Question What are your all-time favorite guitar tones?

[DrKev]

This thread does exactly what is say on the tin: What are your all-time favorite guitar recorded tones? Live or studio, doesn't matter.

This is the official Music Man forum so let's all include at least one MM artist as the forum rules ask.

I'll start...

Lukather's tone on the "All's Well That Ends Well" album. Everything just works, tones are just perfect for every part and the neck single coil sounds have become a benchmark tone for me ever since.

Michael Landau on the "Michael Landau Group Live" double CD, 2007. Most beautiful recorded tones ever, IMHO.

Vernon Reid on Living Color's album "Shade". Crushing, in the best possible way.

 

[GWDavis28]

I'll play Doc.

Lukather's tone on "Never Walk Alone" live at the Baked Potato (on Youtube), just love it from the first time I heard it.

Clapton's tone on soo many tunes personally, "Old Love, Same Old Blues, etc."

Gilmore's tone again on so many for me, "The Wall, The Final Cut".

Mark Knopfler's tone anything from "Brothers in Arms".

Stevie Ray Vaughn, Cold shot!!! Such tone.

Glenn |B)

 

[msquared]

Favorite MM: Tossup between Steve Lukather's tone on the whole Candyman album or on the Falling In Between live album.

All time favorite: Alex Lifeson's early '90s tone, especially on Counterparts. I wish I could find a MM that would nail that era of the PRS CE24.

 

[Mixolydian82]

Petrucci is absolutely up there for me. "Hollow Years" from the Live At Budokan performance will never not be a standout, but various performances of his could easily occupy a top spot for me at any given moment.

Joe Bonamassa with BCC and "The Song Of Yesterday". Honorable mention to "John Henry".

Richie Kotzen on his album "Into The Black".

Rick Graham from, well, anything. His tone can be a bit shrill at times, but it's his and it's unmistakable.

Gosh, this listen could go on forever, but those jump out at me currently.

Cool thread!

 

[morsecode]

EJ - pretty much everything
Steve Morse - High Tension Wires
EVH - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance
Petrucci - Everything from Images and Words right up to Octavarium, I like the other stuff since as well but really like the older stuff best
Luke - Kingdom of Desire

There are so many others but that's is pretty good start for me.

 

[msquared]

Oh, I always forget how good the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tone is.

 

[mr mojo]

My favorite sounds are from the early 90's: Mark Knopfler with Dire Straits' OES and On The Night, Eric Clapton's Journeyman and 24 Nights and Joe Satriani's The Extremist.

 

[mikeller]

My granddaddy of all favorite tones is the tone Jimi had on the All Along The Watchtower cover on Electric Ladyland. Second is a live recording of Luke playing Little Wing on a Rockpalast Leverkusener Jazztage (2010) video. Then anything EJ.

 

[Sweat]

Way too many, would need to think for a month and write a thesis

 

[NickNihil]

Alan Sparhawk (Low)-"That's How You Sing Amazing Grace."
Nels Cline-"Sister Hotel"
Sonic Youth-"(I Got A) Catholic Block"
Julian Lage-"Tributary"
John Dietrich and Ed Rodriguez (Deerhoof)-"Everybody, Marvel"
Alessandro Alessandroni (w/Ennio Morricone)"-"Man With A Harmonica" ('Once Upon a Time in The West')
Bill Frisell-'East/West'
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)-"Arpeggi/Weird Fishes"
Swans-'To Be Kind'
Richard Hawley-"Long Dark Road"
George Harrison-"Fixing a Hole"

 

[Iperfungus]

Steve Morse - Purpendicular (Deep Purple)
Steve Lukather - all studio and live guitar tones
Eddie Van Halen - all studio and live guitar tones

 

[DrKev]

Way too many, would need to think for a month and write a thesis

I'd read that.

 

[Vadauco]

From the top of my head:

• Jimi Hendrix in "Hey Joe" from Are You Experienced (1967);
• Ritchie Blackmore in "Burn" from Burn (Deep Purple, 1974);
• Steve Lukather in "The Girl Is Mine" from Thriller (Michael Jackson, 1982);
• Mark Knopfler in "Why Worry" from Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits, 1985);
• John Petrucci in "Strange Déjà Vu" from Metropolis Pt. 2 (Dream Theater, 1999);
• Slash in "Gotten" from Slash (2010);
• Richard Kruspe & Paul Landers in "Radio" from Rammstein (2019).

 

[Jamie M]

EVH - For Unlawful and Balance tones 1991, 1995
Steve Morse - Sometimes I feel like screaming from Purpendicular album 1996
Slash - Knocking on Heavens Door from UYI 2 1991
Slash - November Rain from UYI 1 1991
John Mayer - Gravity from Continuum 2006
Richie Blackmore - Child in Time solo from Deep Purple in Rock 1970

 

[Vito Porkleone]

Anything Michael Landau ever recorded sounds fantastic.
Andy Timmons on most anything.
Joe Bonamassa on the Live From The Beacon Theater album (including the Morse on Mountain Time)
Luke - KOD album, Tambu, Toto IV, 7th One. Like Kev, I also loved the AWTEW album tones as well as Transition. However, there is a different version of Never Walk Alone than the one mentioned earlier from those Ohne Filter shows. The one on YT that actually made it to broadcast is far inferior (and one channel only for TV) to the other show that was recorded. There was a bootleg of it floating around Napster in the early 2000's that was incredible - I have a rip of it somewhere on an old hard drive. The intro was vastly different, and without the octave pedal, full stereo mix with the patented circular delays - OMG - so awesome.
Allen Hinds - Falling Up. Listen to the studio recording of that tune, and tell me you wouldn't commit crimes for that tone.
Crap, I forgot EJ - There's more than a baker's dozen, but the one that always gets me is When The Sun Meets The Sky.
And last but not least, all hail King Gilmour. Anything and everything.

 

[Vito Porkleone]

Man, there's some great responses to this thread. Nice one Kev.

 

[DrKev]

It's interesting to me to see the resposnes about Luke's tones across his albums. They can be really very different and I have distinct preferences so I can't understand how somebody can include them all! I think Tambu is one of the most beautifully recorded albums of all time in any genre (and it was Grammy nominated for Best Engineering, production legends Elliot Scheiner and Al Schmitt) but the guitar tones have are little too much hot sauce in the top end to my taste. I think Luke's tones on his second solo album "Luke" are fantastic, and nobody has mentioned it. That album is seriously underrated!

Which reminds me, similar era, Nuno Bettencourt's tones on both "Waiting for the Punchline" and "Nuno" are killer. The sonic equivalents of a great steak - great meaty slabs of guitar tone, gently seasoned to perfection.

Yeah, guitar tones via food analogies is where I seem to be at this morning.

 

[Vito Porkleone]

Guitar tones on "Luke" are great. I just hate the way that album was mixed. There were a few years in the late 90's/early 00's where I felt his tone got a little too scooped. When he switched to the Bogners, he got the beef back.

Back in the day, Luke & Landau's tones were almost identical, but Landau always had this really pleasing mid/low-mid thing that was really pleasing to my ear, and as much as Luke is my all-time favorite player, I always preferred Mike's tones.

 

[beej]

I started writing these out and came to the conclusion that 99% of them are the tones that inspired me to pick up a guitar. It's pretty difficult to separate the tone from the feeling you get when you hear it.

Once I got to two pages, I realized I couldn't narrow it down.

 

[DrKev]

Once I got to two pages, I realized I couldn't narrow it down.

Tell ya what, give us the first three that came to mind, just so we have something. I ain't letting you away with nothing man!