Artist versus original Tone

stratamania

stratamania

Fractal Fanatic
Just wondering how many prefer to match or get close to the tone of an artist or song versus creating a tone from scratch ?
 
Different things for different purposes. Mostly, I know what I want to hear so I work tones either from scratch or if there is a preset that's close, modifying an existing tone. But there are times where it's killer to pull a sound match to a recording (Owner of a Lonely Heart solo, Queen stuff, etc). You really see the audience, and band, reaction to that. The tone match function is awesome in this regard. Some of the work I've seen here is nothing short of amazing.

As far as saying I want to play using "David Gilmour/EVH/SRV/Fill in the blank"s tone doesn't work for me, because I don't really play like that. I mean I don't (and often can't) play like them. I tend to think those guys came up the same way. Emulating some licks, but developing their own sound as they went.

I absolutely LOVE the Axe Fx, so no one should take this as a negative statement when I say that the wide wide wide palette of tones it provides might make developing your personal sound a much longer journey if you didn't start on something more... well, singular in tone. I played Boogies for decades, and it has a heavy presence in "my" tone. Like Townshend and Hiwatt, EVH and Marshall, etc. If I started on the Axe Fx... wow. Young players starting with this will certainly blaze new trails. Time will tell if those trails move anywhere you want to go. But that's a whole other thread. :)

End vote... Tone from scratch (noting that even "from scratch" has base ingredients)
 
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Good points, some sounds are distinctive, and Owner of a Lonely Heart is one of them that is a vital ingredient.

When starting from scratch it would be from sort of idea of a Vox or Marshall or etc. but more dialling in your own tone.

Agreed if you started with no reference to amps etc. where would someone start ? Most of us learnt with what we had and found a sound. Great we have the choice.
 
What I've kind of done that I was very happy with was finding a song that I liked the tone from and using an isolated guitar part through the TMA block as kind of a mastering tool. Then I just tweak the rest of the stuff to get something that I like.

Hope that makes sense.

But I've never been one to really worry about being balls on accurate of any other artist, as long as its close and it feels right when I play it I'm good. Honestly there's a lot of great songs out there with horrible tone when its sitting in the mix. I'm still too much of a baby to deal with that; I like it to sound nice on its on at the detriment of the mix.
 
Shasha, yes makes sense ball park is good for me too. And for those songs with bad tone, I would rather use something that feels good with me.
 
I'm with the rest of you guys. The tone match block is a great tool. I've been playing for a long time and never thought that something lik this would ever come along. Still, I like to find my own tone with regards to playing cover songs. Especially EVH and most 80 ish tones. I always wonder what will be next. If Axe Fx 2 6.00 sounds this great, what will Axe Fx 10 Ultra be like in the years to come.
 
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