My All Time Favorite Guitar ToneI was reading a guitar magazine at borders while taking in a dark, bold, cup of coffee when I came across this article about the top 50 guitar tones of all time. While the article was interesting I realized I did not agree with all of their selections thus leading me to right this article. This is the start of creating my own list of favorite guitar tones which many of the artists were not included. They are not in any particle order and I will most likely have to include a second part to this list as I am including a few more details in my list and it is taking up way more time than I was prepared for. I have a deadline believe it or not for these newsletters. I hope you enjoy the article and look forward to your own rants and raves as you will most likely comment on my own list.
*Note: I am including as much detail about the tone as possible. For example album, year, and gear along with my own commentary so you can look up these songs and listen to the tone yourself.
Jimi Hendrix
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – Electric Lady Land - 1968
There has been no other song like it. The tone is what everyone has coveted for the last 4 decades. He rolled back the volume knob to achieve the clean tone and cranked it up for the dirt. The rest came from God alone!
Fender Strat / 1959 Marshall “Plexi” 4x12 cab w/ 25watt greenback celestions / VOX Wah pedal.
Stevie Ray Vaughan ( SRV )
Couldn’t Stand The Weather / Couldn’t Stand The Weather- 1984
Probably my favorite album of Stevie because the cover of Jimi’s “Voodoo Child”.
1959 Fender Stratocaster (His Number #1) AKA His first wife! Vaughan was a prominent user of Dumble Amplifiers. He used a 1983 "Steel String Singer" at 150 Watts for the majority of his recording career, which he called his "King Tone Consoul". He applied a decal with that name himself where it would normally say "Steel String Singer". For speakers, he used both Marshall 4x12 cabinets loaded with Celestion speakers, or a Dumble 4x12 loaded with EV12L speakers. Vaughan used EV speakers in his Fender amps as well.
Daniel Lanois
Sonho Dourado / Wouldn’t It Be Beautiful – 1999
Here is a tid bit about me. This guy is one of my favorite Producer/Guitarist all time.
One of the world's most admired producers for his work with U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, the Neville Brothers, and one of my all time favorite artist that is less known Chris Whitley. If you like Edge from U2, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd you have to hear Daniel. He used 1958 Fender Stratocaster / Tweed 4x10 Fender Bassman and or Vox AC30.
Jimmy Page
Les Zeppelin II - Whole Lotta Love - 1969
A loose blues riff based more on expression than precision played on a
Sunburst 1958 Les Paul Standard
100 watt Marshall “Plexi” EL 34 output valve tubes
Doyle Bramhall ii
Any song from these albums / Jellycream 1999 Welcome 2001
Another one of my heros that most people have never heard of. If you like rootsy blues rock music with soul please check out Doyle Bramhall ii and Chris Whitley’s “Living With The Law” they are two artist that inspire me today. Doyle is a left handed player who does not re-string his right handed guitar when he flips it to play. I think this is what makes him think outside the box when he plays his riffs. Quote from Doyle:
“My search for what I wanted, tonallv has finally ended. I had been searching for the perfect tone - my sound. I'd always stuck to Strats. I got hold of this '64 sunburst Strat I use with a '67 100-watt Super Bass Marshall, and I took off with it. With these tones, I feel like I can speak perfectly through the guitar.”
Mark Knopfler
Dire Straights - Money for Nothing – 1985
Les Paul Junior + Laney Amp = Chicks for Free
“We were going for a ZZ top sound, but what we ended up getting was kind of an accident.”
Pete Townsend
The Who – Tommy - Pinball Wizard – 1969
Unfortunately all this proves is that Pete’s tone came from his finger tips.
1968 Gibson SG – 100 watt Sound City amp w/ 4x12 cab
Eric Clapton
Fresh Cream – I Feel Free – 1966
Borrowed Les Paul – his favorite GTR “Beano” was stolen during album rehearsals
100 watt Marshall
Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop – 1989
Distinct tone using the tremolo to bend his notes to minor 3rds
Fender Strat – Rat Distortion Pedal 100 watt Marshall
Carlos Santana
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen - Abraxas -1970Les Paul Special / Fender Princeton or a Mesa / Boogie Amp
Jack White
The White Stripes - Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground White Blood Cells -2001Believe it or not this new comer has tone coming out of his ears! I love his sound and you will want to go and by yourself a “Big Muff” pedal right away.Silvertone 2x12 / Fender Twin Reverb 1964 / JB Hutto Model
How good are Ibanez guitars?
Category: Music
How good is an Ibanez guitar? I would say only as good as the manufacturer who is making it. Ibanez a well known guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki and was founded in 1957. Ibanez has some big name players on their roster: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Pat Metheny to name a few.
Every brand name guitar has 3 levels of their modeled guitars. Every level has a different manufacturer in charge of their line of guitars. The top tier is the custom shop. These guitars get all of the attention. Only the best wood is used, the pick ups are cleaner and hotter sounding. These babies are prized pieces of art taken care of with a meticulous eye. They know the buyer who is willing to spend upwards of $1,500 through $3,500 on a guitar is going to know every little detail about the craftsmanship. They have waited their whole life to purchase one of these gems and have earned their stripes to play one of these finely tuned instruments. Because of this actual men and ladies watch over every phase of the building process of these guitars.
