Can we pin this video to the front page of music gear related internet ? It would save a lot of bandwidth and time used every single day this thing is debated.
This is not universally true for all types of tones. Yes, for chugga chugga with a heavily dimed amp, it’s the speakers. Amps and pickups play a bigger role for lower gain.
"The player is essentially ballast." LMAO "Look mr guitar player, you're basically there to keep the guitar from hitting the floor and scratching the finish."
Hi Glenn one extremely major thing in the guitar is the value of the pots (both the volume and tone pots). 1Mega ohm, 500K ohm, 250k ohm, they are all basically passive low pass filters, in an always in effect set, the 1Meg filtering out the least amount of high frequencies and the 250k pot passes to ground major amount of highs. Well, compared to a state when you do not have guitar electronics and pickup is directly connected to output jack. This being said they low-pass all the time regardless if they are turned 10 or 1. Another major thing is the capacitor value soldered to the tone pot. Though capacitor kicks in when you begin to roll tone knob to less than 10. Capacitors are also low-pass filters with an added resonant peak, when you begin to roll back tone knob the low-passing of the capacitor kicks in, it began to low-pass your pickup signal and at the same time the resonant peak begins to move towards bass side, in extreme cases almost like a wah pedal. I did trials and many of us did, when you think guitar is shit but it should not be, don't buy fucking new pickups, if it too bright lower potentiometer values by a few hundred, like go from 500k to 400k or 250k. Also if guitar tone is dark, muddy, maybe try to replace your 250k pots to 500k or even 1Mega ones.
Yep.. Glenn is close, but he's still missing far more important factors and not only what you've mentioned here regarding potentiometers and capacitor values. Honestly, I don't think Glenn's brain wants to go quite that far though. lol He also failed to mention the actual wood and size of cabinets, which he was on the cusp of, but still failed to mention. Again, close but no cookie. Lastly, when or if he ever discovers how sine/saw waves work will be whole other universe for him entirely. It will be like throwing a monkey wrench into his gears of everything he's ever learned or thinks he knows.
The distance of the mics from the speaker or speaker cabinet can have a huge impact, when you are close to the speaker the sound is more narrow , i usualy put my sm 57 and figure 8 ribbon away from the speaker in the middle at the distance of an A4 paper sheet to get an overral sound of the full array of speaker, and i keep a close up mic to one of the speaker i get more clarity for some solo, by the way it works for some 4x12 and maybe not fit for 2x12 or other speaker and amp configuration, it's always a die and retry process to keep the sound as faithfull to what i heard from the amp with my ears.
The only times I have heard tube changes make a noticeable difference is when you change TYPE of tube (and generally stuff like screen grid resistors and bias to suit) rather than brand etc. So changing from a short to long bottle 6L6, or from a 6L6 to an EL34, KT77, or whatever in the power section, or from 12AX7 to a 5751 in the preamp. Just changing from Sovtek to EHX doesn't do much. I have heard differences between brands, but they are subtle and generally mainly noticeable on clean tones.
I definitely think tone is in the hands applies a lot more to solos than rhythm playing mostly because of vibrato and bending technique. There are also people who like to use legato when other people would just pick it out.
Give the axe to a fucking sick ass player and the tone is absolutely in the hands. Pick angle and velocity make a tremendous difference, if you have a lot of gain it can certainly overwhelm the nuance coming from different players, but many sick players with heavy tones play with surprisingly low gain because they pick hard enough to get a more distorted sound.
Also the pickups. By the way, a Gretsch Electromatic Centerblock would be a great "can you play metal on" addition to your series. The pickups on those are severely underrated.
You'd be very surprised how similar different pickups can sound. Overall pickups affect the tone more than say the wood, or tubes, but less than the amp does. Moving the same pickup to a different position will usually yield a bigger difference in tone than replacing the pickup. However, after the amp, and speaker/mic/cab, I'd say the next biggest factor is the pickups.
My favorite amp is the PRS MT 15 but I noticed a massive change from Two Single Twelve Cabinets! The single twelve PRS Cab sounded killer The VHT cab was good but not nearly as good!
My God that blended cab w the EVH & Hemp speakers made my pants tighter. That sounded amazing. With smaller bands for live sound most venues sound guys will only put a single mic on a 4X12 but it might be worth the $20 to Slip him for a second mic and an extra few minutes line checking it.
