Top 3 Favorite Clean and Dirty tones, and why

[melodichaotic]

Since we all pontificate about sound here on the forum, I thought I'd put this out there to hear where you guys are coming from, and on what you consider great clean(electric) tone AND great overdrive or distortion tone.

I'm thinking specific players, specific songs, and specific examples--the ones you might consider to be among some of the best ever...the ones that move you and why.

If 3 is tough, and you want to go Top 5, by all means

I, will have to really give it some thought, but for a couple of quick examples:

Clean:
Hendrix/ "Hey Joe"/ Rhythm and solo... sweet, warm, lyrical and pure...instant emotional connection and inspiration to a straight forward honest unadulterated vibe/expression.

Dirty:
EVH/ Opening guitar to "You Really Got Me"/ FAT, chunky, aggressive and warm...with all do respect to the original, you heard this for the first time on the radio and went...WTF???:shock:

[bsic]

What a great idea Marty!



Ill probably add and modify as time goes on- heres my gut first response...

Clean :
- srv Little Wing. Ultimate strat "quack" with loads of reverb..
- Hendrix, Little Wing for a whole different reason... crisper, more raw and a little bit more "real" to me, not sure why I say that but I love this sound.
- Gilmour, Shine On You Crazy Diamond. Classic lush clean sounds - this and the whole live set of "Pulse" are some clean sounds that make my hair stand on end.
- Roy Buchanan, Ramon's Blues...Semi overdriven- but clean in my opinion-- Never forget my reaction when first hearing this one. That Telecaster bite with LOADS of reverb coming in and out probably in a post mix. Great use of slight harmonics, really different style than the same old blues licks IMO to showcase this awesome tone..

Dirty:
- Hendrix Voodoo Chile. One of the first songs I became obsessed with 20 years ago. Such a great classic fuzz tone with great dynamics going through the various sections... Love the section where it gets quiet. I often wonder how anyone else would have sounded thru that same rig - no where close.
- Frampton, Do You Feel... all the NON talkbox sounds, just the classic les paul / marshall tone... again great dynamics in the playing, like the beginning of the second solo. Unreal to me.
- For really high gain, I totally dig all the heavy sounds on Tool's Aenima. Thick, ballsy, tasteful modulation... but not Mesa Recto sounding distortion...
- Tom Sholz, Hitch a Ride. This tone of this solo really just struck a chord with me that I havent been able to shake tonewise. Spacey, thick, love it.

[bsic]

And of course, "Snow White Fuzz and the Honey Bee".

[strings2wood]

Clean strat: Mark Knopfler:
"Six Blade Knife"- Brownface Vibrolux.
Dirty strat: Jeff Beck: "Dirty Mind"/ or "Brush with the Blues"- for clean and dirty.
It is what it says. (ok He's using humbuckers- but it's a strat.)
OR most of the dirty tones on: Live at Ronnie Scott's.

Clean 335:Larry Carlton: "It Was Only Yesterday."
Dirty: 335: Ï'm Going Home". Alvin Lee with Ten Years After at Woodstock.

Les Paul-clean: "Diamond Dust"Jeff Beck.
Les Paul: bluesy/ dirty- Frampton- on Humble Pie: Rockin'the Fillmore-as clean as dirty gets.

Clean Tele: "Tumbling Dice" Keith Richards-(R.S.)
Dirthy Tele: Big Enough: Keith Richards and the Expensive Winos.

[hawaii121]

This one is from this past Saturday night. Larry Carlton played a Jazz Fest in Honolulu. I recorded this on my iphone so quality is just ok, but not bad. - sorry gotta figure out how to convert the file...

I'm going to follow Bill's lead and I'll add more to this soon.

Somewhere betwee.zip[/attachment]n clean, quacky, and dirty - Mark Knopfler with his Les Paul on "Brothers in Arms" - this is the song that made me re-evaluate my equipment and begin a quest to improve my tone (damn Mark K!). This is one of the few songs, that I know of, where MK uses a Les Paul. I tend to prefer HB/P90 over single coils so I really love to hear MK playing on this - fat sounding, low growl, cool finger pick'in, sweet use of volume swell - just a great player and song.

Clean - Jeff Buckley "Hallelujah" haunting, etherial, subtle, simple, but so expressive. I feel like this dance between Buckly's vocals and his guitar playing in this song is one of his best moments.

Dirty - +1 to Bill with Tool "Aneima" - very visceral and almost hitting the fabled "brown sound" - these guys do metal'ish stuff that I feel almost touches on rock symphony in that it sounds so big.

Dirty - "Delicate Sound of Thunder" Pink Floyd - I saw this concert twice and both times was floored by the thickness of the guitar. I love the harmonic feedback and deep fat distortion - this is probably my favorite "dirty" sound.

[Donner]

hmm Clean Knopfler, Knopfler and Knopfler, not necessarily in that order ......
(something I learned is that he used a P90 Les Paul Special all over the first Dire Straights album)

Beatles Revolution is the first time I remember going Gawd what is that fuzzy sound ?!!?!?
Joe Walsh Turn To Stone and Deep Purple Machine Head ....

But its still Brian May , Billy Gibbons and Neal Schon that cover my dirty tones .....

[jfromel]

Clean:
Mark Knopfler - Does this really need an explanation
Joe Pass - compressed and articulate
Crowded House - Don't dream its over - nothin but clean

Dirty -
Hendrix - Again no explanation needed
Tears for Fears - Shout - Solo at the end - one of my favorite and most underrated solos of all time, it's very articulate but still pretty high gain
Metallica - Black Album - love all that tone