brettllingle

Inspired
I am a bit curious as to why there seems to be a huge difference in sound from other presets I have tried from Axe-Exchange and on the forums here. Listening to others play via videos or sound examples they sound killer. However when I try them they are thin, fizzy, no bottom end etc. ect. I understand that everybody has their own way of using them either frfr, or through a real guitar cab. I also understand that what sounds good to you in your bedroom may not necessarily translate well to a band mix. I have experienced this myself. When I play with the band obviously it is much louder so you have the Fletcher-Munson effect and I wind up having to turn down bass and mids and boost the high end a bit. I hate that ice pick to the ear sound with lots of high end and even though I play in a heavy band I prefer a warmer tone with more mids and bottom end. But should it be such a huge difference in sound? Someone posted a preset for the Dream Theater Fatal Tragedy solo and it sounded dead on however when I tried it, it sounded as stated before thin, fizzy, no bottom end. I use two Xitone cabs btw and Majesty Guitars. I love Mark Day's videos and the sounds he gets also Leon Todd's. But it is the same thing with those presets.
 
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i tell this story often:

a friend of mine met Dream Theater and John Petrucci. John asked if he wanted to play his rig, and of course he wanted to. so John played a bit to make sure it was sounding good. he then handed the guitar to my friend.

when he played, it really didn't sound like John at all. the tone was different and not exactly the same. but it's the same guitar, same real amps, same settings, etc, yet even there it sounds different due to how people play the guitar.

so even with all the same gear, it can't sound the same. knowing that helps explain why presets won't always sound the same. different guitars, picks, and playing style really make a big difference.
 
Pickups & even pickup height, guitar, and what you’re using to monitor or play thru will have a huge impact on tone/sound. String gauge type of strings, age of strings. So many variables, it’s almost impossible to universally have patches that wouldn’t need any adjustments.
 
Pickups & even pickup height, guitar, and what you’re using to monitor or play thru will have a huge impact on tone/sound. String gauge type of strings, age of strings. So many variables, it’s almost impossible to universally have patches that wouldn’t need any adjustments.
Well as far as that goes I play Majesty guitars, use 10 gauge strings and 2 Xitone cabs. Maybe this is just that amp in the room syndrome I everyone talks about.
 
Well as far as that goes I play Majesty guitars, use 10 gauge strings and 2 Xitone cabs. Maybe this is just that amp in the room syndrome I everyone talks about.
Are you listening to the presets you download from your computer with the audio going to your Xitones? If not, you're also comparing different listening devices, too.

Personally, I pretty much gave up on other user's presets years ago :)
 
After several years I have given up the feeling of being disappointed by downloaded presets. They almost never sound like the original demo. Instead I use them as a staging point to tweak, sometimes very heavily, for my own use. Often I abandon them but I can often learn something from them regarding different routing or use of unusual FX. Even my own patches require some heavy tweaks for my various guitars.
 
i tell this story often:

a friend of mine met Dream Theater and John Petrucci. John asked if he wanted to play his rig, and of course he wanted to. so John played a bit to make sure it was sounding good. he then handed the guitar to my friend.

when he played, it really didn't sound like John at all. the tone was different and not exactly the same. but it's the same guitar, same real amps, same settings, etc, yet even there it sounds different due to how people play the guitar.

so even with all the same gear, it can't sound the same. knowing that helps explain why presets won't always sound the same. different guitars, picks, and playing style really make a big difference.

There are a few reasons. As chris mentioned, it's partially related to your playing technique / style; how you're playing. Additionally, it's related to what you're playing(eg. the style of music). Even controlling for those two factors, another element is the gear you're playing through, and I'm not talking about speakers. I'm talking about your guitar and pickups. If you don't think that can have a dramatic effect on your tone, skim through the Sim1 guitar profiler video.
 
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To me other peoples presets are like other peoples clothes. When your neighbors shirts look good on him, that doesn't mean it looks anything on you. How come?
Yes, maybe with the same guitar other peoples presets would work, who knows.
 
I downloaded Mark Day's latest preset last week and had to make some adjustments to the bass and EQ before it was usable on my setup. To my ears the Bass is always too high on most downloaded presets. What I get from these presets is interesting ways of using the effects. They are a starting point at best and very helpful.
 
