Tone Snobs

[Wilder Amplification]

Is it just me, or does it seem that most of the cork sniffing "tone snobs" out there barely know how to play?

[Gibsonman63]

It's not just you. I auditioned for a band back when you used to have to put the flyer up with the little tabs that you tear off on the music store bulletin board. The number ended up being the guitar player. He talked my ear off for an hour about tone.

At the audition, I find out the guy could not play in time and compensated by using way too much reverb.

[Regis]

It happens.

A couple of years ago I went to a blues jam, and the joint was crowded so I grabbed a chair at a table with a guy that had a shiny new American Standard. He and I got to talking and he proceeded to tell me all about the blues and Stratocasters.

After about thirty minutes of that it was my turn to play. I pulled out my beat up '60 Strat and I'm not tooting my horn but I did ok. When I got down he came up to me wide eyed and asked, "You must practice a lot?" I said no, I haven't practiced in twenty years.

When his turn came he didn't seem to know much about the blues, or Stratocasters.

[JacksonRR]

I believe it can go either way. It just pisses you off worse when they can't play. I think it's that people that can play would rather do THAT than talk about their crap all day.

[mort]

eh.. there's all types. I might be a bit of a tone snob and I like to talk shop on the net but I feel awkward about talking gear in a playing situation. when it's time to play, it's time to play. I'm not that great of a player but I think I have good 'feel'. I do appreciate fine gear and have traded up along the way and now have a decent small collection of what i consider to be the best I can get for my preferred sound.

So I might just be 'that guy' that you're talking about but rest assured, I'm not going to try act like I know more about music than anyone else. But I *might* aver that trying to cram too many notes into a measure is annoying but outside of that I have more to learn than I do to teach.

[Gaz]

Two of the best amp builders I know can barley play. Totally blows my minds! One builder refers to his amps as "his songs." That's awesome. Neither are your typical gear-goon-knob-twiddling-logo-mojo-worshiping tone snobs, though.

[Wilder Amplification]

So I might just be 'that guy' that you're talking about

LOL nah I'm speaking of those who bow down to people of the likes of KOC, Aspen Pittman, The Tone Lizard, etc etc...and swear by things such as carbon comp resistors, NOS anything, switching the NFB wire to different taps of the OT vs changing the NFB resistor value, etc etc...and they preach this stuff as if it's the gospel...then post up clips of their "newly built/modded kit amp" and it's clearly evident that they have no concept of proper playing technique (which is the absolute very first thing in the tone chain and as such reins over all when it comes to tone as we all know). You don't strike me as that type though.

R.G. ...please feel free to chime in anytime here.

[mort]

oh!

then you're just talking about the gullible ones

[Steve Conner]

It's cause they spend all their time changing capacitors and posting on forums instead of practicing.

[Enzo]

Be it tone or otherwise, snobs are folks who decide on something and then look down at anyone who doesn;t agree.


I am struck by the irony of this thread.

[olddawg]

It's not just musicians, it's audiofiles in general. I love people that can hear a difference between various cables, especially speaker cables. I worked at a shop years ago that did the pilot marketing for Monster Cables. Their own engineers thought it was a big joke. I A/Bed their cables with lamp cord, Romex, even some claymore mine cable I got from a military buddy of mine. In a blind test no one could tell the difference. I did lots of blind test over the years. Most gear snobs can't even tell mono from stereo or the difference between a $200 amp and a $2000 amp if they can't see the box. I play regularly in studio and live with guys that have easily $10 to $20k botique rigs. I show up with my old Squier Strat in a gig bag, my 18 wattish Marshall/Vox clone I built myself, a few old pedals mounted on a piece of plywood, and my 30 year old Earnie Ball slide in my pocket. Tone is in the hands it is said.

[Gtr_tech]

[Gtr_tech]

And yes....it actually exists, but the name is different....

[Gibsonman63]

Great stuff, guys. On the Cork Sniffer cover, I couldn't figure it if it was Steven Segall on a bad day or Roy Clark on a good day.

[Wilder Amplification]

LOL...I love those magz!

It's funny how you tell guys that tone is in the hands and they just don't want to believe it. They want to think that it's all in the gear...some of my favorite questions are -

"I wanna sound like (name favorite artist here). What are the best tubes to use for that sound?"

"What mods do I need in my amp to sound like (name favorite artist here)?"

"Where should I set my bias to sound like (name favorite artist here)?"

As if to state that all amplifiers are the same and that changing things like tube brands/types and where you bias them can somehow perform this night/day transformation on the amp's tone, or on your tone for that matter.