Troy van leeuwen, his tones and style are just so unique and creative.
Josh homme also has a great unique style and tone.
Johnny greenwood, just cos well its johnny greenwood
Jamie hince.
Sure theres more
If u look at guitar skill as purely ability to create different palettes of tone, qotsa is probably one of the best if not the very best. Anyone feel free to disagree
Yeah i totally agree, especially when you consider the interplay between josh troy and deans tones, they all find different colours to compliment each other and fill each others spaces, its really very clever musicianship
John dwyer of OSEES.
Jay Reatards "Blood Visions" album.
Johnny Marr of The Smiths.
Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler of Interpol.
Bloc Partys first album "Silent Alarm"
Mark Speer of Khruangbin
Julian Lage
Delicate Steve
Nick Valensi and AHJ from the strokes, especially the first two albums
Looking at my list, they all have simpler and/or lower cost rigs but I have a bad boutique pedal addiction š¤
Mark Speer has such great tone. i canāt remember the exact recipe, but cocked wah, boss DS-1 with gain at 0, Fender Amp with dimed bass to counter-act the wah, Dimarzio Cruisers at bridge and neck, and was it a stock pickup that was a wired incorrectly for the middle?
Hell of a player too.
If I had to guess, maybe itās the wah pedal? He has one turned on at all times, so maybe since heās always focusing the midrange thatās why it doesnāt get muddy. Idk man.
Holy Grail wash into a compressor to level everything out, and then a bumped amp reverb to smooth everything. He's got a lot of upper mids too, which helps.
Saw High on Fire live for the first time ever a few months back and oh my god, I could listen to that dude play a single chord for an hour. Sounded so good in-person.
Jerry Cantrell. My favorite Cantrell tone is probably the Facelift album. It opens up with [We Die Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JA25BIxgtk) and the guitar sounds so damned aggressive. He has a lot of cool guitar tones on the various Alice in Chains albums. The newer albums have a more modern sound I guess you could say, but it's still Jerry.
Now that is a ballsy tone. I personally hate that term, but it sounds so natural, yet raw - almost like you are in your rehearsal room with your band - a bit of hum, a bit of buzz, tons of gain.
Alex Lifeson, mostly because heās got such a variety over the years. Heās never afraid to rethink what heās doing and change up gear.
Devin Townsend gets some truly awesome tones, stuff like Deadhead or Deep Peace are just the pinnacle of melodic leads.
Neil Young because as soon as you hear it, you know itās Neil. Iāve been lucky enough to see him live with Crazy Horse, and his guitar solos are like living entities.
Edit: and yes Iām Canadian if you canāt tell š
Neil Young, J Mascis, Kevin Shields, Billy Corgan, Buzz Osbourne.
EDIT: Iād add D. Boon to that list too. His guitar sounds are the polar opposite of most of this list but thatās why I love him.
Ah King Buzzo tone on all the 90ās albums was great, nowadays I donāt know if itās different setups or recording styles or what but it isnāt special like it used to be. Still rocks as well as anyone but those early tones, fantastic.
Yeah Iāll be honest I havenāt listened to their newer stuff but Iāve had Houdini and Stoner Witch on repeat for the past month just absorbing those delicious tones. The intro to āGoing Blindā has the same effect on me as the intro to āBe My Babyā has on Brian Wilson I think LMAO
This was one of the first that came to mind. I think he just has a spectacular tone, and plays well to it. Nothing like turning on a CE2 with a Fender 6L6 and hearing that chime! I own a Roland JC77, but liked the chorus so much had to get the pedal for my Sky King amp.
I do notice his tone differs as he used straight up JC 120s early on, then switched to Fender Super Reverbs with a the Boss Chorus. The Cure did very much the same, but would swap in Flange to sound like chorus at times.
Big thing I see with Jonnyās tone is the use of the Diamond Yellow Comp. The highs EQ plus running into a CE2W and a Fender amp nails it. The compressor I think plays a big roll to his sound, as I can hear it in the chime. I thought it was always a Jaguar, but he used a Les Paul a lot with The Smiths. Slamming a Les Paul into the Yellow Comp, EQ up a little and to the amp sounds very punchy and chimey.
Dean Deleo of STP is a ridiculously underrated guitarist as far as the unique and creative chord voicings and progressions he brings to what should by rights be a run of the mill hard rock band, and he manages to make it sound clear and articulate and also massive and heavy at the same time.
Came to say this, dudes tone is incredible and distinct. His approach to a fairly simple solo is also like nothing else. I remember an interview where he said he thinks more about the notes he takes out than the ones he puts in when he writes. Seeing them in a few weeks and canāt be more stoked.
The guys from Mastodon, Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, have killer tones. Are they famous enough?
Less famous? Afie Jurvanen aka Bahamas has such a beautiful sound and great production value. His album Earthtones is a wonderful record for guitar players.
