The best tone you've heard in person..

Strat54

guitarfishbay said:

Teetonetal said:

In all honesty, I have no idea. I don't think I've ever stood at a gig and gone wow, that tone is amazing. the bad ones for sure stick out, like last week watching trampoline who were so loud it hurt.

I don't think I've ever been to a rock gig quiet enough to not be wearing earplugs.  So in truth, I don't think I've properly heard any tone from about age 15 or 16 onwards.

I don't get earplugs at gigs, its not like gigs are that loud anymore. What are you preserving your hearing for? Old age? Great.....don't bother...you might not get there, and if you do it won't be that great! Like putting seat covers on a car to save the seats for the next owner...whats the point....enjoy the now, you are missing out on life otherwise. 

springhead

JD Simo at the Barfly in Camden last year (little 150-200 capacity place).  1960 Les Paul, JTM 45 set for loud, 2 x 12 pointing off stage to keep the level down a bit. No pedals.

 An amazing player who varied his tone and distortion all evening from squeaky clean to full blues roar with just pickup switch and tone/volume controls and his playing style.  Didn't touch the amp once.

guitarfishbay

Strat54 said:

guitarfishbay said:

Teetonetal said:

In all honesty, I have no idea. I don't think I've ever stood at a gig and gone wow, that tone is amazing. the bad ones for sure stick out, like last week watching trampoline who were so loud it hurt.

I don't think I've ever been to a rock gig quiet enough to not be wearing earplugs.  So in truth, I don't think I've properly heard any tone from about age 15 or 16 onwards.

I don't get earplugs at gigs, its not like gigs are that loud anymore. What are you preserving your hearing for? Old age? Great.....don't bother...you might not get there, and if you do it won't be that great! Like putting seat covers on a car to save the seats for the next owner...whats the point....enjoy the now, you are missing out on life otherwise. 

Do you go to metal gigs?

tone1

I saw a local band in a pub, and the Guitarist was playing a RG550 through a Marshall 1x12 with some Marshall rack gear. He played Shine on you Crazy Diamond and it was mind blowingly good 

dindude

About 15 years ago, somewhere in a tiny bar I’ve never found again, somewhere in London (i was a wee bit drunk as it happens, hence being vague).

A random guy playing a Strat into a tweed type Fender amp - basically to about 12 people. Sounded glorious. Well whether it did or it didn’t, I remember more about the equipment and the tone than I do the rest of the evening!

iseverynamegone

Mid 80s Ty Tabor of Kings X with his strat Elite at Bradford St George’s Hall. Sounded immense. Couldn’t see the Amp but I guess it was one of the Moog Labs. 

They were supporting Anthrax the poor souls, they were continually gobbed on through the set but wore it well.   I’m guessing I was one of the few in there who went specifically to see them.   

pumkin

Saw Matt Schofield in Exeter a while back.... three piece ... keys drums guitar .... he was playing through his sig two rock and had a fender blackface something along side .... best live tone I've ever ... oh and an SVL strat ... and his playing of course . 

BloodEagle

HAL9000

Pete Townshend for me. Playing a Strat, no idea what the amp was but the clarity and note separation were astonishing.

Next (but quite a way behind Mr Townshend) was EC at Manchester Arena. Strat into a Tweed (I think).

EricTheWeary

Maynehead said:

Some random dude that was selling me his Mesa 2x12 cab.

I turned up and he had the cab in his front room on its own. I said you'd better show that it's working for both our sakes, so he goes upstairs and brings down an amp head I'd never seen before. Plugs this guitar (PRS i think) straight into the amp, selects the dirty channel, and strums a chord.

I was just instantly blown away... it sounded better than anything I'd heard before.

Turns out that amp was a PRS Archon, when they first came out. I wouldn't mind owning one some day...

When I was a Probation Officer I supervised this chap who was a heroin addict who used to shoplift a great deal. I did a home visit, he lived with his father who used to be a club entertainer. In their ( very tiny) house they had a Hammond Organ and Leslie cabinet. Took about five minutes to warm up then just sounded unbelievable, standing in the middle of that was just great. 

