Most Overrated/Underrated Tone

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braintheory said:
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
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You have mortally offended me sir!! Look, I don’t care about the EVH minions, copy cats, style thieves, but, but…….but when you insult the man himself!!! Whoa guy!! You have gone too far!! His lead work is the greatest heights of musical precision, auditory beauty, sonic euphoria, musicianship, ear candy, blazing, schralping, perfection, melody, symphonic architecture to the extreme, and he did this all with his guitar!!

Oh boy……..I…..I…..I don’t……..even….know what…..to say!?!?

Actually, I kind of agree, except for me it’s a pre/post Roth thing. I can’t stand Hagar era VH.
 
RaceU4her said:
I just put Stryper on, their tones and production are superb. I had this record when I was a kid, literally haven’t listen to this in over 30 years lol. Never hear anyone talk about them



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Soldiers under command and to hell with the devil had great tone
 
I grew up with Van Hagar about as much as Van Halen so I love a lot of the Sammy stuff too. Aside from the softer songs I still hear a great rock band. Imho some of those solos are so cool because they have a nice mix of guitar head stuff plus musicality…seems like the build into something more.

At the end of the day he seemed like a band guy more than the solo guitar guy that came along with all his guitar legend stuff. I think he wanted to flash but also stay in the pocket if that makes sense.

mooncobra said:
You have mortally offended me sir!! Look, I don’t care about the EVH minions, copy cats, style thieves, but, but…….but when you insult the man himself!!! Whoa guy!! You have gone too far!! His lead work is the greatest heights of musical precision, auditory beauty, sonic euphoria, musicianship, ear candy, blazing, schralping, perfection, melody, symphonic architecture to the extreme, and he did this all with his guitar!!

Oh boy……..I…..I…..I don’t……..even….know what…..to say!?!?

Actually, I kind of agree, except for me it’s a pre/post Roth thing. I can’t stand Hagar era VH.
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Meanjoegreene said:
I grew up with Van Hagar about as much as Van Halen so I love a lot of the Sammy stuff too. Aside from the softer songs I still hear a great rock band. Imho some of those solos are so cool because they have a nice mix of guitar head stuff plus musicality…seems like the build into something more.

At the end of the day he seemed like a band guy more than the solo guitar guy that came along with all his guitar legend stuff. I think he wanted to flash but also stay in the pocket if that makes sense.
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All Van Halen was good to me .Roth vs Hagar ? The correct answer is Cherone lol jk
 
thegame said:
With EVH solos, it’s more about how he played (the swing, the aggression, even in the leads), than what he played (the notes themselves). The intro to Meanstreets is just about the nastiest piece of electric guitar ever recorded IMO. It’s not meant to be analyzed to death, thereby reducing it’s perceived value because it’s not “complex enough”.
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I give him all the credit for that with his swing, aggression, and some cool riffs. It's really just when he goes into lead mode that I never liked listening to him at all. I liked him most in that song "I'm The One" (again minus the obnoxious leads). That might be my favorite VH song. Mean Street is a cool one too. Many of my favorite songs are actually a lot simpler than anything VH. I hate when music tries to be complex just for the sake of that, part of why I hate most prog music. I just have to be more analytical when I'm explaining a view that many will disagree with. When things are actually great to me and to most others there's not much to say really lol. There's of course great music that's complex too (more in the classical field), but not necessarily complex for the sake of it
 
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Techdeth said:
The tone on White Bat is fucking art , it’s boosted Dual Rec right ?
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I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be the official line, but Adam uses a 5150II on almost all of the HIL stuff, certainly on few and White Bat
 
Joe Satriani never had a tone that sounded good to me. Not saying its overrated or I don't think he's even known for having great tone....but I don't like any of his tones.
 
Overrated: Bonamassa, Eric Johnson (who’s also an entitled douche that didn’t sign autographs), KISS, AC/DC.

Underrated: Paul Gilbert/Racer X, Phil X, Skid Row, Michael Romeo/Symphony X, Joel Hoekstra/Whitesbake, Vito Bratta/White Lion, and Zakk Wylde for his solo composition skills because they are vastly underrated. Every one of these dudes have material that is easy to learn but extremely hard to execute.
 
Nolly said:
I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be the official line, but Adam uses a 5150II on almost all of the HIL stuff, certainly on few and White Bat
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Ok . Thanks . White Bat sounds different to me . Interesting
 
Markedman said:
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His signature guitar with the candy pickups is so awesome. I foolishly traded mine. Yet, when I hear steckel play, I don’t like his tone that much, yet his guitar and the trinity are great. Maybe it’s the way he dials it in.

No doubt the dude can play his ass off though, I have seen clips of him going utterly berserk.
 
Beandust said:
Over rated , John Mayer $60,000 rig and bla
Underrated, Ty Tabor

Agree on Randy , on that subject which ozzy guitarist had great tone? Kind of a tough call, for me anyway, a band built around a bat eating Iconic singer and a guitar wizard. Did he just pench pennies with production and mixing? All of them have ungodly skills, but yea, Randy, then Jake buried in blankets and syrup. DOAMM was an improvement but still. The $ those albums reeled in and Sharon dog fucked everyone of those guitar players and band mates. Just MO of course
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Yup Ty's done it for his whole career with amps that cost less than a grand and mostly solid state!
 
Jeff Hilligan said:
Yup Ty's done it for his whole career with amps that cost less than a grand and mostly solid state!
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Yep Lab 5 by Gibson I think? I remember trying to make out what he was playing through after a Gretchen show back in 89; his soundguy hurried up there to throw a sheet over his rig lol. About 4-5 yrs later same thing after a Dogman show haha…I could see it was Mesa but not sure which at the time. Found out later it was an early Recto
 
PDC said:
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?
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Anybody who wants the real lowdown on Randy's tone needs to read the below and listen to what the profiler says he had to do to get Randy's tone . It all comes down to the odd speaker choice Randy used.


https://topjimi.com
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Exactly. His live tone was incredible. Go listen to one of the many bootlegs on youtube. No issues with his tone. It is absolutely massive.

Also to the person who said Sambora... have you listened to those isolated tracks? The guitar sounds like shit. Like it was recorded in a small shower stall.

I would say that you have to look at the total picture. Some of these tones were horrible but in the mix they are perfect. So to me, it is sort of a pointless discussion. ( but i am glad to partake anyway lol)
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I think Randy's live tone was much worse than the studio tones , I actually like the studio tone but live it's complete mush with no definition along the same lines as Van Halen's latter tones with Hagar .
 
Racerxrated said:
Yep Lab 5 by Gibson I think? I remember trying to make out what he was playing through after a Gretchen show back in 89; his soundguy hurried up there to throw a sheet over his rig lol. About 4-5 yrs later same thing after a Dogman show haha…I could see it was Mesa but not sure which at the time. Found out later it was an early Recto
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I have his special pre amp he ran with the recto!
 
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