This 'Tone' thing...

[jmintzer]

I wonder, how many people make the comment "I can't stand [insert player here]'s tone" while listening to said tone thru their crappy little, built in computer speakers...

Not makin' judgements, Just wonderin'...


Jamie

[Tim Armstrong]

Heck, I run my computer into a nice old 70s Sansui stereo amp and a nice pair of Cambridge Soundworks Model Seventeen bookshelf speakers, but that doesn't necessarily make a low-bitrate mp3 sound like music, if you know what I mean...

Cheers, Tim

[e-merlin]

I've got a nice set of Boston Accoustics computer speakers. When I can afford it, I'm going to build a home theatre computer. Then I won't have to worry about crappy computer speakers.

[0le FUZZY]

Originally Posted by jmintzer

I wonder, how many people make the comment "I can't stand [insert player here]'s tone" while listening to said tone thru their crappy little, built in computer speakers...

Not makin' judgements, Just wonderin'...


Jamie

...I haff noe idee how many dew but I dew witt all the time. I uzed tew luv my Bostons but my new Dell dent support the system how-sum-ever I kin still hear jes fine and noe whence its bad er good. I haff heard a lot of bad lately and it ain't cause of my speakers.







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[JohnnyCrash]

If I'm going to make bold claims about one's tone, I generally give the disk a few spins before forming a publish-able opinion :)

To be fair, I have heard tone that could only be described as "terrible" and it fit the song better than any other guitar sound would have.

So for me, guitar tone is perhaps most subjective to the song - its larger and more important context. Same with solos and the whole "tasteful" argument.

Whatever we play, however we sound - it has to serve the song.

[stephent2]

yup, I'm running a set of crappy ole M Audio Studiophile BX8a 130-Watt Bi-Amplified Studio Reference Monitors, they sound OK.

[JStella]

Sony MDR-V700s through a FW-1804 TASCAM firewire interface.

+1 for what JohnnyCrash said. Good tone is tone that works in the context.

That said, some are very musical and nuanced and those stand out to me. I've never heard lots of nuance through a soup of pedals and rarely from humbuckers, but I'm sure someone will point out something that will make me change my mind. The stuff Jim Campilongo does on Live at the Du Nord comes to mind as being an example of really gorgeous tone to my ears. Thanks to TDPRI for turning me onto that record - best I've heard in a loooong time.

- Josh

[Big Mike Simpson]

Originally Posted by stephent2

yup, I'm running a set of crappy ole M Audio Studiophile BX8a 130-Watt Bi-Amplified Studio Reference Monitors, they sound OK.

Me too... M-Audio BX-8's and an M-audio omni outboard box with an M-Audio Delta 66 sound card.

[geddins]

Good tone/Bad tone is subjective at best....what I don't care for at all (Hendrix, Keef) many consider the Holy Grail. What I love (Flacke, Rich) others find stale and flat.....for the same reason different guitars appeal to some and not others, different tone does the same thing.

Just because you don't like the way someone sounds doesn't make you a hater....it just means you don't care for their noise.

No biggie IMO.

[casterway]

I run my sound through an Akai AA-1020 receiver, and then through Heco bookshelf speakers.

[Pete Galati]

My computer's sound borders on being pretty good. I have Pioneer bookshelf speakers on the floor, and a Sherwood 100watt pre channel receiver for power.

It's not as good as my stereo, but it'll pass in a pinch, and it's better than any computer speakers I've owned.

I'm pretty sure I can distinguish between good and bad tone as well on my computer, as I can on my regular stereo.

[JayFreddy]

Originally Posted by 0le FUZZY

I haff heard a lot of bad lately and it ain't cause of my speakers...

+1!

Great thread, BTW.

The best players can transmit great tone through a scratchy old cylinder record, a tinny transistor radio, and even "lossy" technology like MP3...

Others will sound bad playing though $100K worth of high-end audiophile gear.

I know it's a cliche, but it's true: It ain't the meat, it's the motion.

Personally I think the whole "analog vs. digital" argument is silly. A $99 MP3 player won't sound as good as a high-end "boutique vinyl" system, but it will definitely sound better than the Walkman style cassette player it replaced.

