Most affect on the guitar recording chain?

[DanLights]

I voted for guitar.
Recently recorded a shitty Epiphone with stock passive pups, the DIs were terrible.
Then compared it to an ESP that had EMGs - difference was huge and it was much easier to dial in a tone.
Best to start with not just the weakest link in your chain, but start at the start of your chain!

From your post, you should´ve voted Pickups, not guitar.

Edit: I tought pickups were a separate choice from guitar, sorry.

I say Guitar preamp, it gives the tone and is the most recognizable I say. You hear a tone and you say "That sounds so much like a Rectifier", you don´t say "that´s mahogany wood, I can bet my balls on it", at least that´s my case. Specially if it´s heavily distorted guitar you´re talking about, it´s the preamp that gives the distortion tone, with everything else adding or substracting from it.

If it was clean guitar, you could say you depend a lot more on the wood of the guitar, the pickups, the cab, while the preamp is more of a typical colortion than the whole tone.

Just my thoughts

 

[Omega_Void]

I say Guitar preamp, it gives the tone and is the most recognizable I say. You hear a tone and you say "That sounds so much like a Rectifier", you don´t say "that´s mahogany wood, I can bet my balls on it"

Very good point...although...

Maybe that's just 'cos it's the amp which has the glamour so people listen out for the sound and learn to recognise it. If folks obsessed more over the cabs you might hear them say "that's a trad mesa with V30s for sure...driven by some kind of high-gain amp".

And how much of the amp sound comes from the power amp -- preamp and poweramp are usually integrated...

It'd be interesting to have some folks with several amps use the fx send/returns to mix up the preamps, see what a recto pre into a 5150 power stage would sound like and vice versa for example.

 

[Omega_Void]

And wasn't there a thread a while (ok, ages) ago where some dude CurveEQ'd the output of a Metal Zone to match the output from a 5150 preamp. IIRC the difference was considered pretty negligible.

 

[pipaguapique]

can't you have an "all of the above" option??

 

[Omega_Void]

can't you have an "all of the above" option??

If there was I reckon the voting would be pretty unanimous.

But that wouldn't really give anybody any food for thought, would it?

 

[Omega_Void]

Realistically though, everyone's just going going to vote for the thing which in their experience has most memorably bitten them in the arse.

"Guitar tone would've been fine if I hadn't been stuck with that Encore/Pignose/2x12/Yoga..." delete as applicable.

 

[MetalSound]

the most important factor is the guy at the very end of the chain recording the tone.

 

[53Crëw]

Assuming we're talking decent quality gear and high gain sounds, I would say these in this order:

1. Cabinet
2. Head
3. Guitar/pickups

Clean tones would be another story...

 

[John_C]

Preamp obviously changes the sound most............but i guess that's not really the point here

 

[ahjteam]

And wasn't there a thread a while (ok, ages) ago where some dude CurveEQ'd the output of a Metal Zone to match the output from a 5150 preamp. IIRC the difference was considered pretty negligible.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/325264-another-experiment-6505-curveeq.html

 

[Melb_shredder]

Reviving an oldish thread but meh
I have to say the guitar is the single biggest influence on the sound IMO. Then the pre amp.
I played a PRS Custom 22 through a Marshall MG and you know what... It sounded like a PRS, and it still sounded good. Tried an Ibanez through it straight after, sounded shite. Thin, buzzy and digital, business as usual...

The pre amp is second IMO because it stil takes the right guitar to get the tone you want. An lader body Jackson vs my mahogany body jackson brings out a completely different character in the amp. And these genereally can't be EQ'd in. The cab IMO is the least effective, not that it doesn't change the tone. But you will always have the voicing of the amp, it just depends where the peaks and valleys of the EQ lies within the cab.

My analysis anyway YMMV

 

[Jind]

While realistically it's impossible to rule any of the items listed, from of the equation of a "good" tone, I'll select the Guitar - aside from the player, the guitar used is going to have the most significant effect on the tone that comes out the other end. You cannot separate the guitar, from the pickups and electronics, they come as a team. A Gibson Les Paul (mahogany body with maple cap) with PAFs is going to significantly sound different tonally from a Telecaster (ash body and maple neck) with with a set of Texas specials, from a Fender Stratocaster (alder body) equipped with Lace Sensor pickups; they will all have unique tones that will come through regardless of the amp used.

It's sort of a case of choosing the right guitar for the right situation - it's the reason so many players choose the guitar they do for the style of music they play. While their are no hard fixed rules,you certainly will see exceptions to the commonly accepted usages of certain instruments in certain genres, such as it's easy to see that very few metal head guitarists use Telecasters up on stage (well aside from Jim Root), you also see very few country players rocking a BC Rich Warlock at the Grand Old Opry - certain builds and configurations just suit themselves to more or less aggressive forms of music. I guess that's the reason why I have a Les Paul style guitar, a Tele, my project Strat style guitar with single coils, and my super strat style Ibanez (I think my next guitar is going to be some sort of hollow-body so I have all my bases covered )- they each bring something different tonally and they all sound distinctively unique through the same amp.

So, long story short - it's the guitar.

 

[barricade]

well... a single coil fender and a humbucker gibson sound very different... but i must agree with u. My vote went to the cabs aswell!

 

[Melb_shredder]

I still go the guitar. No cab will fix using the wrong guitar from the beginning. Using different cabs will give you different tastes but say, using a telecaster for drop b death metal. The can won't save it. Although using a great guitr for that style will still sound decent with different cabs, but obviously with different emphasis on certain frequencies etc

 

[laszlozsolt82]

In my opinoin the Guitar Preamp affects "more" the signal, but then everything else can affect less or more the tone...

 

[MarcusGHedwig]

Definitely the cab. Don't know how the guitar got so many votes, in my experience the same guitar played through 2 different cabs sounds radically different, 2 guitars through the same cab sounds very similar.

+1, to paraphrase what I said earlier in this thread, a crap guitar will still sound WAY better through an awesome amp/cab than an amazing guitar through a shit pair

 

[vikk]

i vote for all the above

 

[mastersplinter]

the SOURCE - guitar.

 

[colonel kurtz]

+1, to paraphrase what I said earlier in this thread, a crap guitar will still sound WAY better through an awesome amp/cab than an amazing guitar through a shit pair

exactly

a wal-mart guitar thru a mesa will sound good w/ the right player

a custom PRS thru a wal-mart amp will always sound like dick

 

[Torniojaws]

You can have Teh Mostest Awesomest™ guitar gear, but if the microphone is just thrown somewhere there, the recorded tone will (most likely) suck balls. So hence the microphone affects the tone the most (especially 57 ). But if the mic is properly placed, then I would say the guitar amp preamp.