What's the tone you chase?

[iamdavidmorris]

I thought this might be fun.  Is there a specific tone you find you're always chasing, but never completely reach?  Or maybe you have?  Maybe it's your favorite guitar player, or maybe it's something else.  For me, it's the sound of my first car: a 1971 Ford truck with a 360 engine and glass packs on the exhaust.

This isn't exactly the right sound, but it's close:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LZBViGhXyk[/youtube]

On guitar, it sounds something like the last chord of the chorus (see 4:46-4:47) on this, but not exactly:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oyr7x2aaok4[/youtube]

As much as I'm always drawn to classic P90 sounds, I've always come closest with series humbuckers, a healthy dose of overdrive, typically with my tone pot turned down a fair bit and the EQ knobs on the amp turned way up (sort of like Clapton did, but a different sound).

You?

 

[AutoBat]

The sound of a BMW 4 litre e39 M5 always makes me happy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgqDURRmD4

I happen to enjoy the sound of the Peavey 5150+ too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixQpOyl35VY

 

[iamdavidmorris]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcXSfgiNGHM&feature=related[/youtube]
:toothy10:

 

[Superlizard]

I'm done chasing my base tone(s)... just accessorizing them with various stomps.  :icon_jokercolor:

I've got:

Chimey cleans with humbuckers

Spankin' sparkly Strat single-coil cleans

Fat, warm and crunchy distorted bridge tone

Singing "woman-tone" distorted neck tone

...and dynamics throughout (e.g. not overly-compressed)

 

[AGWAN]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DAnuePrhw4[/youtube]

And
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXEKuttVRIo[/youtube]

^the clean and dirty. don't know how hard that tone is to get. but damn its tasty.

 

[llmtelecaster]

The tone on SRV's version of Voodoo Child on the couldn't stand the weather album.

 

[jay4321]

When in doubt I just go back to the well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW0HeE9ymYU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqPtHTaAzDI

 

[erogenousjones17]

Never heard Anthrax cover Ozzy before...nice! And I love "Only," but for Anthrax tone I'll take this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzzoS2H279s&feature=related

Great rock voice too.  :headbang:

 

[jay4321]

To me the progression of their guitar sounds looks like a bell curve. Early on it was crap, then got good, then awesome, then back down to pretty good, and then complete crap.

 

[labguitar1003]

ive always been chasin a tone between joe perry and Angus young, a nice ballsy in your face distortion that cleans up as you turn the volume knob down or if you finger pick instead of using a plectum.

I always love when someone tells you your awesome tone punched them in the face and they came back for seconds.  :laughing7:

 

[jay4321]

ive always been chasin a tone between joe perry and Angus young, a nice ballsy in your face distortion that cleans up as you turn the volume knob down or if you finger pick instead of using a plectum.

That's pretty low-hanging fruit in Angus's case, his setup is about as simple as it gets. Joe's is a little fatter and a little nastier. Probably just swap out an LP for the SG and I can't imagine you'll be terribly far off.

 

[Jusatele]

I got the engine tone, I own 2 classic CJs, both with Odd Fire V6s dropped strait into headers with no cross over and Cherry bomb glass packs, nothing sounds as good as that

but in guitar, I chase a tone that is hard to get, I want a very clean bite, with a distortion that wraps the edges, I do not want to cover the tone, but want to enhance it. That is very hard to get so I use Vox amps for the bell like ring and a chandler tube driver to get the distortion, When it is perfect it is a raw nasty sound that rips at your mind, nothing covers the notes, nothing stops the single coil guitar pickups from singing like birds while the distortion rips at your mind delivering gain for long sustaining feedback when called for, it is a distortion that is dynamic to how hard you dig into the strings. Put in a mid amount of either spring or preferably plate reverb, and Heaven is found. It is pure guitar, processing is for those who need to cover up mistakes.

 

[iamdavidmorris]

:headbang:

Not sure if everyone understands this, as my wife sure doesn't get it, but to me there's a basic, primal quality that an old muscle car and a fat, overdriven guitar can sometimes have in common.  It's something about the growl.  (The puppy I posted is trying to to achieve the same tone. )  But what I was trying to say, and my wife still doesn't understand, is that I want to achieve the same primal growl that car makes with my guitar.  It's a star I'm always reaching for.  What is it with cars and guitars too?  They seem to go together.

 

[swarfrat]

I have a couple tones that I love that aren't necessarily that related to each other.
I've always loved Craig Chaquico's tone on the solo from Nothing's Gonna Stop Us  - has this beautiful dynamic to it that I don't quite know how to describe.  Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2's solo  has a lovely sound. The rhythm c-raunch on Jungle Love is quite tasty too. Anything by SRV or Eric J.

 

[kboman]

I like it ugly.

Marc Ribot makes the heavens weep:
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQlo5HxbRxk[/youtube]

Jack White - fantastic brutality, but slightly too distortion-y (but an amazing video):
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh7UFi2b9xU[/youtube]

 

[Superlizard]

Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2's solo  has a lovely sound.

IIRC, neck P90 tone there.

 

[pabloman]

Ever notice the tones that are chased the most are all pretty basic guitar into amp kind of tones? Tones that are usually from pretty basic amps and guitars too. Guys usually didn't start mixing it up until after they were very established and the builders and modders came knocking. For me it's Slash's Appetite tone, Henry's tone in Los Lonely Boys Heaven and of course Brad Paisley's tone. G'N'R IS NSFW!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDBawnywv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvkzoqQ5Oak&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F_FN4ygjTo

 

[bagman67]

Ever notice the tones that are chased the most are all pretty basic guitar into amp kind of tones? Tones that are usually from pretty basic amps and guitars too. Guys usually didn't start mixing it up until after they were very established and the builders and modders came knocking. For me it's Slash's Appetite tone, Henry's tone in Los Lonely Boys Heaven and of course Brad Paisley's tone. G'N'R IS NSFW!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDBawnywv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvkzoqQ5Oak&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F_FN4ygjTo

I got something mighty close to Henry's "Heaven" tone going on right now with the Charvel strat (which currently has my Warmoth wenge neck installed while I wait for QutyPie to come out of the custom shop).  I'm running direct into the Yamaha T100C combo, nothing going on there but amp gain.  Creamy goodness, all the way. 

If you can score one of the Yamaha T50C or T100C combos (typically ~450-550 clams, in US dollars on ebay), Bagman sez, "Do Eeeet!"  The 50's clean channel breaks up a little more (a la "The Wind Cries Mary")  when you turn up the gain knob, but the 100's clean reminisces somewhat of a gen-u-wine Fender reverb'd clean tone.  And the dirty channel is full of Soldano-designed roar, but very sensitive to how hard you hit the guitar, and what you do with the guitar's volume knob.

peace

Bagman

 

[erogenousjones17]

A little late here, but I gotta agree with kbo: Ribot's tone on Tom Waits' Real Gone album is amazing.

 

[OzziePete]

Another Brick in the Wall Pt 2's solo  has a lovely sound.

IIRC, neck P90 tone there.

I thought it was a Strat thru a scooped mid eq'd amp, maybe a HiWatt amp?  :dontknow: