Originally Posted by: SuperhumanThe thing most people overlook is when you listen to Vai, Satch, Petrucci or whoever, what you actually hear on the cd is not the sound of that guitar going through an amp. Signal chains have become very elaborate these days and the post recording treatment of sound has moved to the stage that you can create pretty much any sound or tone you want once you have a quality recording to start with. Quality recording starts with the pickups and strings. When you get past those two starting points then it's up to the quality of the wiring, cables and the actual body and neck of the guitar that either maintain or degrade the overall starting tone. So if you hear Vai and say I don't like the tone, believe me that is not the sound of a Jem! If it was that easy to create his sound there would be a lot more Vai clones out there. Tone is subjective after all.