Wouldn't it be nice to....

    I do a lot of covers but never really go after the exact tone of the artist, heck I rarely go after the exact playing of the guitarist unless it's something I feel is really special to the song or I just really like the playing. Even then I don't need the exact tone, peoples ears will adjust to what is presented to them enough, very few people in an audience will ever know if I use a boogie or a marshall for a particular song. They'll only remember if it sounded good or not. Thank god because my guitar is a custom make and will never sound like anyone elses. The effects on the other hand are another story, would love to see searchable songs/artist databases with the right delays, stomps, etc all set to go. Would save tons of time and frustration.

    Suggested rigs to replicate the tone from specific songs won't even get you in the ballpark unless you have a suitable guitar. No profile/rig will ever make you sound like Chet Atkins or Scotty Moore if all you have is a metal shredding axe with active pups. Not to say that the suggestion is pointless, just that the idea has its limitations.

    Edited once, last by heldal ().

    Quote from Booyah

    The effects on the other hand are another story, would love to see searchable songs/artist databases with the right delays, stomps, etc all set to go. Would save tons of time and frustration.


    +1

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    I agree about making one solely for the effects.
    Quick question, does Guitar World still do the "presets" from boss for effects found in the songs they are transcribing? I found this especially helpful when I used to teach. It made it a lot easier to make the student excited about what they were playing if it sounded closer to what they were hearing.
    This sounds like a mammoth undertaking, but if it was a approached as more of a question - answer forum, it might be worthwhile!

    Quote from Booyah

    I do a lot of covers but never really go after the exact tone of the artist, heck I rarely go after the exact playing of the guitarist unless it's something I feel is really special to the song or I just really like the playing. Even then I don't need the exact tone, peoples ears will adjust to what is presented to them enough, very few people in an audience will ever know if I use a boogie or a marshall for a particular song. They'll only remember if it sounded good or not. Thank god because my guitar is a custom make and will never sound like anyone elses. The effects on the other hand are another story, would love to see searchable songs/artist databases with the right delays, stomps, etc all set to go. Would save tons of time and frustration.


    This is exactly my thoughts to about playing covers live, if they wanted to hear it the way it was recorded they should just put the CD on lol :) People i find just want to forget their problems, have a few beers and hear some good music :)

    I use 3 basic set ups.....


    1) Mark IIC+ for all the balls to the wall stuff
    2) Vox AC30 for certain lower gain applications
    3) Marshall Jose for everything else in between and certain genre.

    Quote from Raoul23

    This is exactly my thoughts to about playing covers live, if they wanted to hear it the way it was recorded they should just put the CD on lol :) People i find just want to forget their problems, have a few beers and hear some good music :)


    Same here. When I was using a real amp, I didn't have a specific effects preset for every song. I had high gain/mid gain and clean. Add a little chorus on the clean for some songs a little delay here and there. The only thing I do differently with the KPA is I have a strat bank, Les Paul bank, and a miscellaneous bank with a few signature sounding tones that don't have much use elsewhere (Van Halen and Gilmour are the only two miscellaneous tones I've dialed up so far.)
    I would use the exact same presets for strat and Les Paul but having two separate banks in the KPA allows me to finally compensate for the volume difference between the two guitars.

    Many opinions and even more ways of getting there where you want to be. Fact is that you can be a great guitarplayer with great guitar techniques but if you don't know how to sound like one, nobody will listen. That's when the problem arrives. I'm sure many among us know how to play that particular song from that particular artist in every detail but don't know from their equipment how to get there: which amps(s), cab(s), which amounts of which dials, knowing affecting other parameters etc. I'm not talking about the kind of (good) guitar. I can recognize a guitarsong sound whether it's made with a Les Paul or a Strat. It's just the smile of the listener too who tells me: I'm clearly sounding pretty much like the original. That sweet spot is a boost for me to even play better because everything is in place in that song that I cover (not a dirty word, I hope!).
    Unfortunately, like many others, I lack of technical sound engineering and fool around with so many parameters hoping to at least sound like that hero in that song. (Non musical) listeners are often a strange bunch of people. You can play like crap but if you sound like the original, that's what they recognize and then you have their attention.
    That's why guys like Josh Munday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWWLVHjJTC0 were hired to show what a Boss GT-100 could mean for any buyer who wanted to sound like his hero's! They didn't tell that everyone could do this very easy by himself. And yes: I bought one too, but found out that promisses aren't the same as results. Good sound but in the end and after buying amp no. 25 in 15 years: looking for another promising holy grail. That's what the music dealers and engineers aiming at: spending money to them.
    Finally, maybe it could boost KPA owners (or KPA buyers) in having more satisfaction to sound pretty much the same as the original to download. But if it's becoming a whole new payload industry then I wonder if it's of any success. I certainly and unfortunately can't contribute professionally...

    Quote from theplayer

    (Non musical) listeners are often a strange bunch of people. You can play like crap but if you sound like the original, that's what they recognize and then you have their attention.


    I've made the opposite experience. Nobody of the non musical listeners cares if the delay is dialed in with 500 ms and a mix of 30% or with 400 ms and 25% mix. And nobody cares if you play exactly like the original guitar player. If the crowd recognizes the song and it's played not too bad, all is fine. I've played approx. 70 cover songs with only a few sounds and most of the time people were dancing and singing and simply having a good time. Therefore my advice is: Don't care too much about the 100% correct sound and playing. Play recognizable and have a good time.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    Like 4

    As strange as it sounds, for a live setting I use my own presets, but when at home, I love having a preset that sounds like a part of a song i really enjoy. It inspires me more than playing through my same old sounds. I guess part of it being that its different than what I'm used to, and the other part being that I have at least something to apply it too (being the original song) and then fiddling from there. I've come up with my best stuff when randomly clicking presets and playing songs to which they are associated.