Comments on: Billy Squier’s WoodyTone http://www.woodytone.com/2008/11/05/billy-squiers-woodytone/ WoodyTone = ToneWoody Tue, 15 May 2012 21:37:27 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Jimmy James http://www.woodytone.com/2008/11/05/billy-squiers-woodytone/comment-page-1/#comment-369 Jimmy James Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:58:21 +0000 http://www.woodytone.com/?p=104#comment-369 I was fortunate enough to see Billy Squire open for Pat Benetar at the Pier in NYC back in 1982. Squier's set was awesome, and his vintage tone was very much in evidence: very few (if any) effects, just a LP Standard into a Marshall stack. Then Benetar hit the stage with Neil Geraldo on guitar. In stark contrast to Squire, Geraldo's rig was very complex, running through a truck-load of rack-mounted effects. Geraldo got some cool tonal effects with his rig, but the overall sound was slick, over-produced, and unnatural (definitely not "woody"). The contrast between Squire's tone and Geraldo's tone was like night-and-day. Needless to say, I left that concert with a new appreciation of the beautiful simplicity of a great guitar running directly into great amp. It was a huge lesson for a young guitar player on the perils of "too much" signal processing as opposed to the stripped-down approach of Squire. I was fortunate enough to see Billy Squire open for Pat Benetar at the Pier in NYC back in 1982. Squier's set was awesome, and his vintage tone was very much in evidence: very few (if any) effects, just a LP Standard into a Marshall stack.

Then Benetar hit the stage with Neil Geraldo on guitar. In stark contrast to Squire, Geraldo's rig was very complex, running through a truck-load of rack-mounted effects. Geraldo got some cool tonal effects with his rig, but the overall sound was slick, over-produced, and unnatural (definitely not "woody").

The contrast between Squire's tone and Geraldo's tone was like night-and-day. Needless to say, I left that concert with a new appreciation of the beautiful simplicity of a great guitar running directly into great amp. It was a huge lesson for a young guitar player on the perils of "too much" signal processing as opposed to the stripped-down approach of Squire.

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