Guitarists/Bassists and drummers:

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What do you look for in a tone?
Guitarists: Do you prefer tube amps, solid state or even just a D.I. to the speaker cab? How meaty/tinny/ jingly do you prefer your sound?

Bassists: To distort or not to distort? Bright, crisp bass tone or beefy and powerful?

Drummers: How much muffling is enough? Tense batter heads or nice relaxed ones? How 'tight' do you like your drums to sound? Or perhaps you prefer the boominess that a lax resonance head gives?


No definitive answer, it was just a question that popped into my head, really. Would be nice to hear how some of you have honed your sounds over the years, whether you got lucky and found a great sound first time or will always be looking for 'the sound in your head'.

Depends enormously on what other sounds are in use. I played bass in a kinda pop-punk band in the mid-90s, we had a very 'scratchy' guitar sound so the bass needed to have a full, round sound with enough definition to ride under the guitars but not so much as to be bleached out - high attack, lots of bass & midrange frequencies, enough treble to be more than just a background rumble. Murky but tangible

Well, guitar player here. I tend to go for a variety of sounds, all dependent on what I am playing. Not currently in a band at the moment, but those who do hear what I play (yes, I do play loud and Im suprised I havent had any complaints, only compliments about my playing. All self taught as well so yeah, never was able to afford lessons.)

I tend to play more or less progressive metal, with some avant-garde elements. As for my amp preferences, I prefer Tube amps. I mostly run overdrive, High Treble (5'o'clock position on dial), Mid Treble (12'o'clock position), Mid Bass (1:30 position). I also Run my gain at around half way (12'o'clock position), and volume kinda up there (3:30 position). And yeah, with tube amps volume does matter, you wont get the full range of sounds without it turned up most of the way.

Sometimes I will also be using a reverb pedal and a distortion pedal for a little bit of that extra oomph for certain things.

I'm a bassist.

When it comes to choosing tone, I value a mix between deep sounds and smooth/warm textures. For this the Hfner 500/1s is my ideal bass. The smoothness of a double bass but not too much that ends up causing you to sacrifice too much of what you also get from a bass guitar is like an orgasm to my ears. A Rickenbacker bass is up there on my list as well.

I also like solid body basses, but I'm picky. I like Warwicks, Schecters, stuff like that. They gotta sound deep. I would buy a Fender Jazz bass for it's neck shape but I don't like the thin, bright crunch. Well, I do like the tone but I wouldn't use in my own music, compared to listening to it in Rush's stuff.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioFneHyWKE&feature=related[/youtube]

Guitarist, though I don't play much anymore. I've played mostly blues or jazz/blues. I played a Strat, plugging straight into a small tube amp (a modified Fender Blues Junior...small tube amps are easier to overdrive without pedals) with a Fulltone cable. I usually had the amp's EQ set with the treble and middle up all the way and the bass down all the way. I fiddled with the volume and master volume to get the right level of growl. I liked a little bit of reverb.

My main Strat's been heavily customized with shielding, re-wired pots, bass frets, compound radius fretboard, etc. I usually used the neck and middle or just the neck pick-up. I preferred heavy strings with a relatively high action, usually Ernie Ball 11-54. I preferred an overall darker sound.