Who has the best tone?

brendansmith · 29-07-2009 12:24AM #1

Who in your opinion has the best guitar tone?

I myself love a really tight drenched distortion tone that has very little bass to it but very trebly (there are exceptions of course.

Id have to say at the moment my favs are

EVH,
Skidrow,
John Petrucci.

ride-the-spiral · 29-07-2009 12:34AM

John Petrucci on Images and Words and Awake
After the Burial have a great 8 string tone. (I don't know their names:D)
Isis have quite a nice sludge tone.

Adding in a fourth, Explosions in the Sky's clean tone on The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

-=al=- · 29-07-2009 12:37AM

ej of course

old satriani and vai tones and sambora

Alanstrainor · 29-07-2009 07:19AM

Mr.Stevie Ray Vaughan clear and sharp but not overly so, and just the right amount of overdrive. Sexy.

Paolo_M · 29-07-2009 08:57AM

Andy Timmons has to get a mention here, sweet tones. Of course he has a great touch anyway and would get great tones out of a squire beginners kit

Early EVH albums

The ReLoad album has some great tones, not so sure about the songs though..

Slash's sound on the UYI albums were what got me playing in the first place

Can't beat Angus's tone for straight up balls and simplicity

Paul Weller and Tom Petty got some pretty sweet sounds out of their Voxes

I actually think Dimbags tone worked really well for Pantera, just the right amount of harsh aggressiveness IMO

Love Stuart Copelands sounds with the Police

and I'm actually quite partial to Robby Kreigers sounds, just had some old Doors stuff on the other day

I always think that EJs tone is so perfectly smooth that it doesn't even sound like guitar any more, maybe that's just me...

Oh nearly forgot Mick McCreedy on Yellow Leadbetter or Hendrix on the Wind Cries Mary or Fruciante during the BSSM era for that straty goodness

Fingers Mcginty · 29-07-2009 09:25AM

Peter Green's out of phase tone is one of my favourites along wth SRV, Hendrix, Billy Gibbons ....beautiful tone and he uses 8's :eek:Paul Weller Jam days...for acoustic tones it has to be John Martyn's studio sound on the early albums and Stephen Stills/Neil Young's live sound on 4 way street.

.

Keyzer · 29-07-2009 10:10AM

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Peter Green's out of phase tone is one of my favourites...

Agreed...

Peter Green's tone was absolutely phenomenal without a shadow of a doubt.

B.B. King said "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats."

Paul Kossoff from Free had great tone as well coming mainly from his masterful use of vibrato.

Hornswoggle · 29-07-2009 10:16AM

+1 for SRV. Many have tried to mimic his legendary tone but ultimately fail. He truly was unique.

kranog · 29-07-2009 11:28AM

My fave guitar tone's belong to;

Jeremy Popoff of Lit....whatever you think of their music....his tone is awesome, specially on the last record!

I also love Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent....
His tone is to die for!

Voodu Child · 29-07-2009 11:56AM

Andy Timmons, awesome tone

Scoual · 29-07-2009 12:47PM

i have to say that i agree to most of the above, but i've discovered Keith Urban & Brad Paisley lately and those two definitely have great tones, see below

freshcream · 29-07-2009 12:47PM

+1 for peter green,

Leslie wests.
sg special era santana.
Dan Auburach.
Frank zappa hot rats era
It really depends on the song,Can you hear me knocking by the rolling stones for instance, I'm not a fan of them per say, but I just love the tone of that main riff.

Fingers Mcginty · 29-07-2009 06:23PM

Forgot about this man.

Alanstrainor · 29-07-2009 06:40PM

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Forgot about this man.

Definitely, fantastic player and superb tone

boycey · 29-07-2009 08:12PM

I think Peter Green is always gonna be one of my favourites.
Early AC/DC as well, that really raw and wiry tone from High Voltage.
David Gilmour is another obvious tone meister.

Having said that I dont really think you have to be a legend to get great tone. I've heard some lovely tones from fellow boardsies at meet ups!!

One thing that always strikes me is how finnicky you get about your own tone when you play on your own, whack on a CD or have a jam with a few mates and all of a sudden it just sounds great in a full band context.
The other thing is you can be playing away for ages thinking yeah, it sounds alright. Stand back and let someone else use your gear and its like ' How come I dont sound like that!' You do, but you're too busy playing to appreciate the sound/racket you're actually belting out! Either that or I just sound cack!

Fingers Mcginty · 29-07-2009 08:59PM

BTW Bareknuckle PG blues pickups nail the OOP tone Greeny was renowned for and I think Mr Moore got himself some of thise puppies too. I have them and they are lovely.
Boycey some interesting stuff there in your last paragraph

Sergio · 29-07-2009 10:52PM

I 100% agree about John Petrucci,s tone.

