Tim, I can't tell the difference...

[Thoughtfree]

Just watching Tim Pierce Guitar's latest YouTube video. What a great player, and what a nice guy he seems to be. He's talking about his latest PRS guitar, with the extra-wide flame maple top, and its other amazing deluxe attributes. He demos the guitar and it sounds great, as does everything Tim plays - the musical slight distortion, the tasteful echo and reverb, the fluid licks up and down the neck.

Tim, you're a monster player, so easy to listen to. But I can't tell the difference between this PRS and the other PRSes, and the Gibsons, and the this, and the that. Whatever expensive guitars you play in your wonderful virtuoso fashion...

... they all sound the same to me!

 

[LOSTVENTURE]

He's not the only YouTuber guilty of making all of his guitars the same. In fact, it happens more often than not.

 

[Blackmore Fan]

He's not the only YouTuber guilty of making all of his guitars the same. In fact, it happens more often than not.

There's the famous Keith Richard's quote that (paraphrased) says "Give me 15 minutes and they all sound the same".

 

[Killing Floor]

I think you're missing the point. Nobody buys guitars for the way they sound. If you only wanted to hear it there'd be no point in a video.
The point of all video reviews is to show how cool something looks.

Also FYI play the most mundane progression and a couple simple major chords in every possible pickup/tone configuration. I am the most boring tester outer at a music store. how else can you find out what the guitar really sounds like?

 

[dlew919]

There's the famous Keith Richard's quote that (paraphrased) says "Give me 15 minutes and they all sound the same".

‘I can make a Gretsch white falcon sound like me’. Another keith quote.

 

[JL_LI]

Maybe I can provide a little insight. I can make my Tele, two Strats, my SG, and my Annie sound pretty much the same. In fact, for most of what I play I like it that way. Or... I can get sounds from all of them that can't be duplicated on any of the others. Like my Telecaster bridge pickup or the bridge and neck in series. Then there's the middle pickup sound I get from my FCS '69 Strat. My other Strat with VN pickups is wired for 7 sounds. The creamy warm three pickups together sound can't be found elsewhere. I can't describe the Annie sound with both pickups selected and the individual volumes rolled down. It's warm but just bright enough and with the equalizer set to roll off low frequencies, has beautiful clarity. And then there's my SG. I have a Boogie channel reserved for it with the mids way up. The humbuckers push the amp without a loss in clarity. I get an edge to the tone without digging in the dirt. So whether guitars sound similar or different has a lot to do with what's played on them and how they're played. And sorry folks, using pedals has a tendency to make the pedal contribution the overriding factor. That's the biggest reason for all guitars sounding the same. It's almost impossible to find two clean demos of the same material played the same way through the same amp. You have to do that yourself.

 

[MrClint]

"I can make an expensive guitar sound really cheap."
-- Me

 

[Blackmore Fan]

‘I can make a Gretsch white falcon sound like me’. Another keith quote.

Lol, love it!

But in a pinch (let's say his gear didn't show up for a small solo show somewhere), I bet he could come really close. There's a video out there on youtube of John Mayer playing some pink contraption that was *nothing* like a Strat back when he was in a scrap with Fender (pre-PRS days). He still sounded like John Mayer.

 

[hnryclay]

That guitar was really, really good looking. I dont like PRS guitars, but that was a stunner.

 

[Ebidis]

All of my guitars sound different. When I play them I can definitely hear the difference, and obviously feel it. To me it is night and day.

However, I always dial my amp to within the ballpark of the type of sound that I prefer, and whichever guitar I'm playing, I still play like me, so someone else might think they all sound the same.

 

[boredguy6060]

I too concluded that they all sound pretty much the same.
However that PRS with the wide flames is nothing short of a work of art. I believe it probably cost 10k to 12.5k and no doubt plays like a dream.
PRS is making some of the sweetest guitars made anywhere, but cheap they’re not. His amp line is starting to get a lot of attention as well.
I love watching Tim’s videos he is a great player and a nice guy as well. He reminds me a lot of myself except for the money and the talent and the guitar collection.

 

[gkterry]

Tim Pierce was recently demoing a PRS that looked similar to all the others with the fancy flame top that only cost about $800-900.

 

[oregomike]

Just watching Tim Pierce Guitar's latest YouTube video. What a great player, and what a nice guy he seems to be. He's talking about his latest PRS guitar, with the extra-wide flame maple top, and its other amazing deluxe attributes. He demos the guitar and it sounds great, as does everything Tim plays - the musical slight distortion, the tasteful echo and reverb, the fluid licks up and down the neck.

Tim, you're a monster player, so easy to listen to. But I can't tell the difference between this PRS and the other PRSes, and the Gibsons, and the this, and the that. Whatever expensive guitars you play in your wonderful virtuoso fashion...

... they all sound the same to me!

But he's playing them. We're not supposed to hear the difference. It's the playability. That's all.

 

[Tonetele]

I could definitely hear a difference. On sounded "muddy". The 59 Gibson clone looked and sounded best.

 

[Billy3]

There's the famous Keith Richard's quote that (paraphrased) says "Give me 15 minutes and they all sound the same".

Yes... It's all in the hands of the player.

 

[AviA]

So you basically watched a PRS commercial and enjoyed it very much. Nice

 

[tintag27]

Tim is a likeable guy, a humble virtuoso and happy to share his vast professional experience and knowledge with lesser mortals. I will happily watch anything he puts on the internet

 

[Thoughtfree]

So you basically watched a PRS commercial and enjoyed it very much. Nice

Yes, that seems to be the bottom line.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

Sooner or usually much later, we all come to realize we pretty much sound like ourselves regardless of which guitar we are playing. It kind of reinforces the notion that tone comes more from your fingers rather than your rig or what your axe is made of, eh? BB King sounded the same whether he plugged into a Lab Series or JC120. Why? Because he was BB King. Same goes for Clapton, Garcia, Gibbons, or whichever other guitarist who may be your fanboy crush. After you become familiar enough with guys like I mentioned, you can pick out every time they step on a pedal or turn a knob.

 

[swervinbob]

I was watching one video where he took the camera and panned around at the rest of his home studio. Let’s just say there’s a lifetime of gear from being one of the top session guitarists in the game packed in there. I can only imagine what it was like in the old days when he said the top guys would pull up in a cargo truck and start rolling racks into the studio to do a session.