Hi Glenn? How come guys like Slash have such complex live rigs? Is it worth it? Is it to compete with all the other frequencies from the rest of the band to be heard more clearly in a live setting?
I'm not a metal guy at all, but the amount of knowledge and innovative experimentation and mindset that i find on this channel keeps me subscribed. Every producer should follow contents like this! Thank you Glenn for providing something that most of us starting now wouldn't be able to try for themself.
Honestly, I believe the "tone is in the hands" statement is directed at younger players who are hypnotized into buying better gear to make them sound better. I used to think that buying better gear was going to make my tone better, but it was my sloppy playing and horrible vibrato that really made me sound different from my favorite players. I could have saved a lot of money if I realized that no multi effects processor or fancy guitar was going to make me sound like John Petrucci
Not directed at young players. This phrase has been around for decades. But definitely aimed at "clean" players. ie who play using clean electric sounds, or acoustics. It is true for them, but not really true for heavy distorted sounds at all.
That would be a fine way to use it except the words being used are still wrong. People can just say "using Petrucci's gear won't make you sound like him". I've asked people what gear they use and they literally respond with "tOnE iS iN tHe FinGeRs". And its just annoying as hell.
@@gazzie12000 nah it's directed towards bad players that but gear thinking they'll sound better Whether you play clean or distorted if you don't fret the frets correctly, don't pluck your strings accurately and don't play your time then no tone is going to make you sound great
@@Crash_Knight yeah those people are annoying as hell At certain level of proficiency what gear you use does matter Now Glen's video is targeted towards people who believe in bullshit and endlessly debate what single piece of gear gives you a certain tone
The EVH speakers are killer in my book. They're the only speaker I really really love hearing both clean and distorted. To me, even though they're supposedly some variety of a greenback, the highs on them sound way better with high gain than greenbacks to me.
I can play a Jimmy page solo and my tone sounds exactly like his, because tone is (relatively) easy to mimic, but my playing style is nothing like him. “Tone is in the hands” is a myth “Style is in the hands” is very very true. I think people get the two mixed up. Two guitarists can play the same blues riff and the tone will sound identical, the player with the most soul will make it sound better.
I also think that thing doesn't always apply as much for everything. Like those rythme guitars burriee under a heavy distortion, the only difference a guitarist can make is his tightness
Exactly. I think the problem is we too often use words that have multiple meanings or stray too far into nebulous metaphor. The player provides the technical performing ability, and the "sound" that's in the hands isn't the "sound" that we mean when we're talking about production quality. I think "the sound is in the hands" is not about removing everything but the player as a variable - it's simply saying that your gear isn't going to make you a good player. It's the same both ways - if you play well but your gear is garbage, it will suck. If you play poorly and your gear is top notch, it will also suck. It's like choosing between saving your heart or lungs.
I used to work at an outdoor venue that did weekly concerts to about 2000 people. A few times we had extra speakers in the van from packing down another job just before. On these occasions rather than pack them back in a van for the duration of the show, we'd stand them next to the speakers we usually used at the venue and leave them unplugged. Without fail we'd get compliments about how the extra speakers made the sound better than usual. People really do hear with their eyes.
It only applies to acoustic and maybe playing clean channels for electrics. What people hear in most playing is just dynamics or how hard you are strumming or striking a string
About 10 years ago I had the pleasure of having about 15 different speaker cabinets in my basement at one time. I ended up keeping a massively oversized Krank cabinet with a front facing bass port loaded with Eminence Legend V12 speakers because it sounded so different in a good way. Sounds more balanced than all the other V30 loaded cabs I tried at the time. I'm in the KW region if you want to borrow it Glenn. If you want to make some IRs, I would be happy to loan it for the cause.
I worked in a guitar store. And yes, cabinets and speakers are underrated. I can not understand why guitarplayers sometimes spend a thousands of dollars in a guitar and a head and at the same time they buy a 4x12 for 200 bucks. It‘s like buying a Ferrari and put wooden wheels on it, isn’t it?
That's a good analogy. It's like giving a cheap Honda civic a nice pair of lightweight wheels with bigger offset(to get more traction)and grippy tires that makes acceleration on slow cars a lot better getting off the line.
Holy crap THANK YOU I'm a luthier here in Brazil and I've been saying this for years: "FORGET THIS 'TONE WOOD' CRAP". At least in solid instruments (obviously it plays a big part of acoustic instruments), only to be called an ignorant. People have been building guitars out of a billion different materials now, only to always sound exactly as whatever pickup/amp they chose.