For most people, the music they listen to in the car or while jogging, doing aerobics, or even listening at home, the sound quality is BETTER TODAY than ever before in the same context...

[601210]

IMHO computer encoding isn't all that bad. MP3, for example, just cuts out all the sound that can't be picked up by our ears.
Unless of course subsonic frequencies make or break tone.

[Telenator]

I don't care what type of sound system you have, ain't nothin' gonna save Buddy Guy's tone! (Well, maybe Pro Tools)

[6942]

My wife runs hers through an old Kenwood KA-2002A int. amp & a pair of refurbished 1968 Coral BX-200 speakers.

Steve

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by JayFreddy

A $99 MP3 player won't sound as good as a high-end "boutique vinyl" system, but it will definitely sound better than the Walkman style cassette player it replaced.

Actually, I have to disagree with you about that. A well-recorded cassette tape has much better frequency response and a whole lot more depth than the average fairly low bitrate mp3 file, and the Sony Walkman that I listened to back in 1982 was a pretty good little machine...

Cheers, Tim

[musicalmartin]

when I worked in a UK factory making stereos and radios ,the perceived wisdom in the R+D dept was that the human ear gets used to anything in time and while the initial reaction to poor sound quality was dismissive ,after a while it all sorted itself out .Hi Fi was for people who deliberately went out of their way to look for faults. and will not accept cheap mass production sounds on principle .Most if the design engineers said that by bunging a decent speaker or just a better speaker cabinet onto any system would produce most of the tonal improvement .tone is very personal and may well depend on factors other than what the actual sound is like .

[JStella]

Originally Posted by Telenator

I don't care what type of sound system you have, ain't nothin' gonna save Buddy Guy's tone! (Well, maybe Pro Tools)

Just goes to show - beauty is in the ear of the beholder. I love his tone - especially on the early stuff when it was real clean and stringy (Hoodoo Man Blues is great for example). It has a lot to do with why I chose the Fender path.

- Josh

[68tele]

Per the OP - One can tell what sounds good or bad thru any system, crappy or not. Your ears will 'adjust' simply by playing good sounds as well as bad thru a crap system.

[superchicken_VI]

Not me. I don't judge tone on my Cambridge Soundworks sub/sat on the computer. I might judge tone on my Pioneer Elite transport/Adcom d/a converter/Bryston preamp/Aragon amp/Thiel loudspeaker/Monster M-Series cable hifi.

More often than not, I think of the great C.J. Chenier song that my blues band plays and quote "I can't judge nobody...because I may be judged."

[woodman]

i'd rather listen to a good player with crappy tone than a crappy player with superb tone (and there are several around here).

[JayFreddy]

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

A well-recorded cassette tape has much better frequency response and a whole lot more depth than the average fairly low bitrate mp3 file, and the Sony Walkman that I listened to back in 1982 was a pretty good little machine...

That might be true the first half-dozen times through a new cassette, but those roses wilt pretty fast as the heads become magnetized, and the cassettes get older and experience drop-out. And that's assuming the cassette was well-recorded to start with.

Of course, a high-end audiophile machine is another story, but then we're not comparing apples to apples anymore.

Dollar for dollar, I think the quality and value of audio is better now than ever before.

[jjz28]

I can't listen to "crappy" speakers period. My computer has Polk Audio speakers and a JBL powered sub. Everybody sounds just fine thank you. My home theater is quite another story: JBL center, four(4) 1973 Yamaha Rock Monitors(purchased new), 10" Energy(100watt) sub and about 25 concert DVD's to jam with, giddyup!

[Telenator]

Originally Posted by jjz28

I can't listen to "crappy" speakers period.

I hate to say this but, I can't listen to some of the old blues recordings because the recording quality is so bad. I know there are some great performances out there but the poor tuning and lousey recordings really put me off. As far as modern stereo equipment goes, I'm not too fussy though. Wow, I'm pretty weird.

[dibber124]

Enrico Caruso didn't sound too shabby on those wax cylinders !