Best Marshall Sound Laid To Tape?

[jleftyy]

Without a doubt, Angus Young is Marshall tone.

Yngwie has a fantastic Marshall sound with a midrange growl, high end squish and howling leads.

His tone on Rising Force was my favorite. Unprocessed tone with superb playing.

 

[liontato]

Most of the opinions (mine included) are leaning toward the 70's and 80's...some of the best guitar tones in my mind. The reason may be.....and this will probably go over like a lead ballon but tape and analog sounds better than the digital recording software used today. And Non master volume amps using power amp distortion on earlier recordings.......beats the preamp distortion on digital recording software today. My opinion. I will take 4 EL34's and their harmonic distortion over any stack of 12ax7's cascaded into infinity any day. Again, my opinion.

 

[jeffb]

I'm a Live album/tone kinda guy...so most of these are live... (and by no means a exhaustive list of my faves)



but not this one


Brian Robertson (starts at his solo- 2:25)

 

[liontato]

I'm a Live album/tone kinda guy...so most of these are live... (and by no means a exhaustive list of my faves)



but not this one


Brian Robertson (starts at his solo- 2:25)

Love all of them. I have to say my favorite is the 200 watt with the 59 Les Paul.......Page. Unreal! Volume was allowed then. I remember volume being liked back then. Not so much any more. No offense to the sound guys/gals of today but they like everything in a nice neat controllable box they can flip with an iPad....


You can also hear the compression of the 100 watters compared to the 200 watters between the clips. The 200 is more open. (Page and Blackmore)

 

[StratoMarshall]

Early Aerosmith! "Walkin' the Dog".

 

[RickyLee]

I think my favorite rhythm tone is ACDC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You).

I have to say great choices from everyone.

Regarding ACDC, I think they have captured so many great guitar tones in the studio on so many different albums. When you listen to the studio version of the song "For Those About To Rock", not only is there great guitar tone there, the entire band mix is just outstanding. Then factor in something else that was rarely utilized going into the early 80's . . . . . a great drum tone. You just do not hear cymbal crashes coming through the mix like that any more. And what a great snare tone they captured there as well.

Here is a thread from a few years ago I put up regarding the ACDC guitar tones.


http://www.marshallforum.com/threads/whats-your-favorite-vintage-angus-malcolm-riff-or-tone.15855/

 

[paul-e-mann]

Without a doubt, Angus Young is Marshall tone.

Yngwie has a fantastic Marshall sound with a midrange growl, high end squish and howling leads.

His stage antics are laughable LOL! Is this how he always performs?

 

[Buzzard]

Nice pirate shirt ! aaargh! lol. looks like he raided capt jack sparrows wardrobe. funny thing is a friend of mine lives near him in miami area ,he runs into him all the time and talks to him.He says he dresses like this everyday, tight leather pants and all! probably has IBS (itchy ball syndrome)with that heat and humidity down there.
My friend likes to give him a hard time by telling him that slashes afd 100 is louder than his yjm 100. Hes notoriously cheap and believes guitar center should give him free stuff.

 

[Buzzard]

oh yeah ,and to ad to the list I like michael schenkers marshall tone but only with the 2205, i saw a you tube video of a recent garage /practice and his tone was just not even close, when I saw in the background he was using a jcm 2000 dsl 50/100. I have feeling this list is gonna grow.

 

[JimiRules]

His stage antics are laughable LOL! Is this how he always performs?

I didn't watch the whole clip, but he went through like 10 picks in the first song!

 

[Toby Krewbs]

Bridge Of Sighs- Robin Trower

 

[Solid State]

Most of the opinions (mine included) are leaning toward the 70's and 80's...some of the best guitar tones in my mind. The reason may be.....and this will probably go over like a lead ballon but tape and analog sounds better than the digital recording software used today. And Non master volume amps using power amp distortion on earlier recordings.......beats the preamp distortion on digital recording software today. My opinion. I will take 4 EL34's and their harmonic distortion over any stack of 12ax7's cascaded into infinity any day. Again, my opinion.

