'Warmth' is a term that comes up all the time when discussing tones and I want to make sure I understand what it means.
Going by context, I've understood it to mean the opposite of 'bright'. To me, bright would be a sound with a lot of high frequencies. So I understood warm to mean a sound where the high frequencies are rolled off.
I was playing with my Line6 Variax, today, to hear the differences between different guitar builds. I used the Workbench editing software to switch between different guitar body types while keeping the same simulated Gibson humbucker in each. I don't know that all the models are that accurate, but I figured the experiment would give me a basic approximation of what to expect from different woods and builds.
Based on my understanding, I would have expected the Mahogany guitars to sound darker or less trebly than the maple / alder guitars. But that isn't what I heard. In fact, the Strat simulation sounded lower or deeper than the mahogany LP Special simulation. The mahogany sims seemed to have more 'grind' when distorted while the Fender sims seemed more pure and clean. Both seemed to have about the same high frequency content.
So when we say 'warm', does that mean a sound with less highs? Or are we talking about a different quality?
Going by context, I've understood it to mean the opposite of 'bright'. To me, bright would be a sound with a lot of high frequencies. So I understood warm to mean a sound where the high frequencies are rolled off.
I was playing with my Line6 Variax, today, to hear the differences between different guitar builds. I used the Workbench editing software to switch between different guitar body types while keeping the same simulated Gibson humbucker in each. I don't know that all the models are that accurate, but I figured the experiment would give me a basic approximation of what to expect from different woods and builds.
Based on my understanding, I would have expected the Mahogany guitars to sound darker or less trebly than the maple / alder guitars. But that isn't what I heard. In fact, the Strat simulation sounded lower or deeper than the mahogany LP Special simulation. The mahogany sims seemed to have more 'grind' when distorted while the Fender sims seemed more pure and clean. Both seemed to have about the same high frequency content.
So when we say 'warm', does that mean a sound with less highs? Or are we talking about a different quality?
