Worst guitar sound you have heard in person?

[Mike Eskimo]

Nels Cline of Wilco. We had to leave.

But it was at a Wilco gig? Not the Nels Cline singers?

Any death metal song.

I found a couple of really good death metal playlists on Spotify. And I saved both of them for when my old buddy who has no social graces and can’t read social cues overstays his welcome at my house.

Rotting Placenta goes on and he says “oh, I guess you want me to leave huh…”

Another “in-person” horrible sound:

The dude that sold me my first acoustic (and later, first electric and amp) had bought one of those Kramer Ferrington acoustics and a solid-state Marshall Mini-Stack.

Unplugged, the guitar sounded like the smell emanating from the south end of a north-bound mule.

Plugged in, it sounded like the smell of a whole team of those mules.

He was wise enough to realize his error and quickly got rid of the guitar, and later the Marshall Mini-Stack (which didn’t sound horrible with an electric guitar).


I agree.
I love early Wilco…but since he’s joined, I just don’t get it. His playing is too avant-garde for me.

I am very lucky to have seen the Jay Bennett era of Wilco. I would not have wanted to see the band before Jay’s arrival.

But since I raised myself on jazz/free jazz - I gotta admit I like the Nels Wilco too.

A mistake I made for a short period of time:

Boss CS-3 pedal.

It took a while for me to forgive myself.

Here’s a question though, do you use any kind of compressor - now? Or was it just that specific compressor?

 

[Twang Deluxe]

Most any acoustic amplified via a piezo.

Years ago, we heard the Down from the Mountain tour - pretty much all acoustic instruments. The mandolins, which were miked, had more body and presence than any of the guitars, which had quacky, nasal pickups.

D.H.

I agree with you. Piezo with compressor, chorus, reverb and delay from a cheap multieffect is even worse

 

[Durtdog]

Trust me when I say that I hate to say this but, it's been three time by the same guy at three different shows. It's Bob Weir and his ice pick strat tone for the Wolf Bros. It's really the same tone he's been dialing in since his Grateful Dead years, but it worked better in that setting because of the large band setting. But, with Wolf Bros, he's the only guitar player and his guitar is loud. His playing is marvelous and he can hold down an entire show by himself with no problem. He's a hell of a guitar player but I just can't stand his tone.

Here's one example. But, you need to imagine yourself in an audience with that tone on full watts. It's ear piercing.

That's pretty far from the worst tone I've ever heard...it's also pretty far from the best version of that song I've ever heard.

 

[Hodgo88]

In 2008? I'm sure the bowling alley acoustics weren't helping.

You may be surprised but Poison even recorded that tour for a live album, including CC's solo! If you ever wondered what Eruption would sound like without any of Eddy's feel or chops, here ya go:

 

[brookdalebill]

Years ago, before I became one myself, I heard the term “old guy tone”.
My late friend Carl, a great player and superlative singer used the term.
He explained it thusly:
Fender guitar, often a Jazzmaster or Jaguar with poorly tuned, beyond dead flatwound strings, into a Super or Twin Reverb, bright switch on, treble and bass dimed, no mids, reverb on 7, volume on 6.
Crackly old coily cord optional, but helpful!
Playing a VFW or Legion Hall near you.
Yee haw!

 

[slauson slim]

Blue Cheer.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Here’s a question though, do you use any kind of compressor - now? Or was it just that specific compressor?

Not in my signal path/as a pedal. I’d be willing to try one again, but I have too many pedals at my toes already.

Some compression is added on our recordings—occasionally.

 

[Vibroluxer]

Easily the guy that played lead for Duran Duran. Horrible sound system. Feedback, not the pleasant type, throughout the show. Just screeching!! Worst show I ever saw.

But it sure has the prettiest crowd too. Miniskirts everywhere!

 

[Danb541]

Me in my bedroom playing a cheap guitar through a Peavey Rage 108 amp with the super saturation knob on 11.
This was last century.

