What Makes A Great Guitar Tone?
Sculpting a killer guitar tone is a highly subjective art form. Thankfully, it is this subjectivity that keeps music interesting and diverse. The wood of your guitar, the tubes in your amp, the pressure applied to the strings, how your brain interprets sound--all of these greatly impact your tone.
There are 3 categories that contribute to shaping the ultimate guitar tone: 1. Your choice of gear, 2. Your physiological approach, and 3. Your psychological approach. In this post we are going to talk about how your gear shapes your tone.
Gear, Gear, and More Gear!
Guitars, amps, and effects make up 60% of your overall guitar tone, so choose wisely.
When it comes to gear I consider myself a bit of a hoarder (not that I have tons, I just don't like to trade or sell off my gear). I like to hang on to what I know works for me.
I like guitars that have a lot of options. My guitars (Fender Jaguar Special Edition & Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus) provide a wide range of tonal possibilities (we'll cover the details of each guitar in another post).
The first thing I think about when choosing a guitar is the pickups. Single coil pickups, P90's or humbuckers? I have a bias toward humbuckers because I hate the amount of noise that comes from single coils. That being said, I have yet to try any "noiseless" single coils. If you have an opinion on them, feel free to leave a comment below.
Your amplifier, in my opinion, has the largest piece of the "gear pie". The amount of wattage, type/size of speakers, type of tubes or no tubes at all (solid-state), American, British... the combinations really are endless. The key is to find an amp that suits your needs.
Looking for a killer blues tone? Get your hands on a Fender Super Reverb. Seeking a brutal metal tone? Go for a Mesa-Boogie Triple Rectifier. Not sure what you like? Give the Line 6 Apmlifi series a try.
A new amp is a considerable investment so it's best to know what direction your playing is taking you. I've used a Mesa-Boogie Nomad 55 (4x10) for the last 12 years. It has been a beast of an amp and is showing no signs of giving up anytime soon.
Recently, I picked up a Line 6 Amplifi 150 and I am having tons of fun getting all sorts of crazy sounds. It actually does a great job modeling the Mesa's tonal characteristics. I highly recommend the Amplifi series--Line 6 is the leader in modeling amps and effects, so if you are unsure of where to begin I say start at Line 6.
This is where it gets really fun (and potentially, more expensive). That being said, effects make up the smallest percentage of the "gear pie". Most effects don't shape your tone as much as they supplement it. So don't put all of your tone eggs in the effects basket.
Boutique effects pedals are all the rage right now. If you have the budget for a nice boutique pedal, by all means, go ahead and stock up. For me, I want to spend my hard earned cash on what I know I like.
If you're wondering where to start on your journey of accumulating quality effects--I'll say it again, start with Line 6. My pedal board consists of an MXR Custom Comp, a Line 6 M13, and a Line 6 Echo Park--that's it! As a guitarist on a church worship team, this is all I need.
I'm not using Line 6 because I really want my rig to sound like all of the amp and effects brands they are modeling. I use Line 6 because they are affordable, reliable, rugged, and easy to use. I have no idea how many individual boutique pedals I would have to buy to achieve the sounds stored in my M13!
Focus the majority of your attention and resources on acquiring a quality guitar and amp first, effects can always be added later. There's no sense spending obscene amounts of money on effects if you're still dragging a Squire Starter Kit from gig to gig.
Accumulating new gear is exciting and fun to experiment with; but it's important to remember that your gear is not 100% responsible for a great guitar tone. Next week we will cover physiological approaches to getting a great tone.
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