Who had/has the best Strat tone?

[Stratlover]

SRV get my vote.

[Phil57TS]

Jerry Garcia about 1972.

[NeoFauve]

In opinion polls, people who disagree with me are usually wrong.


http://www.rycooder.nl/images/strat_67.jpg

[demioblue]

Mark Knopfler...

[Notyethendrix]

Guitar: Any blues player with a strat armed with low output single coils

Bass: Jack Cassidy

[Gitman]

Hey guys have to say personally not in any particular order..... there are some many....
Hendrix
SRV
Beck
Blackmore
Trower
Clapton
Nile Rodgers
Ernie Isley
Rory Gallagher....
Malmsteen...

This can go on and on...

[Kap'n]

Bass: Jack Cassidy

Love Cassady's work. I don't think I've ever heard him play a strat though.

[jim in texas]

For a bit of freshness how about Buddy Wittington?

and..........

Ronnie Earl is the Jedi Master of a strat plugged into a Super Reverb.

[Gravity Jim]

Jimmy Wilsey.

And his band.

[Gravity Jim]

Fezz, you are da man. Thanks for making my day, man.

[Sage]

Since everybody's knocking EJ, I'll throw my vote in for him. His tones are incredible, especially the clean tones: full and round, his guitar chimes like a bell when played clean.

His lead tone is legendary, too, nice and thick but without any grating edge to it, it's remarkably smooth.

One of the reasons I like his tone so much is that it lends itself better to the melodic use of the instrument. In an era where the guitar is treated like percussion by so many players, a tone that is better suited toward the flow of notes is refreshing.

[NeoFauve]

Jimmy Wilsey.

And his band.

There's a lot of buzz about those guys.
And not just because they eschew noiseless p'ups.

[Gravity Jim]

Sage, I really like the sound of Eric Johnson's guitar, too. I think the guys who hate it are mostly guys who tried to play "Cliffs Of Dover" and finally gave up.

[Bluestar]

Sage, I really like the sound of Eric Johnson's guitar, too. I think the guys who hate it are mostly guys who tried to play "Cliffs Of Dover" and finally gave up.

Good one!

[Sixpense]

"Who had/has the best Strat tone?"

For me: Hendrix, Gilmour, Beck, and Clapton (couldn't pick only one)

[Kap'n]

Sage, I really like the sound of Eric Johnson's guitar, too. I think the guys who hate it are mostly guys who tried to play "Cliffs Of Dover" and finally gave up.

No, I don't like his sound at all, and no, I've never tried to play any of it.

It just doesn't sound like a guitar to me at all. To me, it sounds like a keyboard approximation of 80's guitar. I guess it takes a lot of work to sound that bad. Maybe that's admirable.

Then again, Jerry Garcia has a unique sound too. Absolutely 180 degrees away from what I want to sound like, but at least it sounds good when he does/did it.

[Fendercrazy]

Many great guitarists with great strat tones mentioned. I can’t narrow it down to just one player. My favorite strat tones are:

Country: Eddy Shaver
Blues: Robin Trower
Rock: Ritchie Blackmore
Metal: YJM

[NeoFauve]

There are plenty of players who have arguably good "tone."
But it doesn't really make me want to listen to them.

[Gravity Jim]

It's the music that we like that makes us listen. Not the delivery system.

Man, ain't that the truth. Elliott Randall's tone on "Reelin' In The Years" is flat nasty, and the first time I heard it, it was coming out of a mono car radio, through the dash speaker.

And yet that guitar playing made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I'd never try to make my guitar sound like that. But I wish I could play like that, with that abandon and exuberance and crazy joy.

[Kap'n]

There are plenty of players who have arguably good "tone."
But it doesn't really make me want to listen to them.

Gary Moore immediately springs to mind.

[Kap'n]

Man, ain't that the truth. Elliott Randall's tone on "Reelin' In The Years" is flat nasty, and the first time I heard it, it was coming out of a mono car radio, through the dash speaker.

And yet that guitar playing made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I'd never try to make my guitar sound like that. But I wish I could play like that, with that abandon and exuberance and crazy joy.

But in some bizarre way, that flat nasty tone is part of what got it noticed in the first place, and why 8 year old Kap'n discovered the coolness that is Steely Dan and the electric guitar. And how it sounded vaguely tonally similar to the groovy fuzz goodness of Journey to the Center of the Mind and Spirit in the Sky.

Heavy fuzz. Key of A. What more could an 8-year old want?

[pseudocat]

Journey to the Center of the Mind

Ah, the Nuge. For all his psycho-extremist posturing, he sure had some great tone back in the day. I'm not sure what he's up to today...

Spirit in the Sky

Even now, whenever I hear this, I just have to stop what I'm doing and groove.

And Steely Dan... what a great collection of musicians over the years.

