So, i have this question over my head since 2 or more years... and what place is better to ask than this forum.
Basically, i could get my desired guitar tone with EQ match easily (i play metal) but is this cheating in some way? am i stealing another guy´s guitar tone? maybe this means that i am a poser and i cant get my desired guitar tone by studying on HOW to get it instead?

As we all know, there are countless impulses responses out there, its way too much, and it f-cks my mind that you can get the same cabinet from 2 different developers, and they will sound totally different, so i am thinking that maybe i am using another guy´s guitar tone already...

What are your thoughts on this?

 

If that's the tone you like then go for it I say. Who will care except for hard core recording nerds? The majority of you audience won't give two poops how you got the sound if it sounds good.

You should watch the latest video with Nolly and Rabbea over at Get Good Drums, they just went in depth why the same cab and speaker can sound so different. Really interesting stuff.

 

the next time you eq match , try to figure out the common pattern in the eq curves of tones you like , before you know it you will learn how to do them on your own

 

It's not cheating, but i find tweaking knobs, mic positions and crying in a corner over how bad it sounds to be the best thing in the world. Investing time in something like guitar tone may help you perceive it as something more personal, i'd say it's worth trying at least.

 

Very true, i voted this as the best answer, even though, all the answers so far are wholesome.

That is also true! thanks for your input... that is just the tone i am going for most of the time, the guitar tone from a band i love, i try my best to get the tone similar, but it just ends sounding like a poor version lol.

Totally, i am doing this since 2017, i learned a lot by watching the EQ curves, it really helped, but the tone differences are super different, even though they share similar patterns in the eq curves.

Hahaha you are like my other 50%self then... i also like to get a tone by my own means, its like you say "yes, all this work took time, but i got this awesome guitar tone by MY OWN DEDICATION AND WORK...
Most of the time i waste too much time and strings trying to get a tone i like though, lol.

 

No.

 

all 'pro' guitarists worth their salt have a eq in their pedal chain. I have an empress paraeq which gets me from bebop to led zep on most amps

 

At the end of the day, your playing is what makes the difference, so no, it's not cheating.

 

next to not being cheating it can be considered learning, it's the same way i learned to give my songs a proper eq curve a long time ago when i still had no clue about frequencies and was working with hardware only

 

Gold star.

The only valid reason I can see to copy a sound that I am 'assuming' is meaning a tone, is when you have done a really unique guitar part or solo and it just does not have that edge you want. Even then, I'd still probably look at my EQ (or lack of it) and fatten it up that way first rather than spectrally matching someone else's sound, which would be my last resort.

 

It's cheating yourself out of understanding. This kind of copying won't help you develop your own style or understand how guitar tones are being created.

That being said, if only the result matters, and you need it right there and then, it's acceptable. It's not really effective, given that the guitar tone is waaayyy more than just spectre, and even this much changes with the dynamics, but if it did the job, then it did the job.
Just try to learn what you're doing next time.

 

Is using a compressor cheating when you could just play with flatter dynamics? Is using an EQ cheating when you could just adapt your playing style?

In my opinion: it's not cheating.

 

Using a compressor and an EQ instead of recording good takes is not so much a cheating, but rather a dumb move. It may be necessary if there's no option to record good takes for one reason or another, but ultimately the result's gonna be worse in most cases.
In a perfect-case scenario, you won't need mixing at all, just proper recording and performance. That's not always achievable, but nontheless what a musician (and recording engineers) should strive towards if they want good results.

Spoiler

Now where's that up-his-own-ass-pope now? There might be one thing in the universe we can agree upon and he's missing

 

Not cheating for me. Since forever guitarists have tried to imitate guitar tones from songs they love. I'm sure you already have other good tones of your own.
Besides, the EQ matching only matches that, the equalization. As most of you know there're more factors to a guitar FX chain.

If a simple EQ/IR nailed perfectly the original sound perhaps we could make a case.

 

Nice quote. Although he was talking only about his playing. Nothing to do with his guitar tone.

OT but still nice. Not reported

 

Not really off-topic because copying another guitar player accurately means you've also copied their sound and antics.
I mean it's all well and good to play little wing on a Bouzouki but it won't really sound like Jimi Hendrix
The really great copyists like Stevie Ray Vaughan when he played Hendrix also had a lot of Hendrix's sound.

 

How do I EQ match my favourite guitarists?