 

[ClashCityTele]

Years ago I went to see a local 'blues' band in a bar, as a friend of a friend was drumming.
The guitarist was a little older than the others. He had 5 guitars on stage. All the same model, just different colours!
Can't remember what they were but they didn't look familiar. Some sort of 90's superstrat.

We were all seated so I was facing his amp. After 1 song I wanted to leave.
He had the most horrendous, bright, screeching guitar tone I've ever heard. As far away from a blues tone as you can imagine.
I've seen teenagers with battered 2nd hand guitars sound better.

He never swapped guitars. The other 4 must have been in case he broke all the strings. I wish he had!

 

[johnny k]

Sound guys usually tell me mine is terrible, but i like it that way. And when they ask me to lower the trebbles, i answer them would you ask jimi hendrix to do such a thing ? Just to have a little fun in an otherwise tense soundcheck.

 

[johnny k]

I used one of these for probably 8 years back in the '80s - DOD American Metal pedal. Sounded like a high-pitched can of bees. Terrible sound.

when i saw the pic, i told myself i need one of those.

checked the video, and changed my mind.

edit the new version is not so good either.

 

[Dan German]

Clapton

1990

Second on Clapton…

San Antonio Alamodome back in late 1990‘s.

It was a muffled mess.

And to make it worse he did not speak a word to the crowd, just went from song to song with that awful sound not interested at all that there were even fans presents.

Oddest, most awkward concert ever!

Also, my first and last time seeing him.

After so long looking forward to seeing him live it was a big let down.

I also saw Jimmy Page on his solo Outrider tour back in1989, he was blotto drunk and drooling on himself, but he played and sounded pretty good, at least.

Hilarious. My first thought was EC at Red Rocks in that era, but I thought I was just letting my anti-EC attitude sway me. Maybe it was as bad as I remember. Still not as bad as me through my Fab Tone, though.

 

[johnny k]

I’ve heard the worst wrong tone. I saw Suicidal Tendencies in the 2000s and the guitarists were all Fender cleans. I think they were ****ing with me subliminally!
Mike was phenomenal as I expected.

My friends told about ST, and i won't lie, i was pretty surprised when i saw that live video of that big gangster singer who had such a tiny voice.

 

[johnny k]

A dude I jammed with once. He was one of those types of people who’d choose weird pieces of gear—not because of necessity/poverty/“it’s all I can afford” or because they sounded good—but because he wanted to prove some kind of point that the amp, effects or even the guitar didn’t matter whatsoever.

He showed up with a good MIA standard Strat and some kind of over-processing multi-effect unit (it might have been a Boss?)…that he plugged into a powered stage monitor. There also seemed to be waaaay too many wires and guitar cables, considering his rig was (basically) just three pieces.

I (politely, in a roundabout way) said, “that’s an interesting setup” and asked him if this was his “small jam” setup (since we were having a jam session in a small environment), and he said, “No, the effects and amp sounds from my multi-effect unit is where the sound comes from—I just need the monitor as a power amp. It’s the same as plugging into a PA instead of an amp. Nothing matters except my hands and what type of pickups I use.”

He also vaguely insinuated that any rig with analog and/or individual effects pedals into a tube amp was “more style and sentimentality towards old-style gear than actual substance,” because his “multi effect unit could do all that and more…”

Then he glanced at my rig (which is just what he described) and kinda clammed up.

Ok.
I’ll give your rig a listen.
I might learn something.

He had no less than four effects (heavy distortion, some kind of chorus/modulation, heavily gated reverb, and a boost—possibly some compression as well) turned on all at once, along with an amp simulator (I think he said it was a Marshall sim?), along with a noise gate that cut off all sustain…if he’d turned off a couple of the effects, it *might* have been a little better, but after I asked him what effects he was using and how did he decide what to use in his ME unit, he said, “that’s my sound…”

He was also (somehow) overdriving/distorting the speaker in the powered monitor…not “running an overdrive into the clean powered monitor,” but rather, distorting the speaker of the monitor by running it so hot and loud. Super-high gain, pushing the slave volume to “11” and riding the master volume for loudness control. The thing dang near sizzled. Harsh, unmusical, bright, square-wave distortion…and that was without the effects!

