An amazing performance... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/j_7iRZzlSzI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I like and appreciate -- but don't listen to -- SRV. I wore those records out when I was learning to play 20-some years to go, but his legacy of followers has completely ruined him for me. Loud guitar, Tube Screamer, wah-wah, guttural vocals. It's so ubiquitous and awful. The Mike Bloomfield clip listed earlier in this thread is where it's at in terms of tone. And I'm not a big Les Paul guy.
I was watching some documentary on "Le Studio" where Rush recorded "Moving Pictures" as well as other albums before the studio was deserted and left to rot away. I recall from the interview of folks involved with recording rush albums that said...on the song "Limelight" (which was referenced earlier in this thread)...they actually layered two tracks of the guitar part (minus the solo) on top of each other to make the song sound fuller on the guitar part versus just having one guitar track. Good tone is good tone but studio recording trickery can also give the final studio album sound an extra edge in itself. It's amazing some of the stuff they come up with to make it sound that much better during the recording process. I would have never considered that "Limelight" off the studio album was actually two guitar tracks layered on each other to give it a fuller sound after all the years of listening to it. But, that's what the recording engineer said was done. Alex has a way with getting the sounds he wants using different guitars, amps, and effects. That's a big piece of what make his such a special guitarist...besides his inherent natural ability to just play riffs that make sense musically while using the right notes, etc. . But, yea, I've been following this thread and either I was going to throw out Alex Lifeson's name or someone else here was. Tone has always been somewhat of a confusing topic to me...as far as getting the best tone. I don't have a lot of amps and guitars to play with...so what I get for sound is what I get out of the equipment that I do have. But, when I look at tone, it basically comes down to the guitar and the amp (or stack). All the effects get in the way of that. Obviously, a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread achieve their signature tone through a Fender Stratocaster and Marshall stack combination where they have tweaked their guitars to their liking. But, as a guitar player myself who runs his sound through an effects board with amp modeling (even combining two different amp models at whatever level) and effects to a pre-amp and monitors, I think it blinds me to what actual tone is. I still think of tone is just the marrying of the guitar with the right pick-ups combination and the amp(ideally, tube and not solid state)...just finding that perfect combination before all the coloring of effects and digital processing, etc. . But, what do I know. Every guitarists whose made it has quality tone IMO...so it's hard to debate who has the best tone IMO.
A lot of my favorites have been mentioned such as Gilmour, Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, Duane Allman, Leslie West, Zappa, Neil Young, and Fripp. Some others that have to be mentioned: Wes Montgomery, Larry Coryell, and John McLaughlin (when it comes to jazz), Hubert Sumlin (when it comes to blues), Andy Gill and Keith Levene (post-punk guitar gods - just listen to "Entertainment!" and "Metal Box" to see what I mean), Kevin Shields (for obvious shoegazing reasons), and then these 2 guys - believe it or not: Reb Beach of Winger, *gulp* <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/K1JXrxCKQVs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Tom Scholz of Boston <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SSR6ZzjDZ94" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> But I would still go with Clapton when he was in Cream. He never quite played the guitar like he did when he was in Cream.
Interesting you should bring up Tom Scholz, Manny... Kind of an uncool but deserving mention. Dude was so hot when Boston was popular that scads of guitarist were looking to copy his sound/tone. He even had his own box/pedal as I remember, which I think was basically a 'power attenuator' allowing a guitarist to get the same tone from an amp fully turned up at lower volume levels. I have no opinion on Reb Beach and wont go back and find out Now, Andy Gill of 'Gang of Four' certainly does belong here as you suggest; though angular and brash, 'twas beautiful. As I look back at the previous posts (for after all, how often does a subject so dear to me come up?) I can't help but wish that I would have been the one to mention Leslie West. Dude smoked out pure Les Paul Jr tone. The dissection on Hiwatt amplifiers was also awesome. I had a Hiwatt cab with Fane speakers and not long after that got a Vox Ac30 w/ Fane speakers and loved the break-down on all that.
