Glossary of guitar tone descriptor

[hellaboogie]

The notes bloom, I've see this in reference to tube amps.

Ghost notes, I don't think I've ever experienced this one.

 

[rupe]

"Quack" is similar to "Squawk"- a very spiked central upper midrange, like a steep bell curve. Say 1khz-1.2kHz? The bass and lower mids are minimal, while the upper mids are accentuated. The treble range is not as dulled/attenuated as "boxy" and "honk", which what makes these particular descriptors sound a bit harsh.

That's my point...when did "quack" get hi-jacked? It never meant that in the past...it was always THE descriptor for positions 2&4 on Strat which both have a noticeable lack of midrange. Not until this thread have I heard it used otherwise.

Hellaboogie...fire up an old Fender, dime it, and tear into some lead lines. You'll most likely hear some overtones that follow the notes that you're playing. These "ghost notes" can be very cool sounding or annoying depending on your point of view and how strong they are. My '68 Deluxe Reverb does this in a way that I dig.

 

[hellaboogie]

"Quack" is similar to "Squawk"- a very spiked central upper midrange, like a steep bell curve. Say 1khz-1.2kHz? The bass and lower mids are minimal, while the upper mids are accentuated. The treble range is not as dulled/attenuated as "boxy" and "honk", which what makes these particular descriptors sound a bit harsh.

That's my point...when did "quack" get hi-jacked? It never meant that in the past...it was always THE descriptor for positions 2&4 on Strat which both have a noticeable lack of midrange. Not until this thread have I heard it used otherwise.

Hellaboogie...fire up an old Fender, dime it, and tear into some lead lines. You'll most likely hear some overtones that follow the notes that you're playing. These "ghost notes" can be very cool sounding or annoying depending on your point of view and how strong they are. My '68 Deluxe Reverb does this in a way that I dig.

Cool Thanks

 

[glassjaw7]

Nobody has mentioned "Chunge" yet!? Chunge is the coolest hard rock/metal sound out there! Way chunkier and cooler than Djent or Djunt or JUnge. Chunge has a little sponginess, a lot of chunk and a whole lot of low-mid chew! Not for hipsters or scene-metal. Unique and refined goodness.

Chomp is another awesome one. It's when an extended scale axe is "Chunging" but the extra scale length provides more bite and less sponginess, therefore creating CHOMP and more decay so the power chord doesn't ring out as much with that thunderous fade-out.

 

[ewill52]

One of my personal favs....FARTY. as in...."his tone was "farty" " or even "fartish".

 

[petejt]

One of my personal favs....FARTY. as in...."his tone was "farty" " or even "fartish".

haha


"Farty" is kind of the low-midrange muddy murky version of "honk". It's nasal sounding but mellower, and deeper. Deep from the bowels!


Bass guitar sounds that have minimal bottom end but a lot of upper mids tend to sound 'farty'.

 

[Ventura]

The notes bloom, I've see this in reference to tube amps.

Ghost notes, I don't think I've ever experienced this one.

Bloom, heard it and love it - almost like the amp 'holds on' to the last portion of the notes' decay and accentuates them.

Ghost notes? Sometimes very cool and complex sounding, other times a right pain the ass (read: wolf tones). Ghost notes can also happen in the room, rather than on the instrument. You'll get the idea once understanding "wolf tones" is underway.

 

[petejt]

I've dug up an old post that has some really cool and meaningful tone descriptions, that reference actual frequency ranges.

I always heard that 125 Hz was the "magic frequency."

However, I've always relied on my good old friend the ART SGX2000 Express... it has a five-band global parametric EQ on the front, but there are no frequencies listed. Instead, each has an adjective attached to it, that in the block diagram you can associate to a frequency. So...

Thrust: Centered at 80 Hz this controls your bottom-end sound

GROWL: at 160Hz. Control the upper end of your lows and lower mids to add some depth to the signal.

Warmth: 500Hz--Use to color and fill (FYI, this is the "ROCKMAN" frequency)

Crunch: 2.2 KHz controls upper mid-range

Edge: 5 KHz -- just like it says (kind of like a presence control)

There's a more fine-tuned breakdown out there--if I can find it I'll post it, but this is a good place to start...

 

[LP Freak]

Kerrang? A newer Marshall style tone with a metallic sheen to it.

I one time heard/watched a clip of a fellow forumite here playing his new Fortin Bones. I think he was playing it in his garage or something, maybe a year or two ago. It was just pure "kerrang". But of a metal-bell ring to it, raw, super crunched out.

Just whipped through some YT clips. This isn't the best by any stretch, but the KERRANG is evident at 0:03, 0:07, and 0:09. That's "kerrang", and as mentioned, I am certain there are WAY better quality samples of this "tone" but this one gets the point across.

The chords played in the beginning of this clip have "kerrang":

Kerrang = G chord.

 

[hellaboogie]

One of my personal favs....FARTY. as in...."his tone was "farty" " or even "fartish".

commonly used to describe speakers and cabinet not producing the tight lowend, farting or flubbing out.

 

[Ventura]

One of my personal favs....FARTY. as in...."his tone was "farty" " or even "fartish".

commonly used to describe speakers and cabinet not producing the tight lowend, farting or flubbing out.

Yep. Function of cab, not so much amp/tone.

I've dug up an old post that has some really cool and meaningful tone descriptions, that reference actual frequency ranges.

I always heard that 125 Hz was the "magic frequency."

However, I've always relied on my good old friend the ART SGX2000 Express... it has a five-band global parametric EQ on the front, but there are no frequencies listed. Instead, each has an adjective attached to it, that in the block diagram you can associate to a frequency. So...

Thrust: Centered at 80 Hz this controls your bottom-end sound

GROWL: at 160Hz. Control the upper end of your lows and lower mids to add some depth to the signal.

Warmth: 500Hz--Use to color and fill (FYI, this is the "ROCKMAN" frequency)

Crunch: 2.2 KHz controls upper mid-range

Edge: 5 KHz -- just like it says (kind of like a presence control)

There's a more fine-tuned breakdown out there--if I can find it I'll post it, but this is a good place to start...

This is cool.

 

[hellaboogie]

I appreciate your contributions to this post, keep'em coming

Thanks my RT brothers

 

[petejt]

I'm now wondering if it's worth to add a graphic EQ to boost 160Hz in the effects loop of my MarkIV.

 

[petejt]

I've been reading through this thread to learn more about the Marshall "kerrang" sound.

And while I'm at it- any new tone descriptors or examples?

 

[Ventura]

Flub.
Woofy.
But they're more akin to cabs.

I think the list thus far is pretty comprehensive.