tone masters

[Dancing Ants]

what are some of your fave players with great guitar tones?

my list:

1. Jerry Garcia - 1973>74 Wolf guitar
2. Dickey Betts - Goldtop Les Paul
3. Eric Clapton 1967 Cream (Supreme SG)
4. Derek Trucks - 2000 SG '61 Reissue modified
5. Trey Anastasio - 1997 Paul Languedoc custom hollowbody guitar

[onemanguitarban]

Steve Kimock - any guitar he owns (Cripe, Explorer, Strat, etc..)

David Gilmour - any guitar he touches

Phil Keaggy - James A Olsen acoustic (or anyother guitar he touches for that matter)

Michael Hedges - 1978 Martin D-28, 1918 Dyer Model Harp Guitar

SRV - and his #1 strat

Duane Allman - 1950's Les Paul, or SG

John Scofield - vintage Ibanez hollobody (can't remember the model # off hand)

(and those mentioned above, with the exception of Clapton) to name a few

[Jamo52]

does anyone know if there is any certain effects pedal you can buy to get close to that Grateful Dead kind of tone? it would be through a Gibson Les Paul Studio or a Fender Strat, thanks

[bullox005]

David Gilmour - any guitar he touches




amen

[Dancing Ants]

does anyone know if there is any certain effects pedal you can buy to get close to that Grateful Dead kind of tone? it would be through a Gibson Les Paul Studio or a Fender Strat, thanks

take a strat, use mid pickup, set the treble on your amp all the way up, bass to zero. and get jerry's fingers.

lots of treble is the key, but not so much that you overdrive the amp.

[Dancing Ants]

(and those mentioned above, with the exception of Clapton) to name a few

not a Clapton fan?

[mboskovs]

not a Clapton fan?
I'm a huge Clapton fan but i do agree that his fender tone sucks. He had a pretty good tone back in the day when he played gibsons, but I really dislike his tone now. I was watching the new Cream dvd and his strat through a fender twin combination really didn't sound that good to me. And it's interesting cause i think that Eric Johnson uses that same combination to get a really nice strat sound. On the other hand, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Warren Haynes yet. I really like his les paul through a Diaz and Soldano sound. Also, as far as strat tones go, Henry Garza from Los Lonely Boys gets a pretty good mostly clean strat tone through a Marshall, which is kind of unusual cause marshall isn't usually associated with clean tones.

[Jamo52]

thanks a lot, the playing part of the guitar i have down, but messing with sound is a whole nother world to me...

[PhishFleck41]

I absolutely love Mike Einziger's tone (guitarist from incubus) when he used a PRS Archtop through a Mesa and an excess of pedals. This was pretty early on.
I like jerry garcia's tone a lot.
Leo Kottke's tone with his signature Taylor models (not sure what kind of amps).

--- Just to name a couple.

[AshkaanF]

1997 Paul Languedoc

end of thread. No one has better tone than Trey

[Dancing Ants]

I'm a huge Clapton fan but i do agree that his fender tone sucks. He had a pretty good tone back in the day when he played gibsons, but I really dislike his tone now. I was watching the new Cream dvd and his strat through a fender twin combination really didn't sound that good to me. And it's interesting cause i think that Eric Johnson uses that same combination to get a really nice strat sound. On the other hand, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Warren Haynes yet.

a few things....i was referring to his 67 SG Supreme he used with Cream.

secondly, Eric Johnson has a GREAT tone, but uses i think two or three different amps live and also has a pretty complicated pedal setup to get his sound.

third...Warren's tone is just so generic southern rock tone. meh. Hence why Derek has the (MUCH) better and more interesting tone of the two (in context of ABB).

[Dancing Ants]

thanks a lot, the playing part of the guitar i have down, but messing with sound is a whole nother world to me...


it all depends on what you're looking for. i've found that, if you'll just plug straight into your amp and turn the amp up, you get YOUR sound.

[Jamo52]

ha ha yeah, but the studio has a very heavy sound to it, which is cool for some stuff, but not quite what im looking for, i only have a fender 15 amp so i mean im limited...

[Dancing Ants]

crank it.















buy a new amp eventually.












crank it some more.















enjoy.

[mboskovs]

a few things....i was referring to his 67 SG Supreme he used with Cream.

secondly, Eric Johnson has a GREAT tone, but uses i think two or three different amps live and also has a pretty complicated pedal setup to get his sound.

third...Warren's tone is just so generic southern rock tone. meh. Hence why Derek has the (MUCH) better and more interesting tone of the two (in context of ABB).

