Has Guitar Tone Gotten Any Better?

Thank you for this. I had no idea Brendan O'Brien was producing their new record. Now I want to hear it. My inuition is that O'Brien's style would suit them right down to the ground. The man knows how to record big crunchy walls of guitar.

 

This is a subject that can go in so many different directions.. All the parts / guitar / amp makers encourage you to believe you can buy good tone.. and you can definitely buy yourself some tone today.. weather it's good or not well, who knows... It is more available to more players.
Good players can have good tone.. poor players usually not so much.. been that way since day one.
Why is it that a good players can walk into a road gig and plug into the house amp and get their tone...?
If the gear is so much better now why is it that old tube amps from decades ago are so prized and revered.? Ditto with a 59 LP or Strat / Tele.. Vinyl or digital..? WTF..?
Contradictions abound ..

Tone is subjective I kinda think.. Good tone is timeless..There is no definitive answer to some questions..
The Beatles or the Rolling Stones.. depends on how you look at it..
It's called Art and beauty is in the eye , or ears, of the beholder..

 

Mine has!

 

just for the counterpoint: what difference would it make? Will I decide to stop going to live music shows because, you know, man, it's just not as good as (x), (y) or (z)?

What does it matter, really?

"Tone" is an overblown mind game.

Hey, you, get offa my lawn.

 

He also produced their last two records, "Black Ice" and "Rock or Bust". His production style suits their sound smashingly. The instruments sound SOOOOOOO good.

 

I love the sound of obsolete 50's tube technology amplifying the sound of steel strings using wire wrapped magnets. Once you find that sweet spot that lives there you can make things different but not better. That sound is the benchmark that everything else is compared with.

 

My tone certainly has improved!! Better amp better pickups better effects.

 

Between easy access to information and like-minded communities (especially via the internet), more and better relatively cheap gear, and easier access to all kinds of gear (again, via the internet), it's certainly easier than ever to achieve whatever kind of tone you want to.

It's also possible to achieve a wider range of tones than ever before, and much more easily. I have guitars that were originally designed (or are inspired by guitars originally designed) in the '50's, with all the classic tones plus features like updated electronics and tighter tolerances that make for an overall more reliable product. My amp is designed to cop tones (how well is up for debate) from various amps popular from the '60's through the '80's, all for less than any one of those classic amps. I have pedals that can get me anything from classic overdrive to anarchic fuzz, modulation effects with an unprecedented degree of control. I can create loops and harmonies (with or without digital artifacts as I please). I have pedals that let me convincingly emulate sitars and '80's video games, and that's just at their "normal" settings, and they're dead-simple to use!

So have the tones gotten better? That discussion is subjective to the point of uselessness to me. But the situation is certainly better than it's ever been.

 

Most guitar innovation of the last 50 years has been about convenience.

 

Regarding Chuck Berry's tone in the 50's being the pinnacle of guitar sound...

No, they sound different, not better.

 

Ok.

 

Wrong. The "Mustang/Katana/Blooze Jr./whatever" doesn't sound as good as you think some other amp does.

This is the sort of thinking that kept Gibson out of the solidbody guitar business for two years while Fender wiped the floor with them.

Gibson in 1950: "Ha ha, that Leo Fender--what a clown! He's building furniture, not musical instruments!"

Gibson in 1951: "Leo Fender is beating us at the game we invented! We need to develop our own version of Fender's guitar, and we'll need an endorsement from a high-profile player, just to catch up."

There are no rules when it comes to good tone. Close your mind and get left behind.

 

I don't know about "better". We've definitely gotten more refined tools to do the job. You could argue that build quality is consistently better across the board now than it was 50-60 years ago (looking more at entry level items here for overall build quality and electronics across all budget levels). In that sense, I think there is good argument for better. Does it "sound" any better? That's where I have to say, "Dunno. Depends on who you ask."

 

I think that is a fairly subjective question. It really depends on the artist, the recording, the song, and the intent of the specific recording.

 

The palette has more colors now, something I believe has more to do with better pedals than anything else. I don’t use a pedal board, just a single pedal, a BOSS- EQ200. That single pedal has improved my tone from five different guitars. Amazingly so.

 

I say yes. Now, the way it’s captured on recordings and listened to is a different story.

 

Me I have put all the pedals away. Plug straight into my ac15 try to chase tone that way. I
am thinking what I am seeking is going to have to come from me and my playing.
No more rabbit holes for now.

 

There’s no “better“ in music. Taste, like tone, is subjective. (For confirmation search “people of Walmart”)

 

Not the topic, but good tone is overrated imo.

Most guitar icons just wanted to sound unique and cut the mix. Then we later labelled their tones as "good"

A speaker almost exploding? My wife doesn't think it's good.

 

No, tone always sucked. Everyone from Kenny Burrell in the 60s to the modern player is always complaining about it. Tone just got more anal. That’s about it.