What is your favorite guitar "tone"?

Oh wow, great call on Midnight Man. I just LOVE the way that whole track sounds. Seemingly I can never listen without hitting repeat at least once. And the Crazy Horse guitars, too - real dry and biting, love that.

 

Quite so.

 

Someday Baby by Bob Dylan telltale signs version. Multiple guitarists (3 or 4) hitting a perfect tone. Not to mention bob's voice it's also perfect. And the drums too!

 

Mick Ronson had wonderful tone on everything he did with Bowie.

 

Dave Davies on "Muswell Hillbillies", maybe a Les Paul Custom or Les Paul Special through a Vox AC30?

 

Albert kings

 

Les Paul + Marshalls + Jimmy Page as heard on Led Zeppelin II

 

Jeff Beck. Especially the Truth album.

 

jeff beck, brian may, hendrix.

 

Tho Gilmore is my favorite player in general,I have to say I love Zappa's "Inca roads" solo sound esp on Shut and play yer guitar title tracks.

 

I'd also mention:

"Tiger Rag" - Les Paul & Mary Ford - When I first noticed good guitar tone. A 45 from my Dad's collection. Age 5 or 6.

"Brown Sugar" - ZZ Top - I love the sound Billy G. gets on this early track.

"Still Got The Blues" - Gary Moore - I wish I'd gotten to see him perform this in concert!

And, like the tone Waddy Wachtel gets on his Les Paul with Stevie Nicks live on "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

 

Lowman Pauling's tone in the "5" Royales ca. 1957-58. Incredible.

Gary Louris' fuzz tone solo on The Jayhawks' "Lights." Gorgeous. Now that I think of it, his fuzz tone from that era of The Jayhawks is pretty fantastic overall.

Ry Cooder - "Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Us All"

Chantays - "Pipeline"

Hop Wilson - "Chicken Stuff" - although it's hard to separate guitar tone from overall low fidelity on this record. Same goes for the Excello label recordings by JerryMcCain. Great lo-fi tones, but difficult/impossible to determine what guitars/amps/mics were used.

Lightnin' Hopkins' Herald label recordings, generally.

Robbie Robertson on "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)," specifically the version on the brown Band album.

Duane Allman's tone generally, but especially the way it's captured on the A&R studios recording of the ABB, New York, August 26th, 1971.

 

Jimi Hendrix ' Voodoo Chile' live in the studio Electric Ladyland.
Such a wonderful tone that grabs you and takes you with Jimi!

 

Pete Towsdend SG sound 69 - 70

 

Morgan Steinmeyer Håkansson

 

Big Star - "September Gurls"
Raspberries - "Go All The Way"
Marriott & Frampton's tones on Humble Pie's Performance: Rockin' The Fillmore live album. Killer tones, distinct but complementary.

 

Pete Townshend's guitar tone on the Isle Of Wight 1970 CD, especially on stuff like "Water". Pity there's no decent (uncompressed) official release of it. Despite this, the original disc from '96 is my favorite rock live album, largely for this purpose. That and Daltrey pours his soul out on the performance of Tommy.

...Anyway, the guitar tone. It varies quite a bit, alternating between metallic and feedbacky and clean, but somehow full and liquidy in a way that I've never heard from anyone else.

Oh yeah, and my runner up is Ritchie Blackmore on Made In Japan. Kinda obvious, but I really can't argue with the things he does on Strange Kind Of Woman, or Child In Time.

 

John Perry of The Only Ones.

 

At the moment it's Michael Schenkers tone on Strangers in the night. I wouldn't mind wining that particular Marshall.

Always been keen on SRVs tone and Dickey Betts early tones.

 

My favorite use of tone ever is Lou Reed on "I Heard Her Call My Name". That screaming guitar is alive, and Lou is riding it like a bronco buster, about to be thrown any minute. Sheer electrical bliss.

By the way, a few years ago Mojo readers voted this the best guitar solo of all time. I totally agree.

Running a close second is Neil Young's tone on Zuma.

 

Harrison "Revolver" tone - Gibson SG Standard or Epiphone Casino into Vox UL7120 amp

 

George Harrison's "underwater" guitar sound at the end of "Carry That Weight"

 

Classic early to mid 70s Fripp, including his stellar work with Eno. "St. Elmo's Fire" in particular comes to mind.

 

Ritchie Blackmore, "Strange Kind Of Woman", live 1972, from the BBC album. When he turns it down it rings like a bell, when he turns it up it's thick and greasy-sounding. Fabulous.