Well, I think we agree on Clapton's SG sound, but what do you think about his tone since then? Also, I like Derek's tone quite a bit too, but I think in the context of ABB a lot of it comes from the fact that it is such a good contrast to Warren's "generic southern rock tone" as you call it. As far as Warren goes, in the ABB his tone is a southern rock tone because it is a southern rock band, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it generic. And, the reason why I like his tone is because he doesn't use a "one for all" kind of approach. His tone varies depending on whether he plays in the ABB, the Mule or the Dead and I think each one fits perfectly in the given context.
Also, I just noticed that you put Trey on the list. I've always thought that his sound is waaaay overprocessed with the zillion pedals that he uses, so much so that his Languedoc doesn't make much of a contribution.

[Dancing Ants]

Well, I think we agree on Clapton's SG sound, but what do you think about his tone since then? Also, I like Derek's tone quite a bit too, but I think in the context of ABB a lot of it comes from the fact that it is such a good contrast to Warren's "generic southern rock tone" as you call it. As far as Warren goes, in the ABB his tone is a southern rock tone because it is a southern rock band, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it generic. And, the reason why I like his tone is because he doesn't use a "one for all" kind of approach. His tone varies depending on whether he plays in the ABB, the Mule or the Dead and I think each one fits perfectly in the given context.
Also, I just noticed that you put Trey on the list. I've always thought that his sound is waaaay overprocessed with the zillion pedals that he uses, so much so that his Languedoc doesn't make much of a contribution.

Trey's basic setup before 2003 was two TS9 tubescreamers, a compressor, and a wah I think. Everything else was either rack mounted or through an effects loop. I love his tone...always have. He has insane sustain.

[chr35919]

I don't really play electric so excuse this question....how would you exactly define tone? and how do you get good tone?

[bullox005]

end of thread. No one has better tone than Trey

no question.

[mboskovs]

I don't really play electric so excuse this question....how would you exactly define tone? and how do you get good tone?

This one is pretty hard to answser, but tone is just what a player's guitar setup sounds like. It's affected by a trillion things like type of guitar, amp, pedals, effects, etc. and as you've probably noticed from the posts in this thread it's really subjective as to who has "good" guitar tone. That being said, some player's guitar setups have been generally accepted as better sounding than others. Bottom line, think of it kind of like an electric version of the 4,567,324,589 Taylor vs. Martin threads that have shown up in the musician's discussion. :thumbsup

[conrad123]

Definately Trey's tone, David Gilmour's tone, SRV and I really take a liking to John Mayer's tone.

I think the tone I hate most tho, is Jack White's tone. I can listen to White Stripes for a little bit, but after a while, his guitar just really gets to me.

Personally, I define good tone as any tone that I hear which makes me want to experiment and achieve the tone or at least part of it.

[hages]

Definately Trey's tone, David Gilmour's tone, SRV and I really take a liking to John Mayer's tone.

I think the tone I hate most tho, is Jack White's tone. I can listen to White Stripes for a little bit, but after a while, his guitar just really gets to me.

Personally, I define good tone as any tone that I hear which makes me want to experiment and achieve the tone or at least part of it.

actually listening to white stripes right now..."hello operator"....

i know what you mean by his tone, its dirty as hell. i personally think its badass. i remember reading an article about him once, discussing his guitar sound. he said he intentionally goes for that cheap, dirty sound using piece of shit equipment to create a truly raw sound.

[onemanguitarban]

not a Clapton fan?

I like Clapton, I just don't think his tone is outstanding.

[onemanguitarban]

end of thread. No one has better tone than Trey

I'm a HUGE Trey fan....but I disagree.. in terms of real tone. Steve Kimock or SRV had better tone for example.

You can't have the greatest tone in the world playing .10 gauge strings and low action plus running through a boat load of effects...its just impossible.

I like his playing better....but in terms of tone, he isn't #1.

[bullox005]

I like his playing better....but in terms of tone, he isn't #1.


debatable

[RandR]

Eric johnson
Mark Knopfler
John Meyer
SRV

Yeah I'm a strat man...

[Dancing Ants]

I like Clapton, I just don't think his tone is outstanding.

hmmm...

Crossroads (live) off of Wheels of Fire is probably one of the single best masteries of tone in the history of electric guitar. Add White Room to that too.

[onemanguitarban]

debatable

Sure its "debatable" but I think you will find the majority to true tone connisours will agree with me.

Physics alone suggest Trey can't have the best tone.

[onemanguitarban]

2. Dickey Betts - Goldtop Les Paul


I'll also add that I prefer his ES-335 tone most of the time.

[j_wyse]

Tone is in the fingers.
I was at a seminar with Ben Verdery and he took several guitars from the students, after a student complained about his guitar not being high end enough, from cheapo to very expensive, and asked us to close our eyes and guess which instrument he was playing. You can figure out the rest from here.
Work on your sound without all kinds of electronics, and when you patched em in it'll sound even better.

Jim