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That guitar tone

Superhero

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  • Superhero changed the title to That guitar tone
dcbc

dcbc 14556

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Outside of the big names (and since this started with an Austin musician), Kevin McKinney from Soulhat (and throughout various projects over the years) always has had pretty impeccable tone.  There definitely are some drive pedals and a Boss DM3 in the mix, but especially back in the day, a lot of it came from the volume knob on the amp.  No replacement for displacement.  He liked to cycle through plenty of guitars from show to show.  But whether it was a strat, tele, 335, SG, or LP, he really got a great rock sound out of it.  The amps varied, but it could be anything from one of the little Marshall piggybacks, to a Gibson GA20 to a Princeton Reverb with a 12 shoehorned into it.  That guy always has been one of my favorite players.

 

The first one is cued up to his solo.  The last one has some good bits of dueling leads in the middle (he's in the right channel mostly).

 

Edited by dcbc
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Celery Man

Celery Man 21021

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this set off my guitar boner as a kid who didn't play guitar yet. still the best chukka ever. I believe it's some cheap red knob solid state Fender and a Marshall Guv'nor pedal.

 

I don't think this is... super remarkable or anything but it sent me down a reverb/tape delay hole for a while. still love getting the flint and capistan dialed in and hitting those chords

 

here's one from last night. not sure what the sample is, but I'm imagining something like an old Gibson falcon and some weird department store guitar pickup

 

 

 

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Celery Man

Celery Man 21021

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I'm trying to remember what it was I was listening to the other day that had some rhythm guitar tone that was really scratching the back of my ear.

More than "go fiddle with knobs" sometimes I hear a tone and am trying to do the oenophile thing where I swish it around in my head and decide that it is a telecaster through a fender, or a strat through a vox or whatever and then go google to see if I can tell how I did. I suspect that very much like many wine enthusiasts, I'm not all that adept at discerning a dumble from two buck chuck. Or I guess a zin from a pinot noir or whatever analogy makes sense. I can definitely hear a strat on 2 or 4 though.

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Goredho

Goredho 17453

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This is going to be a good thread.  I am going to have to get back to it after I’m off vacation and can stream vids and shit.

I remember really being taken aback by SRVs tone tone on the Couldn’t Stand The Weather album.  It was really unique at the time, where the guitarists at the end of evolution of rock -> hard rock -> metal were going overboard with high gain & legato shredding.  I was probably 15 or 16 when I heard it, and I didn’t realize a tone so clean could sound so aggressive, ballsy and flat-out mean.  Listening to it was like bumping the wrong guy at the bar and making him spill his drink all over his girlfriend.

But I think it was 99% Stevie’s play style and little to do with amp & signal processing.  He probably could have picked up a parlor acoustic at the time and it would have sounded aggressive, ballsy and mean.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 21021

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ah fuck, James Wilsey died

he used to hang out at the Fender guitar forum run by the fat little white nazi stormtrooper (FDP) and I used to see his posts when I spent more time perusing guitar boards as an addicted youth. I didn't realize he had addiction problems himself. But this is an all time great guitar tone track. I think his comment on the tone here was always something like "it's not rocket science - you plug a fender into a fender"

Edited by Celery Man
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sidis

sidis 9832

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basically everything the edge did between 1981 and 1991.  i have been on a quest to recreate the tone from exit and mothers of the disappeared for years.

prince's lead tone in his while my guitar gently weeps cameo.

i've got my eyes on you and pearl cadillac lead tone for verses to fuzz chorus from gary clark jr.

the forgotten (both part 1 and 2) from satriani.

mick taylor's in midnight rambler.

bring it on home to me...the perfect expression of that clean tone that connotes unreal blues from b.b. king.

i've spent a little bit of money trying to recreate srv's coily low end tone on little wing.

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dcbc

dcbc 14556

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The use of the biphase in this song, particularly toward the end of the solo hits me just right.  Just so chewy.  In several discussions, there are suggestions that it's either a mutron3 into the biphase (unlikely to my ears), a regular wah into the biphase, or an expression pedal controlling the sweep of the biphase.  With all of that, there's a suggestion that it's almost certainly channel B of the biphase into channel A.

 

 

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sidis

sidis 9832

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On 3/2/2023 at 9:35 AM, sidis said:

basically everything the edge did between 1981 and 1991.  i have been on a quest to recreate the tone from exit and mothers of the disappeared for years.

prince's lead tone in his while my guitar gently weeps cameo.

i've got my eyes on you and pearl cadillac lead tone for verses to fuzz chorus from gary clark jr.

the forgotten (both part 1 and 2) from satriani.

mick taylor's in midnight rambler.

bring it on home to me...the perfect expression of that clean tone that connotes unreal blues from b.b. king.

i've spent a little bit of money trying to recreate srv's coily low end tone on little wing.

i of course would probably have endless amendments to this but a couple that have come to mind that should have been on the original list...

knopfler's tone on the money to nothing motif (and by extension, the zz top sound).  i'm guessing everyone's heard the legend from musician magazine of knopfler reaching out to billy gibbons to try and emulate them for the tone on money for nothing and gibbons famously saying that knopfler did a pretty good job considering he "never told him a god damned thing."  anyway, that tone is pretty awesome.  clean crunch.  tried many times to get it right...allegedly a tube screamer, digital delay, and the right marshall amp.

the ideal reverb/delay mix for the tone in explosions in the sky's "your hand in mine."  love that sound.

