Ultimate Tone ?!?

[Chuck H]

The point was raised in another thread that the constant tweaking in search for the ultimate tone from an amp is futile because it's different for everyone and there are too many important types of tones for one amp to do them all well. I would agree with this. But I still think tweaking an amp as close to the tone in your head as you can get it is a justified effort.

I'm starting this thread to try to get an idea what players hear and love. Who better than we here who love, play and build our gear.

What recorded tone, that most people would be able to reference and recognize, really turns you on. The one you hear and think 'Man, I love the guitar tone on this track'.

Obviously most of us probably have several. I'll start off with two of my favorites.

Midnight Rambler (Rolling Stones) the low parts. The guitar is just so spongey and crisp at the same time. Killer. AND... The intro guitar for the Beavis and Butthead theme. Anyone else ever notice that one?

All entries appreciated.

Chuck

[daz]

Wow, where do i start?! Pretty much anything from SRV or Brad paisley gives me an instant broner. (yeah, the "r" was there to keep it clean) But i could list many songs/players. How about the tone on the solo in blue collar man by styx? Name any of the older to mid era townsend tones...man o man ! Those rhythm tones were perfection. For the most in your face nasty but awesome fuzz, check out 3 dog nite, mainly the older tunes. Or if i really want to hurt myself, the guitar tone in the stone's 'monkey man" is painfully good, especially that opening riff....how in gods name did such an orgasmic tone ever come to be ?! I could go on, but why...

[defaced]

That super buttery clean Chevelle uses on the album "Wonder What's Next". Send the Pain Below and Closure are two tracks it's prevalent on.

And for high gain, there isn't a recorded example of what I hear in my head. But I will say the Uberschall, the Deliverance and the SLO 100 are all high gain sounds I really like, and all for very different reasons.

[Mandopicker]

When I need a tone fix...depending upon my mood, I like throwing on just about any Steely Dan album or even to listen to some Buck Owens for that super tasteful Don Rich. (Love the steel guitar too!)

There certainly is whole lot of great tone in between.

Great thread!

[txstrat]

Great thread.
I like SRV and the likes very much probably due to the TONE of the strat through a Fender amp. For the "clean section" reference I would say "Lenny" from the Texas Flood album. And for the overdriven one I'd say "Crosscut saw" from the SRV 3 disk compilation or maybe "Taxman".
I really like it when I hear the pumping power tubes in "Crosscut saw".

[theunrulychef]

Hmm, it's like asking what we're all wearing today.

These all tend to give me the willies down my spine every time though:
Link Wray - Rumble
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Loose Change (from the oddball album Broken Arrow)
Santo & Johnny - Sleep Walk

[Robert M. Martinelli]

"Clean" sound: Wayne Krantz on Donald Fagen's "Great Pagoda Of Funn" ( BTW his solo on that track is a masterpiece IMHO, check it out! )

"Blues" sound:SRV's "Lenny" ( "hoarse", but gentle and buttery Fender tone )

"High Gain" sound: Joe Satriani's tone on "Revelations" ( tasteful, toneful, never obtrusive )

Anyway, all of the above examples are also very much "touch dependent", as we're talking about three geniuses who grace(d) their playing with an incredible amount of dynamics and touch control.

This reinforces my belief that the player's touch is at the top of the list when it comes to "tone-making" ( the #2 being a guitar/amp combination capable of fully capturing all the subtle variations a gifted player can "throw in" in his playing ).

JM2CW

Best regards

Bob

[rathmann]

Hmm, it's like asking what we're all wearing today.

No kidding!

Brian May's various tones on "News of the World" really are what started me down the path of the ultimate tone search.

Distorted lead tone - We Will Rock You
Rhythm tone - It's Late

But really pick any Queen song and Brian's tone is incredible and perfect for the mood of the song.

Similarly, any of Dave Gilmour's stuff from DSotM through to The Wall.

As far as a single track, check out Eddie Hazel's lead on Maggot Brain.

The peak of the EVH tone was on Fair Warning. Kind of thin a mid-heavy by metal standards today, but the crunch tones on Meanstreets and Unchained defined the sound of hard rock / metal for at least a decade. The leads on Hear About It Later and Dirty Movies still give me chills.

