Why is it , we're never happy with our tone?

[John De Maille]

Eric makes good point ! We never really hear what we sound like offstage. Also, if the whole band is mic'd, we're at the mercy of the sound man.

[Bill Dobkins]

I've played a Tele for years. I have been looking for a certian sound. I've tried peavey, fender and so on,I just wasn't happy. I was playing in the praise and worship band a church. The leader worked at a local music store,
he told me to stop in he had an amp he wanted to show me. It is a Marshall DSL 401,40 watt with a 12 inch speaker.I bought it on the spot. Its the perfect combo with my Tele, finally the sound I wanted.
I also use it with my Steel. The same tone settings works for both guitars. I just added an AB pedal and off I go.

[Les Anderson]

I equate the tone of my steel to the mood I am in. Sometimes I love to hear and play in deeper mellow tones and tunings. On other days however, I love nothing better than a bright bell light tone coming out of my amps speakers.

My wife can tell without error what sort of mood I am in the mornings just by how I am playing my steel.

In short, I relate tone to mood, genre of music and the tempo of the music I am playing. That means three different tones.

[David Mason]

Obviously, there are so many definitions of what "that" tone is that you want to "dial in".... Jimi Hendrix sounded the way he did because he used what was available to him, he made the choice to go with specific Strat models, there only were a few fuzztones and wahs to choose from, if he had to spend the time trying out 150 different fuzztones he might not have ever got around to playing. He certainly wasn't using Jimi Hendrix model Strats through a Jimi Hendrix cord, into a Jimi Hendrix wah and JH fuzz into a signature Jimi Hendrix Marshall stack - Stevie Ray Vaughan didn't use "Texas Special" pickups either.

Dave Easley said something to me once about how some people pick equipment to make a certain kind of music, while others try to find the music inside of certain kinds of equipment - this is an interaction that's been going on forever, surely Paganini would've written his Caprices differently if violins had five strings? You can use other people's tones as a starting point to become aware of what choices are available, and educate yourself about how "tone" is made and the variances needed to sit in different contexts, or you can blindly follow.

The followers can never have "good enough" tone, because they're trying to duplicate an immeasurable combination of things, which someone else has already definitively mastered. That's what masters DO, that's what definitive MEANS. Though, people will always be happy to sell you "Buddy's amp", and other people will, apparently, always be happy to buy it...

Among great musicians, there's a decided mix of people who choose one instrument, amp etc. and stick with it for several years at a time (unless something is obviously wrong), and those who flit around endlessly. Regardless, they proportionately spend far more time practicing than they do fiddling with stuff (and I suspect they "flit" for concrete reasons). I think that the overwhelming amount of "designer" equipment choices available now has actually contributed to an obvious tonal stagnation among country and rock musicians rather than help - why won't my modeler play the in-between tones? Why can't I model a thirty-foot by one-inch cabinet with 3.375 eleven-inch speakers?

I find it useful to strictly limit, by the clock, the amount of time I spend daily on equipment. I may try out six different brands of fingerpicks over a few months, but then DECIDE, and stick for a few years. I do like to fidget with my tone knobs but if I can't get something workable within three minutes in a playing situation, I'd be better off at home in bed with a nurse, cause I'm surely either sick or crazy. At home, when I'm done practicing, I'll also occasionally set all my knobs to the wierdest random settings imaginable, just to see if I can derive something musical from it - why not?

[Richard Sinkler]

I am actually very happy with my tone. I use the same amp settings no matter where I play only adjusting the volume as needed.

[Mike Shefrin]

deleted

[John De Maille]

Mike,
I concur with your thoughts. It seems to be a never ending scenerio.

[James Marlowe]

When I first got into playing (or trying to play) steel I knew right off what tone I was after. After several guitars and pickups and gadgets I've finally found tone I'm completely satisfied with: Zum, BL910, SGBB, Nashville 1000. I just love my tone. Now, if I could just learn to play this mess!!
jas.

[Tom Quinn]

A 70s Emmons D-10. 74 Session 400, Ibanez Analog Delay and yer good to go...

[Duncan Hodge]

I have to agree with Stephen Dorocke, especailly since I own a Fulawka formerly belonging to him. Both my Fulawka and ZB have fantastic tone every time. Sometimes, actually in my case a good portion of the time, the notes aren't right, but their tone is always great. My main area of discontent comes from wanting to try out different steels, just to see if they sound a little better, or are easier to play, but mostly just to try something different. Maybe if we had some sort of lending program like the public library we could try them all out without having to keep selling ones we like in order to be able to try out a new one. With regular guitars you can go into a music store and try them all out. There are no such steel megastores.
I'm not sure what exactly this has to do with the original topic of searching for tone, but the exercise has given me greater understanding as to why I have owned seven steels (one twice) in the past three years.
Duncan

[Johan Jansen]

Are you not happy with the tone you produce or your sound?

Your tone is your personallity, you will get that (also depending on your mood) through every steelguitar, every brand, with all gatcheds, always!
Your sound has to do with the instrument, amp and so-ever.

Hard work, specially at the first thing, the tone...

[Chris LeDrew]

Les said:

"My wife can tell without error what sort of mood I am in the mornings just by how I am playing my steel."

I can certainly tell without error what kind of mood my wife is in when I'm playing steel...... All of a sudden, there's a million things that have to be done around the house.

[Todd Kapeghian]

The point I was trying to make was that in my experence, most guitar & bass players that I know and talk to(myself inclued)don't keep chasing after "tone"
as much as most steel players seem to. There's million's of guitar players and so the instrument & amp choice's are seemingly endless. I have a Johnson Millenium modeling amp I use for guitar. I've settled on EMG's in my Strat. I'm pretty happy but if I'm not,I can dial-in something else in second's! I'm not looking to buy another guitar or amp, what for? I love my steel guitar & I've got 3 different steel amps. I can tell you that I'm not unhappy with my "tone" BUT, I'm not satisfied with it either. I'm chasing something...and I'm not sure why.

[Dennis Schell]

Try this guys. Set your ax to whatever setting you finally decide sounds "just ok" and then go stand out front while you let somebody else play it. I'm always amazed by just how GOOD it sounds when you're not right in front of your amp....

Dennis

[joe long]

Let's face it, sometimes we play in venues where, to our own ears, the sound sound is terrible. We've all had that problem. Many years ago I use to spend a lot of time through out the night making adjustments. One night another steel player was present with his own opinion about my tone. He told me there was nothing wrong with my tone and to leave my amp alone ane play my steel.

Since that time I rarely touch my amp controls and I have always been complemented on my tone. My opinion is, you can mess with your amp all night long and its not going to make a lot of differance with your tone.