ezietsman
I know I like certain guitar sounds best for a while and then that changes and I admire some other tone. I also know it makes me change the settings on my own gear (and leads to some kind of GAS). So let's hear what your current (and maybe all time favourite) favourite guitar tone is.
Mine at the moment is that lead tone on Heart of Stone - Dan Patlansky. I can't help making blues faces when I hear that.
MNM7
I love threads like this. My current tone is a mix of classic rock like AC/DC with a bit of a modern tone. In terms of my gear setup it's basically the Lead Stack Amp model on my GT-8 combined with Tubescreamer.
makepeace
For me its gotta be Jimi's tone at the '69 Woodstock. Strat, Univibe, Fuzzface, Marshall. Great stuff. 'Specially like Message to Love.
singemonkey
I'm really loving the tone of Luther Dickenson's Stratocaster on the latest Black Crowes record. It's even more impressive because they recorded the entire double album of new materiel live in front of an audience.
It sounds like he's going through a cranked Fender - probably a bassman, or a Deluxe Reverb. He sits on the neck pickup and playes with his fingers. Then he lets the wah howl. He's one of the few modern players who knows how to use a wah. He doesn't just crank it up and down. For some phrases he leaves it in one position. Then he'll work it on another lick. Then he'll do a slow sweep on a bend. Just amazing. The sound is huge. Full of rich dynamics.
I just hope they keep this lineup. He's by far the best lead guitarist they've ever had. Just a superb blues rock player - and it takes a lot to stand out from the bunch nowdays. Great slide player too.
chris77
Listened to Johny Cash in the car yesterday and the combination of Double Bass and Tele(?) really made my toes curl.
aubs1
I am more into the tone that "fits" the song/solo at the time..........currently most guitarists use one or other type of distortion/crunch tone, which I am getting quite bored with.........that said.........
My all-time favourite tone has to be Brian May's absolutely stunning sound/tone, and of course..........everything Hendrix ever did...... ?
arjunmenon
Right now, my fave tone has to be a hybrid of Guthrie Govan, Alex Hutchings, Greg Howe, Shawn Lane, Jeff Beck & Joh Petrucci.
Nice topic!
Mitch21
Eric Claptons tone when he was with Cream. Also Joe Bonnamassa's tone is amazing!
BMU
I always pimp Per Nilsson in these types of threads and no-one every knows who I'm talking about.
Anyway.
Per Nilsson from Scar Symmetry has the smoothest, butteriest high gain lead tone I've ever heard. Not wimpy smooth like Erich Johnson, smooth - with enough bite to be suitable for death metal - smooth.
Apparently he uses an old flower pattern JEM for all his solos in the studio, which is interesting 'cos it's loaded with Dimarzio PAFs, not what you'd associate with high gain. Makes me want to try them out. (Then again I think Morbid Angel recorded some REALLY heavy stuff using PAFs, iirc.)
Yes I know. No one knows what I'm talking about. Just like in real life HAHA.
Reinhard
Peter Green's live tone on If you be my baby off the Shrine 69 album (actually he always had great tone, but that kills me)
Mike Bloomfields tone in this solo
singemonkey
Reinhard wrote:
Peter Green's live tone on If you be my baby off the Shrine 69 album (actually he always had great tone, but that kills me)
I want to hear this record. I also want to get Fleetwood Mac live at the BBC. That just has to be good. Have you heard it? Also, which record has The Green Manalishi on it? I've been nuts about his tone on Please Stop Messin' Around.
Since this thread is about new tones we've come to like, I'm also digging the various guitarists on Frank Black albums. They all seem to be chosen because the use Fender guitars and amps, cranked up high. It's a good sound ?
In fact, now that I think of it, I think that the Luther Dickinson I mentioned earlier in this thread played on one of his records.
Bob-Dubery
I've been hearing some great acoustic tones lately. Notably Martin Simpson. I think that with acoustic the gear is still a factor, but the player and their physical method is important too.
And I think the key is to get a lot of energy into the strings. Certainly this has got to be a factor with Simpson, this is how he is able to do all that great legato stuff - because he's put enough energy into the strings in the first place to allow them to ring a long time.
Not just when he's playing with fingers on the fingerboard, but when he's playing slide as well. I was watching some footage of Jerry Douglas last night, and you see a similar thing going on. You can see him sliding up the neck, but not just a single swoop, stopping off at a fret, adding some vibrato, moving on to the next note with out striking the strings again with the pick. Again there has to be enough energy in the string to allow that to happen.
This probably means that I am going to have to relearn everything with a thumb pick. It's not a given, mind. A good friend of mine, gets fantastic tone when playing fingerstyle and Mike uses no picks. I have seen clips of Bruce Cockburn playing with just skin on the strings.