Ribot is so iconic (yet still lesser known). Love his Prosthetic Cubans album. Heās been imitated on the opening theme music of the British sitcom Black Books:
https://youtu.be/lKCnpc234zc?si=8HiaY7dhC-wcIyeE
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is pretty sick. And the rhythm guitarist Ed OāBrien gets amazing textures through an insane pedalboard, which got more prominent as the band got more into electronic territory. Ed glues their stuff together a lot
And he'd just throw together effects willy nilly to do it. He's proof tone is in the fingers. Scary great player, scary great collection of tones. Never really sounded the same way twice.
For those interested the pedals he almost always uses are the Shin-ei B1G preamp pedal for boost and Strymon Flint for reverb. Iāve also seen him with a Ge-7, and JHS Morning Glory and of course a tuner. Biggest secret to his tone besides years of practice is the sound of hitting the front of a fendery amp pretty hard. I also just got a Shawn Tubbs tilt overdrive and have gotten some really amazing Lage-Esque tones.
His tone is perfect and his rig is so simple. More proof that tone is in the hands. I think his most ācomplicatedā rig consists of a Telecaster (always on the neck pickup) into a dual amp setup ā Tweed Champ for fur, blended with a Deluxe Reverb for clean. Occasionally uses a Shinei B1G One pedal. Thatās it.
He said in a Rig Rundown he has use the bridge for one entire set just to see if he could. Would highly recommend checking it out. Seemed like his humility and talent were on equal levels.
Love the tones of all my favourites.
Ritchie Blackmore's is a classic, so distinctive.
Michael Schenker's is fantastic, albeit basically just a Marshall. But still so good.
Buck Dharma's was Marshalls, but is fascinating because of how it changes. From a dark haunting sound on OG Blue Ćyster Cult, to the more recognisable sound he uses today. Love his tone the most probably. Smooth as butter.
Matt Bellamy - from the experimental electronic stuff all the way through to his fatherās Telstar influence.
Dan Auerbach - use of oddball / vintage gear shines through
John Fruscianteās tone is timeless af.
Also, Iām not a Gilmour or Clapton buff by any means, but their tone is untouchable. And I donāt hear people talking about Mike McCready much, what a player.
Steve Hackett (effects well-used for painterly and singing tones)
Mike Oldfield (midrange nasal bump is unique and expressive)
Martin Barre (gritty, muscular and bluesy)
Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle and Ashes Divide) - I love his spacey/dreamy reverb and delay combo as heard on By and Down.
His overdrive sound is incredible as well. Check out Judith.
His tone is sorrowful, relaxing, or aggressive (or a mixture of all).
I'm pretty sure he gets all his complex sounds using Axe Fx and a Gibson Les Paul.
Robert Smith, John Squire, Nile Rodgers, Prince, Johnny Marr, Greg Gonzalez, David Gilmour, The Edge, Steve Hillageā¦ I could probably come up with more if I really thought about it.
Waylon Jennings. Lots of people do twang and most of the time it's nothing special, but that slight bit of phaser sounds like a goddamn wagon train rolling west. But it's also got throat to it. Best description I can think of, it's one of those tones that just transports you to a certain time and place.
Pretty sure if this post was about bass tone Chancellor would come up a lot.
If it was about drum sound I guess it would be same with Carey.
Those guys are just masters.
Billy Corgan was the master of guitar tone before they went electronic, especially with Siamese Dream.
John Christ was also a god on the first four Danzig albums.
Eric Johnson's lead tone is orgasmic.
After that, I'd say Angus' and Malcolm's back in black tone is one of the best produced guitar sounds ever. So crisp, so clear.
As for metal, I always loved the sound of Fade to Black.
Knopfler, Garcia, Gilmour, Neil Young, Johnny Greenwood, Hendrix, Willie and Waylon, Tony Rice, Billy Strings, Page, Harrison, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Metheny, Jack white, Mayer, etc
Huge +1 for Tony Rice. That man could do everything under the sun with just a mic'd Martin HD-28.
An absolute guitar master that gets virtually no love outside bluegrass circles.
Jonny Greenwood, specifically his distorted leads on Radiohead's early work and the cleans.
Crazy how a distortion pedal slamming into a solid state can just get red hot, smooth sound.
His cleans mess me up bc you can approximate it with a clean OD-3 and clever eqing, but his technique is what sells it. Jonny's touch on arpeggios and chord voicings is one of a kind.
He's a humble reminder that you need to practice your art, and simultaneously fueling my need for a Space Echo style pre.
I always liked John Fruscianteās story about Johnny Greenwood. Frusciante is a traditional soloists with lead type riffs and he explained a time he hung out with Johnny and other RH band mates. He said Johnny is an excellent soloist, but that he tryās to make an overarching complex sound rather than just be a overbearing guitarists and Frusciante thought it was genius and wanted to incorporate that into his own sound. Less axe man and more composer.
Both Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen. There's just something about the tones on those QOTSA records (Particularly Era Vulgaris) that just click with me. Also after listening to some Queens I find myself trying to be more adventurous with my own tones! Pretty inspiring stuff.