As far as heavy, high-gain distorted metal tones goes I've always dug Adam Jones (from Tool)

[cminor9]

This is fun, I'll play!

Clean: Just about anything by Barney Kessel or Larry Coryell. Maybe too obscure for this discussion, but the tele tones on Volebeats recordings (particularly The Sky and the Ocean) are delicious and make me stop what I am doing to admire them!

Lead: Slash solos on old Guns and Roses tunes, particularly the first solo on Knocking on Heavens Door. John Mayer's solo on Gravity (live version on the Try album)

Crunch: AC/DC Back in Black, ZZ Top cheap sunglasses. Also, many of the tones on Stone Temple Pilots' Core album are quite nice.

[hasserl]

So many different players/tones, it's hard to list an ultimate.

But here's a couple of really righteous examples of tone IMO:

YouTube - Greg Martin digs into his 1958 Les Paul
YouTube - Sean Costello 'Hucklebuck' Crossroads Cafe, Antwerp 071125
YouTube - "Desdemona" - Derek Trucks Guitar Solo
YouTube - Marshall Tucker Band Ramblin On My Mind -original MTB!
YouTube - Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing (Royal Albert Hall) Stereo

[tubeswell]

Dang Who do I leave out? Not any of these...

Larry Carlton on Kid Charlemagne

Pete Green

Hank Marvin's sound on the Shadows version of 'Stardust' (and the trem) & of course Apache

John Fogarty on Born on the Bayou

Dick Dale on Misirlou (Pulp Fiction version)

Otis Rush on All Your Love

George Harrison on Come Together

Eric Clapton on Hideaway

SRV on Mary Had a Little Lamb

Dalibor & Dinko from The Bambi Molesters on Theme From Slaying Beauty

James Burton on Suzie Q

Brian Setzer on Stray Cat Strut

Chuck Berry on Johnny Be Goode

Jimi Hendrix on Red House

Jimmy Page on Whole Lotta Love (esp. the solo) & The Lemon Song & D'Yer Mak'er

Mark Knopfler on Sultans of Swing

Neil Young on Cortez The Killer

Billy Gibbons on La Grange & Tush

Elliot Easton on Let the Good Times Roll

Brian May on I Want to Break Free

Hubert Sumlin on You'll Be Mine & Smokestack Lightnin'

any Elmore James

even Josh White (and he was acoustic)

They all added something to the mix

[Spookyman]

Malcolm Young acheives great things although I'm told often he is actually playing through a bass amp... not sure if that is true or if so what amp it is.

SRV on Pride and Joy

John Lee Hooker on almost everything he played

Creedence Clearwater Revival on Born on the Bayou

Angus Young on the Back in Black album - the intro to Have A Drink On Me

The guitar on Little Feat's Dixie Chicken

Keef on So many tracks, but the live sound that was captured on the Flashpoint album was great

Boss coming back into office, must go, will post more later...

[PremiumPlus]

Hendrix / Red House
Larry Carlton / Don't Take me Alive, Kid Charlemagne
Robin Trower / Bridge of Sighs
Keith Richards / Midnight Rambler
Lennon/McCartney/Harrison The End
Lennon/Harrison Ticket to Ride
Billy Gibbons/ Blue Jean Blues
Jimmy Page/ How Many More Times, The Ocean

Oh Yeah!!!

[anthillrich]

+1 on the Eddie van halen Fair warning tone. i am not crazy about most of the EVH tones( vh II was about the worst), but mean streets, sends a chill up my spine. what kinda marshall was that anyway?

for clean, Mark knopfler's tones on the "BROTHERS IN ARMS" album.

and about a million other great tones i can think of. In fact, i wish i had one "ultimate tone" in my head, i'd just go buy that particular amp and be happy.

[theunrulychef]

and about a million other great tones i can think of. In fact, i wish i had one "ultimate tone" in my head, i'd just go buy that particular amp and be happy.

Yeah, but then what would you build nights & weekends?

Here's another one: Spoon. Pretty much all their records have Grade A guitar tones.