Does cost equal tone?

One night my wife and I wanted to try a new place and go hear some live music and we were told about this place that had some great blues bands. We walked in and these guys where burning the place down and the guitarist’s tone was just awesome. I remember looking on stage and seeing some gear, to be honest, I would never have even given two thoughts to purchasing because I thought it was “cheap” gear. I guess maybe I had an idea in my head that I had to pay more for good tone. Maybe that idea is a little truth in it but I think Ive come to learn its not as much as I thought. In the quest for tone there are so many avenues to go down and the journey definitely isn’t free. Gear can run the gamut in terms of cost from cheap to insanely expensive. When it comes to tone does cost equal tone? I posed this question on some of the guitar forums I hang out at to get some feedback and I here are some that stuck out to me:

• “Sounds like you no matter what you play through.”

• “Better built products sound and work better and cost more.”

• “Cost equals quality but not tone.”

• “There’s some truth in tone costs $$$…but I also believe there’s a point of diminishing returns.”

• “If you are after a very specific tone, that can only really be had with a very specific piece of gear – then yes, it cost what it cost. But good tone can be had at any price point.”

• “In general for guitars….no. Amps and PA/recording gear, yes to a point.”

• “It’s all in the hands”

• “To a certain extent the high dollar amps do sound better but that doesn’t mean you cant achieve great tone with less expensive stuff.”

• “You can play anything and make it sound good, so no. The feel etc is a completely different subject and yes that is where it matters etc.”

There is a mind set called “perceived value” where people tend to think the more something costs the better it is. This can be true to varying degrees but the way I’ve come to look at this question in regards to “tone” is it’s more about the player than the gear.  A good player with a good ear and take some gear that isn’t that “great” and make it sound better.

For example me and a couple of close friends are Kings X fans. If you didn’t know, Ty Tabor used to be very secretive about what he used on their first four albums. My friends and I were absolutely obsessed with his tone and rightfully so because to this day it stands out to me to be one of the best I’ve heard. As the years past we came to learn that Ty was secretive partially due to the fact he was using Lab Series L5’s which were relatively cheap solid state amps. He was a bit embarrassed to let it be known he was using a such a “cheap amp.” After figuring out his secret, I found a L5 , aFender Elite, and set up my effects just like Ty’s and guess what? I didn’t sound like Ty. Was the tone similar? Yes to a degree but not exact. This was a lesson to me that good tone can be cheap but also that a good part of your hero’s tones is in the hands.

All that said, I still feel that better made gear typically means more in cost. So while I don’t think cost always equals tone, I do think cost does more often than not does equal quality but like someone posted in one of the quotes above “its in diminishing returns.”

So I guess after all this rambling, I think gear that is more expensive is better in quality but when it comes to how it affects tone……. not so much.

Please feel free to chime in with your thoughts by posting comments. I’d love to hear them.