• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

HARDCORE GUITARIST TONE ISSUES!!!!

C

ChrisCharleston

Aug 17, 2008
12
0
Swindon, England
#1
Hey TB

Has anyone here taken a cheesegrater to their ears recently?

My generic school rock/alt band has 2 guitarists - one with a lovely PRS/Marshall tone and the other with the most horrible tone i have ever heard.

He uses a Fender american strat and some Behringer twin amp, and has a Boss GT-8 which he has great difficulty working. He bought a Boss DS-1 one to try and make the distortion a little sweeter, but it still sounds both tinny and sludgey.

This is leading to problems in the band, because the two tones really dont work together, and drives us mad in practices with the hum.

Has anyone else had similar problems with guitards?

Thanks,

Chris
 
#2
Hey

yeh had that a few times (more often than not actually) with most of the bands i grew up playing with. I doubt it's the guys gear cos it sounds like fairly decent stuff. More likely its just he's going way too overboard with eq settings and the overdrive.
Really cant stand these peaople who think they need the distortion cranked right up so much that you cant hear what their playing and it just sounds like tinny sludge sticking out from the rest of the band.

Try getting him to turn the overdrive down a bit and playing with amp settings/ fx settings till he's got a sound that fits with the band a bit better.
 
#3
ChrisCharleston said:
Hey TB

Has anyone here taken a cheesegrater to their ears recently?

My generic school rock/alt band has 2 guitarists - one with a lovely PRS/Marshall tone and the other with the most horrible tone i have ever heard.

He uses a Fender american strat and some Behringer twin amp, and has a Boss GT-8 which he has great difficulty working. He bought a Boss DS-1 one to try and make the distortion a little sweeter, but it still sounds both tinny and sludgey.
Click to expand...

Or what I like to refer to as the "radioactive elephant running through a field of tinfoil" sound :smug:

JKT
 
#4
I'm not the kind of guy who says everything needs to sound vintage, but "modern" guitar tone these days is lacking. Usually it's only grating like that in metal. In rock, usually the tone is bad if there are weak links in their gear line. With good gear, the bad tone is often from not knowing how to work the EQ properly.
 
#9
When I was in high school I always managed to get a good sound out of old & beat up equipment. There is no reason why this guitar dude has to sound this bad. With a little time tinkering, the Boss GT-8 would sound great plugged into the alarm clock 'speaker' on a coffee maker.
 
#11
troyus said:
This may sound narrowminded, but shouldn't the hardcore dude be using a gibson type (shorter scale, humbuckers, mahogany) instrument instead of a strat?
Click to expand...

I agree, I have never seen a harcore band using a Strat when we played with them, they all had humbuckers.

Also I think the problem could be the amp, its all solidstate right? Some SS guitar amps sound terrible and tinny. If you want him to get a warm tone make him get a tube amp. When I played guitar I never plugged into a SS because I saw my guitarist buddy play a Spider III with ear bursting results, it was terrible.

Im probably just a purist, however has he tried different settings and such?
 
#14
It sounds like your guitarist has more gear than his intelligence allows his to manipulate...

that and I agree with what's been said. It's hard to get that down low hardcore tone out of a Stratocaster. It can be done, there's more than a few acts out there doing it with Telecasters, but it takes a discerning ear, and it doesn't sound like your guitarist has that.
 
#15
Ampeg SVT said:
I agree, I have never seen a harcore band using a Strat when we played with them, they all had humbuckers.

Also I think the problem could be the amp, its all solidstate right? Some SS guitar amps sound terrible and tinny. If you want him to get a warm tone make him get a tube amp. When I played guitar I never plugged into a SS because I saw my guitarist buddy play a Spider III with ear bursting results, it was terrible.

Im probably just a purist, however has he tried different settings and such?
Click to expand...

Fat Strat = Humbuckers
 
#16
StoutXXX said:
Fat Strat = Humbuckers
Click to expand...

Oh I forgot, like that and Super strats like Jacksons, and Ibanez RG's, honestly when I played them I kept them on the humbucker setting, I know of one of buddie's brother had a 60's strat reissue and bought a fully loaded EMG pickguard with EMG humbuckers, it sounded like a different guitar,
 
#18
Oh god I just realized you are an alt rock band, alright a strat might work, you might want a humbucker at the bridge position.

I suggest getting a cheap tube amp, not sure what exactly, I played a VOX not too long ago with a Eclipse, I think it was a two channel amp with one channel sounding like a Marshall, Good crunch and good volume, its about a grand though.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back