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The Generic Tone Era?
There was time when getting a good guitar tone took effort. Now it is easy. With modeling amps, software, and artist stompboxes, it is easy to sound like any of your guitar heroes. But is that really a good thing? Sure, it is fun to dial up the tone of Jimi Hendrix and play Purple Haze. But where is that really leading you? What about your tone? Are you content to always sound like someone else? Do you really want to have the generic tone of the day — or 40 years ago?
When you could only get one or two good tones from an amp, players often spent countless hours experimenting with guitars, effects, amps and combinations of all three to find something new. I remember discovering that if I used a subtle setting on my Korg analog chorus and ran it through a little crunch on my Mesa/Boogie I could get a “organ-ish” tone when playing barre chords on my Les Paul. That tone lead to several songs.
Of course, much of a players tone comes from their hands and choice of notes, but gear has a big impact also. When a recorded guitar part consists of six layers of different overdubbed distortion, how can your tone possibly be unique. If you are simply using presets on the latest guitar software or hardware, how can you stand out?
Things are starting to remind me of the transition from analog to digital synths. In the early years of synths, players learned to program their own sounds. Many players had unique “signature” tones. Years later, digital keyboards came with banks of great sounding presets. Soon players simply pulled up presets and programming synths became a “lost art” for most players. Is the same thing happening to guitarists. Are we becoming content to use only the tones shipped with the box? I hope not.
Sure, it is getting harder to find something new tone-wise, but that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. With the multitude of guitars, amps, and effects available, there is no excuse for sounding like everyone else. Dare to be different. Dare to be you.
Reader Reply: I have a PODxt Live and I think it makes it easier to make my own signatures tones than buying a bunch of different amps. Of course I spend hours experimenting with it instead of downloading presets. All of my POD tones are original and I have worked hard to get them. So yes, there is still hope for uniqueness in tone. - Tim
Great. That is a perfect example of being original. - Mark