The secret of getting the best tone from your amp revealed!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 26 May 2012 9:01 am

You two guys wanna take it outside?

Josh Yenne · Post by **Josh Yenne** » 27 May 2012 4:28 am

I've worked a lot of music retail in my life and I always tell people "90% of the tone is in your fingers.. it is the other 10% that keeps this place open"

Its the fiddler not the fiddle is another way of saying it...

It is all part of the equation though. But when people sit there and tweak on what strings have the best tone it is kind of funny cause that is such a small part of the equation... but then again it is fun to tweak on music gear!

Jerry Fleming · Post by **Jerry Fleming** » 28 May 2012 7:59 pm

This is a fun & Informative thread.

I have a friend that has owned every guitar and amp combination you can think of. He has tried every pickup and effects processor and cannot get the sound he is looking for. We were at a jam once and he could not understand why when he sat down to play a guitar in a demo room he could not get even close to the same sound or tone as another player without changing anything. I tried to kindly and tactfully explain everyone has a different touch and technique. He still did not get it bought another amp.

I have spent a small fortune myself on amps and guitars in search of the holy grail. I have to say practice and persistence has yielded more fruit for me personally.
I wish I had spent less money on gear and invested in lessons from Buddy Charleton when I was a teenager.

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 29 May 2012 4:31 am

Donny,are we sure that is Lloyd on the first clip?

That is NOT the original recording of"The Bridge Washed Out"...

I bought that CD and it was obvious to me when I got home with it and listened to it that it was a more recent recording...

The steel guitar on that version sounds like a formica guitar to me...

Could be anybody...Warner Mack and many other artists have rerecorded their hits...I have recorded with Warner myself!

There are no credits on that CD...

...just some stuff to think about...

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 29 May 2012 5:04 am

One more thing...

WHOEVER is playing on that cut("Bridge")did a wonderful job!

Landon Roberson · Post by **Landon Roberson** » 1 Jun 2012 1:12 pm

Ok for us beginners will you seasoned players tell us how and what to practice to help us with our tone?

Steve Hinson · Post by **Steve Hinson** » 1 Jun 2012 2:03 pm

OK...I just heard"The Bridge Washed Out"on XM...the original cut...

No way the link above is the same guitar,amp,or player...

Wonder who it was...and what they played it on...anybody?

Bill Moran · Post by **Bill Moran** » 2 Jun 2012 3:51 pm

Kevin Hatton wrote:Does this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0occfBu_0

sound like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRmPsIhI ... re=related

Two totally different tones from the same master player. Why? Different guitar and different amp. Same player.

I would agree that right hand technique is extremely important. Youtube is chocked full of guys with horrible right hand technique. A lot sound like they are playing a sitar because of it. By the way, I was sitting some where in the first five rows in the first video clip. It sounded even worse there.

I have read this thread over and over. Am I missing something ? If steel players only had the ZB tone, on the Buck Owens track ,there would only be a half dozen players left ! Tom was a great player but that ZB tone would have died years and years ago. Move on guys. Tom could play but who would listen to that noise every day .

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 2 Jun 2012 10:08 pm

Your post makes no sense. We're not "moving on" from anything. Get it? Just like violin player doesn't "move on" from a Stradivari. Those of us who like certain guitars for the tone they produce play them for that reason. Whether it's a Sho-Bud, Emmons P/P, or ZB. Maybe you know more than JD Maness or Dick Overby. Some people have ears that can hear it, and some people can't.

Keith Howard · Post by **Keith Howard** » 3 Jun 2012 7:24 am

Newbie weighing in here... 46 year old life long muscian that just purchased a steel 5 months ago. After reading everything I could find about tone and twisting every nob on my Nashville 1000 to oblivion and back,(this after trying several other amp options including a rack system I had) then buying a Hilton volume pedal and a Goodrich Matchbox, upgrading all of my chords, trying different strings (the list goes on)... Last week I stumbled on to some old finger picks (and thumb pick) at a freinds house. He had them for a dobro that he never plays. Brought them home and I can honestly say they have a bigger effect on my tone than everything else I have bought. I was using Dunlop finger picks and a National thumb pick. This set is the oposite with National fingers and a Dunlop thumb. Just wondering how many have been playing with the same picks for years and never tried anything else? Hey, they're allot cheaper than amps (mine were free).

