Most Overrated/Underrated Tone

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For me the most…

Overrated is Early EVH- his early tone literally hurt my ears. The high end drove me nuts. Not so bad now that I’m older and lost some of that hearing lol

Underrated is probably Richie Sambora- I always dug his tone no matter what he was using
 
SoooRad said:
Overrated: Joe Bonamassa

I don’t have a problem with the guy, and not even really HIS tone, but he inspired a generation of guys playing with soft, bland tone with no bite.
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I can see that and agree. But I would also say on the opposite end EVH and Yngwie imho also inspired so many obnoxious players that came after even though they themselves did great things. It’s like the opposite of using lemons to make lemonade. I know it’s controversial what I’m about to say and I do respect many other things about EVH but I always hated his style of leadwork. Talk about notes that don’t count lol. Often sounded like obnoxious noodly gobbly gook to me with zero tastefulness. Sadly inspired countless other players to follow suit with that style of leads. To me there are some guys like Marty Friedman or Rhoads where I’d describe their leads as “flash with class”, while EVH’s imo are flash without the class. It’s though imo one of the hardest things to do to write fast leadwork that actually tells a coherent story musically and maintains a thread to the story throughout. Friedman and Rhodes are among the only examples I can think of and they’re really more borderline shred rather than true shred like Shawn Lane for example, but even him, as much I admire his playing and feel, musically is not compelling to me. Alright long rant over lol. Almost done with my train ride to nyc
 
Tone Monster said:
Agree with the Tool comment for overrated.
For underrated, the tone Hetfield got on Reload is amazing. Tons of growl in the low
mids with just enough gain and thump. Killer. Too bad most of the songs are average.
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That’s the problem, I don’t think anyone really complains about the tone (since it’s great), it’s the quality of the music itself that’s the problem, enough so that the great tone doesn’t redeem it
 
PDC said:
Overrated tone - Randy Rhoads.

Underrated tone - Ronni LeTekro.
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I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about his tone lol. I never liked it, but still among the most influential players for me because of his musical ideas. Flash with class unlike most other shredders. He was able to get away with not great tone because of all his good stuff to offer
 
braintheory said:
I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about his tone lol. I never liked it, but still among the most influential players for me because of his musical ideas. Flash with class unlike most other shredders. He was able to get away with not great tone because of all his good stuff to offer
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I say good things about Randy’s tone. There, you heard it. Different strokes…
 
8len8 said:
I say good things about Randy’s tone. There, you heard it. Different strokes…
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To each their own. I just think most listeners don’t distinguish between quality of tone, playing, musical content, etc. I think most hear just a singleular package without dissecting and assume every part of it must be good. Even with Randy being one of my heroes as a teenager I personally still never liked the tone itself
 
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Tone Monster said:
Agree with the Tool comment for overrated.
For underrated, the tone Hetfield got on Reload is amazing. Tons of growl in the low
mids with just enough gain and thump. Killer. Too bad most of the songs are average.
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I think Tool for sure has to be the most overrated as well.
I was actually inclined to say the tone on the Garage Days EP is pretty underrated, but Reload's guitar tone is definitely overlooked.
 
A little clarification: Randy Rhoads was an incredible person, and an extraordinary musician. Period.
Tone? Zero low end. Boxy mids. Shrill, piercing highs. Overall ‘solid-statey’ sound. Like a million bees in a tin can.
Imagine Randy playing through a BE-100? Imagine Randy playing through Ronnie LeTekro‘s ‘Tell No Tales’ rig?
 
Over..Zak. It works for him but it just sounds a tad unnatural to me. Kinda like I hear more pedal than amp.

Under…Cantrell off Bogey Depot. Obviously the Dirt stuff is excellent but his tone on Dickeye is just about perfect imho.

Also STP Core should be a benchmark for hard rock guitar…for the stuff I do anyway.
 
I’m also going to throw George Lynch in here, for overrated of course. I like his recent sounds, but man those 80s sounds were cardboard in sonic form.
 
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