What tones do you like best?

[Telewanger]

What type of tone do you like the best, and why do you find yourself going back to this tone over and over for practice, recording, or live playing?

I keep posting sound clips on different guitar forums. Everyone says that everything that I post sounds like the 80's. Some love the tones and some say it sounds really cheesy. I used to hear of monster guitar players years ago, but I never hear much about them anymore. Now everyone seems to just seem to get lost in the mix.

The guys that I use to listen to a lot are, Steve Morse, Al Di Meola, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, Van Halen, Steve Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani, Michael Lee Firkins, Paul Gilbert, Kirk Hammett, Jason Becker, George Lynch, Stevie Ray, Brent Mason, Albert Lee, Eric Johnson and on and on.

A lot of the post 80's "radio" music, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Oasis, Green Day, has no lead guitar or very simple lines, and a lot of the more recent "radio" music has really rough and unpolished guitar tones, some of which sound like my first $50.00 amp and guitar. I had that sound, and tried everything I could to get rid of it. I have always liked the Boston, Eric Johnson, tight distortion polished tone. The distortion is packed so tight that it almost sounds clean, and has a sweet sound. Hardly anyone uses this tone anymore, and laughs about anyone trying to use it. I have always thought that it is the best sound that I have ever heard.

When I listen to a song, the instruments are at least, if not more important, than the vocals. If the nice solo sections, drum fills, and instrument fill parts do not exist, I really don't care to hear the song at all unless the song has a really strong message or story.

Here is a sample of a tone I was trying to get last night. I realize that the effects are too much. The small room that I record in has sound bouncing all over the place and it's hard to hear how much effects to add or subtract for the recording. I need to put my amps in another room and listen to the studio monitors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE7xA7fn_gc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE7xA7fn_gc)

[picnic]

'Fender clean and with some light grit is 95% of it.
Marshall Crenshaw's live cd "My Truck is My Home" pretty much nails it for me

I try to keep a bit of everything in my amps and cabs. Somehow I wound up with to EL84 powered amps that I really dig.

It's all good!

[shredtrash]

My tone reference has always been AC/DC. That sound when an amp is really working along with the clang of an SG or a Gretsch really gets me going.

[jaydub69]

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[Thwap]

Pearl Jam-Yellow Ledbetter is the tone I hear in my head mostly.
Bridge of Sighs as well.

[KRosser]

I think F# and C# may be my favorite tones.

[GASattack]

I encourage everyone to go with what sounds great to them.... is my sound easy to acheive, no ... does everyone like it, no ... do I like it ... I love it ... do I care that not everyone likes it, not too much ...

I run all my cleans for my for my strat, les paul and gretsch thru a Boogie clean channel, my gritty tones thru a boutique marshall style amp, and my heavier gains thru the boogie 2nd channel ... effects come mainly thru a TC Electronics G-Major, plus midi eq and bla bla bla, plus all the stomp boxes ... all switched with a audio switching system (so my pedals are in the rack) ...

Do what sounds good to you .... Its your music, its your tone ...

[kludge]

I like a gazillion different tones, including many that don't sound like a guitar at all. I like sustaining notes that seem to evolve. I like notes that come out of nowhere, with a volume pedal or EBow. I like a really chirpy pick attack on dirty stuff.

[ducatisteve]

John w/ TBO or the Monterey Strat.

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Warren Haynes' tone at 1:34 (and his solos)

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[Derek Q]

For me, it's a moving target depending on the song.

Heck, sometimes the best "tone" for a song is no guitar at all.

Heretic, I know.

[Marc Roy]

I go for Fenderesque, punchy cleans tones which aren't super bright. Something nice and chunky. When it comes to overdrive, I use the first three Gov't Mule albums as a reference. Audley Freed`s tone on Brother by Cry of Love is also something I look up to.

[ducatisteve]

Haha, Marc, I think we're on similar wavelengths here!

[Marc Roy]

Haha, Marc, I think we're on similar wavelengths here!

:rockin

Hehehe... I've always like that SRV clean tone that doesn't rip your ears out. His tone on "Little Wing" knocks me out. I'm actually gonna give a go to dialing in a Warren tone when my Carol-Ann gets here this week. I've been told the amp gets pretty damn close.

That said, I like country and funky cleans too, hitting it with a compressor. The only thing I really can't get into is something with a ton of effects.