I'm still not even close to the "ultimate" tone that I desire. I get it in the first 8 or 10 frets and its way off on the higher register. Get it fixed up there and the lowerer side gets muddy. Likewise, I can find a great tone for slow songs using allot of volume pedal swells and then go to pick on Highway 40 blues and its muddy and sounds "compressed" (especially on string 6).I'm assuming this is where technique and practice will eventually get the consistent tone that I so long for.

Richard Rice · Post by **Richard Rice** » 3 Jun 2012 9:25 am

Well, I've been a musician for my whole life- and I'm no spring chicken- but there is no substitute for diligent practice. Period.

Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.

Good technique and good practice will solve most tone problems, provided the equipment is up to the task. Where so many go astray is in thinking the next gizmo is going to magically make stuff better. A great rig in the hands of a master is a beautiful thing. If I were to sit down at the same rig directly after the master stopped, I could make the dogs howl and the plants wilt. Gotta go play now...

Keith Howard · Post by **Keith Howard** » 3 Jun 2012 9:42 am

Richard,
I couldn't agree more. In these parts, Sketter Wolfe is arguablly the best steel player around. We played a benefit together recently and I was pretty embarassed to play after he had been on stage a few sets. He's been playing (the same steel) for 38 years and plays it EVERYDAY. He made my steel sound like a million bucks at the benefit. I'm of the realization that I'll never be able to do what he does (won't live long enough) BUT, in the short time I have been playing steel... the band, which I've played in since 1988, has an entirely new sound. It's a better sound, even if I can't "steel" the show. In our case, the show is about entertaining the crowd and making sure the club makes money. We do that with a great singer, 6 good/solid muscians and we honestly have more fun playing music than anyone I know. Whether it is art (drawing/painting), rocket science, brain surgery or music, there will always be a few that are just out of the reach of the rest of us. I still love the instrument and will play it so long as I am able.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 3 Jun 2012 10:50 am

Great thread and responses.

Kevin, if you look closely at the first clip of Tom Brumley you will see that he is playing through a Fender Bassman not a Peavey. Tom's tone (and Lloyd's for that matter) got decidedly mellower over the years. When Tom was recording with his ZB with Rick Nelson his tone was nothing like it was with Buck. Reason? Producer Ken Nelson's studio productions were very bright. Tom's tone on the Carnegie Hall album was much less bright than it was on the second clip you posted.

Lloyd playing his Sho~Bud LDG through a Fender tube amp is decidedly mellower and richer on later recordings than earlier ones with the same set up.

Buddy too got a much mellower tone later than he did on his early stuff.

Maybe Curly Chalker got the tone thing right and everyone just followed him.

One thing for sure - the cutting and bright tone of the 60's is long gone. Pickups are wound heavier these days and amps set less bright.

John Castelletti · Post by **John Castelletti** » 3 Jun 2012 11:12 am

I'm with Kevin, I actually prefer the "older" tones so to speak. It's about preference and using the right tool for the job. i dont see a lot of country being played on a BC Rich

Bill Moran · Post by **Bill Moran** » 3 Jun 2012 2:25 pm

Kevin Hatton wrote:Your post makes no sense. We're not "moving on" from anything. Get it? Just like violin player doesn't "move on" from a Stradivari. Those of us who like certain guitars for the tone they produce play them for that reason. Whether it's a Sho-Bud, Emmons P/P, or ZB. Maybe you know more than JD Maness or Dick Overby. Some people have ears that can hear it, and some people can't.

I hear it ok just don't like it. I don't think that you believe pedal steel would still be around with only that sound ! I really don't think that's the only tone a ZB has to offer. Just Tom's choice at the time.
2 cents !!

Norman Boling · Post by **Norman Boling** » 4 Jun 2012 3:35 am

I have always liked what Herb puts at the bottom of his messages....a guitar, a cord, a seat and an amp. Pretty well sums it up.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 4 Jun 2012 6:11 pm

Eric Johnson is a guitarist who gets a lot of flack for the painstaking, screw-by-screw way he goes though his equipment. What I've come to realize is that if you're willing to try a dozen different batteries and a dozen different speakers and every single option available, it's because you're the kind of person who doesn't give up and settle for adequate. And it's that same attention to detail through every single part of their rig and their playing that sets the great one apart. Obsessive/compulsive people get a lot of stuff done, and done very well. If cavemen had had Prozac - we'd still be living in caves.

The Steel Guitar Forum

The secret of getting the best tone from your amp revealed!

Herb Steiner