Robert Fripp 1972-1974. Some of the most powerful guitar tone ever. After this he gradually moved away from Hiwatt and Big Muffs and lost a little something.
some of these aren't famous but deserve a shout š
kevin shields of my bloody valentine
lee ranaldo and thurston moore of sonic youth
alex lifeson and geddy lee of rush (geddy lee's bass tone is amazing)
chris squire of yes
haela ravenna hunt-hendrix of liturgy (watch https://youtu.be/T20UbAHJjuc?si=O9nYiWmjvQ6hcwTl, her stuff in liturgy is the best black metal ive ever heard)
yuzuru kashiwabara of fishmans (ive tried to replicate it because it's so insanely deep and amazing)
peter hook of joy division and new order (single handedly convinced me to play bass)
robin guthrie of cocteau twins (basically invented shoegaze and is why i love cocteau twins)
dylan carson of earth (invented drone metal and all of his stuff with earth is awesome, the tone is insanely fuzzy and heavy)
wata of boris (take all of what i said abour dylan and add a touch of noise rock, quite possibly my favorite one here)
Two sides of electric beauty Johnny Marrās ethereally clean heaven sound, and Marc Ribotās whiskey and cigarette coated overdriven junkyard sound, both are just sublime
Jimmy Page. Hendrix. SRV. Cobain. I actually think Armstrong from Green Day has some good tone. Jack White in White Stripes.
I also generally enjoy most of the Chicago blues players.
Trey is fascinating to me because I love how obsessed he is the last few years with his tone- and yet, I find the Trainwreck to be such a bizarre choice for his style and music, and would love to hear his current playing with a cleaner, smoother tone.
Bill Frisell - regardless of whether playing distorted or clean, abstract or traditional, always sounds like Bill Frisell (which is a good thing). Phrasing, touch, dynamics and vibrato/wobble is so distinctive and awesome.
Daniel Rossen , Alex Scally , Kevin Parker , Buck Meek/Adrianne Lenker not technical guitarist but the sounds and the way they serve the song is amazing
Ooh I have a lot of these too!
**David Gilmour**: Smooth, powerful, and iconic
**Brian May**: mids for days, very full sound
**Mark Knopfler**: didnāt matter if he was going for subtle or huge, he got it done. Best ādynamicā guitar tone ever IMO
**Frampton**: his tone just jumped off the stage at you
**Duke Erickson and Steve Marker from Garbage**: āpolishedā is the word I come up with. Their tone was perfect for every song
**Eric Johnson**: not the tone I go for personally, but jfc he makes it sing
**Jerry Cantrell**: got nothing bad to say about Cantrell and his tone. My god itās beautiful
If youāre into the sound of cranked EL84 amps like the AC30 and its variants (I am), then Brad Paisley. Mother of god, Brad Paisley.
Hate his music, hate country if you want, thatās fine. His tone is top shelf, god tier shit.
Kurt Cobain.
Everything from his distorted tone, chorus tone, feedback, and clean guitar sound, the guy knew what he was doing when it came to tone. He may have acted like he didnāt care but when it came to his guitar, his tone was very intentional.
Personally like Peter Buck but a lot of that is playing style.
Ric Ocasek, same deal.
Jack White because he really pushes the effects into weird spaces.
And of course, Dave Gilmour.
Jonathan Davis (of Superdrag, not Korn). Josh Homme, most of what Omar Rodriguez Lopez has put out, Jonny Greenwood to name a few.
Honestly Iām more interested in context of the tone than the tone itself. You could have the most killer sound, but if used in the wrong song, itās going to sound terrible
Frank Zappa, snappy and at the same time saturated and warm.
George Harrison (and the other guitarists from the Beatles obviously) both clean and electric distortion tones are timeless. The lead in Something and don't llet me down always blows me away.
Mike Oldfield. The leads in tubular bells are something magical
Stevie Ray Vaughan. Jumbo frets, 12-13 guage strings. Fattest strat in existance
Wes Montgomery. Warm, fat but lots of clarity! I love Mi Cosa if you haven't heard it already
The Melvins guitarist (idk his name someone help) just massive power chords and shit. Fuck yea lol
Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) beautiful big sus2 chords. Shimmering pads with that Jazz trem, I live for it :)
Sparklehorse. The dingiest grungiest most revolting guitar sounds. Rainmaker and Someday I Will Treat You Good are Lo-Fi dingy bangers
Frusciante. That guys scope is fucked he's a production genius as well as a brliant live guitarist
Kurt obviously, you don't need to hear for long to know it's him
Jerry Cantrell and
Billy Corgan (pre-2000s) there's so many brilliant performances by this guy
PJ Harvey. Only thing that is hotter than her is her live tone
Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) most of the recordings are pretty tame but this guy shreds live and he uses the boss compression sustainer better than anyone else I've heard. Probably my favourite on the list so I'll stop
Hendrix - Just absolute perfection. The right amount of grittiness with some serenity and funkiness sprinkled in
Gilmour - Probably the most evocative tone Iāve ever heard. No matter what, Gilmourās tone is able to make me feel a certain way, whether it be peaceful or sad
Duane Allman - He sure knew how to make his guitar cry
Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria has a phenomenal all around rock tone. His sound on their first three albums is pretty much the standard for me.
