Ultimate Tone ?!?

[R.G.]

Hey, Take it easy R.G. Who pissed in your Cheerios. I just posted supporting you on another thread too. And I'm now getting "ingenuous" back. Don't be a needle at the baloon party. Sure it's kinda bubble headed, but we're having a little fun.

First off, let me apologize if it sounded like I was after you. I didn't mean to be. And I *do* get my cheerios pissed in regularly...

Peace, two.

[Steve Conner]

Yay, Soundgarden!

I used to be in a band that did 4th Of July as a cover, and I think the tone here is mostly in the tuning. IIRC, you drop the low E to D and then tune all the strings another whole tone down, so they're practically falling off the guitar. I used a .052 low E.

[Chuck H]

+1... But now we're talking about guitar tone and not amp tone. Not that it matters.

It's worth noting that SRV used twelve's slacked down a full step much of the time. This was a big part of his tone. I use a set of ten's with an eleven for the high E and tune to Eb. Guitar setup is a major part of tone. And just as importantly, feel. If the guitar "feels" right for the tone of the amp you can go beyond just executing the motions in a technical sense and begin expressing yourself. I'm also a proponant of using different gauges for alternate tunings. Most MFG's indicate the tension of their strings at pitch and this allows you to approximate and build a set that's just right for alternate and drop tunings.

IMHO

Chuck

[Tele-Cat]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8c05PEBdrQ"]YouTube- Lee Roy Parnell - Crossin' Over[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnEKm8ZjbBk"]YouTube- Delbert McClinton, Monkey Around[/ame]

[mduke]

my #1 fav tone of all time is the tone Kirk Hammett uses on the solo for "To live is to die" from the ...And Justice For All album. Beautiful

Slash's tone on pretty much the entire Appetite for destruction album is amazing

Of course you can't go wrong with SRV - the tone that man used to produce blows my mind every time i hear it.

Toni Iomi - black sabbath - particularly "Paranoid" album.

I also love a lot of Neil Young's Crazy Horse electric tones.

[Gibsonman63]

A little more diversity. Sorry no clips, but I should be working anyway.

Freddie King - Palace of the King - Piercing tone that cuts to the core.
Jeff Beck - 'Cause We've Ended as Lovers - Incredible control and feel.
Led Zeppelin - No Quarter (Live) - Page's tone at it's finest.
ZZ Top - Brown Sugar - Early stripped down stuff that shows how good these guys really are.
Tab Benoit - Nice and Warm - Sweetest Fender sound you ever heard.

[Wilder Amplification]

My idea of the ultimate tone...anything from George Lynch, Warren Di Martini, Reb Beach, Doug Aldrich, and anyone who's got the 80s "raunch".

[Mark Black]

Agree with a lot of the aforementioned songs, and have to give a big +1 for Jimi Hendrix "Machine Gun" from the Fillmore live recording. The tone and obvious interactivity with the guitar & effects in the solo always raises the little hairs on the back of my neck. Then again it's not just the amp - it's the total package (as I'm sure we all know).

Ultimate tone & feel for me is when (for lack of a better explanation) that special zone where the guitar just seems to "play itself" and all effort disappears. Magical to feel and (for me at least) unfortunately hard to replicate on command...

[guitarmike2107]

I am a huge Eric Schenkman fan, I love his tone on the whole live Spindoctors CD (Homebelly Groove), fills out the band so well and is super fat.
Check out “Freeway of the Plains/Lady Kerosene"

Also I distinctly remember the first time I heard Gary Moore live with Parisian Walkways and Still got the blues. Loved it!

[clyde1]

Sean Verrault, Wide Mouth Mason, Live at Montreux 1997. just released this year and boy, stellar clean/dirty tone, effortless transition from one to the other using just technique. It's not the tone I hear and build, but it's the best live tone I've *ever* heard. I'll go out on a limb and say it's a plate-loaded tone stack, not sure what he uses.

[JacksonRR]

SLAYER!!!!! Just kidding.

Michael Amott from Arch Enemy "My Apocalypse" and "Nemesis" especially the end solo on Nemesis... so crisp and clear, beautiful.

I'm really diggin new Megadeth tones, as well.

[Chuck H]

+1 on WMM. I just heard 'Superstition' done by WMM and it really caught my attention. And if Mustaine and Friedman don't get great metal tone I don't know who does.

How bout some classics that everybody knows... Many tones used by Roger Fisher (early Heart). He used a but load of effects but he always had something dynamic and attention grabbing going on. I'd also like to know the exact rig and octave pedal thingy used on Ziggy Stardust. How cool was that? For more ultra gain metal-ish I'll vote Zakk Wylde. I actually bought a set of EMG's once (already had the mid 80's RAT) to try for that sound but never installed them. And Bonnie Raitt's slide tone... Textbook perfect.

[mort]

I don't know if it goes largely unnoticed or if it just seems kinda plain to alot of guitarists but I LOVE the tone that Jen gets in the Natalie Merchant tune Carnival. I believe it was a JMP and a Bassman that got that tone. MAN, it gets me right in the gut everytime I hear that song and I'm really not much of a fan of Natalie, it's just that guitar part that licks throughout the song that hooks me in.

[Chuck H]

There's an awful lot of speculation about amps used by Jen on that track. That said, there is a definite parallel in the Jen sound wherever she played with Natalie, and Jen IS on facebook. You may be able to just ask her. From what I've read it could be anything from a JMP Marshall to a BFDR??? And there may be a Small Stone D-box in there as well as what sounds like some reverb and delay effects. I havent checked into the many live video's out there where Jen is playing with Natalie but there may be something to see there. There is at least one 'live' version of Carnival where the live tone smokes the studio tone IMHO.

Jen is a "musician" with singing, piano skills primarily. Guitar was actually a peripheral instrument for her when she started with Natalie from what I've read (hard to believe). She is now playing bass in some band somewhere. Too bad. I AM a Natalie fan and I think her work recorded with Jennifer is my favorite. It may be worth noting that Matte Henderson worked production on most of the tracks Jennifer played on. He owned a Trainwreck Express at the time of all those recordings. I don't know why but TW recordings are sort of kept secret as these amps hide in studios and with producers all over the place. But as I said, there's a live track that beats the studio track (heard it on Youtube but no band video). That certainly wasn't recorded with a TW amp (I wouldn't let my 30K amp outta my site). Find actual band video and you'll hopefully be able to identify part of your quest. Here's the track I'm digging:

YouTube - Natalie Merchant - Carnival

[mort]

I'll have to listen to it in a few hours when I get home from work(no youtube @ work). I believe it was Matte that wrote on a forum that it was a JMP and Bassman, but it's been a while. My memory of the thread is a little foggy. I'm eager to hear it though if it competes with or is better than the studio version

Another distinct favorite tone of mine are those on the album Garcia Grisman, both the mandolin and guitar tones are just spectacular. Especially great tones on that disc are during the guitar solo on Friend of the Devil. So rich and with depth. Granted, it's not amp generated, but great none the less.

I also really like the sounds that Jack DeKeyser gets on a couple videos played with Sam Myers. It's not anything that hasn't been done 1000 times over but I still like it better than the 1000 other guys that have done it.