I've been intrigued by this question also - ie, I can't seem to get close to Leon's tone using the same preset and similar guitar thru descent studio monitors. As an experiment, perhaps Leon, Burgs, Mark... might agree to post a copy of the dry signal that goes along with one if their upcoming vids. We could then run that dry through our rigs to verify the tone just to prove to ourselves that the tone we hear can be reproduced (takes the guitar and hands differences out of the comparison) (fyi - I always listen to those vids on the same studio monitors I use to practice with the Axe in order to be sure of what I'm hearing / trying to replicate). My own suspicion also is that a lot of the difference is pickup / guitar setup related and of course some of it in the hands where those players are very adept at emphasizing specific tonal characteristics where as I am more inept .
 
I've been intrigued by this question also - ie, I can't seem to get close to Leon's tone using the same preset and similar guitar thru descent studio monitors. As an experiment, perhaps Leon, Burgs, Mark... might agree to post a copy of the dry signal that goes along with one if their upcoming vids. We could then run that dry through our rigs to verify the tone just to prove to ourselves that the tone we hear can be reproduced (takes the guitar and hands differences out of the comparison) (fyi - I always listen to those vids on the same studio monitors I use to practice with the Axe in order to be sure of what I'm hearing / trying to replicate). My own suspicion also is that a lot of the difference is pickup / guitar setup related and of course some of it in the hands where those players are very adept at emphasizing specific tonal characteristics where as I am more inept .
I did that very experiment with Tyler Grund. His Hendrix/SRV tones were amazing and my attempts at reproducing them pathetic. To help me out he sent me a sample with dry signal and yes, the patch sounded great in my environment but when I tried to play through it - no go.
I even bought a set of the same pickups to try to emulate his tone. Still no go.
That’s when I realized Tyler is an amazing player and the magic of his preset was not the preset. It was Tyler.
 
I did that very experiment with Tyler Grund. His Hendrix/SRV tones were amazing and my attempts at reproducing them pathetic. To help me out he sent me a sample with dry signal and yes, the patch sounded great in my environment but when I tried to play through it - no go.
I even bought a set of the same pickups to try to emulate his tone. Still no go.
That’s when I realized Tyler is an amazing player and the magic of his preset was not the preset. It was Tyler.

My guess is that, although you could not replicate the tone with your own playing, the experiment was successful in that it removed any doubt about your own rig being able to produce those tones, thus freeing you to have more focus on those elements that are really making the difference.
 
My guess is that, although you could not replicate the tone with your own playing, the experiment was successful in that it removed any doubt about your own rig being able to produce those tones, thus freeing you to have more focus on those elements that are really making the difference.

I would guess that if we are honest, most of us have come to realize it’s the Indian, not the arrow, years ago, and while we still keeping chasing tone through gear changes, we’ve learned to know it’s not really going to make a lick of a difference.

I recently built a Gilmour style “black strat”, short bar, same pickups etc. Looks just like his but I sure don’t sound like him. Didn’t really think I would either lol. I don’t need him to come play it and sound like himself for me to know the guitar was the issue. I couldn’t sound like him with any guitar before, and I still can’t sound like him after.

It’s fun buying new stuff, be it a guitar, golf club, or new preset, and dreaming, but realistically I know that the reason I don’t sound like Larry Mitchell isn’t because I don’t have his preset, or that his preset isn’t right for my rig.
 
My guess is that, although you could not replicate the tone with your own playing, the experiment was successful in that it removed any doubt about your own rig being able to produce those tones, thus freeing you to have more focus on those elements that are really making the difference.
Nah. It was depressing! I quit playing guitar and started teaching.:mad::cool::D:)
 
I would guess that if we are honest, most of us have come to realize it’s the Indian, not the arrow, years ago, and while we still keeping chasing tone through gear changes, we’ve learned to know it’s not really going to make a lick of a difference.

I recently built a Gilmour style “black strat”, short bar, same pickups etc. Looks just like his but I sure don’t sound like him. Didn’t really think I would either lol. I don’t need him to come play it and sound like himself for me to know the guitar was the issue. I couldn’t sound like him with any guitar before, and I still can’t sound like him after.

It’s fun buying new stuff, be it a guitar, golf club, or new preset, and dreaming, but realistically I know that the reason I don’t sound like Larry Mitchell isn’t because I don’t have his preset, or that his preset isn’t right for my rig.
Well, what about Leon 's video the the djent tone from just a cable? It eliminated the arrow and the Indian ^^
 
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