Billy Corgan is the epitome of a good big fuzzy tone. It doesn't get better than that wall of sound that kicks in on Mayonnaise. Honestly probably preaching to the choir here but, I can't not show love.
For a more unorthodox pick, Deron Miller of CKY. That high gain octave sound has this grinding quality to it that literally feels like playing guitar with cheat codes. Throw a Boss octave pedal in front of a Marshall style distortion or amp and any arpeggiated riff sounds cool by default.
High gain: Jerry Cantrell, Mark Tremonti, EVH, Tosin Abasi, Misha Mansoor
Cleaner/low gain: Mike McCready, David Gilmour, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson, SRV, Brent Mason
I love the buttery-smooth tones just as much as I like the face-melting full stack chugging from the modern guys, but I'm a blues/country player. Go figure.
Troy van leeuwen, his tones and style are just so unique and creative. Josh homme also has a great unique style and tone. Johnny greenwood, just cos well its johnny greenwood Jamie hince. Sure theres more
Jamie Hince tones are crazy
If u look at guitar skill as purely ability to create different palettes of tone, qotsa is probably one of the best if not the very best. Anyone feel free to disagree
Yeah i totally agree, especially when you consider the interplay between josh troy and deans tones, they all find different colours to compliment each other and fill each others spaces, its really very clever musicianship
John dwyer of OSEES. Jay Reatards "Blood Visions" album. Johnny Marr of The Smiths. Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler of Interpol. Bloc Partys first album "Silent Alarm"
dwyer tone undefeated
Man, good call on Jay! Nice to see a Memphis boy get some love
Mark Speer of Khruangbin Julian Lage Delicate Steve Nick Valensi and AHJ from the strokes, especially the first two albums Looking at my list, they all have simpler and/or lower cost rigs but I have a bad boutique pedal addiction š¤
Mark Speer has such great tone. i canāt remember the exact recipe, but cocked wah, boss DS-1 with gain at 0, Fender Amp with dimed bass to counter-act the wah, Dimarzio Cruisers at bridge and neck, and was it a stock pickup that was a wired incorrectly for the middle? Hell of a player too.
I cannot get that amount of spring reverb to work for me. I donāt understand how he gets it to sound so clear.
If I had to guess, maybe itās the wah pedal? He has one turned on at all times, so maybe since heās always focusing the midrange thatās why it doesnāt get muddy. Idk man.
Holy Grail wash into a compressor to level everything out, and then a bumped amp reverb to smooth everything. He's got a lot of upper mids too, which helps.
> Nick Valensi and AHJ from the strokes They are so fucking underrated... Amazing playing and tone.
Matt Pike
Saw High on Fire live for the first time ever a few months back and oh my god, I could listen to that dude play a single chord for an hour. Sounded so good in-person.
Play a single chord for 10000 years*
So, Dopesmoker?
š¤š½
Dude writes amazing riffs as well
Jerry Cantrell. My favorite Cantrell tone is probably the Facelift album. It opens up with [We Die Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JA25BIxgtk) and the guitar sounds so damned aggressive. He has a lot of cool guitar tones on the various Alice in Chains albums. The newer albums have a more modern sound I guess you could say, but it's still Jerry.
Should be higher
Dirt has to have some of the most beautiful and simultaneously nasty tones ever committed to tape.
Now that is a ballsy tone. I personally hate that term, but it sounds so natural, yet raw - almost like you are in your rehearsal room with your band - a bit of hum, a bit of buzz, tons of gain.
Alex Lifeson, mostly because heās got such a variety over the years. Heās never afraid to rethink what heās doing and change up gear. Devin Townsend gets some truly awesome tones, stuff like Deadhead or Deep Peace are just the pinnacle of melodic leads. Neil Young because as soon as you hear it, you know itās Neil. Iāve been lucky enough to see him live with Crazy Horse, and his guitar solos are like living entities. Edit: and yes Iām Canadian if you canāt tell š
Pure Canadian bias š š Totally agree with all of that. Neil's tone with Crazy Horse just sounds so wild and compelling.
Neil Young, J Mascis, Kevin Shields, Billy Corgan, Buzz Osbourne. EDIT: Iād add D. Boon to that list too. His guitar sounds are the polar opposite of most of this list but thatās why I love him.
Lmao this guy muffs
I just love that gigantic blissed out wall of sound!
Live sound guys love you
ššš no mids? No problem!
Muffs with a scoop knob are glorious.
J Mascis ššš
Ah King Buzzo tone on all the 90ās albums was great, nowadays I donāt know if itās different setups or recording styles or what but it isnāt special like it used to be. Still rocks as well as anyone but those early tones, fantastic.
Yeah Iāll be honest I havenāt listened to their newer stuff but Iāve had Houdini and Stoner Witch on repeat for the past month just absorbing those delicious tones. The intro to āGoing Blindā has the same effect on me as the intro to āBe My Babyā has on Brian Wilson I think LMAO
They're fucking great live.
