provide a roof and four walls, and we just stuck a big microphone in the middle of it and turned them all up as loud as we could get them".

Perhaps the most significant thing about Eliminator was Messrs Beard and Hill's almost complete absence from the sessions. In a strange foreshadowing of recent events Gibbons played some of the bass parts on a Moog.
[color=#ffffe0].[/color]

Edited August 22, 2016 by skankdelvar

[RhysP]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471879901' post='3116643']
There's been a fair bit of heated debate about this, in part because Gibbons [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]once claimed they'd[/url] 'combined that direct (Rockman) signal with a number of other traditional setups – amplifiers in the studio'.

Terry Manning the engineer on Eliminator offers a different view: "There was absolutely no Rockman used on this recording. Not a little bit, not a tiny bit, not any. I don’t know how these stories get started".

Manning goes on to [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/30/engineer-billy-gibbons-eliminator-gear/"]say[/url]: “The amp used, almost exclusively, on Eliminator was a Legend. This was about a 50w hybrid unit, employing a tube/valve preamp and a transistor power amp.

“Legend were later bought by, or at least distributed by, Gibson, but they were independent when we started using them. I still have this amp – it is almost new. A couple of years ago I plugged one of the Eliminator guitars into it, just to see…there was the sound!"

It is agreed that a Rockman was used as [i]part[/i] of the signal chain on Afterburner but as a component of a much bigger rig. [url="http://www.woodytone.com/2010/09/28/gibbons-eliminatorafterburner-the-rockman/"]Gibbons[/url]:

"We built this thing that was nicknamed the Amp Cabin. This was a pile of Fenders and Marshalls that were stacked up on top of each other and then supported to provide a roof and four walls, and we just stuck a big microphone in the middle of it and turned them all up as loud as we could get them".

Perhaps the most significant thing about Eliminator and Afterburner was Messrs Beard and Hill's almost complete absence from the sessions. In a strange foreshadowing of recent events Gibbons played some of the bass parts on a Moog.
[color=#ffffe0].[/color]
[/quote]

Oh well.
I'm couldn't care either way to be honest, I can't stand them.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1471880168' post='3116650']
Oh well.
I'm couldn't care either way to be honest, I can't stand them.
[/quote]

Well, I'm 50:50 on the band's output but I find tedious minutiae like this [i]horribly[/i] fascinating.

It is weird, though. At one moment he's recording with the rarest kit imaginable, the next he's using a Marshall Lead 12 solid state practice amp and making it sound like the seven trumpets of doom.

[FinnDave]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471881517' post='3116669']
Well, I'm 50:50 on the band's output but I find tedious minutiae like this [i]horribly[/i] fascinating.

It is weird, though. At one moment he's recording with the rarest kit imaginable, the next he's using a Marshall Lead 12 solid state practice amp and making it sound like the seven trumpets of doom.
[/quote]

They probably only used the amps in the studio to keep him happy and DI'd his guitar straight into the desk (but kept schtum about it!).

[RhysP]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1471881517' post='3116669']
Well, I'm 50:50 on the band's output but I find tedious minutiae like this [i]horribly[/i] fascinating.

It is weird, though. At one moment he's recording with the rarest kit imaginable, the next he's using a Marshall Lead 12 solid state practice amp and making it sound like the seven trumpets of doom.
[/quote]

More proof, I guess, that the old 'the tone is in the fingers" cliche is true.
Steve Lukather did a similar thing on a Toto album a while back, went from using his custom Bradshaw rack & whatever boutique valve amp set-up he was using that week to using a little stock Marshall combo & he still sounded superb.