8/27/24: Following 32+ years of dealing with my fellow maniacs, I feel it’s become appropriate to state that chasing the “ultimate” tone/tonality is probably among the LEAST important aspects when producing music! I believe we have been sold a misrepresentation on the concept of tone/tonality and have been stuck chasing our own tails as a result. The concept of “ultimate tone” is such a limiting & narrow portion of musical experience and can’t really be actualized. I subscribe to the idea of pursuing a unique, high quality, and identifiable voice within an improved musical context. I want to colloquially use the term “HiCon” in the same manner as “HiFi” when describing this concept from now on.
Example: Lowell George’s “tone” on Little Feat-Waiting for Columbus. Considering the sound and tonality of his guitar, isolated on its own with no surrounding context, I’ve always found what’s happening there to be not as great as many would believe. However, when placed within the total context of what took place that day, it is a sublime performance and one of my favorites, having grown up listening to my parent’s music. I feel this way about a lot of guitarists whose material I love. Sometimes the actual sound of the instrument may not really be all that great but still works incredibly well. The way I see it, music is best experienced within its total context as opposed to some arbitrary, discrete sound/tonality off by itself. It’s this context which frames the overall experience. A discrete, particular sound is only a partial element of all that and is pretty far off from defining the exact thing which gets me off, personally.
I’ve never had an interest in selling anybody “the ultimate tone” because it isn’t real. What is real are our own voices within a given musical context. Those voices are based on our own ideas, desires, influences, and personal life experiences rather than a particular piece of gear and/or a particular sound it makes. What I expect from a truly sublime piece of gear is maximizing the interaction & response between that instrument, the player, and the signal chain, ensemble, room, venue, studio, audience, etc. This is where I feel things get interesting.
What JCA Circuits offers is superior quality, performance, and musical context. Our instruments will enhance and compliment your own musical voice. They also offer the best experience possible. If you’re up for it. JCA
