Who's got the greatest guitar tones on tape?

[Reag1502]

My vote would be Eric Johnson, then Eddie's earlier stuff. I also love Claptons tone on the Beano album as well as the Cream stuff. Others to mention

Early ZZ Top
Jimi's B.O.G

[axisdreamer]

Hendrix
Zappa
XTC

[evangelista]

The Edge
Neil Young (his live stuff with Crazy Horse and the Dead Man soundtrack)
John Parish

[t.dizzle]

There's a lot of guitar based music and a lot of great guitarists with awesome tone...so "the greatest" is kinda tuff to pinpoint. That being said, here's a short list of some of my personal favorite tonesters -

EVH
Dimebag
Hendrix
SRV
Andy La Roque
Jeff Loomis

Tone starts with the hands.

[joaquin]

AC stike DC Back in Black

[VivaLaVinyl]

+1 for SRV

and also, David Gilmour (ex: Another Brick in the Wall pt2 solo)

I've also found myself quite partial to many of the guitar sounds
that Stone Gossard and Mike McCready come up with (I guess
Brendan O'Brien would have something to do with this as well).

edit;

oh yeah, and I have to agree with Joaquin about the Back in Black...awesome

[6strings]

I'm assuming you don't mean who here has actually recorded the tracks themselves so....

EVH by a long shot. Thousands of guitarists have been striving for that famous "brown sound" for decades now.

[kirk95]

Robben Ford for the Dumble thang!

Michael Landau!

[Recycled_Brains]

Hendrix
Dimebag Darrell - everything except "Cowboys From Hell" (great songs, just don't particularly like the production)
John Frusciante - "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic"
David Gilmore - everything up until Waters left the band
Jimmy Page
Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman - "Reign In Blood"
John McLaughlin - "Panthalaasa" (stuff w/ Miles)
Neil Young w/ Crazy Horse - that super dirty soloing he does is the tits.

i'll think of more....

-ryan

[Midlandmorgan]

Chet Atkins
Jerry Reed
Jeff Cook
Albert Lee
Ray Flacke
Reggie Young

(can you see where this is going?)

[dadgad65]

Brian May had (has) what EVH would have called the brown sound....

[custom24]

Hendrix.
Tom Morello
Brendan O'Brien Guitars

[George Necola]

I like the tool guitarsound.. I like those ****ed up tones.

the last Gojira - from Mars to Sirius had an awesome tone.. AWESOME:Dhttp://www.gojira-music.com/

also faith no more - angeldust. great:D

cheers

[messengerbyrd]

Jeff Beck

[TAVD]

Albert King

[MX582]

when i was at berklee over the summer we got to mess around with the origional individual tracks for Queens - Killer Queen. as far as the raw tracks go with no editing or anything..just straight from the tape..it was probably the coolest tape guitar tone ive ever heard. also the vocals were amazing..he hit the pitches perfectly ..no pitch correction or anything..

im only 17 and ive been using digital so far but i can definatly see why tapes were so badass..as soon as i get the oportunity im getting a tape machine

digital and all these plug ins =
analog = thumbsup

[Jay Kahrs]

There's a lotta great tones out there...

In a "rock" kinda setting I'm keep going to those Brendon O' Brian things for reference...STP's "Purple" has been a looooong time reference for me....

Hendrix - Band of Gypsies

Gotta love the Rev. Billy G. & all those early ZZ Top rekkids...

How about T-bone Walker??? thumbsup

[vernier]

A few standouts ...

Beatles: "She Said" , "And Your Bird Can Sing".
Byrds: "Bells Of Rhymney", "Chimes Of Freedom".
Nazz: "Open My Eyes".
John Folgerty: (everything he recorded)
Buffalo Springfield: "Bluebird", "Rock And Roll Woman", "Questions".
Crosby, Stills & Nash: "Pre-Road Downs", "49 Bye-Byes".

70's:
Jimmy Page: (too many to list).
John McLaughlin: "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters", etc.

[Crash]

Robben Ford for the Dumble thang!

Damnit, you beat me.

[SoZo]

Don't forget Lindsey Buckingham and the Eagles ....

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by Recycled_Brains

David Gilmore - everything up until Waters left the band

David's tone didn't change when Roger left.

Gilmour
Alex Lifeson
Neal Schon
Roger Hodgson
Carlos Santana (early)
Tom Schultz
Mark Knopfler
George Harrison
Don Felder
Terry Kath

[trock]

Randy Rhoads, Flying High Again.

Angus and Malcom Young

James Taylor

[sonic dogg]

Kinda goes on a record to record basis dont you think..? Some have great tones and these go hand in hand with great songwriting and arrangement.

There are a few which never cease to have a handle on that 'tone'...

Rev. Willy G.....every stink'n time..

Hendrix...ALL of the rhythm tracks on Axis...

Eldon Shamblin...Strat>wire>old Bassman>magic

Steve Lukather...always nails it

Robben Ford.....A vast array of sounds over his career

Mick Ralphs....English...Les Paul...Marshall...on 11!

Mark Knopfler.......Strat sales went WAY up when they broke

Clapton...The 'woman' tone especially

Both of the Young bros. ....Actually according to an acquaintance from down-under who grew up around em, all of em played just like that and had that tone

Theres a million others....

[ejsongs]

Michael Thompson
Corky James
James Hara

All great LA session guys that most people don't know of but I do!!

ej

[chrisp2u]

Originally Posted by MX582

im only 17 and ive been using digital so far but i can definatly see why tapes were so badass..as soon as i get the oportunity im getting a tape machine

digital and all these plug ins =
analog = thumbsup

With the good comes the bad...
- tape reels that are expensive and short on time.
- waiting around while striping tapes.
- aligning/calibrating heads.
- demagnetizing heads.
- lots of moving parts to wear out and break down (plus, finding the parts... if you can, and the cost to replace them).

Generally, a lot of maintenance involved with analog tape machines. Digital and analog both have their ups and downs. Digital has come a long way and certainly isn't "Deth". Anything can be good if you learn how to use it properly.

---

Back on topic, I think it's impossible to answer this question (though there are many great attempts here). Too subjective... as are most things of this nature.

I agree on the record by record basis comment... what's the best for a given song might not work elsewhere... so it caan't really be the best. The tones on tape (unless you've heard them solo) are very much influenced by the overall mix, accompanying instrumentation and attitude/feel/playing of the musicians as well.

I think the question would be better worded as "Which taped guitar tone would you say made a specific song/album?" as shown by most of the responses thus far.
---
c

[vernier]

With the good comes the bad...
- tape reels that are expensive and short on time.
- waiting around while striping tapes.
- aligning/calibrating heads.
- demagnetizing heads.
- lots of moving parts to wear out and break down (plus, finding the parts... if you can, and the cost to replace them).

But tape sounds cool, and the alternative doesn't.

[dlmorley]

Too personal really.
Me?? I like Gilmour, Tony Iommi, Holdsworth, Metheny....... so many!

[ChaNce144]

Slash, Use Your Illusion albums. Estranged still sounds amazing.

[stvintage]

Johnny Thunders (New York Dolls) & Chuck Berry

[heathen]

Santana, man!