The bottom tier guitar has a whole different buyer in mind. This demographic is moved by eye candy. This entry level 6 string is going to be the buyers first guitar. He is going to play it till his fingers bleed just like it was the summer of 69. When he walks into the music store with $250.00 bucks burning a whole in his pocket he is looking for one thing only. He is looking for the sexiest looking guitar in the whole store. He wants the most rockin, the coolest, rad, sparkling, guitar that he can find. Most likely it will be the one the store manager put some cool lights on it to make it shine like the stars above.
This buyer is drunk. He has no sensibility and his rational mind has turned to mush. If it doesn't look right he just doesn't want anything to do with the guitar at all. These guitars are not touched by human hands. Machines make these guitars and pump them out on assembly lines like pieces of candy.
The hardest market to buy a guitar from is the middle level guitar. The company knows that the buyer here is a little more educated than the bottom tier consumer. The only real difference is the constraint of a budget. The consumer who can afford the custom shop is going to have his cake and eat it to. He gets it all: eye candy and top quality. The company making the middle of the road guitar has to decide where they are going to spend their dollar. Do we split up the value by putting half the money into eye appeal and the other half into quality components for the guitar? Make it a good looking guitar and an o.k. sounding one too? Or do we spend all of the money in the quality of the guitar knowing that this buyer only wants excellence. He wants the best sounding guitar he can get for his dollar. He is mature and doesn't need the bomb shell of a guitar because his hormones are calmed down for this purchase. He has already had the one night fling with the sexy guitar in his bed.
The brand name guitar whether it be Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, or PRS contracts out the 2 bottom level guitars to other manufacturers. The brand name corporation will only focus on the signature models in their custom shop. The rest of the guitars are made cheaper in other parts of the world. Some one else will make the guitars for them and then put the company's name and logo and add a few extra hundred dollars just for the name recognition.
For example have you ever heard of Cort guitars? Generally, large companies contract Cort to build lower-priced guitars that have that company's brand on them. Ibanez, Parkwood, Schecter, and G&L Tribute series line of guitars are among the most well-known brands that Cort produces. (Info can be found on wikipedia)
Here is the tricky part. Why would you buy an Ibanez guitar that was made by Cort and pay a few hundred dollars more when you could buy the same guitar from Cort for less? Ah, we are back to the mind set of the buyer who is on level number one. Ibanez is a sexier pick. However, the fact is you can get more bang for your buck if you buy a Cort guitar. You can get a top tier guitar from Cort for under a thousand dollars. The exact same model from Ibanez would cost you over a thousand dollars. No difference in the guitar minus the name and a few minor details of the look in the head stock.
It is not confusing at all when you buy a top tier guitar from any brand name. When you buy a custom shop guitar from Ibanez, Fender, or Gibson you can pretty much bet that it is going to be an amazing guitar. Each brand certainly has its own characteristics. Each guitar is very unique and different when comparing Ibanez, Fender and Gibson. But when you spend over a thousand dollars and have someone carefully put it together it is going to be a good guitar.
In conclusion, if you are buying an Ibanez that is under one thousand dollars you are really buying a Cort guitar with an Ibanez name stamped on it. With that thought in mind, my final question to you is: how good is a Cort guitar?
The `...El Mocambo' video also shows Vaughan playing the instrumental `Lenny' on his red, maple neck Strat which dates from `63 or `64. Guitar and song were named after Vaughan's then-wife Lenora, and this Strat reappears on `Riviera Paradise' from `In Step'. Vaughan also owned a yellow Strat from `64, formerly owned by Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge, which had been hollowed out. This guitar's uniquely bright tone can be heard on `Tell Me' from `Texas Flood'. Other Stevie Ray guitars included an orange 1960 Strat, a blonde `57 Strat, a `58 Gibson 335, a cherryburst Hamilton Lurktamer with his name on the neck (a present from Billy Gibbons) and a National Duolian acoustic which Stevie claimed was once owned by Blind Boy Fuller.
For the `In Step' sessions Stevie had 32 amps at his disposal including a `59 Fender Bassman (used for many tracks on the album according to Vaughan's amp technician, Cesar Diaz), a pair of Marshall Major 200 watt heads, a 100 watt Marshall JCM half-stack, a `62 Fender Twin, two `64 Fender Vibroverbs and a 150 watt Howard Dumble Steel String Singer head with a Dumble 4 by 12 bottom.
Not surprisingly, Stevie used few effects, his two main ones being a Vox Wah-wah and an Ibanez Tube Screamer. For `Say What!' from `Soul To Soul' Vaughan said he used two Wah-wahs at the same time, one of the Wah-wahs allegedly belonging to Hendrix, Jimmie Vaughan having apparently obtained the pedal from Jimi in a swop and passed it on to his brother. Bassist Tommy Shannon confirms Vaughan's use of two Wah-wahs on `Say What!', adding, `He tried some of the weirdest things sometimes and they'd work!'
A longtime Hendrix fan, Vaughan hoarded a host of Hendrix-associated boxes, including a UniVibe, Fuzz Face and Octavia. The UniVibe approximated the sound of a Leslie rotating speaker cabinet but Vaughan usually preferred the effect given by his Fender Vibratone, as can be heard on `Cold Shot' from `Couldn't Stand The Weather'. Vaughan resurrected the Fuzz Face and Octavia for live shows in `89 and `90, occasionally using the Octavia for `Voodoo Child (slight return)'.
This feature was originally published in `The Guitar Magazine' Vol 6 No 2, January 1996.
© Douglas J Noble 1996
