State of the Art Distortion

[WGTP]

So, is the State of Our Art Being Advanced by all of this???  I certainly feel like I'm getting better soundz, since a 100w. (RMS) Raging Marshal Stack isn't happening in my future.    :twisted:  :roll:  :shock:

[brett]

Progress...now there's a difficult concept.  

To answer a question like that we could ask whether one of the past greats (like Robert Johnson or Jimi Hendrix) would want to harness any of the new gear around.  I suspect the answer would be yes.  On the other hand, the "unplugged" series showed that many artists really enjoy not having the machinery, too.

Good question....

[RDV]

Well, I'm certainly seeing variety.

RDV

[Peter Snowberg]

Imagine Jimi's playing.... and Joe Davisson's engineering.  :twisted:

Too bad we won't have a chance to hear that combination.  :cry:

[Ge_Whiz]

I've just finished editing some video of our last guitar club 'live' gig, where we pretty much all use the 'house' Roland Cube 30 amps (except the organizer, who insists on his 65W Fender  :wink: ). Well, modesty apart, I reckon I had the best guitar sound (note, not playing skill) by using the Cube on its 'Clean' setting, and running through a Peppermill   . The others - including the organizer - relied on their various digital distortions. They mainly sound like angry wasps  :twisted: .

[WGTP]

I guess progress needs a definition.  Getting closer to the Raging Marshal Stack in a Box??? or going beyond that, or getting closer to the sound in your head, creating a tone that inspires you to play more like you want to, or makes you want to practice (I really love practicing with a new box to tweak at the same time) or CREATING A BRAND NEW SOUND?

What's it mean to you???  

[Lonestarjohnny]

WG, I Quit playing in 1979, because of several different reasons, I started playing Music in my mothers band as a young kid, when she retired I started a band with some other youg guy's, between Family, Drug's, drinking and women problem's, it just seemed to be to much for me when my Mom passed away, I did'nt pick up a guitar again until 1989 when My oldest son came in and asked me to teach him the Guitar, I'm so glad he did, Because I think for the first time in my life I'm havin fun,and yeah, there's nuthin like a new toy and coming up with some new tone, for the short time I have been hangin around here it has Surely broadend my horizon, and there are a bunch of Neat Guy's here to talk at that have an interest in the thing's I enjoy most, Music.
JD

[bwanasonic]

Ge Whiz mentions a peppermill into a clean amp.  For me the revelation has been the *in-between* sounds also. I have never had a problem getting high-gain gonzo lead sounds, or sparkling clean sounds. It's the transitional, touch-responsive, edge-of-breakup sounds I find hard to capture reliably, while still having the clean and hi gain sounds on tap.  Even the tried-and-true Ge Fuzz Face with guitar volume rolled down was a fairly recent revelation to me. For me, the *state-of-the-art* has been advanced by having a much better idea what's in these little boxes, and how they fit in to the whole equation of guitar+stompboxes+amp / volume. So far the really *simple* gain-staging devices like the AMZ Mosfet boost, Orange Squeezer, Rangemaster and Fetzer Valve in conjunction with a *vintage* style tube amp  have really helped get the sounds that suit me. They have also breathed new life into my trusty 80s TS9 ( now with obligatory *808* and so-called +bass  mods). I've only just begun exploring the ROG Jfet-as-tube emu projects, and hope to try some of Joe Davisson's design's soon.

Kerry M

[brian wenz]

Hello Hello--
   Maybe an actual awareness of what sounds "good" is a bigger issue [??]
Brian.

[Torchy]

The ROG emulators have become my state-of-the-art devices. Before the Prof Tweed I had never heard an fx box get *that* sound that was in my head, and Ive been looking a long time.

The "in-between" refrence is spot-on.