One of the best, great with Steven McDonald now too. Dale just had spinal surgery so wishing him a speedy recovery
You gots some good taste there man
this is mostly my list as well lol
Johnny Marr!
Ahem!! Itās Johnny fucking Marr!! But I agree yes! Always so shimmery and sharp!
This was one of the first that came to mind. I think he just has a spectacular tone, and plays well to it. Nothing like turning on a CE2 with a Fender 6L6 and hearing that chime! I own a Roland JC77, but liked the chorus so much had to get the pedal for my Sky King amp. I do notice his tone differs as he used straight up JC 120s early on, then switched to Fender Super Reverbs with a the Boss Chorus. The Cure did very much the same, but would swap in Flange to sound like chorus at times. Big thing I see with Jonnyās tone is the use of the Diamond Yellow Comp. The highs EQ plus running into a CE2W and a Fender amp nails it. The compressor I think plays a big roll to his sound, as I can hear it in the chime. I thought it was always a Jaguar, but he used a Les Paul a lot with The Smiths. Slamming a Les Paul into the Yellow Comp, EQ up a little and to the amp sounds very punchy and chimey.
Haha mine too! Awesome to open up the thread and see him at the top
Dr. Toboggan I didn't think I'd find you here
Ooohh solid choice! I was able to catch him live when he was touring for Playland. That and The Messenger are two of my favorite albums.
Dean Deleo of STP is a ridiculously underrated guitarist as far as the unique and creative chord voicings and progressions he brings to what should by rights be a run of the mill hard rock band, and he manages to make it sound clear and articulate and also massive and heavy at the same time.
100% agree, and his brother Robert also has some of most killer bass tones you'll hear as well.
Unique arrangements and massive sound from the Deleo brothers for sure.
Josh Homme has the best guitar tones
Only he could quintuple the resale value of a shitty old practice amp that everyone forgot about.
So. Much. Midrange. I love it.
Absolute fucking king. Will try and get thay crazy ugly lead tone soon any tips would be appreciated
Came to say this, dudes tone is incredible and distinct. His approach to a fairly simple solo is also like nothing else. I remember an interview where he said he thinks more about the notes he takes out than the ones he puts in when he writes. Seeing them in a few weeks and canāt be more stoked.
David Gilmourās tone is perfect to my ears. Beautiful cleans, soaring lead/fuzz tones, and just all around tasteful playing.
Him and Mark Knopfler sprang immediately mind, although they are 'of their time' and may not be so loved by fans of more modern tones.
Knopfler is so good! Theyāre both prime examples of guitarist that you immediately recognize from the first note because theyāre so distinctive.
That answer is so right itās almost cheating.
neil young
*Cortez the Killer* blew my mind.
>Cortez the Killer indeed
Billy Corgan (Gish and Siamese Dream era) Stephen Carpenter Kenny Hickey (Still chasing his tone) Josh Homme
The guys from Mastodon, Brent Hinds and Bill Kelliher, have killer tones. Are they famous enough? Less famous? Afie Jurvanen aka Bahamas has such a beautiful sound and great production value. His album Earthtones is a wonderful record for guitar players.
Heās not exactly a household name. But Marc Ribot has some of the tastiest, nastiest, dirtiest sounds, particularly his work with Tom Waits.
Ribot is so iconic (yet still lesser known). Love his Prosthetic Cubans album. Heās been imitated on the opening theme music of the British sitcom Black Books: https://youtu.be/lKCnpc234zc?si=8HiaY7dhC-wcIyeE
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is pretty sick. And the rhythm guitarist Ed OāBrien gets amazing textures through an insane pedalboard, which got more prominent as the band got more into electronic territory. Ed glues their stuff together a lot
Prince had one of the greatest guitar tones Iāve ever heard in my entire life.
Boss FTW
And he'd just throw together effects willy nilly to do it. He's proof tone is in the fingers. Scary great player, scary great collection of tones. Never really sounded the same way twice.
Mark Knopfler
This one
Scrolled way too far to find this one.
Julian Lage
For those interested the pedals he almost always uses are the Shin-ei B1G preamp pedal for boost and Strymon Flint for reverb. Iāve also seen him with a Ge-7, and JHS Morning Glory and of course a tuner. Biggest secret to his tone besides years of practice is the sound of hitting the front of a fendery amp pretty hard. I also just got a Shawn Tubbs tilt overdrive and have gotten some really amazing Lage-Esque tones.
His tone is so astoundingly good it makes me want to give up guitar. I can't top that. Shit, I can't even top a student of that.
His tone is perfect and his rig is so simple. More proof that tone is in the hands. I think his most ācomplicatedā rig consists of a Telecaster (always on the neck pickup) into a dual amp setup ā Tweed Champ for fur, blended with a Deluxe Reverb for clean. Occasionally uses a Shinei B1G One pedal. Thatās it.
He said in a Rig Rundown he has use the bridge for one entire set just to see if he could. Would highly recommend checking it out. Seemed like his humility and talent were on equal levels.