Also, in the 70s,80s,90s, there was an actual music industry and money was put into audio engineering. Most artists are trying to self produce now and it's really mixed bag. Some of my favorite musicians don't sound good on later albums and it's all production related. Others, like Zakk Wylde, can put out downright gorgeous tonEs on their own. Check out the tone on this one.



That's a straight "BUY MARSHALL" ad to me.

 

[csand]

Oh man. The entire Black Rose album by Thin Lizzy.

Jimmy Page in one of the Since I've Been Lovin you live versions (on that DVD with the desert picture on it)

 

[jimmyjames]

Justin and Dan Hawkins took the baton forward admirably on The Darkness's Permission To Land album. Glorious Marshall roar and Lizzy harmonies. Johnny Ramone got a great live tone, I don't listen to much of Ramones studio stuff. I regularly immerse myself in their concert captures, and, lest we forget, Motorhead

 

[Dogs of Doom]

oh yeah ,and to ad to the list I like michael schenkers marshall tone but only with the 2205, i saw a you tube video of a recent garage /practice and his tone was just not even close, when I saw in the background he was using a jcm 2000 dsl 50/100. I have feeling this list is gonna grow.

MS still uses a 2205. Wayne uses a DSL...

 

[RickyLee]

Does anyone know if Eric Clapton brought his Marshall with him to Abbey Road Studios when George Harrison invited him to play guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps in 1968? That solo is a great early example of creamy singing lead tone.

Yeah, I know there's not much for Beatle fans around this forum. But I have to say they along with George Martin and the Abbey Road engineers, pioneered getting good guitar tones in the studio. Revolver has many excellent examples of different and badass guitar tones, but sadly no Marshall amps were used that I know of. Harrison's guitar tone in Fixing A Hole on Pepper and then many more examples on the White Album and Abbey Road from all three Beatles.

Even the guitar solo tone in Nowhere Man from 1965 was very interesting and innovative. Was that the first use of recorded fret harmonics?

 

[JimiRules]

Does anyone know if Eric Clapton brought his Marshall with him to Abbey Road Studios when George Harrison invited him to play guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps in 1968? That solo is a great early example of creamy singing lead tone.

Yeah, I know there's not much for Beatle fans around this forum. But I have to say they along with George Martin and the Abbey Road engineers, pioneered getting good guitar tones in the studio. Revolver has many excellent examples of different and badass guitar tones, but sadly no Marshall amps were used that I know of. Harrison's guitar tone in Fixing A Hole on Pepper and then many more examples on the White Album and Abbey Road from all three Beatles.

Even the guitar solo tone in Nowhere Man from 1965 was very interesting and innovative. Was that the first use of recorded fret harmonics?

I worship The Beatles. I always wondered the same thing a out Clapton's solo.

As far as the Beatles go, I have a book that lists all their gear throughout the years and at the beginning it was pretty much all Vox AC30s and 15s. During the Revolver sessions they mixed in the Vox Super Beatle along with their AC30's and 15's. McCartney used a Selmer amp on Pepper. Then the last couple years it was Fender as well as plugging straight into the board.

I have the book written by their recording engineer and he wrote that when they wanted overdriven guitar tones they asked him to help them get it via recording techniques as well as trying to get it when they did their mixes. I wondering why they wouldn't just get some Marshalls? They had to know that Clapton and Hendrix was using them. They had the means to get whatever they wanted, so I found that quite odd.

 

[RickyLee]

I worship The Beatles. I always wondered the same thing a out Clapton's solo.

As far as the Beatles go, I have a book that lists all their gear throughout the years and at the beginning it was pretty much all Vox AC30s and 15s. During the Revolver sessions they mixed in the Vox Super Beatle along with their AC30's and 15's. McCartney used a Selmer amp on Pepper. Then the last couple years it was Fender as well as plugging straight into the board.