[SteveGaines]

Stroker Ace....You took the words outta my mouth when you mentioned "Eddy Shaver"....Check out the live "Unshaven"...Shaver live at Smith's Old Bar....Shame that cat died so young...Have a DVD that he did from 1984 with his father " Austin City Limits"....That was a 55 Strat that Dickey Betts gave him when he was 14 or 15 years old...Eddy could flat play...

[Kap'n]

Even now, whenever I hear this, I just have to stop what I'm doing and groove.

So, were Norman and Peter Greenbaum related?

[Schtang]

A couple of Australian guitarists
Ian Moss (ex cold chisel)
Michael Bianchino (tricky devices & hard labour)

David Gilmour

[pseudocat]

So, were Norman and Peter Greenbaum related?

[bluesaholic]

You know...David Gilmore has some Great Strat Tones too...IMHO..

[Manitou]

i love this tone;

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=vghL4EqOGjo
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=HEALyBVnS34

[Yankeehotelfoxtrot]

There are plenty of players who have arguably good "tone."
But it doesn't really make me want to listen to them.

Exactly. A lot of my favorite artists have average tone, but are great songwriters.

Sure, Bob Dylan's not a tonester, but I'd honestly rather listen to Dylan than anyone mentioned in this thread.

Good guitar tones are important...but songs are more important.

[FrankieB]

Seriously, its a known science. To discuss differences is purely a function of musicianship. Gilmour for example hardly plays a Strat. Its got EMGs and tone circuits. Very compressed and processed. Yeah I REALLY like his music but don't care for the guitar tone - I tried that stuff and it didn't work for the way I play. Hendrix and SRV were more cable-to-amp guys with off the rack gear. Can you play 13s? They do sound good. OWW!

I think I've got a good tone going here if you have tha patience to listen (no comments on the relatively weak chops):

http://www.garageband.com/song?|pe1|S8LTM0LdsaSiZ1azZWw

Post a link to your tone and let's see what the masters have taught us.

[Offshore Angler]

Larry Carlton comes to mind, along with Skunk Baxter.

[Danny!]

i love this tone;

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=vghL4EqOGjo
http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=HEALyBVnS34

Jesus Christ that first clip was godly.

Since everybody's knocking EJ, I'll throw my vote in for him. His tones are incredible, especially the clean tones: full and round, his guitar chimes like a bell when played clean.

His lead tone is legendary, too, nice and thick but without any grating edge to it, it's remarkably smooth.

One of the reasons I like his tone so much is that it lends itself better to the melodic use of the instrument. In an era where the guitar is treated like percussion by so many players, a tone that is better suited toward the flow of notes is refreshing.

He's got my vote, I saw him at this tiny little venue bout a month back and damn if he didn't completely blow me away. From now on when I think of Eric's lead tone 2 phrases will come to mind: "legendary" and "Desert Rose".

It's true, he just beats the crap out of his signal with all the stuff he runs it through but I like the end result so I suppose it doesn't really matter!

[Kap'n]

Gilmour for example hardly plays a Strat.

Well, yeah, now.

All the Gilmour stuff anybody cares about was recorded with relatively normal Fender Stratocasters through a much simpler signal chain than anybody on the H-C FX forum.

[Plugger]

Larry Carlton comes to mind,

?!?

Mr 335 playing a Strat? Which tracks?

-Mark

[bluesaholic]

Jesus Christ that first clip was godly.



He's got my vote, I saw him at this tiny little venue bout a month back and damn if he didn't completely blow me away. From now on when I think of Eric's lead tone 2 phrases will come to mind: "legendary" and "Desert Rose".

It's true, he just beats the crap out of his signal with all the stuff he runs it through but I like the end result so I suppose it doesn't really matter!

I saw EJ a couple of months ago at the Fat Cat In Modesto,CA..
Great show...

[Gilbert]

TONY JOE WHITE!!!

[jono_1uk]

Hi Just Joined !!
names Jon and live in England !
favs are Clapton ,SRV and Jesse Davey ( who has played with Indigenous, and produced there last album.)
he is currently dating their female drummer

[LoveBandit]

Originally Posted by Offshore Angler
Larry Carlton comes to mind,

?!? Mr 335 playing a Strat? Which tracks? --Mark

This is not Steely Dan but Larry Carlton definitely has played a Strat a lot:

"The last time I saw you live, you were playing a Strat pretty much the whole night. Did you go through a Strat period for awhile?

I did. There was a two-year period where I was playing a 63 Strat."
http://www.vintageguitar.com/artists/details.asp?ID=51

Footage of him playing a Strat live:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGHaKbnoL8

LB

[Gravity Jim]

That clip of Larry Carlton is the whole thing, the entire ball of wax: the sound of the guitar, the licks, the ease and phrasing, the joy... man. Dang.

[elicross]

You said it. Dang is right!

Carlton's playing a Strat on the cover of his 1986 live album, Last Nite. I guess it's unlikely he played it on every song, but it's further evidence of Larry playing a Strat in the wild.