OK... nails can fulfill the same function as a pick. Cockburn reinforces his nails. Simpson uses a thumb pick and synthetic overlays on his finger nails. The friend is very annoying though. I went to play with him on Wednesday night and he was complaining about how, in some office accident or other, he'd ripped one nail to shreds - he still got a great tone. My nails aren't lasting right now. Hmmm.... maybe the superglue root is the way to go, but I bought some thumb picks last weekend and the sound coming out of the Morgan when I dig in is fantastic.
This also changes the balance a lot. There is a lot more oomph and more definition in the lower register so the fingers have to work harder on strings 1 to 3 to assert themselves.
PeteM
@Bob - One of the most important things I learned from the late, great David Hewitt is to pick the strings so that they vibrate horizontally to the fret board - this is how you get sustain. I have found with some of my more advanced pupils that with their current right hand technique, they pick the strings such that they vibrate in a more vertical manner and this kills the sustain. This is even more prevalent when trying to play louder.
It's amazing how with this technique you don't have to strike the strings too hard to get more volume with a clear tone.
It does mean that you must change your right hand technique such that the fingers are at more of an angle to the strings rather than in a vertical position. I'm glad I did.
You can of course take my comment with a "pinch of salt." ?
singemonkey
Bob, it's amazing how quickly you can get used to a thumb-pick. And it really helps get that percussive, bass fiddle kind of sound when you're palm muting the three lowest strings. One of these days I must figure out this whole nail reinforcement malarkey. I'm sure it's a much bigger problem on the higher tension steel string acoustics you're playing.
Reinhard
singemonkey wrote:
Reinhard wrote:
Peter Green's live tone on If you be my baby off the Shrine 69 album (actually he always had great tone, but that kills me)
I want to hear this record. I also want to get Fleetwood Mac live at the BBC. That just has to be good. Have you heard it? Also, which record has The Green Manalishi on it? I've been nuts about his tone on Please Stop Messin' Around.
Since this thread is about new tones we've come to like, I'm also digging the various guitarists on Frank Black albums. They all seem to be chosen because the use Fender guitars and amps, cranked up high. It's a good sound ?
In fact, now that I think of it, I think that the Luther Dickinson I mentioned earlier in this thread played on one of his records.
I did a bit of reading, Green Manalishi was released as a single before PG left the band. Reached number 10 on the charts. I have it on a "Best of" I got from Musica. Musica currently has another FM compilation, but I can't remember if it is on there.
I checked my mp3's. I have the following albums:
Fleetwood Mac
Mr Wonderful
The pious bird of good omen
Blues jam in chicago volume 1 and 2
The original fleetwood mac
Then play on
Klin house
English Rose
Shrine 69
Retro Gold
Blues Jam in Chicago
MAdison Blues Live
The 3 Boston teaparty discs and another Compilation or 2. Somehow I don't have the live at the BBC disc. The 3 Boston Teaparty discs are a must have and if I remember correctly better than the BBC sessons.
Bob-Dubery
singemonkey wrote:
Bob, it's amazing how quickly you can get used to a thumb-pick. And it really helps get that percussive, bass fiddle kind of sound when you're palm muting the three lowest strings. One of these days I must figure out this whole nail reinforcement malarkey. I'm sure it's a much bigger problem on the higher tension steel string acoustics you're playing.
You think? Am I playing much heavier strings than you? I use 13s on the Larry and the Morgan, 12s on the Smoothtalker. What's taking strain are the thumb and the index finger - the index finger having to deal with the wound 3rd string. I have little notches worn into the nails on those two digits.
There are various approaches. Bruce Cockburn coats his nails with superglue. Richard Thompson doesn't use nails at all. Keeps them short (so short they don't strike the strings) and uses a thumb pick when he's not hybrid picking. So clearly it is possible to even out the string volumes and clearly there is more than one way to skin this particular alligator.
Martin Carthy uses his left hand as much as possible when not playing the guitar so as to preserve his nails.
Dunno what strings most of these guys use though. Simpson plays with 13s but he uses the bionic finger nails. Most of them have long scale necks because those hold the slack-key tunings a little better. Carthy is the odd one out here, tuning his 6th string down to C on a relatively short scale Martin 000-18.
So no one way.
Hammeron
I am liking the Dave Mustaine and Phil Demmel tone nice and raw...\m/
Seventhson
What about chris broderick?
I am loving that dudes style.
Dave is one of my fav guitarists.
BMU
Matt Sotelo's guitar tone (Engl head) on the latest Decrepit Birth - Polarity. Heavy yet clear yet so THROATY... awesome.
Yes I know. Still no one knows what I'm talking about, heh.
AndrewD
Why has nobody mentioned SRV yet?