I still dont understand how can wood play a significant role, if any on electric guitar tone when it has nothing with producing a sound. Basically, any pick ups and any amp is gonna give you a generic sound with slight differences (all of them are built the same, its not gonna change much), changing the speakers, one of the main outputs of sound should be obvious. Maybe its bcoz my dad replaces speakers every now and then and yeah, the older speakers had bad bass sound and sound quality in general, compared to newer ones, kinda like if you compare quality headphones to low end cheap ones... sometimes its like hearing the same song for the first time.
@@epelly3 > _So do the pickups have as much of an impact as the speakers_ ? In at least some cases, yes. Probably many or all. A thousand years ago I bought a Carvin guitar in a H-S-S config. It played great, but the pickups were simply...lacking. I rewired it with Seymour Duncan "Jeff Beck" and "Jeff Beck Jr" (x2), and it REALLY opened up--sounded SO much better. Prior to that I had a Kramer Pacer that I rewired with EMGs, and it also sounded better. That guitar was stolen, but I still have the Carvin. I should note that I do not play metal to any significant extent (we played mostly rock from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s), but like @IFeeeeelGood mentioned in another comment, there's a fair portion of Glenn's content and experience that we can apply everywhere.
Even in acoustic instruments, shape and size of the sound chamber is going to have a *much* larger impact than the wood the instrument is made out of. For exactly the same physical reasons that the material a speaker cabinet is made out of doesn't matter much.
I swear in the many years I’ve been playing I’ve heard all of those myths force fed to me and it never felt right. Thank you for taking so much time in these videos to debunk these myths. I also fell into the trap of buying pickups and didn’t hear a difference either. I learned the hard way. Keep up the good work!! 🤘🏽
Yep. Cabs make all the difference. I realized that when I was investigating Children of Bodom's Alexi Laiho's crazy-town Metal tone that I liked so much. I began looking for Marshall 1960B (straight/bottom cab) like his, but all I was seeing on the used markets were Marshall 1960A (slanted/top cab). Basically, the 1960B just sounds better than the 1960A, hence fewer people are selling those. They found what they were looking for.
You could spend $1900 on a Marshall DSL head and MX cab. And that’s “cheap.” Or you could spend $400 on a hybrid orange head and 1x12 with a greenback. Want to guess which one sounds better? The cheap one. The two heads sound super similar, actually. The cabs make all the difference. But really, if your amp is decently powerful, and doesn’t sound like absolute shit, then the way you sound better is. . . *gasp!* PRACTICE Stunning, rights?
I think the “in the hands” idea came from fact a guitarist will sound like themselves no matter what equipment they use. Those with a unique sound to their style can take whatever guitar/amp you give them and they’ll set the EQ/parameters to their ear and play their own style and it will be recognizable as “their sound”. That goes far past just the hands though and is the whole approach to how they set everything as well as their own unique way of playing.
I agree with you guys wholeheartedly. But consider the idea that when we plug into an amp we are not only playing the guitar. We are playing the amp as well. It's a give and take and the more we
"Finger tone" makes a bigger difference in acoustic instruments when you are using advanced techniques. Simple (but rapidly executed at times) metal techniques comes down to this video being correct. I say: just test chug 0000 and worry about finger tone when you wish to solo and actually have enough technique to pull it off.
anyone whos actually recorded serveral combinations of amps and guitars and cabs will tell you instantly that the relationship between the mic and speaker is where you can really shape your tone
@@tinystar3010 I actually showed this to my band several years back. The other guitarist suddenly hated his sound coming through our IEM. I moved his mic maybe half an inch and when he asked what I changed on his amp because it sounded "massive" to him and I showed him how much a couple centimeters could shift the tone.
I was in the "the amp" crowd, and it's pretty cool to be proven wrong this way! Opens up a huge can of worms though, since it's looking like I'm going to have to get some new speakers. Thanks Glenn!
I've recently learned this as well about cabinets. I'd love to get a few cabs for my EVH amp (Orange, Marshall, Mesa)...could get some really cool and different sounds from those.
@@etherealessence I mean, pickups do also have a role. They're filters with their own unique frequency responses, like cabinets and amps. You're not likely to get telecaster tones with humbuckers or jazz bass tones with a precision bass pickup, not without a lot of changes to the rest of the signal chain at least.
