Legendary tones

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

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Darth Sabbathi
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Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

I've been looking into Big Muffs a lot lately ( :shifty: ) and, unsurprisingly, this has brought me into contact with a lot of Gilmourizing. I have to say I'm not a fan - watching the Wall on mushrooms as a teenager has left me with a permanent aversion to Pink Floyd. But after reading so much hagiography I took another listen and... nope, still don't really get it. It is a nice tone and all, just doesn't knock my socks off.

Which got me thinking about tones I do really dig, and on a parallel line, those guitarists with tones so totally instantly recognizable that they are iconic for their sound as much as their playing.

So, what are your top 5 guitarists for tone? (And sorry, this is a totally noob thing to do, and you've all probably done this a million times, in fact you've probably banned top lists outright... :oops:)

Here's mine (at least, right at this minute, probably change my mind in half an hour!):

1. Brian May
2. Leslie West
3. Malcolm Young
4. Mark Knopfler
5. Peter Green

Optional bonus, stretch to a top ten:

6. Jimi Hendix
7. Dan Auerbach
8. Mick Ronson
9. Prince
10. Tony Iommi (gotta squeeze him in!)

Pete Townsend and Clapton could easily make my list on another day, just not today...

Some of those guys are not necessirly playing my favourite music (eg May), but they do all get an impressive sound out of their rigs. And then there are guys whose playing I massively love, but whose tone doesn't really do it for me - Page is the classic example of this for me.

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by dylan »

bloody Brian May - arguably the best tone ever but also the hardest to copy. probably the most amazing noise ive ever heard from an electric guitar is in the concert video "We Will Rock You" when hes playing the second solo in "save me". The bends sound like demons shreiking - but where do you get a 24" scale guitar with 3 s/c's with off/on and phase invert for each pickup?
:evil: Mids so haunting that demons took over my living room and now my guitar glows! :evil:

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

dylan wrote:where do you get a 24" scale guitar with 3 s/c's with off/on and phase invert for each pickup?
http://shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk/? :mrgreen:

But really, would you want to? It is so him - unless you're in a Queen covers band, there just doesn't seem any point in trying to get close. It is a freakishly awesome sound though.

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Vince »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:
dylan wrote:where do you get a 24" scale guitar with 3 s/c's with off/on and phase invert for each pickup?
http://shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk/? :mrgreen:
Cool, they even make a bass with a Sidewinder, too! Maybe one day... :)
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Re: Legendary tones

Post by godgrinder »

As far as fuzz tone goes it would be this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaMbKZPBruU[/youtube]
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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

godgrinder wrote:As far as fuzz tone goes it would be this:
Oh hell yeah! :twisted: I did think about including Jus, but it's more the whole band sound than just him I think. Fecking love that album though, and Come My Fanatics.

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

Frey wrote:...
Ok, nice. Is that Richard Lloyd on the Television track? Not really one for jazz guitar myself - love some big band swing, like Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington, but it's all about the horns. Django possibly deserves a mention, but again, it is his playing more than his tone.

Bit of a non-sequitur, but I probably should have found room for Johnny Marr...

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Les_Paul86 »

SRV is no1 for tone IMO :-)

Other than that, your list looks good. I'll take one of those, thanks.
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Re: Legendary tones

Post by dylan »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:
dylan wrote:where do you get a 24" scale guitar with 3 s/c's with off/on and phase invert for each pickup?
http://shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk/? :mrgreen:

But really, would you want to? It is so him - unless you're in a Queen covers band, there just doesn't seem any point in trying to get close. It is a freakishly awesome sound though.

wow, didn'nt know about that red special clone line. Koreans build some nice guitars too. And officially sanctioned by Brian - presumably not a rort like previous May clone guitars.

But as you say, only real use for one is a Queen tribute act.
:evil: Mids so haunting that demons took over my living room and now my guitar glows! :evil:

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by bender »

Frey wrote: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMiLAxMnoqE[/youtube]
Yeah, that's a lovely, woody tone right there. I'm not a massive fan of Jazz guitar in general (although I do like jazz in general) but that's just a great benchmark clean tone. Woody, a hint of chime, slightly saturated amp... sounds huge.