I urge you, Win, to listen to "Heading for a Heartbreak" and just focus on the guitar. It absolutely explodes out of the box to you and continues that way throughout the whole song. Ask Jeff (our Jeff) and he will tell you that Reb was a highly respected player amongst fellow musicians...he just had the huge misfortune of playing in one of the cheesiest hair metal bands alive in Winger. But he also spent some time with Dokken and I think maybe one or two other groups...dude has legit chops.
Ha!! As so often before, you will bend my arm into going down that rabbit hole and I will not fight it. Thanks for the nudge, amigo.... Oh yeah, this discussion lacks a little Paul Kossoff. http://youtu.be/siMFORx8uO8
those piccolo strings <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/N4L391fA4G4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I can pick out SRV in a Pepsi challenge with ease. Someone running a vibroverb and a marshall with a ts9 and using heavy strings still don't really have his sound. <iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/92351110" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/92351110">Stevie Ray Vaughan on Austin City Limits "Texas Flood" (1983)</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/austincitylimits">Austin City Limits</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
While I could live without the behind-the-back histrionics, SRV certainly delivers in that clip. And yeah, he is a tone monster! However, I can certainly appreciate, KellyDwyers' take on the subject (always nice to see him weigh in on non-sports subjects, dude knows his music). I just always saw SRV as a Hendrix wannabe and didn't understand why his brother, the slick Jimmy Vaughn was not more appreciated. In hindsight, I see my comparisons were unfair and that over time he created his own style and indeed, 'tone'. Way back in the early 80's (this is a Deckard moment for me) I participated in a blues contest at Rockefellers on Washington st. Stevie Ray and Double Trouble were the band on hand (and almost unknown) and contestants who dared, got to play guitar with Double Trouble (sans Stevie) for a few minutes to try and impress the judges and win a Hamer guitar. It was mostly comical, the contestants that is (including I) but for one guitarist who pretty much got up on a lark and bashed out 'Lucile' with nary a guitar solo. That guy was Johnny Fixx (Louie) from an old Houston band 'Lic'...... I digress because i remember him so fondly and it was so unexpected. \Getting back on topic, the thing I remember most about SRV was how he had two Fender Twins (maybe Deluxes's?) tilted and turned backward to the audience allowing him to really crank it, but not blow everyone and the PA away. he understood getting a good 'tone'.
Joe Walsh (The James Gang) are/were very underrated... <iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fy1iL01NjZo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Always loved Knopfler's instantly recognizable tone... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gjJzlIedCuo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Courtney Love is another person with a unique guitar sound. Check out this isolated mic with only her guitar and vocals. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/v-xUwDARVb4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think a bunch of people have a definition of "tone" at odds with mine. For me, tone comes exclusively from the equipment and how it's setup. A bunch of these comments include elements of the performance. There is an overlap between great tone and great players, but in my mind, only in that people who put in the work to become great players are also gear obsessed, and spend countless hours trying and tweaking various iterations until they get it right.
He never used twins. If you saw two identical amps they were Vibroverbs. He also at times used a Super Reverb and a Bassman.
Roy Buchanan... Can't embed, but check this out, especially the 6 minute mark on.... http://youtu.be/DDOIL5OqvYs Roy doing Joe Walsh song... <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1JtydfMP8s4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I will defer to your expertise, Bandwagoner... But since I was there, I know they were all in one twin sized dual speaker amps tilted back against the audiance on those cheesy Fender metal legs - no higher than my knee. I did not notice any separate amp heads. He was yet to put out an album (as I recall) at that time if that matters.
What year was this? Almost all of the blackface amps have tilt back legs. Super and Vibroverbs are not amp heads. Two vibroverbs side by side. Note the single 15" speaker.
Mick Taylor and Keith Richards. Houston, 1972 - Midnight Rambler. It was a great concert. Spoiler <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jNaAEJv_sDQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Mick Taylor playing Blues in the Morning at Cambridge in 1989. Outstanding! <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XOtmeiuwH_0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> So many great guitarists. Fortunately, the question is easy for me. Best tone, greatest guitar player? Jimi.
I think Neil Young uses an old 50's Fender Tweed deluxe with a 12" speaker ... love his sound ..one of the few that you can almost instantly identify within a few notes