@@drpibisback7680 They do have a role, especially in a clean tone or low gain setting, they might have more influence on the sound than the amp. But in the context of high gain distortion, the tones will end up sounding surprisingly similar even across different types of pickups. You'll get more sustain out of a humbucker, but it won't sound THAT different to a single coil. (certainly not nearly as different as it would sound clean) The gain stages and natural compression hide a lot of the subtle nuances of a pickup's tone. Again though, all this changes in a clean or low gain use case. In those cases you'll generally hear less of the amp's influence and more of the pickup's.
Don't worry, you'll only be out a couple hundred dollars at the most for speaker swaps. An amp swap, on the other hand - you're lucky if you're only out several hundred dollars.
That test blew my mind. Thanks for doing this! question: would room response/ noise have any impact on tone shift, or is the mic too close to the speaker for that to have an impact?
I think that if rooms acoustics plays a huge role when mixing on monitors, it should matter when recording cabs. If u record vocals on a shitty sounding room theyre gonna sound horrible, so isnt it the same with cabs?
Remember, U can make a Les Paul sound exactly like a Strat if U just change the 'frequency response' with some EQ, or a 'special speaker' as your 'filter'. There is no difference in the dynamics or N E thing else. That stuff is all 'bull$hit', according 2 Glen HAHAHAHA What a troll =)) Reminds me of Scott Grove =P
Maybe I’m just naïve, but when people say “the tone is in the hands” I always thought they meant the performance. Like if you have a virtuoso and a novice play through the same rig, the tones themselves going to be the same, but the virtuoso is going to be a lot more pleasing to listen to than the novice. Edit: Typo. I used the incorrect "Than"
The tone is the same, actually, but gear has no talent and can't make good artistic decisions. But, is far better to hear a talented player with top gear ratter than bad/poor gear. Better to listen Steve Vai playing a very good cheap guitat rather than playing an Ibañez completely out-of-tune, weary, irregular frets, rusted strings, thus rod not tuned, etc.
When "tone is in the hands" it means that the good guitarist knows even to turn the knobs and choose a good guitar speaker, or turn the eq knobs until the gear sound decent.
So... people should say"The performance is in the hands" and "The tone is in the speakers" rather than mix things up and induce poor decisions when buying gear
Yes different dynamics and such, in a tube amp this will create a different experience of emotion. I agree theres something to it, especially with slower, jazzy, or bluesy genres. Maybe not so much in metal
We absolutely do listen with our eyes. I very often associate an album's sound with its cover artwork. When I hear A Matter of Life and Death by Iron Maiden, I hear "green". With The Final Frontier, I hear "blue", and so on.
@@coreyroberts47 nothing happens haha I don't "hear" color. But I begin associating certain visuals with certain sounds. Those album artworks are just an example that immediately came to my mind. But it's similar to when people see a white guitar and a brown guitar and then basically convince themselves that the brown guitar sounds "warmer", even though they might sound identical. Have you never experienced anything similar?
@@mrcoatsworth429 haha i experience synesthesia. I see colors for songs with no reference artwork, i was wondering if you did the same. Guess im weird lol
Is there a reason you prefer switching cabs/amps/guitars throughout a song and not playing the same 4/8 bar riff in a row with the different settings cabs etc?
I would guess switching them randomly will take you by surprise more an you can more easily tell the difference. Human brain recognition. I you have it flipping at the end of an identical phrase, your ears are expecting to start over and you might actually perceive less difference. But that's just my two cents and I'm not even sure I'm right.
I was wondering why he didn’t do just a few straight up chugs when swapping from 412 to 212…. It’s the bass response from the big cab that is overwhelmingly different. I think that would have ended any discussion just on its own.
I'm thinking about this also. My guess is we make our self believe what we want to believe. So if it was clear where the shift is we then are sure the tone shifts even if it is identical. I have experienced this. Now it is all the same. 😁
They sound even better once you've broken them in by dropping them off a roof and hitting them with a sledgehammer. This loosens up the sound tremendously ;)
Honestly I always assumed "the sound is in the hands" to relate far more to the fact that your amazing clean, crisp, artful, emotional playing will outperform any "tone change". I.e an amazing player on a shit instrument will record a better track than a shit player on an amazing instrument.
