[quote name='Doddy' post='1065345' date='Dec 21 2010, 02:10 AM']You can fiddle about as much as you want with gear and EQ or whatever,but there are always going to
be certain characteristics to the tone that you produce on an instrument.
Listen to Les Claypool play a Rickenbacker-he sounds just like Les Claypool. Listen to Marcus Miller's bass sound before he had the Bartolini
preamp fitted in his Fender. His sound wasn't quite as refined as it later became,but his core tone was there and is recognisable as being
Marcus.[/quote]
i think the work refine is about right! that endless quest for tone only really gets started when you realise that you need to start with what you've got!
i must admit that i lust after other peoples gear, and do my research into what might work for me! maybe this is why these kind of forums are here - cause there is such a wealth of knowledge out there, but not the places to go and try the gear yourself!
it was stated earlier that if youre happy with on stage tone then its a better gig for you! i firmly agree with this, and the band know my tone, and know when i'll be playing my best!
that said gear does sound different with different folk - our guitarist for example utters "oh sh*t" if we roll up to a venue and its trace elliot on there - but a band we play with has a tone to die for with trace gear!
another point (sorry for rambling) but tone can be described i''ve found - told the producer what i wanted from my tone, but also what it needed to sound like in the full band mix, and he nailed it! absolutely what the band was expecting and i'm happy as a pig in sh*t with my tone - now the annoying bit is creating that live! lol it may just be a tolerance thing, but i can get "pretty close" with ANY gear - pa cabs or guitar gear so it must be an eq and style thing in my eyes - i know my place, as it were, in the bands eq as a whole! - a bit like the tonal version of putting a sexy little fill in the right place to make peoples ears prick up!
sorry for rambling! lol