It was everything anyone ever complained about as far as over-processed, sterile or shrill guitar tones.

Just for grins, I asked him if we could trade rigs for a song or two—he ran through my pedalboard and into my amp, I plugged into his rig—and I confirmed, “No, it’s not his playing, it’s his rig…this thing is terrible!” I removed the ME unit and plugged straight into the powered monitor, and it sounded better but still very harsh.

He was not a bad player, but that rig was just horrible. I liked the songs he played (a lot of CCR and other late 60’s rock), but the sound was like shrapnel slowly piercing your taint.

He also “oversang”…like a dude with no soul who’s trying (and failing) to imitate Otis Redding or Stevie Wonder.

To be honest, it kinda pissed me off. At the time (due to other obligations), I didn’t have a lot of spare time to jam, record, rehearse or perform—or even hang out—and I wasted the evening by listening to that crap.

I would never play plugged straight into the PA even with an amp simulator. This sounds weak, every little clam can be heard. Maybe if you can shred on a clean sound it would work, but even then, i am not so sure. Even the worst carppy amp will sound better miked up. Might not sound good, but still better. My opinion of course.

 

[teletimetx]

Most any acoustic amplified via a piezo.

Years ago, we heard the Down from the Mountain tour - pretty much all acoustic instruments. The mandolins, which were miked, had more body and presence than any of the guitars, which had quacky, nasal pickups.

D.H.

Yep. Continuing that thought, a friend of a friend...was playing at a local brewpub. Songwriter type, had an acoustic playing through a pedal board. I don't even like thinking about it; couldn't even ask him what the what was. Quacky and nasal would have been an improvement. And have heard many other acoustics, which were otherwise at least passable instruments sound like a metallic, nasty tin bucket. Sheesh.

Of course, my tone is always stellar...

 

[VintageSG]

Paul 'Tonka' Chapman with UFO.
It wasn't his fault. Whoever ran sound that night deserves to listen to the mix for eternity. Whatever album they were promoting back end of 1981, that tour.
The sound was dreadful. Loud and dreadful. I've been to louder shows at that venue ( Sheffield City Hall ), but this was awful. Screechy, clipped, distorted treble-laden, dental plaque removing garbage. The whole sound was a cacophonous mess. Tonka kept getting unwanted feedback, and it hurt. When it was just him playing, he sounded like a new player with a Gorilla-10/Squier SP10 cranked with a Boss Metal Zone Spinal Tapped feeding it.
The only time in the whole show the sound was tolerable was during the intro to 'Mystery Train' where an acoustic was played.
It wasn't his BC Rich, it wasn't his amp, it wasn't his playing. It was the mud-eared, spawny-eyed, parrot-faced wazzock running the sound.
Even the audience-less twiddlers in guitar shops sound better than poor Tonka did that night. I've had bouts of tinnitus less annoying.

I did see Tonka with UFO after that. He sounded great for all subsequent gigs.

 

[johnny k]

Any death metal song.

 

[ChicknPickn]

I think this usually comes down to bad audio management. I saw Soundgarden some years ago when Cornell was still with us. The venue was generally good to excellent in terms of sound, but somebody at the board was way over-volumed and turned everything into garbage. The guitar work sounded like a badger being tortured.

 

[Tom Grattan]

Before digital tuners you had to use a tuning fork, pitch pipe or if you had a good ear that was what was available. Add that to playing the Honky Tonks with lots of alcohol and other substances things would get out of hand. Things that got lost in the mix was tuning, volume, balance etc. and as a result there were lots of horrid sounding guitar players. On the other hand some of best music I've ever heard/played in was in road house bars. The digital tuners (lets hear it for technology) were/are a god send.