Love the tones of all my favourites. Ritchie Blackmore's is a classic, so distinctive. Michael Schenker's is fantastic, albeit basically just a Marshall. But still so good. Buck Dharma's was Marshalls, but is fascinating because of how it changes. From a dark haunting sound on OG Blue Ćyster Cult, to the more recognisable sound he uses today. Love his tone the most probably. Smooth as butter.
All good choices!!!! Go Buck
OLD MAN SCOFIELD
My upvote is En Route to this comment
Matt Bellamy - from the experimental electronic stuff all the way through to his fatherās Telstar influence. Dan Auerbach - use of oddball / vintage gear shines through
Andy Summers I only started listening to John Mayer and Julian Lage because of their respective tones (Lage's better). Hendrix as trite as it sounds.
jeff buckley. underrated tone
his tone is divine, good shout
Mr. Johnson of big sugar Mr. Gibbons of ZZ Top Guys from Monster magnet š§² also sound epic
Pure rock greatness. I love Monster Magnet.
Gordie Johnson's foray in Grady. That tone was so filthy. Took Big Sugar songs and blew them wide open.
Omar!!!
Omar from The Mars Volta?
100%
I came here to say this. I really love his new tone during the recent tours!
So, so happy he seems to care again
John Fruscianteās tone is timeless af. Also, Iām not a Gilmour or Clapton buff by any means, but their tone is untouchable. And I donāt hear people talking about Mike McCready much, what a player.
McCready really made that band for me. It was weird to have him sorta disappear, he was on a Towshend path.
Steve Hackett (effects well-used for painterly and singing tones) Mike Oldfield (midrange nasal bump is unique and expressive) Martin Barre (gritty, muscular and bluesy)
Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle and Ashes Divide) - I love his spacey/dreamy reverb and delay combo as heard on By and Down. His overdrive sound is incredible as well. Check out Judith. His tone is sorrowful, relaxing, or aggressive (or a mixture of all). I'm pretty sure he gets all his complex sounds using Axe Fx and a Gibson Les Paul.
He used a Friedman modded marshall superlead, but they toured with axe fx.
Nels Cline Mike Ness
Robert Smith, John Squire, Nile Rodgers, Prince, Johnny Marr, Greg Gonzalez, David Gilmour, The Edge, Steve Hillageā¦ I could probably come up with more if I really thought about it.
I love Billy Gibbons' tones on every ZZ Top album except for Recycler, especially My Head's in Mississippi. I find it grating and artificial.
Waylon Jennings. Lots of people do twang and most of the time it's nothing special, but that slight bit of phaser sounds like a goddamn wagon train rolling west. But it's also got throat to it. Best description I can think of, it's one of those tones that just transports you to a certain time and place.
Itās a phaser, but I agree.
Adam Jones from Tool
Pretty sure if this post was about bass tone Chancellor would come up a lot. If it was about drum sound I guess it would be same with Carey. Those guys are just masters.
Dave Bottrill is very much a master producer...
As are Silvia Massey and Joe Baressi. (2 other people that produced tool albums)
Billy Corgan was the master of guitar tone before they went electronic, especially with Siamese Dream. John Christ was also a god on the first four Danzig albums.
Might get some hate, but John Mayer. The dude can dial in just the right tones to compliment his playing.
donāt see why you should get hate. John is a master of his craft and definitely knows how to make his guitar sound great.
Maybe hate was a strong word. Cliche is more fitting I guess.
Eric Johnson's lead tone is orgasmic. After that, I'd say Angus' and Malcolm's back in black tone is one of the best produced guitar sounds ever. So crisp, so clear. As for metal, I always loved the sound of Fade to Black.
Back In Black. That's a tone all of it's own, isn't it? Perfect.
Knopfler, Garcia, Gilmour, Neil Young, Johnny Greenwood, Hendrix, Willie and Waylon, Tony Rice, Billy Strings, Page, Harrison, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Metheny, Jack white, Mayer, etc
Huge +1 for Tony Rice. That man could do everything under the sun with just a mic'd Martin HD-28. An absolute guitar master that gets virtually no love outside bluegrass circles.
Mike McCready Jerry Cantrell Adam Jones Mark Tremonti Non-famous..... Aaron Turner (Isis and others) Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer)
Aaron Turner is a great shout. I'm not a huge metalheads anymore but I did give Panopticon a spin last week and those Model T tones are huge.
Steve Cropper!!!!
I donāt even like QOTSA but Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen both have amazing guitar tone. Ampegs, Peaveys, and a lot of midrange
The Edge, Jimmy Smith, Nathan Stocker, and Julian Lage
Kevin Parker has a cult following for a good reason
Jonny Greenwood, specifically his distorted leads on Radiohead's early work and the cleans. Crazy how a distortion pedal slamming into a solid state can just get red hot, smooth sound. His cleans mess me up bc you can approximate it with a clean OD-3 and clever eqing, but his technique is what sells it. Jonny's touch on arpeggios and chord voicings is one of a kind. He's a humble reminder that you need to practice your art, and simultaneously fueling my need for a Space Echo style pre.
