Tonequest Report/ Vintagekramer

Hi, these two sites impressed me recently when editing my ODP electric guitar category:

http://www.tonequest.com/
http://www.vintagekramer.com/

The Tonequest Report is a newsletter on subscription basis, but their site offers nice excerpts of articles, interviews and some very good free MP3 downloads of well-known guitarists as examples for "good tone". At the moment I'm listening to Jeff Beck's Goodbye Porky Pie Hat. Featured artist this month is Sonny Landreth (it's him on the background track), one of my favorite guitarists and someone who knows tone. There are free article samples, too, e.g. about Billy Gibbons, Dan Erlewine, Joe Bonamassa and Nash guitars. 8) Some of them are also readable in their forum:

http://www.online-discussion.com/Tonequest/viewforum.php?f=11

That main site hosts a ton of interesting forums as well, by the way:

http://www.online-discussion.com/


Vintage Kramer is a similar site as the Tokai Registry, but for vintage Kramer guitars. It looks very professional in my opinion, at first I thought this would be the official manufacturer site. They have a forum, too.

Thanks Hans. I've been on those sites for most of the night. Most appreciated bud! 8)

You're welcome! In the meantime I found out that the PDF files available from the Tonequest Report are complete issues, not only single articles. So the sample with Billy Gibbons has a long ten pages interview from 2002 and other stories as well while the article available in the forum is shorter and mainly about small tube amps.

And that Online-Discussion Network is interesting in my opinion, because there are a lot of forums about different guitarists, too.

Hey Hans-J?rgen

Vielen Dank for posting this link!

I especially liked this interview because Todd Sharp is right on the money - whatever I play with, really, I am going to sound like Steve and perhaps that should be a goal in itself. While I really love the tone and licks of Gatemouth Brown, JJ Cale or Will Ray, I try not to copy them so much as try to reinterpret (in my own peculiar way) the spirit of their playing. My goal is also not to sound like Hendrix or (fill in the blank) because it ain't gonna happen anyway. :roll:

thanks again

Steve


Here's the Todd Sharp comments from ToneQuest:

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I know guitar players ? the quest is never over. The sound is never good enough ? we?re always looking for something else. I understand this. ?It?s close... I want it fatter but not woofy... I need that clear ringing bell sound, but with sustain...? etc., etc. Here is my present dilemma in all of this... I know both sides pretty well ? I know all kinds of stuff about amps and amplifier electronics, and I am what some might call a veteran player. But every time I sit down to write on this topic, I am compelled to go in another direction. Don?t worry about your amp ? it?s probably fine. Most likely it?s your brain that needs an overhaul! I hope that doesn?t sound too condescending... I?m simply speaking from experience.

Yes, if you lose the JBL?s and install the Celestion?s your amp will sound more ?British? (Oh, behave)! If you put NOS Tungsol 5881?s in there instead of those Chinese 6L6?s your amp will probably squash and roar a little better. But beware! Buffer this and everything else you read about tweaks and tips with the fact that almost no one will be affected by this but you. The guys in the band probably won?t know, the producer will most likely say something like, ?Sounds like a Fender Twin to me,? and virtually no one in the audience will ever come up to you and say, ?Your amp sounds much better since you put the Mullard 12AX7 in the mixer stage, and you even play better for it.? I know there are and will be some exceptions to this, but my point is that most guitarists I know will eagerly spend 95 percent of their time, energy and money trying to fix something that might make a 5 percent difference overall. I know some of you right now are saying, ?That?s five percent I want ? maybe I?ll sound like Jeff Beck with that five percent.? Well, go ahead. You?re going to anyway. There are a zillion products out there, a thousand amp techs (of which I am one) willing to help you. Yes, every little bit helps, but don?t over react to all the hype and marketing rhetoric generated by today?s high tech marketplace. This really isn?t rocket science. For the love of Pete (Townshend), no one?s ever even touched Hendrix, and he got that tone in 1969!

Think about this: I could use the same vintage Strat, string it upside down, plug into an Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Roger Mayer octave divider, use the same gauge strings as Hendrix and the same vintage Marshall. Hell, I could plug into Jimi?s favorite Marshall, the very one ? and I?d still sound just like Todd Sharp doing Hendrix. That?s as good as it could ever get.

Consider this: Limitations are good. They help me do things with my hands, which come more directly from my heart instead of my head. Limitations make me play creatively. I find new ways to do things, and more sounds. I notice a better connection with the audience when I don?t have so much crap on stage to fiddle with. More people come up and compliment me. If they ask what I?m using, I tell them, ?Anything I can think of at the moment,? just for laughs, and just say, ?Thank you.?

A long time ago, Eddie Van Halen came over to my house and we sat and jammed a while. He took my old SG, plugged into a Gibson GA20 and set it down on his lap and played it like a piano. The amp wasn?t loud or anything. He made it ring and sustain and all kinds of other stuff I can?t really describe very well. Some time later, once I was able to get my tongue back into my mouth, it occurred to me that he was just goofing with it. I thought to myself; ?What ever gave him the idea to even try that?? Think about it.

www.toddsharp.com

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