The Steel Guitar Forum

To add my 2 cents and confirm Joe Goldmarks comments. The voltage fluctuations in line outlets has a measured affect on sound. Some measure 127v like my house and others 119v. The volume will change with this difference which also has a tone change on bass notes. That has us turning knobs. I'm not anal about this but it is a variable issue and the more load on the power supply causes voltage drop. Some equipment is more sensitive to this and digital effects can be the most reactive to it. We learn to deal with it as best we can.

There are lots of good comments here. Tommy White was correct that what is "good tone" can vary from song to song. What works for Watch What Happens may not sound so good on Release Me or Tenor Madness.

Just curious about adding compression to your signal chain. After the VP or before it? I don’t use compression, but I would think placing it ahead of the VP would be more effective than after. An aggressive attack on compressed strings might take some of the bite out of your tone. I would turn that bugger off and see if that’s part of the perceived tone suck.

Also, maybe this is too obvious to mention, but where along the length of the string you are picking? A heavy attack out near the 20th fret will sound mushy compared to the same attack a couple inches from the changer, especially compressed.

I’m different every day and so is my tone. That’s what the knobs are for.

While I do believe things like humidity and temperature physically effect tone to a point, I think it's mostly our ears that "change". Our perception is different from day to day. And our mood and what we are emotionally putting into the instrument (not just steel but any instrument) impact what we are hearing. Some days I can't even seem to tune the damn thing how I'd like...is that because suddenly something with the instrument physically changed? I doubt it.

I think this also accounts for much of GAS syndrome (esp. among steel players). We buy a steel probably with tone as a main factor, and for a while we're giddy because it does have "that sound". Then, suddenly, it doesn't. The tone we want is evading us again. Time to swap for another one. Etc.

It's all very subjective and weird...

Like Joe was alluding to above, mine seems to change in every different club or venue--how come I never noticed that with Buddy?

My settings on my NV112 stay the same. I may tweek my Shift some, but very little. My ears come into play more than anything. I have to be in a good frame of mind to have consistent tone that is pleasing to my ears. I also use no effects other than Reverb on my amp. I do use, and like very much is my Steel Guitar Black Box. That was a game changer for me.

I'll never forget how my tone changed the day I had a ceiling fan on

Hey Bruce, I remember years ago playing at a VFW. Their was one of them smoke eaters just above my head, running full blast. That only lasted for the first set. I had to move to the other side of the stage opposite the smoke eater!!! That will change your tone in a hurry!!!

Found it!

So after checking this and that, I found it.

If it was my technique changing, I couldn’t figure out why the tone changed on the digital keyboard too.

What it was, is when I turned on the little PA I practice through, I must have hit the rotary knob that changes the PA effects. The effects on the PA was now on, changing the sound with compression and a room reverb. My guess is the added compression was the real culprit!

I will say everyone’s response was well worth reading. As by the responses, a lot can effect your tone day to day.

(Glad I found it, really didn’t like what I was hearing)

Thanks

I've always had this problem, until now. I took delivery of my new Marsh tube head about 10 days ago. It sounds the same everytime I turn it on. Are tube amps less prone to tone changes? Is it the Marsh amp? Ricky Davis said that he takes his Twin tube amp to gigs because he knows it will sound the same regardless of where he is playing and he won't have to be turning knobs at different venues. This all doesn't make sense to me, but I'm telling you, the Marsh sounds exactly the same every time I turn it on.

I left steel pretty much alone 20 years. I briefly touched one here and there, now and then... and always I was surprised I still had "my" tone.

I think that unless you cultivated bad technique habits, ones tone evolves into what is going to be one's tone... then, it plateaus and that's when sloppiness comes in and it goes downwards for until you realize and pull things together and get to an even better version to ones tone.

The only thing that seems to affect my tone is whether I play pedal steel on non-pedal steel. But it's still just me.

I wished we had one recording of Jerry Byrd a playing pedal steel.

BE sounded very unlike we remember him on non-pedal (from recordings I was TOLD was BE). I find that Jimmy Day changed from a very uniquely identifiable tone on his early E9th to a more generic tone in the later years. So did Buddy Charleton. However I suspect the era's tone settings (amps and recording editing) may distort the picture more than the player's hands.

I think it's pretty obvious as you move along through the learning process your tone will change along with what you perceive it be. If you listen to early Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day or Mike Johnson and compare the earlier sound to their sound later in life you can certainly hear a difference in their sound. Between technique development and the advent of newer equipment its bound to vary some.

Barry Yasika wrote:I think it's pretty obvious as you move along through the learning process your tone will change along with what you perceive it be. If you listen to early Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Day or Mike Johnson and compare the earlier sound to their sound later in life you can certainly hear a difference in their sound. Between technique development and the advent of newer equipment its bound to vary some.

our "ear" and taste, but also our hearing changes too... the later not always favorably! And that may make is work on counteracting our tone.

... J-D.

The human brain is not static, and that has a lot of power over perception of tone, notice when the juices are flowing the tone is good, when it’s dried up mood sours and tone seems dull, nothing mechanically has changed except the brain endorphins.
Try to avoid knob twiddle to get the fix, turn on the mood by attitude and thoughts of positivity, avoid negative TV news and world gossip before a practice session, notice how your tone will change every time you sit down at the steel, yet no knobs were turned, some practice sessions are hot some are cold, it’s the human emotional peaks and valleys.

I also noticed that "Tone" (and playing in general) changes based on your health.

Central Texas has quite a few Cedar trees. This time of year they pollinate and we have something known as "Cedar Fever".

I went to our band practice last night and my playing just sucked. My head was hurting and my sinuses were all swollen and stuffy. The sinuses have a lot to do with what I am able to hear both tonally and volume. (eustachian tubes all clogged up etc..)

Anyway I find my physical health as well as mental health/attitude has a lot to do with my perception of "Tone.

Years ago when I played almost every Friday and Saturday, occasionally I would struggle with tone when I warmed up and all through the first set in various clubs. I would come back after the first break (no drugs or alcohol involved, should you jump to conclusions) and after a couple songs ask my self “what happened?” because things sounded so good. After years of this I concluded it was all in my head. Maybe just mood.

So, after all these years of saying "tone is in the hands", now we're saying "tone is in your head"?

Actually, I think both are true statements.