Reference Tones

[State of Epicicity]

I thought about us creating a repository of sorts of everyone's favorite examples of ideal tones.

This is totally subjective, so please, post whatever you feel is an ideal example of a tone, and feel free talk about it if you want. A song, a YouTube demo, your own SoundCloud clip, whatever. If you think in specific terms, like this is the ideal Bassman tone, or generally, like this is ideal blues tone, or primo post djent north New Jersey proto thrash, however you think about it is cool and something I'd like to hear.

If people participate it might be a good resource. My thanks.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

Here's a start; some clips I posted earlier today. I'd consider this "holy grail Bassman tone" for early Hendrix-style stuff. As others mentioned, I think volume is playing a big role, but it has a certain attack and texture to its punchy grit that I've never been able to match in a modeler yet. The frontend has a vintage outboard Fender reverb tank plugged into it:

 

[Piing]

I'm addicted to the signature tone of Vinai-T Emotive Pack IRs by LiveReady Sound. That is an ideal tone for me. What I love most about it is that it instantly gets me the tone that I want without tweaking nothing but the Amp B/M/T, and I do not find it harsh on the high frequencies. The mids are mellow, and it can cut though the mix like a Samurai blade.

I normally use it with the Axe-FX JS410 Lead Red, Orange, or Carol-AnnTucana Lead (and now incorporating the new Lead Green) but also with many other amps, from vintage Fenders to Vox.

A great thing about this pack is that it only contains four IRs, therefore you don't get options paralysis. When I bought it in 2021 I selected the first one, and still haven't even used the others.

@Deadpan would you reveal for us what cab and mike did you use there?

There are many examples of this IR at Vinai-T YouTube. He normally uses it with a Helix

 

[Piing]

This burning Marshall is the mother of the holy iconic quintessence of the supreme master of sacred references.

The most simple setup but, unfortunately, I still haven't been able to replicate it with my gear and fingers.

 

[Stone]

For me the toanz that I love the most can be heard on Fair warning

 

[MirrorProfiles]

these palm mutes (Soldano SLO100, Mesa Cab):



VH4, Mesa cab:



Langner modded Marshall, 1960/T75’s:



No idea, guessing possibly Uberschall with V30+Greenbacks. Likely a blend of a few things:



and pretty much anything Andy Sneap or Colin Richardson touched.

5150II + Mesa cab (I think)

 

[laxu]

For lead tones, these two have always been my yardsticks:



Gary's tone is bright af but there's something very right about that sound where it's raw.



Petrucci's tone cuts like a knife but isn't thick in the way his more modern tones are.

What can I say - I'm a sucker for a good power ballad and some of those have absolutely killer solos!

 

[Rocco Crocco]

I dig the guitar sounds on this. Probably a boosted 800 or Plexi?

 

[State of Epicicity]

Thanks everyone for starting this out! It will be awesome to see where this leads. Much appreciated.

 

[Elf]

… The frontend has a vintage outboard Fender reverb tank plugged into it:

I wish they had recorded a take without the reverb.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Call it obvious, but still...

 

[Sascha Franck]

Fantastic live tones from Ford on this gig.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

lots of this is down to the parts, the arrangement, the fx. But everything just sounds perfect and works amazingly well together.

 

[Bob Zaod]

Rock n Roll



Metal





There are no other genres of music.

 

[la szum]

Jake E Lee's drenched in Marshall tones are timeless. Man, the drums and Vox sound so tired and
dated to my ears, but the guitar tones and playing stand the test of time. Soooooooo good!



Oh, drop Db/C# motherfuckers! It wasn't King's X, it wasn't Jerry Cantrell, or anyone from Seattle.

Unchained!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Something different, yet sort of very relevant:

The entire album is a goldmine of fantastic unusual guitar tones.

 

[jellodog]

If somebody posts Sweet Child O' Mine I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[holoholo]

If somebody posts Sweet Child O' Mine I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I'd be totally happy and content with Jimi's rhythm tone here:

 

[Sascha Franck]

Unfortunately, I'm still a sucker for what has typically been called "LA Lead" in whatever MFX units. For me, until this day, *the* role model of that tone is the outro solo of "Rosanna". Don't like the room they slapped onto it too much, but otherwise, that's the MOR rock lead tone I want. Lotsa drive, yet very defined attacks. Quite obviously, in this case the fingers are in fact a huge part of the overall tonal experience.
Almost no need to post this, but here we go: