Charlie Christian, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Tiny Grimes, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, Albert King, Freddie King, Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Willie Johnson, Albert Collins, Junior Barnard, Anson Funderburgh, Ronnie Earl, Dave Specter, Kid Ramos, Jr. Watson, Guitar Slim, Gatemouth Brown, Johnny Guitar Watson, Clarence Hollimon, Pat Hare, Luther Tucker, