Best vintage guitar tone?

[stolenlogic]

Which guitar to you, has the most iconic tone quality about it?

I can't get past a les Paul, especially before 1975

[richardhomer]

All of the classics... The tones of every great Strat/Tele/LP/335/SG/Junior, etc player

[ICBM]

But do you mean the guitar, or the amp? (Or the combination.) A Les Paul played clean - ie the actual sound of the guitar - is not particularly distinctive or iconic. A Les Paul played through a cranked Bassman or Marshall is... but is that the iconic sound of the Les Paul, or of the 5F6-A circuit?

The reason the Les Paul became popular is because it was one of the only guitars with the output level and sustain to drive those relatively low-gain amps into singing overdrive, rather than for its actual tone.

I'm not being deliberately awkward! Just pointing out that what we think of as "tone" is often as much down to the amp as the guitar.

If you mean genuinely iconic *guitar* tones, I think you'd probably pick the Strat's in-between sound or possibly a Rickenbacker's jangle as more iconic than the actual sound of a Les Paul.

(I love the sound of Les Pauls by the way, including clean.)

[koneguitarist]

Like ICBM i love the sound of a les paul clean as well, very distinctive. If you want to hear that listen to some ZZtop from Tejas. almost country with a nice woody tone.
But to me I think tones are only distinctive when they are clean tones. Add distortion be it from amp or pedal, and characteristics of guitar often get lost.

[TheGuitarWeasel]

My own opinion: Iconic electric guitar sounds come firstly from a players hands ... secondly from amplification ... thirdly from pickups ... fourthly from guitar construction. But to answer the original post:
Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Rikky, Gretsch ... they all can be Iconic through the right amps ... and recorded the right way ... oh and played by the right people

[Tenebrous]

My own opinion: Iconic electric guitar sounds come firstly from a players hands ... secondly from amplification ... thirdly from pickups ... fourthly from guitar construction. But to answer the original post:
Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Rikky, Gretsch ... they all can be Iconic through the right amps ... and recorded the right way ... oh and played by the right people

Couldn't agree more. I wonder how much of Roy's tone was in his hands...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMcjPZgK9GM

[Fusionista]

But to me I think tones are only distinctive when they are clean tones. Add distortion be it from amp or pedal, and characteristics of guitar often get lost.

Reciprocally, a lot of amps when played clean sound very similar, it is when you get into the overdriven tones they start to show some individuality.

[koneguitarist]

Reciprocally, a lot of amps when played clean sound very similar, it is when you get into the overdriven tones they start to show some individuality.

Personally I think a Twin, a Jcm 800 and a Vox AC30 clean all sound incredibly different, its only with distortion pedals that they start to sound the same, turn them up loud, they still retain their character when they overdrive, but thats the point, before they dip into distortion they still sound different.
A Guitars character is like the human voice, incredibly complex, but when you decrease the treble and clarity the differences are less pronounced. No different if someone speaks to you on a phone,through a tiny little speaker without any bass, you can tell who it is. Put same voice through a 15" bass amp with everything above 100hz cut, you can still understand vocal but all distinction has gone and it could be anyone.

[not_neville]

But do you mean the guitar, or the amp? (Or the combination.) A Les Paul played clean - ie the actual sound of the guitar - is not particularly distinctive or iconic. A Les Paul played through a cranked Bassman or Marshall is... but is that the iconic sound of the Les Paul, or of the 5F6-A circuit?

The reason the Les Paul became popular is because it was one of the only guitars with the output level and sustain to drive those relatively low-gain amps into singing overdrive, rather than for its actual tone.

I'm not being deliberately awkward! Just pointing out that what we think of as "tone" is often as much down to the amp as the guitar.

If you mean genuinely iconic *guitar* tones, I think you'd probably pick the Strat's in-between sound or possibly a Rickenbacker's jangle as more iconic than the actual sound of a Les Paul.

(I love the sound of Les Pauls by the way, including clean.)

+1 I've not been around here long, but I'm already thinking you talk a lot of sense (by that I mean opionions similar to my own).

I'd just add re. Gibsons - I personally think the sound of all mahogany, juniors / specials / SGs have more of a distinct tonal quality than the maple tops.

[Fusionista]

All of the classics... The tones of every great Strat/Tele/LP/335/SG/Junior, etc player

+1 but I'm also with ICBM, classic electric guitar sound is about the amp/valve as well as the guitar.

Speaking personally, my faves are the 'tubular' sound with hints of octave you can get from a strat (think Jeff Beck 'Angel' and Nils Lofgren 'I Came to Dance') and the classic LP+Marshall chunk and roar (Mick Box first two Uriah Heep albums), but what Jimmy Page could get out of a Tele (LZ I & II) is up there too, and Joe Walsh's grittyTele/Fender on eg Funk 59.

There are some classic sounds which leave me unmoved eg so-called 'woman tone') - if it's SG you want Carlos' Santana is where it's at for me. Much as I love Gary Moore (and I do) I'm not too keen on his over-compressed sounds, characteristic as they became.