Amps

[Travisaurus Rex]

They don't care as long as the songs you are playing sound like the actual songs(if covers) or they are good songs(if originals). The audience will not know if you are playing a POD direct on a plexi setting or if you are actually playing a Plexi. Unless they are musicians, almost all will not know. I have seen a lot of bands that have amps on stage but are running through PODs. I would rather have a POD and a good sound guy VS thousands of $s worth of gear and a bad sound guy. A really good sound guy is worth WAY more than any type/amount of gear. Oh and BTW, I have amps but I play live with a pod x3 because of ease and versatility and I have gotten countless compliments on how I sounded and I can get killer live tones that I would bet money that you could not tell were not from an amp because I have an awesome sound guy.:thu:

[GCDEF]

Because as a player, you want the sounds in your head to be the sounds coming off your fingers. Since the audience doesn't hear they sound in your head, they don't know or care how closely it matches what they're hearing. They'll know if you're too loud or harsh, and sometimes out of tune, and maybe if you sound like the original recording, but other than that how could they know the tone you're chasing.

[Zozobra]

Anyway, it doesnt matter unless you're the 1st band on anyway as if you're 2nd or 3rd on the bill then the audience has sat through enough loud music to be ear fatigued anyway.

[twistofcain]

I don't care what the audience hears. I like hearing tone I like. I become uninspired if my guitar sounds like garbage.

[RaceU4her]

people know pitch more than they know tone. i think the average person has a pitch in their head they are thinking of more than an actual tone.

[FBird Nation]

Tone is completely subjective...one guy's "awesome tone" is another guy's "sucks ass".

The audience doesn't have the neurotic, anal-retentive attitude about it that some players have; and expecting them to, is a sign of mental illness.

They're there to see/hear the band and its' songs, not stress every little subfrequency.

[the_bleeding]

my tone inspires me to play. That is all you will ever need.

[Slaymoar]

Why is it that YOU care so much about your tone then?

Why do you spend countless hours, days, weeks, months and years obsessing over gear in search for your ultimate ideal tone?

The crowd doesn't give a shit anyways, right?oke:

Why not just save thousands of dollars, pick up a Line 6 spider, rock out at your gig then look back and smile knowing your rig (minus your guitar) only costed you less than a grand total?

Imagine all that extra time and money you could have. A lot more time to practice.

Hell you could spend all that extra money on much needed lessons if you had to oke:

How long have you thought about this? :idk:

[17 Tubes]

I Want good tone..of course. But if you think everyone is hanging on your every note....you're kidding yourself. Just play "Sweet home" all fucked up...but get the chorus right, and people will be like "you rock that was the best ever!"

[Digital Jams]

It's not that the crowd doesn't appreciate a good sounding band or solo guitarist (or whatever), it's just that they don't care to the level that we do as musicians.

Crowds know a good sounding guitar player when they hear one...they just don't hear music like we do and, for the most part, cannot differentiate between a talentless guitar player and one that has horrible tone.

Exactly.

There will always be that one asshat that plays guitar with his arms crossed looking at you picking your rig apart and chances are he does not play out if he is acting like that.

NOBODY will know if you have some $$$$$$ boutique pup or a used $30 SD JB in your guitar.

[Johnny LaRue]

Most people just notice the vocals. If they're spot on and in key, the rest of the band can sound mediocre and the audience will say it's a great band. Turn it the other way and have a kick ass band playing top shelf gear with a mediocre singer and they'll say meh.

[PurityS.L.G.]

How long have you thought about this? :idk:

This topic? About a year ago when I was reading a thread here and there was an argument regarding tone snobbery and expensive gear. People have brought this up before quite a few times since, including yesterday.

In my experience, the average spectator doesn't care about your tone. Only the other musicians performing at the club/venue or musicians in the crowd really critique the tone. You guys are fooling yourselves if you think otherwise.

[C-4]

To answer your question, while most of the audience does not understand tone as we might, I buy the best gear I can because I want to sound the best that I can for myself. The reason is that if I am unhappy with my tone, it will affect my playing, which in turn will affect the band and the end result will be an affect on the audience.