This is one of my favourites ATM:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6V7uP4uBd8[/youtube]

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by bender »

Darth Sabbathi wrote:And then there are guys whose playing I massively love, but whose tone doesn't really do it for me - Page is the classic example of this for me.
Ha! Which of his tones did you not like? There are so damn many! Incidentally, the guitar sound at the start of 'Houses of the Holy' on Physical Graffiti is one of the reasons why I became a sound engineer.

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

benderissimo wrote: Ha! Which of his tones did you not like? There are so damn many! Incidentally, the guitar sound at the start of 'Houses of the Holy' on Physical Graffiti is one of the reasons why I became a sound engineer.
True - and actually the chameleon nature of his tone might have something to do with why I don't think of him in the great tone bracket. But I guess I was thinking of the first two albums, things like Communication Breakdown or Whole Lotta Love. It isn't like I hate the sound, it's just not one I love to bits. But then there are things like In the Light which are awesome... :|

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Re: Legendary tones

Post by hamo »

This is a bit challenging for me, because the tones I like aren't going to make a lot of people's top 10s. Not only that, but I reckon I am often going to be confusing tone with just liking what I hear in general (i.e. might be that I like the riffs more than the actual tone). But here goes anyway, in no particular order:

1. Doug Aldrich. Hearing him with Whitesnake at Rock2Wgtn was a revelation.
2. Dave Murray. Probably thinking of his lead tone more than rhythm, Maiden was the beginning of my obsession with guitar, and I think this had a lot to do with it.
3. Mick Mars. Pure rock'n'roll, the tone that sums up the late 80s/early 90s for me.
4. Leo Kottke. Went and saw him live without knowing a thing about him, and I have never recovered from the experience. Just a complete legend.
5. Brian May. As mentioned by several above. The solo from We Will Rock You, the entirety of Killer Queen. The rawk of Tie Your Mother Down. Nuff said.

The B team (controversial opinions abound):

6. Zakk Wylde. Not latter day BLS Zakk, although there is a place in my heart for that tone too. I am talking Pride & Glory/Book Of Shadows Zakk. Sweet southern style rock.
7. Dimebag. Ok, so his tone has been likened to a can of vespas, but it was iconic, and it was crushing.
8. EVH. A tone that could best be described as the epitome of excess, he sure did some amazing things with it.
9. James Hetfield. Possibly the tone I have chased the most throughout my life. Didn't you want to be in Metallica once upon a time? Sure you did.
10. Slash/Izzy. Just the soul of dirty LA rock'n'roll.

These are the tones I love, not necessarily the ones that set the world on fire. Hey, I'm really a simple guy...
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Re: Legendary tones

Post by druz15 »

Mick Ronson
Page on pretty much every LZ album, so versatile. Not always the prettiest sound, but always serving the song and in your face when it needs to be.

John Frusciante, again gets a lot of crap for not having the prettiest tone but it always serves the song and punches through the mix.

I think the reason they both get a lot of tone hate is they both have fairly thin sounding tone to make room for the massive bass sound of JPJ/Flea.

Brian May is obviously up there. Just orgamsic tone, and it's all in the fingers. I've played a BM replica with the proper Burns pups into a treble booster and a fairly cranked AC30, didn't sound any more like May than a tele into a Marshall, or a Les Paul into a Fender
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Re: Legendary tones

Post by Darth Sabbathi »

hamo wrote: ...
Some good calls Hamo. Totally with you on Dave Murray, but I would possibly pick Adrian Smith ahead of him (his 2 Minutes to Midnight solo rules). The two of them are a huge part of the reason I wanted to play in the first place too.

And EVH, no doubt. He was on my list originally, but I bumped him for Iommi.

Hetfield is an interesting one. I didn't consider him because I spent many years trying to copy him by scooping the crap out of my mids, then had a massive backlash against that sound. But it utterly blew mind when I first heard Metallica. So fair call!

A couple of others have occurred to me: Marc Bolan - could replace Ronson on my list. And Ernie Isley - though that is purely on the basis of two songs (Who's That Lady and Summer Breeze). And it was the Beastie Boys that introduced me to him. Cool sound though. 8)

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