Blues: Clean or dirty?

[Brow]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

but to say something different I absolutely love Eric Clapton tone on the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album. So that is a 100 Watts cranked Marshall with the bridge pickup of a Gibson LP and the tone know backed off. Or something like that...

I think everything you said here is right apart from he used a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo, which is about 30w I believe?

As for Blues tone, I have a few favourite kinds of blues tone:

The acoustic Blues of the older guys is just so raw and powerful imo.

Clean/Semi Gritty Strat through a Fender amp ala' SRV

Slightly overdriven LP/335 through a 100w Marshall ala' Clapton in Cream

Alot of Gary Moore's guitar tone on 'Back To The Blues' album is also great. The guitars are alot cleaner sounding than on his previous Blues albums, where he tends to use alot more gain than other Blues guitarists would. Alot of it is a 335 through a Marshall DSL and some form of Fender amp that I can't seem to remember at the moment

Craig

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

For me:

Strat through an old Fender or AC30, set so it´s clean but breaks up nicely when hit hard, so you get that nice "sting" in the tone

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

When I think of my favorite black blues players I think of cleaner guitar tones than when I think of my favorite white or British blues players. I like both styles, but BB King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Hubert Sumlin, Freddie King, etc. have a guitar tone that seems deeper, more authentic and less adolescent to me than someone like Gary Moore. Lew

 

[BluesGuyJ]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I think of BB King and the past two times I've seen him. Live, he has a fairly distorted tone with that Lucille. i dont know what type of amp he uses but I'd have to guess a Fender of some sort.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I think of BB King and the past two times I've seen him. Live, he has a fairly distorted tone with that Lucille. i dont know what type of amp he uses but I'd have to guess a Fender of some sort.

He likes those old Lab Series solid state amps with built in compression that Gibson used to make. They're about the size of a Twin Reverb. His contract asks that one of those be provided by the promoter...or a Twin Reverb.

Lew

 

[Hellion]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Depends on the feel of the moment. I use both, usually starting clean, then switching to dirt. I love Gary Moore's tone on "After Hours!"

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Blues "tone" is so subjective. My favorite blues tone is the Dumbly/Fuchs style Robben Ford and Kenny Wayne Shepherd stuff. I love the compressed, blooming, smooth, and sustained tone.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I guess my favorite blues tone to listen to is BB King (355 through a Twin) or Albert King (Flying V through a Twin) or Mike Bloomfield (Tele or Les Paul through a Twin). I like Albert's tone back when he still played that '58 V and a Fender amp...don't like his tone with the Erlewine V and the Acoustic amp quite as much. Humbuckers through a blackface Fender is what I like to listen to.

But I love Albert Collins Tele through a Fender tone too...as well as SRV's Strat through a Fender tone. That's closer to my own tone too.

I hate Gary Moore's super saturated tone.

And I think Robben Ford's tone is often to saturated for my tastes too. I wish he'd back it off a little because he's one of my favorite players otherwise.

Lew

 

[Oldslowhand]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

But we are talking about tone!!!! :smack:

I love anything played with feeling... but to say something different I absolutely love Eric Clapton tone on the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album. So that is a 100 Watts cranked Marshall with the bridge pickup of a Gibson LP and the tone know backed off. Or something like that...

at this time Eric Used a Marshall 2x12 1962 combo with the same features as the JTM-45 head,but with an added tremolo effect.Part of this characteristic sound was due to the KT66 valves. He then turned all the knobs up full and went for it!!
my favorite tends to be this but if the player puts his soul into it, thats what really hits home

 

[Schecter006Elite]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Clean....not super bright... but clean!

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

My all time favorite would be Ronnie Earle on his live album. Strat through a rented BF Fender.

 

[sgstrat]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

My all time favorite would be Ronnie Earle on his live album. Strat through a rented BF Fender.

Good choice, Falstaff!

Other great tones worthy of mention:

Buddy Guy's sixties clean Strat tone
Freddie King's tone (LP or 335, they'r both great)
Any of Peter Green's tones

 

[Artie]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Humbuckers through a blackface Fender is what I like to listen to.
Lew

The 59's you sold me, through the Blackface preset of my "J", is my favorite tone.
Although, the Distortion is starting to run neck and neck.
(No pun intended.) :laugh2:

 

[Pandemonium]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Both. The blues comes from the heart or it sucks.

 

[hacker]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Blues should be dirty. It's an in-your-face style of music that's supposed to be raw and emotional. Clean is for jazz, country and rockabilly.

 

[dd12939]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I like Joe Bonamassa, and he typically hits the amp pretty hard. I like to feel that the amp is cranked.

 

[BluesNRock87]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

for me blues is all about slide and 12 string work, so cleaner....

 

[fusion101]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

I'm going to cheat and say acoustic guitar, and dirty electric guitar

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

Muddy Waters - "I'm Ready"

That track defines the sound of Blues guitar for me. That's where it all evolved from. Those little breaks where he throws in the fill and it just makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Blues: Clean or dirty?

hairy tone? haven't heard that one before.

You know right when your amp starts to clip? Not exactly dirty, yet not clean. Notes with a little fuzz around the edges.