Well yes, a better player will write a better part, which is going to sound better, and that part will be inspired by the other instruments but also by the tone he can get out of what he has. Think about it this way, if you have a DI track recorded by a good player, and then you try to get a guitar tone that is significantly different from what the player used to record it, it's very easy to make it sound worse.
True words. An impedance measurement of the V30s might also give a clue on the sound differences. Tubeamps react to different impedances, another path to the holy grail of sound. If i would live nearby i would help out experimenting all day. The EVH Hempback Combo sounded nice! Endless possibilities...
Just wanted to say. I’ve learned more from this channel, than I have learned from most things. I am NOT a metal player. All of these tests and techniques, can be applied. To just about everything in the world of music. Thank you Glenn!
Its not the sound thats in the hands, its the finesse that those hands provide is what changes. It "sounds" different because they play different but theres no actual tone shift
Well yeah, when you dime out the gain to sound like angry bees and just chug away at power chords you are not going to get a lot of tone variation between players.
even with cleaner tones, all you hear is variations in dynamics and rythm from player to player. When talking purely about tone (and not about the interpretation of a song, or music in itself), there's not much change. If you let Bonamassa play his thing through Angus' rig, well.. he will sound like Bonamassa... playing Agus' rig.. It's all about making the distinction between the playing (that we often call "tone"), and the sound (that we often call... "tone").
I agree with most amps being the same. I collect vintage amps and the breakup is different from tube to tube. The sound is most drastic with different speakers and cabs. But I do believe having your eq being pre or post may make a difference in tone. Also having a presence knob vs not having one seems to provide differences too if you’re big into pedals. Great informative video!
In my opinion "the sound is in the hands" should be changed to: "the phrasing is in the hands". I think poor guitar playing is equated to bad tone while good playing is equated to good tone when using the same set up by different guitarist playing the same riff. PS: If people want to change the tone, maybe star using the TONE knob built in the guitar haha
I always took it to mean something similar to this. EVH is the originator of the phrase, I think, which was meant to obfuscate how he actually got his tone. Ty Tabor of King's X was also notoriously cagey about his gear back in the day, and it seems to me that both players' drive to hide their methods was meant to push other players to stop trying to copy their tone and be original.
@@j.w.herring3834 Yeah that's a really good point too. EVH would turn around during sections of his solos so people woulnd't see how he play them haha.
Take it easy old guys, it’s pretty romantic this idea of “the tone is in the fingers”. Your style is in your fingers, but when it comes to the tone, the sound, your equipment plays a really important roll on it. Yet, don’t go to the opposite side of: tone wood shit, original tube screamer vs reissue, etc. And yes, no one will notice if you have the original Japanese pedal or a clone of it. Yes, there are slightly differences, the ts9 has more of such and 808 is a little bit such, but those differences are so ridiculous that it’s not worth it to spend 1000 dollars just coz of that subtle difference. Someone has to put the ball on the ground and say, that’s it, that’s it. So don’t torture yourself coz of a little difference on a pedal.
It is *somewhat* true for string instruments since depending on how close or far you play to the bridge you can get a vast difference in tone. However that's still less of a "the tone is in the hands" and more a "the tone is in the technique".
Great points here, dude. I think we guitarists are kings of overthinking sometimes! And you can create your own living hell going back and forth with gear!
what they usually mean is hand synchronization,technique and phrasing.a famous guitarists you know the sound of will always sound the same no matter what gear they are using.
Open and semiopen back cabs makes a HUGE difference in tone. I took my cheap stage right 1x12 and turned it into a closed back and it sounds massively different
Doesn’t matter if your tone is compressed and highly distorted. Otherwise yes it does contribute to the tone. Instead of fricker, maybe you should check what guitar builders think, or what other proficient guitar players think. That being said, it’s probably the smallest effect on tone and is not worth squabbling about.
Awesome video! Cab and pickups always made the biggest change to me. If you have terrible pickups, then sometimes you can't, for example, milk out any top end no matter how hard you try because it's simply not there. A guitarist I know has a Les Paul with some kind of zebra pickups (stock) and they're so muffled I can barely stand it. And cabs make a huge difference. That's why the industry of IRs exist. I think some people are still in the stone age. I've heard some people say that "a speaker is a speaker is a speaker" -To which I say: No..... You've only got one speaker then.