Also another amazing guitar player who has an amazing guitar tone is Mr Steve Lukather from the band TOTO.

brendansmith · 29-07-2009 11:11PM

Paolo_M wrote: »

Slash's sound on the UYI albums were what got me playing in the first place

I was listening to these albums the other day and notices while the solos sound rich and full the riffs tone sound weak and scratchy.

Paolo_M wrote: »

I actually think Dimbags tone worked really well for Pantera, just the right amount of harsh aggressiveness IMO

Agreed!!

spoonbadger · 30-07-2009 12:00AM

brendansmith wrote: »

I was listening to these albums the other day and notices while the solos sound rich and full the riffs tone sound weak and scratchy.

Probably because the rhytym parts were done by izzy on his telecaster.

For me, tone awards go to...
-Dave gilmour.
-Mark knopfler.
-Jimi hendrix (pretty much all of "Are you experience" and that awesome hollow tone from the watchtower solo)
-Jimmy page
-Billy corgan

brendansmith · 30-07-2009 12:09AM

spoonbadger wrote: »

Probably because the rhytym parts were done by izzy on his telecaster.

For me, tone awards go to...
-Dave gilmour.
-Mark knopfler.
-Jimi hendrix (pretty much all of "Are you experience" and that awesome hollow tone from the watchtower solo)
-Jimmy page
-Billy corgan

Nah I mean both guitar parts.

Mark knopfler, deffo, ive been listening to a live dire staits album today and wow!!! Amazing tone!

spoonbadger · 30-07-2009 12:30AM

brendansmith wrote: »

Nah I mean both guitar parts.

Mark knopfler, deffo, ive been listening to a live dire staits album today and wow!!! Amazing tone!

Ah, ok so. It's probably because of Slash's amps in that case. From any soundclips i hear of them, those marshall 2550s sound quite harsh, sterile and fuzzy. Nice lead tones though!.

And yeah, knopfler is insane!. I was really surprised by his les paul tone too, especially when he plays brothers in arms live!.

red_ice · 30-07-2009 12:36AM

brendansmith wrote: »

I myself love a really tight drenched distortion tone that has very little bass to it but very trebly

The stuff that makes your ears bleed?

Paolo_M wrote: »

Can't beat Angus's tone for straight up balls and simplicity

Its near impossible. There is just such an immense presence and strength to the ACDC tone's overall in fairness. Its just amazing.

My fav tone would come from josh homme. All round, he seems to pick out the right sounds to melt my ears. Be it on bass or guitar. Mainly mids turned up, very warm sounds. Low frequency distortion is the only way i can explain it. Quality.

brendansmith · 30-07-2009 02:00AM

red_ice wrote: »

The stuff that makes your ears bleed?

No the stuff that lets the bass hold down the lower end as opposed to the guitar trying to cover all the bases. Van halens 'black and blue' for example

Paolo_M · 30-07-2009 08:24AM

brendansmith wrote: »

Nah I mean both guitar parts.

Izzys guitar parts always sounded sterile to me tonewise. I dunno, it's as if he has a 100 Watt valve amp, but the master dialed right down to 2/3 so you get that boring, flat, lifeless kinda tone that's sounds hard but not aggressive or interesting.

I'd have put Slashs parts on UYI in the catagory of letting the bass do it's thing in the mix though. I'd reckon if he put much more low end in there you'd loose the clarity of what Duff and the kick drum and toms are doing, which really drives the songs and gives a sharp thump to the overall sound.
To my ears his live tone always dissappoints though, it doesn't have the same lush, richness and fire to it.
His tone in VR was not great either, though I think the mix on those albums was aweful too.

brendansmith · 30-07-2009 10:45AM

Paolo_M wrote: »

.

I'd have put Slashs parts on UYI in the catagory of letting the bass do it's thing in the mix though. I'd reckon if he put much more low end in there you'd loose the clarity of what Duff and the kick drum and toms are doing, which really drives the songs and gives a sharp thump to the overall sound.

Yeah I see what you are about there alright. I gave it another listen on the way home from work today and I think my previous statement may have been abit hasty. His tones seem to change from song to song.

population · 30-07-2009 12:14PM

spoonbadger wrote: »

-Billy corgan

Actually that's a good call. Pumpkins stuff varied between muffled mank and just oh so perfect

population · 30-07-2009 12:17PM

My own two cents

Billy Gibbons

John Sykes/Bernie Marsden on early Whitesnake

Slash

Kenny_D · 30-07-2009 01:05PM

Any love for Brian May?

population · 30-07-2009 02:46PM

LOOOOOOTTTTTSSSS of love for Brian May

Dr Hfuhruhurr · 30-07-2009 06:44PM

Marty Friedman .....True obsessions album defo

larry carlton tone on the Kid Charlemange song

Ty tabor from kings x...nuff said.

Steve lukather obviously...

ham_n_mustard · 30-07-2009 07:29PM

Scott Ian any time in the eighties

Who has the best tone?

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