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tbone_

tbone_ 14211

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Some of my all time favorites:

Holy grail of clean tone for me - Wicked Game




Want heaviosity? Can’t beat this - Rise


Alternative? Here you go - How Soon is Now


And the vastly underrated tone of Daniel Ash



For classic, give me Richrath and his half open wah


For some tele twang I love this. No idea who this guy is. Vocal tone not too bad in this one either
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G650

G650 14284

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15 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

 


Want heaviosity? Can’t beat this - Rise

 

 

 

 



And the vastly underrated tone of Daniel Ash

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anything from Billy Duffy is on point. Since I got my '77 LP the new pickups and pots, it's like dead on a 70s LP Custom sound. The Cult is my first thought. The Bauhaus shout out is strong too.

 

 

Gary Richrath was fucking clown though.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46351

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Man.  That REO video brings me back.  If you grew up in the midwest and were a teenager ~ 1980, REO was a huge part of your life.  After moving to Texas, I came to realize that REO was sort of the midwest version of ZZ Top (before ZZ Top totally exploded).  A regional touchstone, everybody knew their music.

I drove a 1973 Camaro in high school, and there was little more appropriate than REO blasting out of the Pioneer 6x9 rear deck speakers from an Alpine tape deck.  I mean, I LIVED "Dazed and Confused".  That was me, except not in Texas.

Kevin Cronin is such a twat, but somehow he suppressed it long enough to become a minor rock star.  Gary Richrath was a monster player, whether or not he was a clown.

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G650

G650 14284

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39 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I drove a 1973 Camaro

 

Matthew Mcconaughey GIF

 

I won't deny Richrath could play, but the creep is high in the running for biggest cunt in music history, which as we know is a stiff competition.

 

Also don't besmirch ZZ Top by comparing them to REO goddamn Speedwagon.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46351

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13 minutes ago, G650 said:

Also don't besmirch ZZ Top by comparing them to REO goddamn Speedwagon.

It's almost as if you didn't read what I wrote, which is to draw a parallel between two bands who were both big regional draws before blowing up.  I mean, I know you can read.

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G650

G650 14284

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Just now, jimmyjazz said:

It's almost as if you didn't read what I wrote, which is to draw a parallel between two bands who were both big regional draws before blowing up.  I mean, I know you can read.

I read it alright my friend, I just can't abide any association of one of the world's greatest bands and REO Speedwagon, no matter how apt.

The Black Crowes in general have some singing tone.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46351

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4 minutes ago, G650 said:

I read it alright my friend, I just can't abide any association of one of the world's greatest bands and REO Speedwagon, no matter how apt.

The Black Crowes in general have some singing tone.

Well, maybe you can abide the fact that both bands sold a similar number of albums over their careers.

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Celery Man

Celery Man 21021

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2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Man.  That REO video brings me back.  If you grew up in the midwest and were a teenager ~ 1980, REO was a huge part of your life.  After moving to Texas, I came to realize that REO was sort of the midwest version of ZZ Top (before ZZ Top totally exploded).  A regional touchstone, everybody knew their music.

I drove a 1973 Camaro in high school, and there was little more appropriate than REO blasting out of the Pioneer 6x9 rear deck speakers from an Alpine tape deck.  I mean, I LIVED "Dazed and Confused".  That was me, except not in Texas.

Kevin Cronin is such a twat, but somehow he suppressed it long enough to become a minor rock star.  Gary Richrath was a monster player, whether or not he was a clown.

image.gif.8648bc4c40cb3c11ebb778cf1d546d4e.gif

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Horn Draoi

Horn Draoi 256

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On 3/3/2023 at 4:39 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Billy Gibbons is notorious for using any amp in the studio, including Pignose and Legend pieces of crap.  I doubt he's ever going to give up the secrets.

FWIW, I bought a couple of drinks for a (venue) sound tech-not a roadie-a few years ago after a ZZ show.  He claimed the Reverend was running completely through a cooking 5W Fender Champ miked into the venue PA.  Said those amps and stacks onstage were all show, no go.  He also mentioned that neither Billy nor Dusty could hear it thunder.  I last talked to Billy G in a hotel bar 30+ years ago, and he could hear fine then.  Shrug.  Who knows?  Billy G is notorious for talking and telling us nothing.

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