@@mikahirvilammi6262 what you said is kind of true. Scale length affects tone so much more than pickup response. However, the way a guitar responds to playing can be dramatically different with different pickups. That can definitely account for some of the change in tone.
@@MrSneakyPants Also that Les Paul has heavy mahogany body that has a lot of lowend in tone. You cannot change the main characters of the guitar with pickups, Les Paul is very dark sounding guitar no matter what ever you do for it. Older Les Pauls like 57' has different kind mahogany though, that sounds brighter than nowdays.
Ah, when I answered “the amp” in that poll thought of it from the point of that being where you dial in different tones, rather than different amps trying to dial in the same tone. Strings, pickups, provide the platform for sound. The amp running into a speaker is how you shape that tone into the sound you want. Randy Rhoads used to load his cabinets with Altec speakers rather than Celestions because he found them much clearer. I’ve got a couple of modelling amps, & one of the biggest ways to shift the tone is to switch which speakers it’s emulating
THX! Now I will continue to use my old box with celeron speakers from the '80s! I always thought it sounded very fat and now you have convinced me again that this is not a committee!😁🤘👍
I think the "tone is in the fingers" is interpreted very differently by the different camps. In my opinion, when discussing this, we need to define our terms. Some people are very philosophical about it, others (like Glenn) are technical and scientific.
Good point here, dude. I also think you may have noticeable differences with other genres (yes, I know this is a metal channel). But clean tones may pick up more of a guitarist's nuances in their attack and other variables.
The thing is, there is a term that covers what people believe is in the hands and that term is not tone. Tone is not in the hands. Technique is in the hands. There is no interpretation. Although you are right, clearer use of terms would probably help settle this.
@@etherealessence I agree that the technique of the guitar player isn't part of the tone. To me, tone is determined by all the things between the fingers of the player and the soundwaves that come out of the speaker in the end. But the way you play something can change how the end result sounds. You may pick way harder and with the edge of the pick than some other person. And to me, that's technique. But to a lot of people that's also part of the "tone". So while I do agree with you, for many people it's not that clear cut. That's why I said we need to define our terms. That way we'll avoid a lot of meaningless arguments.
I've always interpreted "tone is in the fingers" in terms of playing style rather than actual timbre. If you try and imitate the style of another player, you will sound _exactly_ like them.
@@mrcoatsworth429 this is the problem with the modern world. We live in an age where incorrect facts are still correct because the people that believe them define terms incorrectly. For example, we've seen racist and fascist get twisted up so much they lost their very real meaning. Yes that's a bit of a tangent, but it is absolutely the same thing as people defining technique as tone and going around saying that it's in the hands. We have terms, yes some are nebulous like tone, but they all have common definitions. And pretty much every 'tone is in the hands' explanation I've seen had been about the player's technique. Why not just say that technique is in the hands, since that's what everyone seems to talk about and agree on?
"its in the hands" is relevant to playing style and type. linear movement lines with individual finger and pick strokes have the most touch-feel variance, chord playing has the lowest likelihood of variance due to harmonic complexity in a single chord stroke, your ears arent going to hear stroke or hand as easily. probably why people think the test it meh, but still works in its context.
Glenn did touch on that in the video - articulation and clarity are name-checked as undeniably resulting from the player, but the guitar's timbre itself isn't going to change much.
What is in the hands isn't tone. It won't ever be tone. What is in the hands is technique. Everything anyone says about tone actually being in the hands isn't ever about the tone of the sound, but the technique of the player (Things like the attack, note definition, muting strings that aren't needed, proper pressure to not pull a note out of tune, etc).
@@etherealessence Exactly, you beat me to saying the exact same thing! People mean technique when they say, 'tone' in regards to the hands, they are usually referring to lead lines, played expressively, where vibrato/bending style etc are more relevant. Still just technique though, not 'tone'. Even 'tone' is a vague term; we should be saying 'timbre' really. Guitarists get a lot of terminology wrong - I blame the tremolo on their guitar myself... ;-) A lot of these myths originate in other genres, like blues, where amp difference between a Blackface Deluxe Reverb, a Bassman, and a Tweed Champ is huge, because they're combos and the speaker/cab changes when you change amps! And the difference between a Filtertron, PAF or a strat pickup is more significant when playing clean or crunchy. Not so relevant to metal but these myths just get ported over wholesale.
