Growing up there was 3 guitarists whose tone I always wanted to have. Slash's lead tone on estranged/November rain, etc. So freaking clean. Also his rhythm sound on something like don't damn me or anything off appetite. Van Halen's "brown" sound on any of those DLR records. Ain't talking about love or panama just have a perfect crunch to it. James Hetfield's rhythm sound. I marveled at Page's, Hendrix's, and Clapton's playing but never sought out their tone so much. Or at least I thought they were easier to match in sound. Not playing.
Listen and weep, Jimi. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gSDf2Usd8n4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
On the Viva Santana version of Europa. Carlos suspends a note for about half a minute and it is an amazing tone as the rest of the band play behind that one note.
Forward to 2:10 or so if you just wanna hear the awesome solo, but great song, great tone. Not the best recording but a nice live video. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Btq4MnwvQgM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Great Choice! I'd have to go with Mick Ronson for great tone and cool guitar trickery. And of course, we can't have this discussion without mentioning Jeff Beck.
I really like Alex Lifeson's tone on Grace Under Pressure and Hemispheres. For the most part, Alex has good tone on most of his albums but those two in particular stand out. He's also kind of unique in that his tone almost always changes significantly from album to album. I also really enjoy Eric Johnson's tone. What's really cool about EJ is that his tone live is exactly the same as what you hear on the record and it sounds like a guitar through cranked amps. It does not sound processed.
Zappa instrumentals... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dvD_6Ltfgbg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Solo kicks in at just past the one minute mark... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/t-fV0oVzLS0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Zappa's guitar tones were awesome.
Not exactly 100% on the topic, but right now, my favorite guitar/amp combo is a late 1950's Fender Tweed deluxe, with a late 50's/early 60's Les Paul Jr. It records like a boss. My '57 Tweed Deluxe is hilarious. Fender was trying to create clean amps and he totally failed with these. The thing starts to distort seriously when the volume is at 4. At 10, into a recording console, it sounds like a Plexi. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/u1GzJibN3j8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The only recording that I'm 100% sure uses this combo is Mississippi Queen, by Mountain. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/qFhM1XZsh6o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You get that sound straight out of the box, which is amazing. No pedals, no studio slight of hand to pump it up. People obsess about the 200 Watt monster amps, but IMO, the best sound comes out of an old 10-15 Watt amp with an old 20 Watt AlNiCo speaker. That having been said, a lot of those tones are a little too "**** Rock" for use in everything. If you want a tone that is a little cleaner, the Gilmore setup is a HiWatt 50 watt into a HiWatt 4x12 cabinet. This is also the setup that Lindsay Buckingham used with Fleetwood Mack around "Rumors". A whole bunch of other 70s bands did as well. The big thing with the HiWatts is the 4x12's use a specific speaker made by Fane that sounds great and they don't sound as completely aggressive as something like a giant Marshall Plexi. The nice thing about those HiWatts, and some of the 70's Fender amps is it is distorted enough that you get a nice growl, but you can still here the pluck sound of the attack. The problem I have with extreme distortion is how completely compressed it sounds. A whole bunch of classic Rolling Stones was recorded with a tiny Fender amp of some sort.
I'm not a (good) guitarist, but I do have a few players with great tones off the top of my head. Zappa (extended solo): <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-Jh6wnmRbvQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> David Gilmore: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iJZYG5qwHHI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Alex Lifeson: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/vUNxqE_3N0c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> And a bit of a darkhorse... Neil Schon (solo starts at 3:50): <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/JvdiGJUW31E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Zappa toying with Santana... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/b1GLdbNfyCw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
BigM mentioned the EVH "Brown" sound... here's a great example: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xx86CxKYtg0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It makes me want to do jump kicks off my cubicle desk.
My kind o' thread. Nice job, peeps, keep it up. Good job on the Lifeson picks, he really knew how to let things ring without getting or sounding sloppy. Love his dynamics. I will say some of the mid era stuff was too chock full of chorus sometimes, but some of that stuff truly sounds great. Between the Wheels really starts off mean. Can't get enough Zappa either. Ever. Otto, that tone on that combo sounds reminiscent of Ted Nugent as well. Also have to say that while Gilmore may not be my favorite guitar player, in technical terms, ever (and I'm a big fan of his and Floyd), the tone he gets from low end to high end is always fantastic, and no one seems to be able to do more with less than he can. A truly creative player. Lindsey Buckingham is another good choice, though sometimes a little wirey for me, even though that's his thing and he does it well. Another good one, Ritchie Blackmore. And Brian May, And Billy Gibbons, and Carlos Santana.... and and and... Rep all around here.
A little more obscure... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RbpGMF4bcbU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
