One guitar sound for all covers?

Rowby1

Played a local community/family day gig this weekend. Back of a wagon job. Was a lovely day and we had a great time. We played during the mid afternoon, a couple of other bands on.

Last band on were doing the usual rock/soul/classic covers but what was odd was the guitarist used exactly the same guitar sound for every single song, from Proud Mary to SCoM to Alright Now to Uptown Funk….full on metal grind. Pretty odd really. 

Anyone else on here use the same sound for every cover they do??

lustycourtier

Sounds like our set. I went through everything from every Gibson, Fender, Charvel etc and settled (after 25 years) on a PRS Vela. splittable HB, Gretsch single coil. 

Rowby1

lustycourtier said:

Sounds like our set. I went through everything from every Gibson, Fender, Charvel etc and settled (after 25 years) on a PRS Vela. splittable HB, Gretsch single coil. 

One guitar is fine…..but do you use the same tone/sound for every song?

fretmeister

I've got a generic rock sound that can be used for a wide range of stuff, but I wouldn't use a full on metal tone for everything.
Unless I was actually in a covers band that did metal covers of pop songs like Leo / Frogleap Studios does.

Mind you - one person's metal tone is early Judas Priest, and another person's is Meshuggah.

Roland

No way! The pleasure of playing covers is the variety of styles you get to experience. Same guitar. Same amp and speakers. There’s so much you can do with amp and FX settings. Then there’s the different ways you play the instrument.

Danny1969

I don’t touch the amp and will use the same guitar but constantly change pickups, vary the gain, use fingers or pick  and add a touch of delay here and there 

Rowby1

fretmeister said:

Mind you - one person's metal tone is early Judas Priest, and another person's is Meshuggah.

Fair point. For reference it made sense in SCoM, less so in Livin’ La Vida Loca.

EricTheWeary

I remember years ago having worked out little variations for each song using the positions on my strat and my couple of pedals and hearing a tape back of the gig and realising that everything sounded exactly the same. Although I basically continued on that path part of me knew that a lot of this stuff just gets lost in the mix and you either need big changes (eg massive fuzz) or no changes. 

Anyway, yes some people use far too much distortion for what they are playing. If you are compressing the hell out of your signal and have loads of sustain then a lot of things become easier to play. They just sound crap. 

CaseOfAce

EricTheWeary said:

I remember years ago having worked out little variations for each song using the positions on my strat and my couple of pedals and hearing a tape back of the gig and realising that everything sounded exactly the same. Although I basically continued on that path part of me knew that a lot of this stuff just gets lost in the mix and you either need big changes (eg massive fuzz) or no changes. 

Anyway, yes some people use far too much distortion for what they are playing. If you are compressing the hell out of your signal and have loads of sustain then a lot of things become easier to play. They just sound crap. 

I've found exactly the same listening back to live recordings. So much of what we think is important and will change the sound just gets absolutely lost in the barrage of noise once the drums and bass kick in.
Hearing it back I couldn't tell if my chorus was on or off sometimes once the full band were playing... sh*it ..sometimes I didn't  even know if I had distortion on or off at some points !! Subtle effect changes just get lost ( I can always tell when I'm using a wah though!). 

I do all the stuff Danny1969 states in his post above - I mean that 's right and proper electrical guitar playing and technique ? but ... I do sometimes wonder for who's benefit I'm doing it for...and if I'd be better off a) staying on my bridge pickup all night b) leaving my guitar volume knob alone  b) taking less gear to gigs !

Rowby1

They had some pedals on the floor they were taping on occasionally and it was all miced up through a decent PA but I detected no difference in tone through their entire set….decent enough gear (Engl amp) and an ok player….clearly not just a beginner.

lustycourtier

Rowby1 said:

lustycourtier said:

Sounds like our set. I went through everything from every Gibson, Fender, Charvel etc and settled (after 25 years) on a PRS Vela. splittable HB, Gretsch single coil. 

One guitar is fine…..but do you use the same tone/sound for every song?

I use HX, so can go from AC30 to MESA instantly, so coupled with a versatile guitar, everything is there.  . 

LastMantra

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

Rowby1

LastMantra said:

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

No I don’t think it would. SCoM and Alright Now on acoustic (for example) would have been equally as strange I think. 

And I think the first comment is exactly my point….it didn’t.

CaseOfAce

Rowby1 said:

LastMantra said:

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

No I don’t think it would. SCoM and Alright Now on acoustic (for example) would have been equally as strange I think. 

And I think the first comment is exactly my point….it didn’t.

Slash & Myles Kennedy - Sweet Child O' Mine (ACOUSTIC) | SiriusXM | Octane - YouTube

Rowby1

CaseOfAce said:

Rowby1 said:

LastMantra said:

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

No I don’t think it would. SCoM and Alright Now on acoustic (for example) would have been equally as strange I think. 

And I think the first comment is exactly my point….it didn’t.

Slash & Myles Kennedy - Sweet Child O' Mine (ACOUSTIC) | SiriusXM | Octane - YouTube

I’m not saying you can’t play those songs on acoustic guitar. This was a four piece band with bass, drums, 1 guitar and vocal. 

What I’m questioning is why a guitarist in a covers band doing a broad variety of songs would choose to use the same sound/tone for every song. 

LionAquaLooper

As long as the crowd are having a good time and the band are locked in, guitar sound isn't a priority anymore.  

LastMantra

Rowby1 said:

LastMantra said:

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

No I don’t think it would. SCoM and Alright Now on acoustic (for example) would have been equally as strange I think. 

And I think the first comment is exactly my point….it didn’t.

I just meant in general, if you were doing an acoustic set of covers. Would you expect different guitars for each tune? 

If it sounded crap then fair enough, that's crap.
Could be done though, is my point

fastonebaz

I used the same equipment and basic sound for every song and every band  

1 amp with clean and dirty channel operated by foot switch
1 mild overdrive pedal to use with either clean or dirty channel

And like others above vary pickups, volume, picking dynamics, etc to get tone and volume variation. 

Prolly only sounds different in my ears though,  prolly just sound like loud rock with far too many guitar solos to anyone else  

Rowby1

LastMantra said:

Rowby1 said:

LastMantra said:

I think it's fine if it sounds good.

I mean, if it was acoustic guitar that would be OK right? 

No I don’t think it would. SCoM and Alright Now on acoustic (for example) would have been equally as strange I think. 

And I think the first comment is exactly my point….it didn’t.

I just meant in general, if you were doing an acoustic set of covers. Would you expect different guitars for each tune? 

If it sounded crap then fair enough, that's crap.
Could be done though, is my point

In fact there was an acoustic duo on as well in the afternoon doing exactly that…..and doing it really well too! Their arrangements were adjusted well for the two acoustic guitars and voices. They were very good!

monquixote

I did hundreds of cover gigs with one guitar and 4 sounds:
Compressed funk clean
Gritty crunchy clean / dirty
Plexi rock sound
Mega shred 

and a boost and delay pedal for solos.

If I was more of a "ride the volume" sort of a guy I could have used less. 

chrisj1602

I’m playing covers and at present I’m using a clean amp with a dual overdrive pedal. That gives me clean amp, two gain stages and I use a klone to boost any of the three.

I’ve also got delay and chorus pedals, and reverb and tremolo from my amp. I wouldn’t dream of just playing everything with one sound, I think that’s pretty lazy.