According to EVH, back in the 70’s other guitarists that toured with Van Halen like Ted Nugent tried his Plexi rig and were utterly disappointed they couldn’t get close to what he got just by playing through it. In his case, how he and only he played literally was the source of his “tone”. According to him, of course.
Right… but who cares what EVH thinks? We should also listen to this booger eating nobody glenn fricker about tone! I mean, who am I gonna trust? The guy who changed modern guitar and influenced an entire culture? Or the RU-vid idiot who pretends to make records, but doesn’t make records? This is a tough one!
I think, that was not the time of brutal HiGain amps. The less gain you have, the more dynamics are audible and also the specific "tone" of a guitarist. EVH did not only do the tapping and other thricks, he even played them very aggressive, not only with the pick, but also with the right tapping-hand. Of course it's true that the tone is in the hands! Glenn even admits it at 02:50 somehow. Well, if you are overlapping everything what could be audible with tons of higain, then there's no wonder that no one can spot the difference anymore. But that's ok for metal and really a cool thing to know.
As a very visual person, i find more inspired to play in different ways with guitars with different colours and shapes and stuff, which in turn affects how i use the tone. Not a cause of tone shift but visual inspiration feels like a factor during production for me at least
I'm gonna be honest. I didn't hear almost any change switching between cabs or which speaker is miced and the incredibly subtle differences is did hear are easily in the realm of margin of error for mic placement. The biggest difference I heard was between the solid state and tube amps and then swapping out the speakers.
My experience when playing with my band was the biggest difference in live sound was when I changed from Marshall cab with GT75 to Vintage 30’s. it was far more noticeable in creating the sound I was chasing than trying pedals, string gauge, tubes. Also playing the same amps through different cabs was huge too. A 4x12 turned an Orange 30w into a high gain monster, through the 1x12 it only had significant breakup but not distortion. If any of that makes sense, good information thanks bro
That was awesome Glenn! But what about the pickups?? I was hoping you’d show us how much (or little) variations they can bring to the tone. Thanks again for all the tests! 👍
It's very minimal and can be tweaked easily using an EQ Pedal That is if you are using different Humbuckers, but if you're using single coils then that's a different territory
On cleaner sounds (blues, country) there is a sound difference, but that difference seems to be reduced a lot when played in a highly distorted metal context.
”The tone is in the hands” would refer to phrasing, pinch harmonics and palm muting. All guitarists differ in technique. If you would ask Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde and Dimebag Darrell to play a short melody, I think you could probably blindtest guess them correctly, all other things equal.
@Lars Norberg well I guess you are right. I would just want to add that you will change the frequency content greatly by for example palm muting or pinch harmonics. It is not only phrasing and how enjoyable it is to listen to.
"The stuff that will affect your tone ships with a frequency response graph." Well that's entirely reasonable. It makes too much sense. Guitar players will never accept this...
Awesome video Glenn! Would love to see a video on how big an impact your pick ups make. Not like a single coil/p90/humbucker thing but more of a humbucker vs humbucker type of video. I reckon that the tonal shift wouldn't be as huge as people think it would but I don't have the facilities to be able to do such an experiment myself. Be the people's hero!
@@Callum-Morrison not a problem were all here to learn fam :) highly recommend ola's other videos as well, he puts out some incredible content specifically targeted at metal guitarists.
That's why I love my Marshall Valvestate 8080. The speaker says "Marshall (with classic logo) G12T by Celestion" witch is even better than the standard Celestion G12T in lower volumes, at least for me. Its tone is inside my heart and nothing can replace it!
This was excellent Glenn. One of if not the most thorough test of its kind that’s I’ve seen on RU-vid. People do tend to get caught up in the 100 trivial things that altogether make up less than 5% of tone, and ignore the 2 or 3 that make up the 95%. God it I have to hear again how “warm” or “bright” a rosewood or ebony fretboard is, I’ll die
I especially love people, who say wood plays major role in heavily distorted electric guitar tones! People make guitars out of fucking broomsticks that sound brutal :D For acoustic guitar that's completely different story. That said, I'm wondering how did pickups not get mentioned though?
I think the phrase: "The Tone is in the Hands" is related to what an individual guitarist plays over a backingtrack. I mean there are only few things that are different in each player like bends vibratos and down or alternate picking for example, when they play the exact same piece.
