"It's in the fingers not in the equipment"

[Eddie's Booze]

This is 110% true. Good quality equipment helps but I firmly believe that a good 90% of being a "Great Sounding" guitar player is in your Fingers.

Yah, I have decent equipment but my playing has sounded better thru gear alot lower end(Cheaper) than the stuff I own.

It is hard to explain.

[Matt White]

Grate...thanks for sharing

But that seems elementary to me........

As if a Master wouldn't sound grate no matter the instrument.....

its aboot TONE...or lack there of....

That's why people pop the cash to get the TONE they're after.....

And...it's easy for EVH to say...after he's spent how much money chasing "tone"?

[Nitro Express]

It's like golf. If you can't swing for shit, an upgrade in equipment isn't going to do anything for you. Sometimes the better equipment gives you a better edge but it's not the game. I golf with a guy who used to play on the PGA tour years ago. He has a K-Mart driver that he can hit like a motherfucker with. He paid eight bucks for it and it's his main squeeze. It's the man and not the equipment. Equipment only holds you back if it's real shitty.

[naturochem]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
It's like golf. If you can't swing for shit, an upgrade in equipment isn't going to do anything for you. Sometimes the better equipment gives you a better edge but it's not the game. I golf with a guy who used to play on the PGA tour years ago. He has a K-Mart driver that he can hit like a motherfucker with. He paid eight bucks for it and it's his main squeeze. It's the man and not the equipment. Equipment only holds you back if it's real shitty.

Ok, so we'll get Tony Kanaan driving a Prius vs you in the Countach at Daytona..

[ELVIS]

Here's proof...



Yngwie's probably playing through a crate practice amp in this clip...

And wth the mile action i've seen on his personal guitars up close, his axe isn't helping either...





It helps to add the intended clip...

[BrownSound1]

I think it is both to some degree. You can overcome a lot with good technique, so that's the most important. BUT....playing through an 89 dollar Harmony guitar and a First Act amp you bought at Wal-Mart isn't going to get you nominated for the Tone of the Year award. Of course EVH is saying the original quote, and at the time he said it he was playing through maybe one of the best sounding Marshalls ever made. I dare any of you to say his tone is the same and as good as it always has been. The fingers might be the start of good tone, but it ain't all of it.

[ELVIS]

I would venture to say Edward's older setup with much less pre-amp gain was more difficult to manipulate than his current setup...

He's not nearly the player he used to be...not even close...

[indeedido]

I agree

[Steve Savicki]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
I think it is both to some degree. You can overcome a lot with good technique, so that's the most important. BUT....playing through an 89 dollar Harmony guitar and a First Act amp you bought at Wal-Mart isn't going to get you nominated for the Tone of the Year award.

Another reason to boycott Wal-Mart!:p

[Diamondjimi]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I would venture to say Edward's older setup with much less pre-amp gain was more difficult to manipulate than his current setup...

He's not nearly the player he used to be...not even close...

Ain't that the truth.

I was watching good 'ol VH Largo '82 the other day and remembering how clear and cutting his tone was back then.
Today when I see and hear him , he's got gobs and fucking gobs of distortion in his sound. It's borderline gross!

I'd like to hear him perform with his original guitar/amp setup. There'd be no distortion for him to hide behind.

Still , I'm just happy he's above ground and performing live again and he ditched that horrendous chorus he's been leaning on for the past 20+ years!

[jhale667]

Originally posted by ELVIS
I would venture to say Edward's older setup with much less pre-amp gain was more difficult to manipulate than his current setup...

True.

[BlimpyCHIMP™]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
It's like golf. If you can't swing for shit, an upgrade in equipment isn't going to do anything for you.

YEAH RITE

WATCH ARNIE PALMER DOWNGRADE HIS CALLOWAYS TO A SET OF JUNIOR MISS SPALDING SET AND WATCH THEM 300 YARD SMASHES WHITHER DOWN TA 150 YD DRIVES

BC!!
GEAR IS EVERYTHING OR ELSE EVH WOULD BE USING LINE6 HAHAHA

[jhale667]

Originally posted by BlimpyCHIMP™

BC!!
GEAR IS EVERYTHING OR ELSE EVH WOULD BE USING LINE6 HAHAHA

Not quite. Gear is why EVH started building his own shit,
because guitars that were commercially available at the time weren't cutting it.
But one listen to "Spanish Fly" tells ya the dude had his pick technique down, no matter what he was playing on/through....

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by jhale667
Not quite. Gear is why EVH started building his own shit,
because guitars that were commercially available at the time weren't cutting it.
But one listen to "Spanish Fly" tells ya the dude had his pick technique down, no matter what he was playing on/through....

Exactly. What I was getting at is a good player can play subpar equipment and still pull it off where the best equipment in the world isn't going to help someone who can play. So I still put the man over the machine. The best Marshall plexi, speaker cab, pickups, and guitar won't do anything for a shitty player. If you suck, you still suck no-matter what you play or use.

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by jhale667
Not quite. Gear is why EVH started building his own shit,
because guitars that were commercially available at the time weren't cutting it.
But one listen to "Spanish Fly" tells ya the dude had his pick technique down, no matter what he was playing on/through....

Ed's favorite sounding guitar was a Gibson 355 but the band hated how it looked and the Bigbsy would go out of tune. Ed used a Fender because the trem was better but he liked the Gibson sound. So he mated the two designs together.

I saw Ed playing a Les Paul Custom in 1980 at the end of the set. He still sounded like Ed and it sounded great. I don't think he was after a better sound than a stock Gibson but he wanted to go crazy with the whammy bar and not go out of tune and he wanted something comfortable and bullet proof to have slung around hem all the time. The Strat was the natural choice there.

[ELVIS]

*yawn*

[Panamark]

definately two side to this argument..

Is anyone actually saying that the greatest guitarist
in the world could play through the shittiest fucked up
guitar and amp, and still sound good ??

Of course the answer is no..

Yet even with mediocre gear, a true virtuoso will
make it sound good...

The biggie here is that a crap player playing through
the best equipment will always sound crap...