The secret to "easy" tone

[WhiteShadow]

I'm trying to pinpoint the key components that go into getting a tone that makes everything "easier" to play. Often I've struggled with tones that might sound good, but they punish you for every little note not fretted or picked with 100% accuracy. There have been times I've played through amps or rigs that just play like butter, and everything just becomes easier. I'd like to be able to identify what goes into getting those tones. I know the answer is not simply more distortion. That doesn't really work in my experience.

Keep in mind, the tone I'm chasing is more along the lines of a 80s hard rock/metal tone. I was wondering if some of you could possibly help shed some light on this question? Thanks!

 

[Smash]

Compression

 

[RaceU4her]

Compression

Yes

 

[Ben Waylin]

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

 

[japetus]

Feeling comfortable in the stuff you write

 

[guitup too]

Proper amount of comp & saturation? Nice to have some thump to the notes too.

 

[stephen sawall]

Midrange makes a amp more difficult to play. Turning the midrange down makes for a easier feel.

 

[Meanjoegreene]

Get a Friedman

 

[sondoke]

+1 for compression

 

[67mike]

Metal zone into turbo distortion into dd7 into crate ss amp.

Viola.

 

[SpiderWars]

Maybe off the radar for this but if a speaker/speaker cab is pointing straight at my ears I usually don’t like it. I like reflected sound. Live that’s not always an option.

Also just getting the gain and bass tight. Like trying to play fast on a shitty fuzz tone is not fun due to the splatty bloated bass. It slows the response.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Well, I’ve been told repeatedly that modelers do the work for me, so there’s always that.

Personally, these are more important than anything else-

 

[MusicIsLife]

What string gauge are you using? I'm in the same boat with accuracy. In my case, I like my lead tones to be lower gain, open, and raw. Very little compression, and unforgiving. I've thought about switching to 9s to see how much less "fight" there is.

It also helps me to practice using clean tones, or an acoustic. Then when I switch to an electric lead tone, I feel like I can do anything, lol.

 

[mesa4x12er]

Compression, saturation and sag make things 'easier' by masking some imperfection. When things are drier and immediate inconsistencies become a lot more apparent.