SeSSion diary Tone Zones
Session guitarist Adam Goldsmith muses on the definition of ‘good tone’ – and finds that it all depends on who you’re playing for
in keeping with this month’s theme, I thought I’d ramble on a bit about tone from my perspective as a working musician. My initial thoughts when thinking about guitar tones are that: a) ‘good’ or ‘bad’ tone is obviously entirely subjective; and b) what I decide is good or appropriate tone for my playing depends on whether I’m working for someone else or doing my own gig. To this end, I have two main pedalboards for both of these situations that perform entirely different functions.
However, there is an oft-repeated caveat that I’d like to add before I start nit picking about bone vs graphite nuts, and so on – which is that in my experience, people, for better or worse, always essentially sound like themselves no matter what they are playing through. My first experience of this was when I had a lesson with the great jazz guitar player Jim Mullen in my early 20s as part of a two-day residential course. He was using a borrowed (from my memory) Epiphone hollowbody, no doubt originating from the Far East, through an old Gallien-Krueger solid-state bass amp. He sounded like a genius, because he is, with the most wonderful sound reminiscent of a tenor saxophone. Pure heart and soul, and wonderful time and note choice. I had my shiny new 335 and equally shiny new Fender Twin. I sounded like a nervous student… because that’s just what I was. Halfway through the lesson we swapped guitars and setups, and lo, fortunately for Jim and unfortunately for me, we still sounded exactly like ourselves.
Having said all that, I do have two distinct approaches to gear and guitar sounds. My main pedalboard, which I take to sessions andTVshows such as The Voice or Strictly Come Dancing, has pretty much every effect you might hear in most modern music from the 50s onwards. It’s based around a GigRig QuarterMaster looper, which keeps my signal as clear as possible. I’m sure you’re aware of how these work, but the basic principle is to only have the pedals you’re using at any given time in the effects chain so as to keep your signal as pure as possible. I’m often switching things around, but at the moment I’m using a BB Preamp as my main drive and aJHS Angry Charlie for anything heavier.Those two combined with my Xotic effects RC Booster pretty much take care of any drive sounds. I have a Bob Bradshaw CustomAudio wah first in line, a Strymon TimeLine, a Keeley compressor, a Boss EQ, and a Line 6 M9 as a ‘catch-all’pedal. Generally, if I’m using this ’board, it means that the tones I’m coming up with are somebody else’s idea of a good sound, trying to replicate a pop song for a TV show band or getting a sound a composer has in his or her head. It’s my job to make other people happy with the sound I’m getting. It’s not about my musical satisfaction, although that may be a happy by-product. It’s about being part of a project and hoping to contribute in the best way possible, and for everyone to get what they want and what they’re paying for.
When I turn up to a gig with my 335 and my little ’board, however (basically an Analog Man King Of Tone, an EP Booster and a touch of delay), I know I’m going to have fun! This is the closest I get to how I want to sound, and I get any different vibes I want purely from leaving the drive on and using the guitar’s volume control to vary the gain, and using my right hand to vary the attack. I was lucky enough to have my band supporting the legendary Billy Cobham for a week at Ronnie Scott’s a couple of weeks back and, for me, that’s it. That’s when I try to get a sound that matches what I want to say through the guitar, and surely that has to be as good a definition of good tone as anything – when you’re hearing what you want to hear, and it’s making you happy. If other people enjoy it, too, then that’s a great bonus.