Anyway, guitar  wise the one that comes to mind was Mike Zito in Royal Southern Brotherhood ( back at the Robin 2 where this Discussion started). I was at the front of the stage so I’d say I could hear the amps direct and it was all that 3D, dynamic, chewy stuff. Custom tele style guitar, Category 5 amp and a couple of pedals I couldn’t really see. The other guitarist in the band Devon Allman was hardly bad but Zito sounded amazing. 

Best sounding band band overall is probably Fairport Convention. Seen them several times and they always just sound so balanced and amazing - you can hear every note on every instrument but still the overall impact. Just the best live sound I’ve ever heard. 

nocasternoproblem

BB King in 1997 at the Manchester Arena.  Lucille into a Fender of some sort.  Blew my tits off from the first note, played with such vibrato.    Absolutely monster tone, clean and dirty at the same time and so, so musical.    What a guitarist, what he must have been like live in his prime in the 1960s I can't imagine.

Panama_Jack666

robinbowes said:

Me, at home. Modded Bandmaster Reverb (1x15 combo) with home-made Vibratone extension speaker. Sounded unbelievably good, didn't it @Panama_Jack666 ?

R.

I can confirm this sounded literally (not figuratively) very special!

samldr1984

Charlie Worsham in Amsterdam last month. Glorious!!

Teetonetal

guitarfishbay said:

Teetonetal said:

In all honesty, I have no idea. I don't think I've ever stood at a gig and gone wow, that tone is amazing. the bad ones for sure stick out, like last week watching trampoline who were so loud it hurt.

I don't think I've ever been to a rock gig quiet enough to not be wearing earplugs.  So in truth, I don't think I've properly heard any tone from about age 15 or 16 onwards.

I was wearing plugs they had fender twins on 10 in a very small room. The walls shook.

jeztone2

1: Alex Lifeson on the R30/Snakes & Arrows tours. I really loved the Hughes & Kettner Triamp Mk II tones. Just the spread of sound. It was huge.

2: Vivian Campbell with Last In Line. Just a Les Paul into a fire breathing ENGL head.

3: A local band in my twenties called Sirrus. The guitarist had a Rickenbacker 620 into an AC30 with a few Boss pedals and blew me away. He was playing minimal stuff but used his gear in a really clever way. It was sort of like The Edge meets Kevin Shields. It really made an impact 

Moltisanti

Adam Jones with Tool in 2002 - the perfect mix of punch, dynamics, grit and power. Bearing in mind it was outdoors too, his tone was ridiculous

Teetonetal

RandallFlagg said:

Eric Roche playing "With These Hands" on his Nick Benjamin OM model, sat on the floor cross legged, at Sleaford Playhouse in front of what must have been less than 100 people.

The best live acoustic sound I've heard

Eric Roche was such a nice guy and a fantastic player.

rico

Strat54 said:

guitarfishbay said:

Teetonetal said:

In all honesty, I have no idea. I don't think I've ever stood at a gig and gone wow, that tone is amazing. the bad ones for sure stick out, like last week watching trampoline who were so loud it hurt.

I don't think I've ever been to a rock gig quiet enough to not be wearing earplugs.  So in truth, I don't think I've properly heard any tone from about age 15 or 16 onwards.

I don't get earplugs at gigs, its not like gigs are that loud anymore. What are you preserving your hearing for? Old age? Great.....don't bother...you might not get there, and if you do it won't be that great! Like putting seat covers on a car to save the seats for the next owner...whats the point....enjoy the now, you are missing out on life otherwise. 

That is a stupid and foolish thing to say. 

UnclePsychosis

A friend of mine used to play drums in a two piece band, back before the likes of the white stripes made it trendy.

His brother was the guitarist, and he used to play a Travis Bean which had the signal split to two amps - - - a Marshall (JCM800 I think) and an ampeg bass amp. 

Sounded absolutely massive. Loved it. 

Skipped

I think that is 3 mentions for Matt Schofield in the thread.

I have not seen him live but the trio live album gives a strong hint that you are not wrong.