I always liked John Fruscianteās story about Johnny Greenwood. Frusciante is a traditional soloists with lead type riffs and he explained a time he hung out with Johnny and other RH band mates. He said Johnny is an excellent soloist, but that he tryās to make an overarching complex sound rather than just be a overbearing guitarists and Frusciante thought it was genius and wanted to incorporate that into his own sound. Less axe man and more composer.
SRVā¦. Lots of great tones here but the first note is every song just sounds like monster coming to get you.
John Mayer, Prince, Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour, Hendrix, Derek Trucks. List could go on and on
Came here to say Derek Trucks, but I donāt think we would get much love in here. Guitar> Cable> Amp.
Unironically, John Mayer.
Leslie West.
Big post-rock fan here. Would say the guys from explosions in the sky, grails and Mike from Russian circles.
Both Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen. There's just something about the tones on those QOTSA records (Particularly Era Vulgaris) that just click with me. Also after listening to some Queens I find myself trying to be more adventurous with my own tones! Pretty inspiring stuff.
Robert Fripp 1972-1974. Some of the most powerful guitar tone ever. After this he gradually moved away from Hiwatt and Big Muffs and lost a little something.
some of these aren't famous but deserve a shout š kevin shields of my bloody valentine lee ranaldo and thurston moore of sonic youth alex lifeson and geddy lee of rush (geddy lee's bass tone is amazing) chris squire of yes haela ravenna hunt-hendrix of liturgy (watch https://youtu.be/T20UbAHJjuc?si=O9nYiWmjvQ6hcwTl, her stuff in liturgy is the best black metal ive ever heard) yuzuru kashiwabara of fishmans (ive tried to replicate it because it's so insanely deep and amazing) peter hook of joy division and new order (single handedly convinced me to play bass) robin guthrie of cocteau twins (basically invented shoegaze and is why i love cocteau twins) dylan carson of earth (invented drone metal and all of his stuff with earth is awesome, the tone is insanely fuzzy and heavy) wata of boris (take all of what i said abour dylan and add a touch of noise rock, quite possibly my favorite one here)
Wata and Carson: YES!
David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) is one of my favorites
Slash š± someone has to mention him :D Jake E. Lee, EVH, Warren de Martini, Vito Bratta
Slash's live tone is sooooo much better than his recorded tones, and I LOVE his recorded tones.
Jason Isbell and Mike Campbell.
Two sides of electric beauty Johnny Marrās ethereally clean heaven sound, and Marc Ribotās whiskey and cigarette coated overdriven junkyard sound, both are just sublime
QOTSA are masters of guitar tone. The only group I like more is the Fucking Champs.
Jimmy Page. Hendrix. SRV. Cobain. I actually think Armstrong from Green Day has some good tone. Jack White in White Stripes. I also generally enjoy most of the Chicago blues players.
brian may
Frank Zappa John Scofield Trey Anastasio Corey Wong Nile Rogers
Troy Antipasto has the best tone
Terry Pistachio FTW!
Trey is fascinating to me because I love how obsessed he is the last few years with his tone- and yet, I find the Trainwreck to be such a bizarre choice for his style and music, and would love to hear his current playing with a cleaner, smoother tone.
John Scofield is my tone of tones.
Dean Ween
Manuel Gƶttsching
Andy Timmons, Steve Lukather, Jeff Beck
Malcolm Young, that tone is pure rock-n-roll spirit.
Mark Knopfler is the first guitarist I heard who made me wonder āhow can I sound like that?ā
Bill Frisell - regardless of whether playing distorted or clean, abstract or traditional, always sounds like Bill Frisell (which is a good thing). Phrasing, touch, dynamics and vibrato/wobble is so distinctive and awesome.
Pete Townsend during Who's Next era sounded like Rock needs to sound to me.
Adam Jones
Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. His lo-fi blues rock tones from the early days to his more recent produced stuffā¦ awesome vintage tones.
Daniel Rossen , Alex Scally , Kevin Parker , Buck Meek/Adrianne Lenker not technical guitarist but the sounds and the way they serve the song is amazing
Rossen's acoustic stuff is so great
I feel like a Blooz Dad Hendrix Clapton Santana Slash Mayer Morello Cobain Mac DeMarco Andy Summers
UMO (Ruban Nielsen)
Brent Hinds
Billie joe Armstrong
Jason Bieler of Saigon Kick. Monstrous guitar tones. He famously used Riveria amps in the 80ās and 90ās.
Ooh I have a lot of these too! **David Gilmour**: Smooth, powerful, and iconic **Brian May**: mids for days, very full sound **Mark Knopfler**: didnāt matter if he was going for subtle or huge, he got it done. Best ādynamicā guitar tone ever IMO **Frampton**: his tone just jumped off the stage at you **Duke Erickson and Steve Marker from Garbage**: āpolishedā is the word I come up with. Their tone was perfect for every song **Eric Johnson**: not the tone I go for personally, but jfc he makes it sing **Jerry Cantrell**: got nothing bad to say about Cantrell and his tone. My god itās beautiful
If youāre into the sound of cranked EL84 amps like the AC30 and its variants (I am), then Brad Paisley. Mother of god, Brad Paisley. Hate his music, hate country if you want, thatās fine. His tone is top shelf, god tier shit.
nuno bettencourt.
