Single most important part of your tone!

Think about this!

So many people on here argue about wood-types, pick-ups, strings, etc. and their affect on your overall tone, and rightly so, critically speaking everything changes your tone slightly - the carpet of the room you're playing in, the temprarture, etc.

But, without reducing down to the smallest nuance of tone, I don't see many people talk about the obvious! It's not you (the player!), the guitar, or the amp... well, it is the amp, but more specifically the speaker of the amp.

Surely the speaker is the last point of failure in the whole chain of the sound (you > guitar > efx > amp) and therefore is THE limitation on how good your tone can get?

It's like having poor vision and watching a HD TV, you're never gonna feel the benefit when the input exceeds the limits of the output!

Discuss... :)

Very true. The exit point is critical.

Why have a harley davidson if you are going to put a lawnmower motor in it.
Bad analogy, but, you get it.

Very true. The exit point is critical.

Why have a harley davidson if you are going to put a lawnmower motor in it.
Bad analogy, but, you get it.

I understand what you mean...

After all the tone is only as good as the worst major component and although people talk about amps, I hardly ever see them talking about the speaker itself... the tubes? Yeah! The speaker? Never!

:')

I hate it when my exit point goes critical. Not a big fan of that tone.

darn, and I was going to say 'fingers' :lol:

I think most folks would agree that an amp that suits your playing style is the key.

It need not necessarily be a Carr Rambler or a Dumble - etc - though it could well be.
More rather just one through which you like the sound that your own hands make.
The rest could be relatively incidental, but would be better is at least sympathetic to the other two factors.

Sorry - blah blah. i meant to say : Amp !

I've seen plenty of threads on Amp Central about speakers.
And if you look at all the new speakers being made today looks like more than a few players are swapping speakers.

Yea..lot more talk today
So much going on there with magnet type, paper type, ridged, non ridged,
distances/center, vintage, reconed, not reconed, wattage, db, etc, etc...

Speaking of crappy tone, I actually just pulled this speaker out of my car. I'm assuming it's the original equipment from the factory. Haven't pulled the other one yet, but I assume it's about the same.

http://home.comcast.net/~spamspamspam/Jensen2.jpg

I was thinking of making a cabinet with the pair just for giggles.

a single stage op amp boost, which is set to minimum so it actually adds very little gain, built it into my homebrew amp. based on a mxr micro-amp, cost about $5 to build. little fatter overall, more sustain,and less flubby bass. no boutique $$ boxes for me, thanks.

and hands of course.

The single most important part of my guitar tone is MY EARS.

I`m the most imporatant part of my tone, without me, it doesn`t sound .... at all :shock:

VVVVV

VVVVV

wasn't figurin' on shootin' you right away, fezz.

All roads lead to Tone.

:lol:

My fingers.. tone monsters.. and no one can ever get a clone of them.

Me.

Played a friend's strat/peavey rig last week, and it still sounded like me, even though it should have sounded nothing like my tele/vox rig.

Jose Feliciano and Segovia have good tone, but, I do not want their sound.
(today)

The chain goes like this :

pickups (NOT what type of wood) to amp to speaker.

(Let's leave effects out for this discussion).

Everything else is secondary or tertiary.

Pickups-amp-speaker.


Honorable mention : what you strike the string with. Even leaving out bare-fingered folks, pick material/thickness has a massive effect on tone.

Its a perfect trifecta -

Good Amp
Good Guitar
Good Technique

All 3 are critically important to achieving good tone, and any 2 without the 3rd just won't cut it.

Tone monsters:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/417618_2784700609953_1031380040_32696387_137701643 6_n.jpg

Tone monsters:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/417618_2784700609953_1031380040_32696387_137701643 6_n.jpg

+!1

I definitely think the air passing between the mammoral circuits has a pulsating affect on overall tone. More specifically, I would expect a richer, deeper low coming from Frankenstein as opposed to the perkiness of a specimen from the Black Lagoon.

As far as external equipment goes, I've always believed the speaker makes a huge contribution, as far as a singular exchangeable component in your signal chain goes. The only other thing bigger is an entirely different kind of guitar, eg swapping a strat for an archtop.

+!1

Oh to be a string ferrule.

Sent from my iPad using TDPRI

speakers sound very different depending on the cab they are in, the amp that is driving them and the player/guitar/plectrum that is driving the amp. A speaker can sound great with one amp and terrible with another.