I have the book written by their recording engineer and he wrote that when they wanted overdriven guitar tones they asked him to help them get it via recording techniques as well as trying to get it when they did their mixes. I wondering why they wouldn't just get some Marshalls? They had to know that Clapton and Hendrix was using them. They had the means to get whatever they wanted, so I found that quite odd.

As I thought on it, I remembered reading somewhere that Clapton is playing that Gently Weeps track using George's Les Paul (given to George from Eric) through some type of Silverface Fender, maybe a Twin Reverb. I had found an isolated track on that on youtube and posted it here somewhere. And actually Eric's isolated track did not sound all that impressive for tone. It sounded a bit cold until the lead passages. Maybe the effect of rolling down the guitar volume on when playing the rhythm chords. But I can say that I have always been just as impressed with the playing AND tone of the George and Paul on the rhythm and bass on that song.

 

[JimiRules]

As I thought on it, I remembered reading somewhere that Clapton is playing that Gently Weeps track using George's Les Paul (given to George from Eric) through some type of Silverface Fender, maybe a Twin Reverb. I had found an isolated track on that on youtube and posted it here somewhere. And actually Eric's isolated track did not sound all that impressive for tone. It sounded a bit cold until the lead passages. Maybe the effect of rolling down the guitar volume on when playing the rhythm chords. But I can say that I have always been just as impressed with the playing AND tone of the George and Paul on the rhythm and bass on that song.

I didn't know that was a fender amp. It sounds pretty "Marshally". I've head that isolated track before. I was surprised to hear how sloppy some of the splicing was. You can't really hear any of that when all the rest of the instrumentation is added. I did like the tone though. I think it has something to do with the "sag" that it has. I've always liked that sound.

I agree that Paul and George did a really good job on that song. I remember reading that the only reason why Clapton was invited to the session was because George was mad that John and Paul wasn't taking the song very serious and he felt if an outsider was there playing that they would step it up. I'm not sure that Lennon even appears on the track, but McCartney did step it up with his bass playing and the piano intro that he came up with. It's a shame that Lennon and McCartney wasn't taking the song serious because, for my money, While My Guitar Gently Weeps is the best song on the album.

 

[RickyLee]

I didn't know that was a fender amp. It sounds pretty "Marshally". I've head that isolated track before. I was surprised to hear how sloppy some of the splicing was. You can't really hear any of that when all the rest of the instrumentation is added. I did like the tone though. I think it has something to do with the "sag" that it has. I've always liked that sound.

I agree that Paul and George did a really good job on that song. I remember reading that the only reason why Clapton was invited to the session was because George was mad that John and Paul wasn't taking the song very serious and he felt if an outsider was there playing that they would step it up. I'm not sure that Lennon even appears on the track, but McCartney did step it up with his bass playing and the piano intro that he came up with. It's a shame that Lennon and McCartney wasn't taking the song serious because, for my money, While My Guitar Gently Weeps is the best song on the album.

Regarding The Beatles not using Marshall amps, I would think that they really did not care much or worry on it for a few different reasons. One I would think is them experiencing the Experience (Jimi) using those amps in the clubs in London. When Jimi first hit the London scene, The Beatles did attend a few of his shows. And I am sure even though they were impressed with Jimi, they probably were not impressed with his tone when he would go into his all out saturated fuzz type tone when he got his amps totally pushing. And then the volume of course, and the engineers at Abbey Road would have thrown a fit trying to record at crazy sound levels. And I am sure The Beatles had witnessed The Who and Cream with their Marshall's screaming for mercy and sounding all out saturated LOL. Of course, there ended up being a few times The Beatles wanted saturated fuzz tones and they were able to get it without crazy sound levels. Revolution comes to mind, and even George getting into some volume and feedback actually on It's All Too Much. Actually, that latter had to be quite loud in the studio you would think. LOL