VIII. Cold

This term incorporates multiple facets of the tone. In the most general sense, it is a tone that is somewhat discomforting to hear for long stretches at a time, although a full mix with a cold guitar tone isn't necessarily difficult to listen to. It can refer to a dry tone (see "dry" below), or a scooped tone, but even if a tone has plenty of mids, it can still be considered cold. Generally the area of midrange in question is around 350 - 800 HZ. It can also refer to a bright tone (see "bright" below), as well as an overly crunchy or a grinding tone (see crunchy and grinding below). It can also refer to a tone that focuses intensely in one frequency range.

IX. Warm

Opposite of a cold tone - easy to listen to, with most frequencies in balance, and a healthy dose of "warm" frequencies from 350-800 HZ. Likely to have some resonance or reverb or delay to add at least some ambiance.

x. Hot

This actually refers to something different than the warm/cold dichotomy above. In reference to signal levels, a hot signal is used to describe a signal that is exceeding or nearly exceeds its maximum level before clipping/distorting. In reference to tone, this translates into the amount of distortion applied to the tone. A "hot" tone has lots of distortion. It can be used to express negative or positive connotations towards the level of distortion. For example, one may say the tone is "too hot", or one may say, "Man, that tone is hot!"

xi. Dry

This has two different contexts. One is used to describe the ambiance of the tone, which factors in resonance, reverb, or delay. A dry tone would have very little ambiance. The other context is used to describe how much effects are mixed into the tone. This context is often used when describing a Wet/Dry or Wet/Dry/Wet (W/DW) setup, where the main guitar signal is split in two (or three), with one side having no effects and the others having effects, such as modulation, reverb, delay, pitch shifting, etc. applied. Often the individual effects will have their maximum or otherwise extremely high mix settings used, and this "wet" signal(s) is mixed against the "dry" (no effects) signal to find the right balance of how "wet" the tone should be. The greater the balance of the "wet" signal(s) vs. the "dry" signal, the "wetter" the tone is said to be.

xii. Wet

Opposite of dry. See "dry".

xiii. Dark

Has two somewhat synonomous meanings. One describes a tone with greater emphasis on lower frequencies vs. higher frequencies as judged from the frequency response heard. The other refers to the nature of the distortion resulting from a dark signal being fed into a distortion stage. The distortion will usually be fuzzy and be quite broken up.

xiv. Bright

Opposite of dark. In reference to distortion, a bright distortion will often sound crunchy or sizzling (see "crunchy" and "sizzle"), perhaps even grinding (see "grinding"). The low-end will be "tight" and have more focus - no fuzzyness.

xv. Smooth

Generally the opposite of buzz. Sounds more like "oooo" than "zzzz". Also can refer to a lack of crackle in the tone/signal (see crackle).

xvi. Squishy/Saturated

This refers to the nature of the tone's distortion, mainly in reference to the attack and sustain of palm mutes. A squishy tone has a weak attack and a long sustain - the opposite of a percussive sound. Overall, the tone sounds more like a synth than a drum. The squishy characterstics are all present in unmuted playing - while there may be much more attack there, the tone is still very compressed and sustains relatively long. Two factors that contribute to a squishy tone are plenty of distortion and a mid-range focus to the signal being distorted.

xvii. Djenty

Term used to describe squishy palm mutes with a strong presence focus that makes them stand out. It is evident when playing muted power chords, particularly when using 4 or more notes.

xviii. Splatty

Describes a tone that is not smooth at all, but not necessarily buzzy. Similar to crackly, but whereas crackly is marked by a cracking/tearing type sound in the tone, splatty is marked more by random drop-outs to the tone and high-pitched squeals. It generally occurs by feeding an extremetly bright signal to a heavily distorted amp.

xix. Crackly

A noisy cracking or tearing type sound in the tone, noted by a seemingly random (irregular) appearance in the signal. Often caused by bad connections due to worn out cables or turning bad guitar pots. Rarely caused by settings, but can appear due to distorting multiple gain stages in succession to a high degree.

xx. Clanking

Basically just a grinding distortion but the "clanking" nature is emphasized when the tone is more percussive than squishy.

xxi. Ice-Pick

This refers to a tone that is so extremely bright, it hurts to listen to. It is said to be like driving an ice-pick into your ears. It can be due to high amounts of high frequencies that are normally very low volume compared to other frequencies in guitars - such as anything over 5-8 kHZ. But it can also be due to a peak frequency lower than this (such as 3kHZ) that is simply extremely loud.

xxii. Harsh

A harsh tone is any tone that is difficult to listen to at high volumes or for long periods of time, generally due to an overly bright frequency response or crackly, buzzy, or grinding nature of distortion.

xxiii. Muddy

Generally a tone that is too dark or has distortion on the low-end, causing it to lose focus and tightness, similar to fuzz. Basically fuzz applied just to the low-end. Almost always used in a negative context - unwanted mud.

xxiv. Thin

Usually means the tone is too bright, but isn't just related to the frequency response. It can also mean the tone is too dry or the distortion isn't squishy or warm or punchy enough. The term relates to the association of thinner strings or objects having less mass and producing less momentum, resonance, and lower frequencies.

xxv. Brittle

see "thin"

xxvi. Thick

Opposite of "thin" and often used in a positive context. You are more likely to hear "too dark" than "too thick".

xxvii. High-Gain

High-gain typically refers to an amplifier designed to add large amounts of distortion into the signal. Early guitar amps had no "Drive" or "Gain" control, only a master volume control. After amp manufacturers realized many players were turning up their amps as loud as possible to purposefully induce distortion, they incorporated this ability into their pre-amp circuits, where the player had more control over the level of distortion without having to make his amp deafeningly loud. Technically, any amp with a pre-amp "Drive" or "Gain" control is considered a "high-gain" amplifier, although different amps will provide different characteristics and levels of distortion.