[mockoman]

I like the sound of wood hit with electricity. Really.

[jamesroycrocker]

For me, it's a moving target depending on the song.

Heck, sometimes the best "tone" for a song is no guitar at all.

Heretic, I know.

I couldn't agree more. A Les Paul slamming a Marshall sounds awesome, but I'm glad Roger McGuinn didn't open Mr. Tambourine Man with it.

[Roadeye]

Big tones..Big, big tones.

[semi-hollowbody]

light grit/crunch, slammin metal distortions, and all gain ranges in between...lol
clean with chorus or lots of reverb

I HATE clean dry guitar

[Telewanger]

I like the sound of wood hit with electricity. Really.

Must be wet wood. Dry wood is too much of an insulator.

[iamdavea]

Pretty much all of EJ's tones appeal to me, even his non-Strat sounds. And I REALLY like Brad Paisley's tone on his tribute to EJ, "Cliffs of Rock City", from the Play CD. And Stevie's low volume tone on "Tin Pan Alley" just thrills me.

[Dancing Frog]

It depends on the song, but....

I am partial to the sound that a HiWatt DR103 through a 4x12 Cab loaded with Fanes in parallel with a JTM45 through a 4x12 Cab loaded with Greenbacks with a modified TS808 in front of it makes. Shimmering highs and deep growlin' lows where you can hear every note in a freakin' chord.

[FenderBigot]

Already mentioned previously... I love Warren Haynes' Soldano tone, killer stuff.

Also dig the combined Vox and Deluxe sounds of The Edge.

[splatt]

i have no idea how to answer this question, really;
i like an awfully broad & expanding variety of "sounds", on every instrument i play,
and i play, write & practise with all of them:
acoustic, electric, electronic, both modified & unmodified.

no other player's tones & sounds are models, for me, whether famous or not.

dt / spltrcl

[Ishmael8765678]

i love any raw thrash tones

[Lucidology]

i have no idea how to answer this question, really;
i like an awfully broad & expanding variety of "sounds", on every instrument i play,
and i play, write & practise with all of them:
acoustic, electric, electronic, both modified & unmodified.

no other player's tones & sounds are models, for me, whether famous or not.

dt / spltrcl

David .. Have I told you lately how much I consistently love yer posts ..
& find myself agreeing with you ... like almost all the time!!

(however, that's probably the first one I've ever seen you misspell a word ..
However knowing U... I gather that was intentional?) :rolleyes:

[jjboogie]

Depends on the song.

I always let the song dictate the tone.

[Irreverent]

David .. Have I told you lately how much I consistently love yer posts ..
& find myself agreeing with you ... like almost all the time!!

(however, that's probably the first one I've ever seen you misspell a word ..
However knowing U... I gather that was intentional?) :rolleyes:

It is not a misspelling. It is an alternative spelling.

Peace.

[Irreverent]

And I mostly like electric guitar tones, and also acoustic guitar tones.

Peace.

[icarusi]

I tend to go for a medium distorted sound, so I can go either way from it, clean it up or dirty it up, to give some tone dynamics. Of the players, I like Landau because he often varies his tone widely within any single piece. Other players stay with their signature tone always, or choose between 2-3 tones but no more. I don't go too much for the really wild 'make noise' sounds. They seem to be more 'performance art' than musically useful, except in a limited way, for me.

I do tend to change my personal 'tones' over the years, sometimes 'with fashion', such as 'chorus on everything' 80s. I tend to binge on single coil twanginess, then later recuperate with some full-on humbucker snorting.

[splatt]

David .. Have I told you lately how much I consistently love yer posts ..
& find myself agreeing with you ... like almost all the time!!

(however, that's probably the first one I've ever seen you misspell a word ..
However knowing U... I gather that was intentional?) :rolleyes:
ha!
sorry..... i usually do try to correct my misspellings, myself:
another way for me to learn more about clear communication, imo.

but, yeah:
that, in fact, is an accepted alternate spelling of "practice", fwiw.
i picked it up when we lived in the uk, & never dropped it.....
as well, my spell-checkers are trained for that alternate, o'er these many years.

dt / spltrcl

[Kaji13]

Wall of Fuzz.

[VaughnC]

When I had my '64 Strat & Komet 60 I stopped tone chasing...so that must have been "the tone" for me.