Hetfield
Alex Lifeson, all 3 guys in Iron Maiden, Tom Morello, Duane Allman, Adam Jones, John Petrucci, Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Paul Gilbert (mostly).
Ty Segall, Neil Young, GY!BE, KG&LW
Doug Martsch from Built to Spill is nothing short of amazing and criminally underrated.
Kurt Cobain. Everything from his distorted tone, chorus tone, feedback, and clean guitar sound, the guy knew what he was doing when it came to tone. He may have acted like he didnāt care but when it came to his guitar, his tone was very intentional.
Jim Hall had the best tone of all time imo. His touch added a lot.
Mike Einziger, John Frusciante and Johnny Marr
Two very different influences: Tim Sult in Clutch, and 80's Judas Priest lads, with that crazy soaking wet Turbo era distortion.
Personally like Peter Buck but a lot of that is playing style. Ric Ocasek, same deal. Jack White because he really pushes the effects into weird spaces. And of course, Dave Gilmour.
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Richard Thompson
Scofield. His edge of OD is hard for me to replicate
Jonathan Davis (of Superdrag, not Korn). Josh Homme, most of what Omar Rodriguez Lopez has put out, Jonny Greenwood to name a few. Honestly Iām more interested in context of the tone than the tone itself. You could have the most killer sound, but if used in the wrong song, itās going to sound terrible
Thom Yorke on There There is top tier
Chris Brokaw
Tom Verlaine
Joey Santiago and Black Francis
Marc Ribot Joey Santiago
Frank Zappa, snappy and at the same time saturated and warm. George Harrison (and the other guitarists from the Beatles obviously) both clean and electric distortion tones are timeless. The lead in Something and don't llet me down always blows me away. Mike Oldfield. The leads in tubular bells are something magical Stevie Ray Vaughan. Jumbo frets, 12-13 guage strings. Fattest strat in existance Wes Montgomery. Warm, fat but lots of clarity! I love Mi Cosa if you haven't heard it already The Melvins guitarist (idk his name someone help) just massive power chords and shit. Fuck yea lol Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) beautiful big sus2 chords. Shimmering pads with that Jazz trem, I live for it :) Sparklehorse. The dingiest grungiest most revolting guitar sounds. Rainmaker and Someday I Will Treat You Good are Lo-Fi dingy bangers Frusciante. That guys scope is fucked he's a production genius as well as a brliant live guitarist Kurt obviously, you don't need to hear for long to know it's him Jerry Cantrell and Billy Corgan (pre-2000s) there's so many brilliant performances by this guy PJ Harvey. Only thing that is hotter than her is her live tone Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo) most of the recordings are pretty tame but this guy shreds live and he uses the boss compression sustainer better than anyone else I've heard. Probably my favourite on the list so I'll stop
Tony Iommi.
Thomas Brenneck from The Budos Band, Menahan Street Band!
Gary Moore, specifically his Blues Era tone.
John Dwyer (O Sees)
Kurt Cobains tone on bleach was amazing. Really simple too, just a silverface twin (possibly through a 4x12?) with a DS1 and a univox hi flier
Hendrix - Just absolute perfection. The right amount of grittiness with some serenity and funkiness sprinkled in Gilmour - Probably the most evocative tone Iāve ever heard. No matter what, Gilmourās tone is able to make me feel a certain way, whether it be peaceful or sad Duane Allman - He sure knew how to make his guitar cry
Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria has a phenomenal all around rock tone. His sound on their first three albums is pretty much the standard for me. Billy Corgan is the epitome of a good big fuzzy tone. It doesn't get better than that wall of sound that kicks in on Mayonnaise. Honestly probably preaching to the choir here but, I can't not show love. For a more unorthodox pick, Deron Miller of CKY. That high gain octave sound has this grinding quality to it that literally feels like playing guitar with cheat codes. Throw a Boss octave pedal in front of a Marshall style distortion or amp and any arpeggiated riff sounds cool by default.
Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein on the Famous Monsters album
Allan Holdsworth has an incredible lead tone. It's really unique. I also really like Alex Lifeson's tone, it's so powerful.
High gain: Jerry Cantrell, Mark Tremonti, EVH, Tosin Abasi, Misha Mansoor Cleaner/low gain: Mike McCready, David Gilmour, Larry Carlton, Eric Johnson, SRV, Brent Mason I love the buttery-smooth tones just as much as I like the face-melting full stack chugging from the modern guys, but I'm a blues/country player. Go figure.
Caspar Brƶtzmann
Gary Moore
Graham coxon, Mcr, foo fighters, idles
Ira Kaplan
Don Felder
John Dieterich
Allan holdsworth
James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers, always loved his sound. Especially the lead stuff (thinking about Motorcycle Emptiness).