If you frequently read this subforum, your tone is great.

[Monsum]

I couldn't resist not to post this. Famous John Mayer performing in 2019 in front of millions of viewers and that's an acoustic guitar tone that he and his team come up with.
Ok, it's not that bad but most of us here (it seems) wouldn't be happy with such a plugged-in sound. I think John needs a friendly person to give him a tip on how it is done here - K&Ks, Schattens, Tonedexters and all the dual pickup systems

On a serious note, I know that most of his audience don't care whether it's a piezo or a SBT with digital modelling but I'm sure he (or his band mates) can hear the difference between a natural sounding pickup and a quacky UST.
Guitarists like him can talk about nuances of electric guitars pickups but amplified acoustics don't get that attention.
By the way, it's not meant to be criticism of J.Mayer, I like his tasty style.

[varmonter]

I have to agree to a point. If i was playing
solo that tone would not cut it. But once the
rest of the band kicked in you could still hear
his acoustic. How many pristine natural acoustic
tones could accomplish that.. not many. The
tone he had cut through the mix guite well.
I think that was on purpose.
The audience didnt seem to mind.
There is of course the tv studio techs .
who may or may not have influenced??

[YamahaGuy]

Way too compressed for me. Also, in that key, I'd go for a fake drop D with capo covering strings 1-5 to get a bit more low end, but as mentioned, in the context of a band, that's not really a must. Regardless, it sounded weak and tinny to my wife as well. I wouldn't be happy with it

[Julian Mount]

Yes, this is JUST the "buzzy" sound that many acoustic pick ups have these days. I HATE it. I can make MY guitars sound like this too, but with a bit of subtle EQ and adjusting the gain and volume you can get back quite easily to a decent and more realistic sound.

[RustyAxe]

The tone a player wants/expects is highly subjective, and isn't necessarily the same for every song or project. That an artist chooses a tone that YOU don't like means ... well ... nothing other than you have different ideas. As my British friends say, horses for courses. In the case, the right tool for the right job.

[Petty1818]

I think this is more of a reflection of us at agf worrying too much about our tone than it is about Mayer using a straight UST. I agree that a simple spectrum di would make his tone so much better. However, just look at the players who rely on the matrix UST. It’s honestly crazy how many still use it.

[David Eastwood]

And bear in mind that what he’s hearing on stage is likely to be very different from what the audience is hearing.

[Bob Womack]

Bear in mind that the tone of the instrument is not the only factor in a professional's mind, and may not even be the top criterion. These are people who may go from a theater with 700 on Tuesday to a coliseum with 20,000 on Thursday to a television studio the next. He's not just playing solo, he's fronting a band that plays at 105db stage volume in highly excited rooms of all kinds. He can't necessarily carry different instruments for these different applications, so he may settle on one guitar that is reliable for all. Probably the most reliable system out there at the moment is the UST, like it or not.

Bob

[guitaniac]

The stringy guitar sound makes his voice sound even more warm and intimate when it comes in. I was struck by the contrast.

In any event, his amplified tone isn't terribly important in the overall scheme of things. He could probably get a better tone from an Acoustasonic Tele, but it wouldn't look as cool as a Martin dread.

This thread reminds me of the line "after we'd gone over all the world's problems and solved every one but our own". Its always fun to speculate, I suppose. At least we aren't picking on Dave Matthews this time around.

[MrErikJ]

Perhaps my plugged-in tone is better than john’s but people sure seem to like his music more than they do mine.

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by eatswodo

And bear in mind that what he’s hearing on stage is likely to be very different from what the audience is hearing.

True but it's still going to sound like a UST. This does remind me of the System that Tom Petty used on stage. It was a dual source with the Lr Baggs M1A and Ibeam. According to his sound tech, Petty would hear more of the M1A in order to eliminate feedback but the crowd would hear more of the Ibeam. It resulted in a pretty remarkable tone out front. Sometimes that approach makes a lot of sense.

[wood nacho]

I guess what strikes me most is the amount of compression on his guitar. Yes, the sound is a little quacky but not as bad as a lot of the guitar you hear at the local open mic. Only us guitar players would really even think twice about it. It's a sound that works in the mix.

[varmonter]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Bear in mind that the tone of the instrument is not the only factor in a professional's mind, and may not even be the top criterion. These are people who may go from a theater with 700 on Tuesday to a coliseum with 20,000 on Thursday to a television studio the next. He's not just playing solo, he's fronting a band that plays at 105db stage volume in highly excited rooms of all kinds. He can't necessarily carry different instruments for these different applications, so he may settle on one guitar that is reliable for all. Probably the most reliable system out there at the moment is the UST, like it or not.

Bob

Agreed. That tone would work just about anywhere.

[Monsum]

I understand that a UST pickup is more reliable for various scenarios but I'm sure someone like Mayer could get the best guitar technician out there to install a system that is both reliable and sounds more natural.
Even a Matrix UST with built-in Aura technology would do a better job.
He plays a number of songs on an acoustic, so it wouldn't hurt to have something like the Fishman Aura Spectrum (or a Tonedexter) in the pedal board, especially that he has lots of pedals for his electric guitar.

I don't agree with a statement that here at AGF there is too much nitpicking about the tone.
If there weren't people like us, complaining about the 'quack' etc. no-one would bother to invent Aura or Tonedexter technology, new better pickups whether single or dual systems.

And getting back to the John Mayer clip, I don't doubt that he could play a guitar in the video, which sounds more natural, cuts through the mix and is at the same time reliable.
For whatever reasons they chose what they did or just didn't bother because people (notice, there are mainly young women in the audience) would love John whether he plays a Martin or a $100 guitar with any pickup system.

[agfsteve]

I think it's not too bad.

Isn't it difficult to tell, any way, when we're seeing this on YouTube?