Best Clean Tone Ever

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Larry Carlton
Mark Knopfler
Chris Rea
Jimi Hendrix
Gilmoure

 

[mrid]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

I really like the tone Joe Walsh got on "I like big tits."

 

[Thurisarz]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Passive or EMG era ??

Both!

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Lenny, Riviera Paradise and Little Wing as played by SRV are filled with awesome clean tones...

Most of my favorute clean tones come from a Strat with a5 pickups...like some of Eric Johnson's stuff.

Lew

Yeah, those 3 by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and definitely Alnico 5 pickups in a strat!

I really love all the clean tones I hear on Robert Plant Solo CD's

Also, Gilmour's strat and classical acoustic on all the Pink Floyd Albums. :cool3:

 

[nuntius]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

manhattan live one the G3 album (eric johnson) what a tone.

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Let's not forget Wes with his L5's. IMO one of the best clean humbucker tones ever.

I've got to second this vote....

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

I'm with Lew on SRV's various clean tones.

The opening chord to the beatles' 'hard days night' (A7sus4) rings like a bell. Every time I plug into an EL84 amp, it's the first thing I play.

Grant Green had a great tone, with not a hint of dirt.
Allan Holdsworth's clean tones are otherworldly. Try 'Home'.
Michael Landau's clean tones on 'tales from the bulge' are superb.
For classic 80s clean, try Steve Stevens on Billy Idols' 'flesh for fantasy'.
Jimmy Nolen defines the early funk sound. Try 'sex machine'.
Also Check out anything with Cornell Dupree, Steve Cropper or Leo Nocentelli on it.
For straight into the desk, try Nile Rodgers with Chic.
Robben Ford had some nice stuff on the first Blue Line record.

I'm sure Hoss has some choice Tom Petty moments he can point to...

 

[fusion101]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

another vote for Lenny by SRV

 

[LucidInterval]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Holy crap! Lew and I like something that is the same! SoS it is!

 

[sgstrat]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Richard Thompson on most of his stuff, especially on Fairport's "Unhalfbricking."

Good call there, Falstaff.

My vote goes to Buddy Guy in the 1960's. His great clean Strat tone on his "A Man and the Blues" and Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and "It's My Life, Baby!" albums influenced a lot of players.

 

[Jonny R]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

manhattan live one the G3 album (eric johnson) what a tone.

Also, Dann Huff, Michael Landau

And John Mayer on Any Given Thursday Live (Strat into a Vibro King I think)

 

[RockNRoling]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Here is a newer song, but on the latest Matchbox Twenty album, they have a song called 'The Difference.' The guitar melody in the intro is incredible. Its gotta be a telecaster strait into a Budda or Badcat (those are the amps they have been using) but the tone is out of this world!

 

[RockNRoling]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

also SRV's sound on LENNY off his first album. Great mojo on that song!

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Good call there, Falstaff.

My vote goes to Buddy Guy in the 1960's. His great clean Strat tone on his "A Man and the Blues" and Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and "It's My Life, Baby!" albums influenced a lot of players.

Hoodoo is a freakin' great album. And I think Knopfler may have listened to a bit of Richard Thompson! I really get a lot of the same vibe from their playing, but Knopfler seems to be a bit more bluesy while RT has the raga/folk thing going a bit more.

 

[bvc310]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

I love hendrix's tone in little wing as well as SRVs tone in his version of the song. Beautiful strat sounds

 

[Young Angus]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Wes!!!

 

[Number One]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

John Frusciante (solo) - This Cold. Has got to be one of the best Tele tones I've ever heard. He's got the high-end chimin like a mofo.
John Frusciante (RHCP) - Easily. It's kind of overdriven, but leans more toward clean, still sounds great.
Romulo Juachon (solo) - no one knows this guy. He's got great lead tele tones though.
Danny Juachon (solo) - no one knows this guy either. He's a jazz king on the strat.

 

[keano12]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

that was my thought exactly Lew without even opening the thread. Mark Knopfler

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

I've got to second this vote....

I'll third that vote! In terms of clean tone from a neck humbucker there's no one who got a more beautiful tone than Wes. West Coast Blues, In and Out, etc.

Larry Carlton deserves a mention too...probably the finest clean ES-335 tone of all.

I guess BB King deserves a mention too...but he's in a class by himself!

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Clean Tone Ever

Good call there, Falstaff.

My vote goes to Buddy Guy in the 1960's. His great clean Strat tone on his "A Man and the Blues" and Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and "It's My Life, Baby!" albums influenced a lot of players.

OOOH! Buddy Guy is the one who made me want to play a Strat. I actually heard Hendrix a few months earlier but I knew I could never play quite like that.

It was seeing Buddy Guy and Junior Wells play together, as well as Luther Tucker with James Cotten, that gave me the confidence to try a Strat after all.

This would've been around '67 or '68.

Lew