While the audinece may not be able to talk tone with us on our level, they know when a band either sounds bad, or is not into what they are there to do.

As for having more time to practice, and that other shit, I have found that I have plenty of time to practice, and have done years of it at 6-8 hours a day. I have also found that having good gear does inspire some musicians to practice and play more as they appreciate what they have at their disposal.

I see no downside to having the best gear you can, and/or saving and working to be able to buy what you want.

I'm not saying the gear makes the player, but I have seen plenty of examples where the better gear made the player play better and get inspired.

Of course there are those who do not wish to buy expensive gear, and are satisified with what they. This is fine as well. Everyone feels differently about it. :thu:

[FastRedPonyCar]

I don't think an audience CARES, but I do think an audience can be FOOLED by good tone into thinking you are a good guitar player.

Very true and even I myself have noticed that there is a point at which the playing becomes far more entertaining than the tone. I've seen a couple of guys live who were literally plugging line 6 rack units direct to the PA and absolutely DESTROYING the fretboard and my LULZ were silenced when they began playing.

I do think that there IS a point at which the tone can be so bad that you can see it in peoples faces but that's typically when the tone is very harsh and abrasive on the ears. We had a group of young guys open up for us one night and the lead player had an MG212 combo and the rhythm player had a Vyper 1X12 combo and it was TERRIBLE :facepalm:

[Jesse G]

If you played through a Bogner Uberschall and then through a 30 watt MG combo, half would say the MG sounded better because they really have no idea.

[spoonie g]

Why is it that YOU care so much about your tone then?

Why do you spend countless hours, days, weeks, months and years obsessing over gear in search for your ultimate ideal tone?

The crowd doesn't give a shit anyways, right?oke:

Why not just save thousands of dollars, pick up a Line 6 spider, rock out at your gig then look back and smile knowing your rig (minus your guitar) only costed you less than a grand total?

Imagine all that extra time and money you could have. A lot more time to practice.

Hell you could spend all that extra money on much needed lessons if you had to oke:

Because I have to listen to it too?

[Mizati20]

I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing... but I dial in my tone the way "I" like it... I honestly don't give a fuck about the audience or even my other band members... I'm not satisfied when playing gigs and such if I PERSONALLY am not satisfied with my tone, it will constantly be at the back of my head... it's more of a selfish thing I suppose, but I get compliments constantly on my tone when playing out, regardless of what amp I own at the time... That being said... I've had my head blow a fuse when I was setting up because the power to the venue was absolute shit, and I had my little Line 6 Spider III 1x12 combo in my car with a little footswitch to switch between the clean crunch metal and insane channels, I ran it direct through the PA, it was so metal sounding that it was actually a total blast, what a fun show... I could literally do a tour with that little amp, no bullshit... kinda made me feel funny about loading up my $3,000.00 halfstack back into the band's trailer when I had just done an awesome gig with a $120.00 amp :cop:

[PurityS.L.G.]

That being said... I've had my head blow a fuse when I was setting up because the power to the venue was absolute shit, and I had my little Line 6 Spider III 1x12 combo in my car with a little footswitch to switch between the clean crunch metal and insane channels, I ran it direct through the PA, it was so metal sounding that it was actually a total blast, what a fun show... I could literally do a tour with that little amp, no bullshit... kinda made me feel funny about loading up my $3,000.00 halfstack back into the band's trailer when I had just done an awesome gig with a $120.00 amp :cop:

Wow who would've thought that would be possible!:eek:

[Sweep?]

I think the audience only cares when it sounds like utter shit and ANYONE can tell...

[K-Bizzle]

To those saying it doesn't matter, what's the sifference in recordings then?
If listeners other than guitarist can't tell how come every big name doesn't just use spiders in the studio?
I mean if no one knows the difference right?

And purity I knw you've got a bunch of nice gear, why aren't you playing cheap shit yourself then?

Sure a good portion of tone is complete masturbation, but to say it doesn't matter at all to an audience is not in line with how all the pros do it.