"And most people wouldn't be able to really distinguish the difference between say.... a vintage Hendrix- era Strat and a modern Ibanez Jem. This in consideration, the average listener probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between pedals being used and other assorted effects (including amps, mics, and recording equipment). To be honest, ***only us guitar nerds really care about that stuff :tongue:. right? "
I don't mean to be a dick, but that's completely false. I can guess a guitarist's Amp model correctly when I'm listening. This is purely dedication and ear training. I know what "watery" mean, I know what "thick" means, when describing tone. A lot of guys tend to throw those classifications around and say "This sounds smooth and warm," when they're listening to something that a true ear would call "Tinny and thin."
No one could ever make me listen to something and pass off an Ibanez as a 60's Strat on me. There's not a chance in blue Hell. Also, many pedals are simply designated single effects. If you know the sound, you can guess the brand. Again, this is dedication and ear training. I can pick up on flange, chorus, and all that good stuff, but it's equally as important to me to realize that the flanger sounds shitty because it's a digital Digitech RP50 effects processor rather than a 1975 MXR Flanger stomp with a 12AX7 preamp tube.
The difference in these 2 flangers would be phenomenal to a disciplined player. As I said, I'm a gear freak, and if you want to play, tone is half the battle.
***Even if you don't play guitar, I'm confident the average listener will at least pick up on the annoyance factor. People with shitty tone sound twice as bad as players, while slick tone gurus can sound like seasoned veterans even if they're not virtuosos. Take a lot of players like Malmsteen and McLaughlin who just play whatever they feel like playing as fast as possible. Malmsteen just picks every arpeggio and harmonic minor scale he knows and plays it through a scallop-neck Strat w/ Marshall JCMs...gain cranked and even through a distortion pedal. The guy sounds like a bunch of angry, buzzing bees coming out of the next room. McLaughlin is even worse. His sound literally clips; he has such distorted EQ dialed in that he often peaks his bottom end levels, making his guitar sound like popping static. These guys, while revered for their speed, are often put in the food chain guys like SRV who don't play their style but sound that much better while doing it.
Also, confusion about the tone write-up: I never said I sounded exactly like SRV, I just said I can play almost all of his stuff. I wrote down that rig overview for the other person who said they've been trying to sound like SRV. I don't think they want to sound like him forever either, they're just curious about why it sounds so damn good, like anyone else would be. This is where I'm at a fisticuffs with your Ibanez comment. You may be a Satch fan, but SRV wouldn't be caught dead playing one of those, and he would never have sounded the way he did without his Pre-CBS Stratocasters. Those things fetch more than 1000 of the Ibanez RG models added value. Some of the model year strats that Stevie played are worth upwards of $300,000 even if they hadn't had touched his hands. That means this is one sick instrument, with rare parts that aren't easily mimicked even in custom shops. Or how about how Gary Rossington of Skynyrd has a true '59 Les Paul Standard.? Valued at $250,000, even Warren Haynes had to settle for a Reissue, and constantly complains in interviews that it doesn't have a vintage sound because the wood isn't as old and doesn't age and expand the same way as it did resulting from construction back then.
I started off my post by saying his tone was unreachable, and the reason I said that was because of his equipment, AND his hands. Also, check out my rig posting earlier in the thread. You'll see a completely different setup than most guitars, and a more professional system than a lot of the guys that posted here. I have the gear I have, and have it hooked up that way, in that order, because that's the way I sound good and I know how to bring out the sound I'm looking for. I.E. - A Strat sounds ridiculous through solid-state...so even if you had SRV's own axes, if you're playing it through a MG100HDFX or something of that nature, you're going to sound like complete shit. This is stuff you have to account for. Stevie knew how much mids are produced in a Strat. He was fond of single-rail and hot-rod pickups to add presence to his top end. This was why he would keep his EQ balanced in a "smile." His tube screamers/pickup additions make a huge difference to his sound. If you were to throw stock pickups in his Strat, and take away his TS-1s, then his sound isn't as defining as you'd remember it.
I'm trying to make a point that nothing any company makes today is really of any relevance when trying to reproduce someone's tone. If you play an Ibanez RG through a solid-state amplifier, you are THAT much further away from achieving "______ sounding tone", because "______" uses a '62 American Stratocaster through a '68 Fender Twin Reverb fitted with 4 EL34 power tubes. If you want vintage, you have to go get vintage. Get on ebay for all that stuff, though.
This is the reason I own a '70's Les Paul Custom instead of some cheap-ass Epiphone Special or Studio, or whatever the hell kids waste their money on these days. Not to mention they don't even do real binding anymore. I have genuine ivory binding. Fuckin' elephants died for my sound. I could go on for hours about how much they've changed Les Paul construction over the past couple of decades, but why bother.