Jaded Faith said:
An interesting observation occurred to me after reading fuzzboat's comment. I work with hundreds of musicians and their gear every year. I make a lot of great friends and have had some excellent in depth discussions over tone and their approach to it. One thing I have realized that player's themselves never really do is that "you all simply sound a lot like yourselves", regardless of what you play through.
I was very, very lucky. The very first band I was in was comprised of myself and kids from my neighborhood and the next one over. The drummer's house was about a dozen or so blocks away, and I would typically head over there every day after school for nearly a year (after convincing my Dad that the guy was not going to take advantage of me, lol; he was like a brother to me). The two of us jammed all the time, and I would play along to albums learning/choosing songs to play. Point being, he was in the kitchen one day, stopped what he was doing and popped his head in and commented, "I can always tell when it is you playing. You aren't like the other guitar players I know... you never sound like the guitar players in the songs you learn. And I like that a lot more. It is one reason I like jamming with you. Please don't ever change that." (paraphrased)
Jaded Faith said:
My personal studio and shop has loads of great amps (mostly mine and then whatever customer's amps I have at the time) and around 50 modules in it at any given time. What's always amazing to me is just how similar a player can sound no matter what they plug into. We all have tendencies when it comes to dialing in gear. Believe it or not, your average player will manage to make an amp sound like "them" by the time they are done turning the knobs. The irony is, the player tends to never realize it. I certainly can as an outside observer.
And this is why I chose to reply. For me, gear has always been a question of comfort. The less aware I find myself of what I am using, the better... for me. IOW, if, say, the tone of the amp is drawing my attention away from just playing, because I cannot seem to dial in a tone that "works" for me, it goes.
One of my favorite guitars based solely upon looks is the JEM77FP. I could care less who it was designed for, who is famous for playing it, etc. Aesthetically, it is just beautiful to me. But, the two I have owned, and every one I have played, were horrible. For me. JEMs period are very uncomfortable. The early years of the RG5xx line though.. comfy (I own three, lol).
I have no idea what "my sound" is like to others. I am very aware of what "my sound" is to me, and of what works for me. I am still saddened when I try a piece of gear that could be a great addition to my "arsenal" and discover that I am in a minority that is unable to benefit from it.
