This is a discussion prompted by Speculum Speculorum asking me why I seem disatisfied with the tones I'm getting.
I think the Axe sounds great, and the tones are good. They're just not what I want.
Some background: looking back on it, I remember liking 'electric guitar' sound in rock and hard rock....but I thought they were a little....body-less. A classic hard rock tone I think is Foreigners Jukebox Hero. "That one guitar!" - BAHHHN. That's a cool sound - even somewhat by itself - if you're just playing sustained power chords. Play single notes, and it gets all plinky. When I got turned onto heavy metal (in particular Blizzard of Oz), I liked it even better. But the....fizz....I didn't like. Thrash metal (Puppets I think I was shown first) was even better. I could hear much less fizz, even when just one guitar was playing. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better.
For a while, partly because I was listening on inferior systems, and also I didn't know what to listen for, I couldn't hear the bass guitar in those recordings. I hadn't really picked up a guitar at this point, and it was a few more years before I did. I eventually learned how the guitars and bass were actually melding, given the eq-ing of the guitar. And that's fine if everyone's playing the same thing....
I encountered more complex music, and my ear started changing, and the metal with separate parts that I heard I wasn't liking. The guitar tones fought each other. And that's because of the contrasting high content in a 'distorted' tone, but I think also there's some kind of phasing or something phenomenon that....infects.....the sound space, because digital distortion of sine tones and square waves and such seem to have only the first issue.
I mean, given the very few instruments involved, it's pretty vexing how difficult the circumstance is versus the richness of each instrument in an acoustic ensemble (a few strings, a few brass and winds, perhaps piano), and how easily they blend, and mingle even in complex textures.
My problem seems that I love a few aspects of high gain guitar, but don't like the basic tonal phenomenon, and physics is against me. (And while clean can be nice, I always end up straying away from it. The simplicity of it is that I'm not a guitar player - I'm not even a musician. I'm seeking a very specific situation of sound bliss, and nothing less will do.)
If there is a solution, I think only those with a combination of acoutical engineering, and sound synthesis backgrounds might be able to help me. I'm sure Cliff could help me, but I don't know as it would be something of interest to him, personally, let alone as a product.
It seems Allan Holdsworth never came into contact with these kinds of folks, or perhaps he didn't ask the right questions......
I think the Axe sounds great, and the tones are good. They're just not what I want.
Some background: looking back on it, I remember liking 'electric guitar' sound in rock and hard rock....but I thought they were a little....body-less. A classic hard rock tone I think is Foreigners Jukebox Hero. "That one guitar!" - BAHHHN. That's a cool sound - even somewhat by itself - if you're just playing sustained power chords. Play single notes, and it gets all plinky. When I got turned onto heavy metal (in particular Blizzard of Oz), I liked it even better. But the....fizz....I didn't like. Thrash metal (Puppets I think I was shown first) was even better. I could hear much less fizz, even when just one guitar was playing. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better.
For a while, partly because I was listening on inferior systems, and also I didn't know what to listen for, I couldn't hear the bass guitar in those recordings. I hadn't really picked up a guitar at this point, and it was a few more years before I did. I eventually learned how the guitars and bass were actually melding, given the eq-ing of the guitar. And that's fine if everyone's playing the same thing....
I encountered more complex music, and my ear started changing, and the metal with separate parts that I heard I wasn't liking. The guitar tones fought each other. And that's because of the contrasting high content in a 'distorted' tone, but I think also there's some kind of phasing or something phenomenon that....infects.....the sound space, because digital distortion of sine tones and square waves and such seem to have only the first issue.
I mean, given the very few instruments involved, it's pretty vexing how difficult the circumstance is versus the richness of each instrument in an acoustic ensemble (a few strings, a few brass and winds, perhaps piano), and how easily they blend, and mingle even in complex textures.
My problem seems that I love a few aspects of high gain guitar, but don't like the basic tonal phenomenon, and physics is against me. (And while clean can be nice, I always end up straying away from it. The simplicity of it is that I'm not a guitar player - I'm not even a musician. I'm seeking a very specific situation of sound bliss, and nothing less will do.)
If there is a solution, I think only those with a combination of acoutical engineering, and sound synthesis backgrounds might be able to help me. I'm sure Cliff could help me, but I don't know as it would be something of interest to him, personally, let alone as a product.
It seems Allan Holdsworth never came into contact with these kinds of folks, or perhaps he didn't ask the right questions......
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