Richie's current guitar tone is less-than-mediocre

I never said you weren't qualified to debate or comment, i simply commented (as I am also entitled to do) that I disagree with you strongly. He's not that sloppy anyway, I agree if you compare him to mid 90s he's not as good but on this last tour he was far superior to the early days of Bon Jovi, in my opinion.

guys its unfair to compare a guitarist with the live dvds and the studio recordings. richie may be a bit more sloppy but his playing and chops are all there. his heyday may was 93-96, the nineties were their peak but they released the less material sadly, anyway i believe we all talk about richies slopiness because of the you tube where every little mistake is highlighted..

I'm not letting tabloids interfere with my opinion.

The fact is, i understand his vocals going downhill. he's not 27 anymore....but as i said, guitarplaying is hardly an aerobic event-compared with the guys i previously mentioned he s not in the same league. he's got worse with time.

Yngwie Malmsteen is boring as ****, Gary Moore was too self indulgent and even more repetitive than Richie and Slash is incredibly overrated.

It's about time someone says it.

to be fair ha has some legendary riffs and solos but if he lacked the look(which looks a bit silly to me after all these years) noone would consider him THAT good

I saw Slash live once (he opened up for Ozzy Osbourne) and he was a good opener but nothing about him overly impressed me. I've seen Richie with the band 5 times and he blew Slash out of the water every time I've seen him. To each his own, and I know there are a lot who prefer Slash over Richie, but personally I think Richie is far ahead of Slash.

I'm with you with this one. Slash is not about music is about a sole "rock and roll image", indeed he has his own shinning moments but none of them is even near to Richie (November Rain might get close though). Richie's about music, he doesn't even care about his look (he's been wearing that disgusting red shirt for so long, so many times very often lately). He's not the same he once was, agree with that, but hey! The man is a genious! What would it be of Bon Jovi without him? Richie rocks!

I am loving all of this Slash "overrated" talk. It's true! He has his own style and he is good at what he is good at but he doesn't have near the flexibility or diversity Richie has and he seems to get way more credit.

As far Richie's tone goes, I also agree. It has gone down hill. He doesn't have the sustain he use to have. I have been guitar player for 15 years now and know a thing or two about equipment. I, however, do not know much about his equipment. I know the quality of guitar (or lack thereof when referring to his signature ESP) has a little to do with it. I seriously doubt his fx or fx settings have anything to do with it. Fx can seriously mess up your sound if the settings are effed up, but surely he and his guitar tech know how to set it up.
Here is the guy who designed his fx system: http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=64558

My only guess is the amp. I haven't noticed his amp on the last couple tours. Thoughts?

http://www.musicradar.com/news/guita...jovi-487744/27

His amps as far as I am aware have remained pretty consistent - Marshall JCM2000 DSLs.