Members Meowy Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 It is hard to describe the qualities of tone with words, but we all try. Porvide examples of various tonal terms, not necessarily just those in the title. Also, I've always been confused - are Warm and Dark similar, just dark is more of "it"? The two that I think are easisest to describe are jangle and chime - a lot of Beatles (especailly George), Tom Petty, Warm - Sunshine of your Love, While my Guitar Gently Weeps, most Cream and LZ - sweet tube satuaration Dark - VH Unchained, Black Sabbath - thick crunchy Bright - Any hair metal - sparkle + gain And then it would seem that Crunch such as AC/DC or some of the punkier Kinks tone (ex, All Day and All the Night, Destroyer) would be warmed (or darkened? ) jangle / chime Have I got this right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 55gibby Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Not to be a putz, but trying to find words to match tone is next to impossible. Because musical tone is so subjective and each persons definition means something slightly different, it will never be correctly defined. "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" - FZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Meowy Posted February 12, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Not to be a putz, but trying to find words to match tone is next to impossible. Because musical tone is so subjective and each persons definition means something slightly different, it will never be correctly defined."Talking about music is like dancing about architecture" - FZ I couldn't agree with you more, but how else can it be discussed or described where / when it can't be sampled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundcreation Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 You just do the best you can. Round. That's a term I like. And it definitely fits when you hear it. I had an epiphone LP special II as my first guitar. When I got my Orville by Gibson LP the first thing my girlfriend said (she's a trained singer with an amazing ear) was "it sounds very round" I'd never heard that term before but when I played each guitar I could hear what she was talking about easily. All of the tones blend together perfectly on the orville....the highs don't "stick out" and the lows aren't over powering. The epi is the exact opposite, boxy sounding with prominent highs and lows that over power the mids. I love the round tone and it's something I look for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulskirocks Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 My tone tastes like purple... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members poolshark Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 There's actually a list out there somewhere that puts common names to frequency ranges. It was really cool, but now that I've brought it up, I know I'll never be able to find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darkmonohue Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 "Woman." "Brown." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members naveed211 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 to me... jangly is a Rickenbackerbright and spanky is a Telecasterwarm, round, and meaty is a Les Paulquacky is a Strat generic, but have all been used at one time or another Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tidal Rhythm Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I think a lot of tone names come from the amps that inspired them. I think of "Tweed" as a tone, for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chuck1016 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Definitions definitely change from one person to the next. For instance, a lot of people get excited about the Tele bridge pickup because it's "bright" and "spanky". To me it sounds brittle and harsh. Think about the solo bits in Sympathy for the Devil. It's just ear-splitting in my opinion, but some people love it. Allman Brothers are another great example. That LP on the neck position is a trademark sound. I would say it's "warm" but I wouldn't be surprised if someone else said it's "muddy". It's all in the ear of the beholder I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members normh Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Bright, more treble;Dark, more bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mrbrown49 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Bright, more treble;Dark, more bass. ...and warm somewhere in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 55gibby Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 To just list the most popular tone names will start a war, to define them, with concensus, impossible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 When I say 'dark' I think of a pickup/guitar combo that has so much natural treble missing from the output, that you can't realistically offset that darkness with the treble knob on the amp. A Tone Zone would be my example, but there are darker pickups for sure. When I say 'bright' I think of a pickup that is brighter than average, but not harsh. In my parlance, a bright pickup can be tamed by rolling the tone or guitar volume knob back to 7 or so. A JB in a band setting for example. 'Balanced' is just that... balanced. Just how a pickup should sound to someone that has been using a variety of different HBs for 25 years. A PAF would be the HB example. Harsh is when there is just too much treble and not enough bottom end. A JB played outside of a band setting through a Fender amp would be my definition of harsh. Warm is if you take a PAF and add some bottom end without taking away any top end such as an Alnico Pro II. But this still leaves us with sonic results without a single word to describe them. A lot of neck P90s played through a clean amp. They might easily have too much bottom end, but the pickup isn't dark at all. It just has too much bass and to tweak that out, you need to reduce the bass on the amp making it sounds less 'full'. I think most hobbies where the subtleties make all the difference have a tendency towards using words to describe the not-easily-describable. In high end audio, there are a handful of words that make some people cringe, but I feel you need to use those words when they apply, for the sake of other folks understanding what the hell you are talking about. Ahh... back to playing my 'balanced' 57 Classics through my bright Fender Deluxe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I've used the term Articulate to discribe sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 The tones from my Godin LG are dark chocolate with strong fruit and tannins, subtle notes of oak, coffee, a soup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulskirocks Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 The tones from my Godin LG are dark chocolate with strong fruit and tannins, subtle notes of oak, coffee, a soup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrChitlins Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Quack vs Cluck: the same ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoqBelliqueux Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I like the contained crunchy buzziness of old Maiden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulskirocks Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Quack vs Cluck: the same ? Depends on whether you are a chicken, duck, chuck, or dicken... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members paulskirocks Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I like the contained crunchy buzziness of old Maiden. I just dig old Iron Maiden! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CoqBelliqueux Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I just dig old Iron Maiden! Revelations this one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members snowaie Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 punchy and attack? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members metallica_00 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 I agree with cratz, for example bright just means prominent treble, harsh means too much. What's hard is that one mans bright is another man's harsh. And then you've got other stuff - attack, sustain, harmonics, output etc. Some are tough though - I have a hard time understanding "brown" or "woody" tone for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nighthawk15 Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 Something ive always wondered. What in the world do people mean when they refer to a "dry" or "wet" distortion? Thats the only one I've never been able to figure out whatsoever. warm is slightly confusing to me also but I think I have an idea about that one. Is it basically just pleasant to the ear? Wouldn't mind if somebody was so inclined to clear those up for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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