Ok, I've been hearing a lot how people are continuously searching for better tones. And how they like fat, warm tones?
Can someone describe different tones to me and how they sound?
Such as; fat, warm, sharp etc.
Cheers
This is my rifle, this is my gun; this is for fighting, this is for fun!
Well, fat tones sound... uhh... Fat! Yeah, that's it, fat! Really, people are just trying to describe the sound, and, as you may notice from your confusion, there's no real consensus. One person's fat might be another man's flabby. Here's what they mean to me:
A fat tone would probably have a lot of bottom end, and it would need plenty of mids to keep it from getting muddy. Highs rolled off a little, I think. A strong attack.
I think of a warm tone as having lots of mids, weak highs, and just enough lows to support the sound. Very little attack. Compressed volume.
A sharp tone has lots of highs (enough to hurt!), but not enough to be scratchy, mids are present but not prominent, and same with the lows.
My favorite is what I like to call punchy. The tone is like a warm tone, but played very aggressively, so there's a really strong attack.
That pretty much covers it all, Paul!
Chris Squire: I always refer to his sound as 'super clank.' But then again I've heard he puts the stereo output (actually 'dual-mono') to do different amp setups and gets a real hi-fi sort of sound. He's got that metallic top end where you can hear the roundwounds, and then has this deep, almost subsonic bottom end.
And the other side of the coin pretty much is McCartney, with his string-bass sounding setup. The Hoffy had a lot to do with it, but he played fingerstyle a lot and got a nice upright sound most of the time. Even with the Rick, his tone was rather warm and 'there.'
Anyhow, good subject!
