do EB guitars have thier own sound?

[straycat113]

A very valid question with answers that I totally agree with. A Les Paul straight into a Marshal is as staple a classic rock sound as a Strat into a Fender amp for blues, and both have been done a million times so we associate those tones with some of the greatest music recorded and usually a guitarist with what outfit he used.

But as far as what is right that is a personal choice, and if it sounds right to you then it is. The greatest band IMHO is The Beatles and George Harrison being one of the most underated lead players ever. Bottom line is he played for the song and has so many brilliant licks and riffs I think it is just taken for granted. But the Beatles never went for the obvious choice and cut albums with Rickenbackers, Gretsch, Fenders, Gibsons and Epiphones besides just as vast an assortment of different amps. So the tones were constantly changing but the music was always great.

When Vanhalen came on the scene all of a sudden a million guys were trying to cop his style and TONE. Till this day I am amazed that there are guys out there 30 years later trying to cop his sound to a tee. The Bottom line is it is the year 2010 and the music buisness is in shambles and people are waiting or looking for the next big thing to save us from this Hiphop and Sugar Pop music that is shoved out there.

I do not believe it will be done on what most of us consider classic tones. I hang a few hours in my friends guitar store about 3 times a week and always ask the kids that come in for lessons to show me what they have in the gig bag. I am usually surprised but not really anymore that they have a high end guitar and to keep it real it is hardly ever a Fender or Gibson. Even after playing single coils for over a decade, when I went to buy a guitar with humbuckers I thought I would leave with a Les Paul but I wound up with an EBMM EVH. Not because I play in that style because I dont though I am a huge fan but because it felt and sounded right and I did not want to go with the obvious after hearing what that guitar could do.

Tone is the most important aspect of playing even if your a limited player, if you have a great tone you will get peoples attention. I have really been bitten by the EBMM bug the last few years and it has been like discovering guitars all over again as I just love what this company is producing.Isaactmeyer if you have some home recording equipment try laying down two or three tracks using your EBMM guitars and then what you feel sounds right and let others have a listen but dont even mention tone just say which takes you think sound better as you are going to get an unbiased opinion. Maybe the answers will surprise you.

[Smellybum]

So essentially, the 25th is not the most unique guitar of the past 15 years, but your favourite guitar to come out in 15 years...

Cheers

Eske

P.s.: Whilst drugs will eventually out of fashion, playing guitar in the nude never will - I can imitate Pete Townshend without using my arms!!!

Smelly has left the building....

[fbecir]

I am not a specialist, I just own a few guitars but I am sure of one thing : when Steve Morse plays, I always know it's him. I don't know if it is his technique, his guitar or the combination of both but his sound is unique. If you listen to all the collaboration Steve did in the past (for instance with Marcel Dadi), you always know when Steve plays even if he plays with several other players.
OK, Steve is unique, and I am sure that the guitar he designed has a part of his soul. Thus for me the Steve Morse Signature has definitely its own sound.

[threeminutesboy]

I would say that it's all depends on the guitarist too

a good guitarist will have is unique sound whatever guitar he will use.

I think you always come back to Gibson/Telecaster cause it's the sound you want to hear even though you like EBMM more. Well this is how I understand it

it's also the sound you found and lots of record so naturally you want to reproduce the same

I like to be diffrent and this why I love my EBMM guitars and Basses

[isaactmeyer]

So there is alot of great feedback. I mostly agree with it all..

So if strat/fender amp is classic sound

and les paul/marshall is classic sound

What will it take to get a EB/ ? amp to be a classic sound...

[Bowks]

So there is alot of great feedback. I mostly agree with it all..

So if strat/fender amp is classic sound

and les paul/marshall is classic sound

What will it take to get a EB/ ? amp to be a classic sound...

About half a century of playing, boh recorded and live, which is what it has taken for the aforementioned classic sounds to become a benchmark for the majority of guitarists.

[the24thfret]

What's a Les Paul?

[isaactmeyer]

Only the most famous guitar in the world probably... No offense to EB... hopefully not for long..

[aleclee]

What will it take to get a EB/ ? amp to be a classic sound...

Depends on whether you're looking to cop the classic sounds of the past or create the classic tones of the future...

[Kaloyan]

I'd say that the Luke has a very very distinctive tone. Most of you probably would refer their arguments to the fact that his phrasing is so unique that makes you feel 'familiar' with the sound of the guitar but from the perspective of the initial question - absolutely unique.

[robelinda2]

Its all in the fingers.

Albert lee sounds like no-one else, i'd say that AL is very distinctive.

[Progdude]

I totally think EBMM guitars have their own sound. To me I hear the absolute best tonal characteristics of both Gibson and Fender. But on a completely higher level. I can always tell when Im hearing someone using a EBMM. They all seem to have a tone that is bright but not piercing. Warm and full but not muddy. Always having a really great very pleasant sounding clarity. After I first heard of EBMM guitars years and years ago, I thought that its gotta be the fact that several of the models they make use Dimarzio Pickups. But after some further investigation, I saw that even though they used Dimarzio often, they were not always the same model of pickups. Then I saw and played a Luke. Completely different brand of pickups and they were active as well. And it did still have that tonal quality. I believe that its due to several things. The main ones being....


1. Quality of the parts being used. If you build a guitar with ply wood and duct tape and refrigerator magnets its not gonna sound good. Actually it might not make any sound at all.

2. Craftsmanship- If you cut corners or just dont care how it turns out or are just in it for the money and the honeys its gonna have problems.

3. The brass tremolo block. Out of all the guitars Ive owned (which is around 80 at the moment) or played. All the best sounding/harmonically rich/sustaining/mojo having/resonating and lots of other really cool things that guitars can have was that they all had brass tremolo blocks. I actually proved my theory late on 09. I had a company called KGC make me what they call a Mega Mass Brass Block to replace the stock steel one that came on my 2007 Fender American Deluxe Strat. And BAM! Instantly I had all the cool harmonics as well as extra sustain and lots of other really awesome things it didnt have before. It had more of an impact tonally than upgrading from steel saddles and a plastic nut to the Graphtech saddles and nut but not quite as a dramatic as a pickup swap from say going from Dimarzio PAFs to EMG 81s.

[RocketRalf]

To me the guitars of the future are in the vein of the Axis and the JP. The Axis has already been replicated and imitated everywhere, while the JP is a subtle variation of it in construction, but very different outcome due to the pups. Every time I hear a JP I know what it is, and to me there is an inherent tone that I can't help but associate with John Petrucci. That's why I wouldn't play one stock. The latest signature pickups seem to be a real hit, people are comparing them favorably to EMGs and BareKnuckles.

I believe we won't ever see another such widely used classic guitar/amp combo because 1)There are so many other choices now and 2)It's becoming more fashionable to sound different. But if I had to pick one classic of the future I'd definitely say JP+Boogie Mark II-V. Funny, the Mark II is actually quite an old design!

[isaactmeyer]

oh good call.... a JP+Boogie Mark II-V is a great combo.... I like that alot

[Dante]

ir's funny how much it goes under the radar, alot of people are already using JP BFRs as their goto axe, in a sense that was previously not applied to EBMM guitars. but in general, because so many of them are sig axes, some ppl don't want to be associated to the name on the headstock, which is ridiculous but whatever. 99% still dream of having their own sig :P

imho, i think the JP, the luke and morse have very strong tone characters. of the non-sigs, the 25th is probably going to take the cake.

a reason why the EBMM sound is so hard to define is because they never rest on their laurels and whenever EBMM or an artist thinks the axe needs something, it gets changed.