Not going to lie, I was typing: "I feel like power chords with a lot of gain aren't the best way to show that tone's not in the hands", Right as you called me out for asking for "Blues licks" on a metal channel....well played, sir. Well played
Still, matter of fact I agree. When I'm asked to play the same riffs I play them completely different (as in another position, not using a pick, and the place where you hit the string in fact does make a huge difference). So showing four players perform the same movement would not make a difference but if the hands were doing something different then it most definitely would. One could argue it's not the same riff of course ..... but yep, that's when Glenn started ranting about blues licks LOL
I find "tone" has become more of a catch-all term rather than the objective meaning based on frequency. Often a players technique for transitioning between frets, strumming/picking , or note/chord combinations they habitually use as being their "tone"
I was under the impression that the whole “tone is in the hands/fingers” was more about how you play your instrument rather than the exact timbre or characteristics of your recorded sound. As in “[insert famous artist] still sounds like themselves even if they play through cheap, shitty equipment. Their tone isn’t defined by their gear, *the tone is in their fingers*.” The idea being that if someone can still sound like themselves through cheap equipment, you don’t need to focus too much on buying expensive gear, but instead prioritise your technique and style.
It's metal. What do you expect? Each style has it's own tone factors. To each their own. When recording, do what serves the song. Know your budget. Know your gear. And whatever you do.... Don't subscribe to Glen! He makes to much sense! Turn now and walk away... now. While you still have a chance to stay ignorant...
1:41 6:41 when you play with that much gain, of course "the hands" and tonewood aren't going to make a difference. When you play clean or with low gain, those things do make a difference. Warmoth clearly demonstrates that tone wood makes a difference in this comparison video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7k_A8GhN0L8.html Then you compare 3 similar similar amps and say that amps don't make much of a difference. Compare one of those amps to a plexi or DRRI: quite a difference. You're talking as if the things you're saying apply to electric guitar as a whole when they only apply to modern metal. You should've titled this, "What matters most with metal guitar tone" As it stands, it's a pretty misleading video.
That EVH/Hempback blend is still amazing. If I ever get the money, I will definitely want to have two of each in a stereo rig. Short of that, I'd love to have the IR's.
I noticed i was getting less and less happy with my V30ies so I started blending them with T75s, and at this point, Im almost using the v30as a filler rather than the main source. Cant wait for those speaker demos man! Been looking to kick around some new tones.
That's what I had done a decade ago with two of my cabs, one a Mesa slant 4x12 and an egnator 4x12. Mesa had V30s while the egnator had 75s. Both sounded great on their own but together sounded better. When I would use stereo effects with both cabs panned out I could tell which side had more mids so I swapped two speakers over to each other cab in an x pattern and each cab sounded super full and rounded out! Much better results when uses panned stereo delays and effects!
"We listen with our eyes" is something I completely agree with, when the Gibson fanboys see a 50s Les Paul with Burst finish, they immediately think it will sound otherworldly and better than anything else that is made, they don't take into the account that a 60 year old dead tree with titanic rusted hardware won't sound good without a good amp and speaker, definitely not without a good player.
And not all of them sound great. Some are just outright bad guitars. There's always that. You can't just buy a random vintage LP, even a 59 burst, and be guaranteed to get Pearly Gates or Greenie.
That's why ichita something, Tim Hanson and stuff are like the next guitar gods cause we're a bunch of begginers listening with our eyes, and I bet many of the shredders and sweeping picking guys can't play rhythm stuff like Billy Joel or James Hetfield, just blabLRARAMBLAARAM ...
Thanks for clearing up, which thing affects the tone how much. I have a little nitpick: I find it hard to hear the differences if the riffs are changed that much while the parameters (like speakers) change. Is it possible to have the same riff with different parameters for the listening comparison?
Hay Glenn, I’ve been screaming this at my guitar player for years and he’s often told me how I don’t understand the intricate workings of a guitar and would never grasp how the player and the wood of a guitar become one to make the tone, plus he’d often say “what would you know your just a drummer”. oh man, I can’t wait to send him this video. Thanks Glenn.
We're a visual species, you say? You've been literally yelling at us for years that the speakers influence the tone the most, but we were too busy drooling over your shiny gear to actually listen to your words. Now we're all shocked to hear that indeed the difference is massive.
Why I just want a Kemper lol. Though tbf did kinda wanna get into building replica amps as a hobby thing. But cab building as well. Or at least tinkering.
