How do your best sounding guitars (plugged in) sound unplugged?

[somethingsomething]

I only use electric guitars made of the finest AAAAA-quality resonator-class woods, exclusively designed by Paul Reed Smith for maximum sonic clarity and acoustical symmetry. So when I plug into my Metal Zone you can really hear the guitar breathe and sing with the utmost tonal excellence.

 

[soliloquy]

wait....are we going to start talking about 'tone woods' soon?

 

[Kosthrash]

Well I've been thinking about this the last few days.

Sometimes I'll pick up a guitar and be like man, this thing is so quiet, it's kinda shit isn't it?! And then a bit later I plug it in to a 5150 or something and it's like whoa... maybe it's not that bad.

And the opposite, I play one that's nice and loud, plug it in and it's just eehhh, it's a bit tubby, and not as clear as the quiet one.

But I'm thinking for cleaner tones, light overdrive etc. a "nicer sounding" acoustic tone is maybe more useful.

I can't quite make sense of this stuff. But it's pretty interesting to think about.

In high gain, you don't want a "loud" unplugged guitar. The frequencies which pass behind the nut & the bridge through the body produce unwanted feedback. During recordings I tend to mute the strings behind the nut to minimize this...

 

[SalsaWood]

wait....are we going to start talking about 'tone woods' soon?

Last one to the top of this worthless hill to die on is a rotten egg!

But yes, probably.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Like a can of bees fighting a rattlesnake.

 

[STRHelvete]

Are you.... Vibrating right now?

That's none of your goddamn business. How dare you ask a lady such a thing

 

[Marked Man]

Mine are super resonant. Not only can you hear it, but feel it throughout the entire guitar.

Also I just smoked a LOT of meth, so maybe don't take my word for it

Blue?

 

[Marked Man]

Well I've been thinking about this the last few days.

Sometimes I'll pick up a guitar and be like man, this thing is so quiet, it's kinda shit isn't it?! And then a bit later I plug it in to a 5150 or something and it's like whoa... maybe it's not that bad.

And the opposite, I play one that's nice and loud, plug it in and it's just eehhh, it's a bit tubby, and not as clear as the quiet one.

But I'm thinking for cleaner tones, light overdrive etc. a "nicer sounding" acoustic tone is maybe more useful.

I can't quite make sense of this stuff. But it's pretty interesting to think about.

Wait til you hear a pecan top.

 

[lost_horizon]

I used a Dimarzio Black Angel on my 70s Ariel MIJ acoustic (all laminate even the top )and then plugged it into my rig, it sounded amazing, even for palm mutes.

My String Pluckery 017 has the sound (speed) holes so it shoots right out the front and if I'm standing in front of a wall bounces right back acoustically. If I am doing a sustain test ANY reverberation or bad vibes will cancel the sound out early, very rare in a song you'll be holding one large extended chord for more than 4 bars anyway.

Same guitar, different pickups the sound will just die off. Neck pickup will zoom for maybe a minute, switch to a bridge pickup, may die after 20 seconds. There is more than one thing at play here.

Stick a piezo on your electric top and you will hear it sustain for way longer than through magnetic, things the magnetic wouldn't even pickup and your guitar is still resonating.

 

[Crungy]

That's none of your goddamn business. How dare you ask a lady such a thing

I thought you were riding the snake, my bad!

 

[Dayn]

My RG2228 is more 'fduum'. My other fixed bridge instruments are more 'fdaam'. My Strandberg with its little metal saddles and floating bridge is more 'fdiing'.

None of it translates to any tone different when plugged in. But I like my RG2228 the most, acoustically.

 

[DECEMBER]

Unplugged sounds the same as the clean tone, unamplified. My LP sounds like a LP, unplugged, clean, and under high gain. It has EMGs. So does my PRS SE Mira. It sounds the way it sounds unplugged, clean, and under high gain.

 

[STRHelvete]

I thought you were riding the snake, my bad!

Sir, I am a god fearing Christian white woman from Willacoochie, Georgia...I don't do such things.

 

[Andromalia]

What would a good sounding unplugged electric guitar sound like?

"Ploink".

 

[Crungy]

Sir, I am a god fearing Christian white woman from Willacoochie, Georgia...I don't do such things.

With a town motto of "where good people live" you have my deepest apologies.


Also lol

Willacoochie Pronunciation

How to say Willacoochie in English? Pronunciation of Willacoochie with 1 audio pronunciation and more for Willacoochie.

www.howtopronounce.com

 

[Mechanos71]

So I primarily play unplugged. My wife is noise sensitive, and for whatever reason really hates the sound of an amplified guitar so I really only play amped up once a week at my guitar instructors house. I also have 11 electrics so a decent sample size.

I have personally found the my acoustically loudest and most pleasant sounding guitars my carillion and my PRS both seem to have a little extra plugged in. My guess is maybe some additional high frequency content but I haven’t analyzed it. I find I like the plugged in timbre of the carillion more, the PRS kind of needs its mids tamed.

To get a little nerdy, and also be super hand wavey, I think the translation of the acoustic tone of a solid body electric guitar likely depends on how much of the acoustic radiation/perceived sound is due to the strings which are poor acoustic radiators (guessing low surface area dipoles) and how much is coming from the body vibrating. My guess is that a lot of the sound I hear is actually in the strings due to relatively large impedance of the body. Harder for strings to vibrate a 1 inch block of wood than a 1/8 inch sheet.

As a somewhat fun side note I was found some research done by one of my old professors on electric guitar vibration modes.

Dr. Russell's Research - Acoustics of Guitars

 

[Jotun@]

My best sounding guitar unplugged is also my best sounding plugged in. It’s semi-hollow(has something similar to an f hole) so that might have something to do with why it sounds better unplugged than the others. I almost always try guitars unplugged first, and I look for a good feeling resonance. If I can’t detect enough, I tend to pass and not even plug it into an amp.

I play amp less most of the time, because of small children and sleep and all that comes with that…

 

[pahulkster]

My Les Paul and Heritage sound the best and you can feel them resonate, but it's marginal at best. None of them really sound good or anything because I keep pretty low action and very little neck relief. There is not much going on umplugged. If I listen to a DI I couldn't possibly tell you what guitar is what regardless of pickups.

 

[SalsaWood]

I randomly strum my guitars that are hung up, so I could tell you exactly which ones are which out of an unplugged line up. It's mostly because I don't have time to play each one every single day and I suck.

 

[gh0styboi]

Well, I've got more costly guitars that are just built to higher standards with better materials, which is part of why I consider two of them my 'best' guitars. So they sound more resonant. But that's not the biggest deal when it comes to what I'd describe as best - two of my favorites just happen to be more 'premium.' I've also got some pretty inexpensive guitars that are a blast to play and sound great plugged in. But to answer the question, I'd play the same guitars I play most now because I enjoy playing them the most - which how they feel is a massive part of. I've got guitars that cost around $2k, and my most played guitar is a second-hand Player Tele I picked up for $500 and modded.

As far as the question goes, how a guitar feels is paramount imo. I can make up for most deficiencies otherwise with mixing, EQ, and amps, but you can't make a shitty feeling guitar feel great no matter how much you do to it in post.