Sum's Guitar Tones

Blastero · Post by **Blastero** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:36 am

Sum 41's choice in guitar tones is something I think is a bit overlooked.

I personally believe that tone is what gives each album a huge portion of its overall feel and attitude. It's probably most of the reason why people compare Underclass Hero to blink, as Deryck's tones on UH were MUCH closer to blink's tones than any of their previous albums.

So yeah. Any other thoughts on Sum 41's guitar tones?

budgie · Post by **budgie** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:57 am

yeah thats true..

Phili · Post by **Phili** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:51 am

Um, sure...

Post by **Jeremy Kill** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:55 am

Best ones are on Infected and Chuck! I really like the tone in the Over My Head riff.

spider-man · Post by **spider-man** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:01 am

I agree 100%, sum 41's guitar tone is actually one of the things I like most about them

Gibsum 41 · Post by **Gibsum 41** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:10 am

Gunner wrote:Best ones are on Infected and Chuck! I really like the tone in the Over My Head riff.

+1

Blastero · Post by **Blastero** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:21 am

Gunner wrote:Best ones are on Infected and Chuck! I really like the tone in the Over My Head riff.

Whatever they were doing with their guitars and amps on DTLI was amazing, because they've never reproduced that sort of juicy crunchy sound they had on that album for anything else they've done.

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:03 am

sum 41 and their tones are unlike alot of bands. deryck spends so much time trying to get the right sound and tone for every little part, thats a really strong quality about sum. its cool i'm not the only one who picked up on it.

spider-man · Post by **spider-man** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:20 am

[quote="Rick"]sum 41 and their tones are unlike alot of bands. deryck spends so much time trying to get the right sound and tone for every little part, thats a really strong quality about sum. its cool i'm not the only one who picked up on it.[/quote]

and it sure is worth it.

by the way, sort of off subject, but one of the things I DON'T like about relient k, is the guitar tones, at least the first 3 CD's. where sum 41 are great.

goonday41 · Post by **goonday41** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:47 am

i love their tone. but i love their live tone more...when they had dave. the intro to the hell song on the MSN video is my ideal tone. and when they play bullet in the head on that same concert.
i like the DTLI tone but every single tone on the entire CD sound the same. chuck has great tone

jsd2 · Post by **jsd2** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:33 pm

I hope they revisit some of those great tones on their next album.

budgie · Post by **budgie** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:54 pm

jsd2 wrote:I hope they revisit some of those great tones on their next album.

yeah, and maybe have some drop D songs too.
some of their best songs are in drop d

Asho_DirtyPoo · Post by **Asho_DirtyPoo** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:07 pm

I really know shit all about things like "guitar tone"...but now that you mention it - I do know what you're talking about.

I've always felt that there was something about their guitar, and their songs, that was always instantly recognizable as them. Now I know the word to put on it - so thank you!

Unfortunately, however, I feel like they've lost that tone on UH (don't fight me, it's my opinion). When I first put on March of the Dogs on their myspace, before the vocals...I had to double look to make sure I had clicked on Sum 41's myspace and not Blink 182's...

Phili · Post by **Phili** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:13 pm

I think that tone's still there but it's not nearly as strong.

Hentaiman · Post by **Hentaiman** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:44 pm

Yeah i agree, its there definitely on such songs such as The Jester, but its not as great as it was on Chuck and DTLI.

Plus, yeah, their Drop D songs are great.

Brownmetal · Post by **Brownmetal** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 8:51 pm

The tone on UH sounds like crap. :P

Chuck and DTLI had the best tones.

Post by **Jeremy Kill** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:37 pm

The only song on Underclass Hero that had a tone that I thought was pretty decent was King of Contradiction. I love how it's so clear but still sounds angry. You can hear it the best during the second verse.

Blastero · Post by **Blastero** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:11 am

Even when they were doing more pop-punk oriented stuff, their tones always had kind of a metal edge to them before UH. AKNF had a very crunchy dark sound to it, even though it's commonly regarded as being one of Sum 41's poppier albums.

Now with UH, though, it seems Deryck kind of abandoned that dark crunchy tone that defined their early sound for more of a generic blink-182 esque tone. It's MUCH brighter than their early stuff, and doesn't have quite the crunch it used to.

It very well may have something to do with Dave leaving. Listening to Brown Brigade's album, you can kind of hear some of those old Sum 41 tones that got lost on UH.

Hentaiman · Post by **Hentaiman** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:29 am

Yeah, i think the easy explanation is that Dave was the one giving that awesome heavy metal sound and now that he's gone... we all know what happened.

Post by **Jeremy Kill** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:37 am

Yeah, the tones in Underclass Hero are pretty weak. I know that that's the sound Deryck was probably going for... but it's still weak. All Killer had heavier tones than Underclass Hero.

Anyone else feel the difference in atmosphere when they start a live show with Carmina Burana, a powerful opera-like song, then follow it up with Underclass Hero? It doesn't seem to carry the momentum good enough like The Hell Song would.