And then their's the anecdote (which I think I read on here) of a sound enginer prepping for Eric Clapton who was coming in to add some guitar as a guest to a track. He hired in all the amps Eric ws known to have used and upon Eric's arrival asked what he wanted to use. Apparently Eric's reply was 'oh lets just DI [plug the guitar straight in without an amp or speaker] the guitar'....

You can have the best speaker on Erath but if your amp sucks you might as well toss it.

The amp is what's key and yes, it should fit your style, but some amps are almost impossible to sound bad with if you are a good player and have a good guitar.

A Carr Rambler would be one of them a Tweed Fender 5e3 would be in that class too, though much different. Marshall 18 watt or 2061's are another one that won't hurt your tone. There are many fine examples of amps that can bring the best out of any decent guitar. But the Guitar and it's pickups are also important, though usually a little less critical if they are pro quality.

But I've seen some pretty el cheapo guitars sound great through awesome amps.

Guitars, amps, pickups, and effects are a lot more fun to swap out than speakers. That's why they get talked about more. You can't fall in love with the look of a speaker. And it's a pain to swap them out. Much more fun to buy a new pedal!

But seriously, I think it depends a lot on the kind of music you're playing. With different styles or music, different things matter more or less. Folks who use lots of pedals can plug their boards into almost any amp with sufficient head room and sound the same. People who depend on amp dynamics, on the other hand, will be frustrated by an amp that doesn't do what they're expecting.

One last thing as far a speakers go- if you're micing your amp, your speakers are not the last thing in the chain- the P.A. speakers are. Actually, the walls, ceiling, floor, and audience members that the soundwaves are bouncing off of on their way to people's ears are.

Tone monsters:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/417618_2784700609953_1031380040_32696387_137701643 6_n.jpg

Anyone need a new avatar?

I don't think either one of them is plugged in. They may have been at one time though.

The single most important part of my guitar tone is MY EARS.

+1... I know what I want to sound like and I can get a decent sound out of almost anything by using my ears. Thats why I sound like me.

If good tone is a matter of opinion, I would recon that whatever part you recognize as the most important, just is :)

The most important part of my tone is telling other people that they aren't as good as me, duh. :mrgreen:

My underpants, I read that someplace [here...]

My cargo shorts!

Yes, underpants goes without saying but let's not forget the vital contribution of the pickup selector and tone knob.

Yes, underpants goes without saying but let's not forget the vital contribution of the pickup selector and tone knob.


well, I got no selector switch, no tone control, and sometimes no underpants... :oops::oops:

VVVVV

very true

I'd add string gauge to the equation.

I've been swapping out speakers recently. I've noticed that what might sound good at home doesn't necessarily work on stage.

I've settled on Tone Tubby 40/40s, have them in two of my combo amps now (Goodsell Super 17s). Tight bottom, well represented mids, (not scooped or spiked) and a smooth, sweet top end. On stage the TT 4/40 really shine, they hold up great w/ volume, remain clear, no harshness at all.

Fingers are important (of course, should go without saying but never does in these discussions). If your signal chain doesn't translate accurately what your fingers do,... what's the point?

Its not even the fingers as much as its the brain controlling the fingers. That's where the tone lies.

IME, for an electric guitar/amp's 'tone', the part that turns electricity into physical waves which a sense: 'hearing' mainly interprets... And can and usually does color and add it;s own certain character [for better preferably] is significant and high on the list for 'tone' et al...

Beer.

Its not even the fingers as much as its the brain controlling the fingers. That's where the tone lies.

This.

You need the experience to know good and bad tone and to how to adjust your fingers and equipment.

Outside of the human element, a bad guitar with a good amp will sound better than a good guitar with a bad amp.

I see the OP's point about speakers, but for me "amp" means the whole unit, circuitry, tubes and speakers together. The amp is about 75% of your tone.

Its not even the fingers as much as its the brain controlling the fingers. That's where the tone lies.

This is the correct answer. It's attitude or intent. Learned it playing w/ Sean Costello and watching him make each note mean something.

We have a saying, you gotta stand up or you might as well just sit down.

How many times have you heard a particular player that sounds near the same even going to different guitars/pickups etc. Including HS, P90s, Singles etc. ?

How many times have you heard a particular player that sounds near the same even going to different guitars/pickups etc. Including HS, P90s, Singles etc. ?

Twice.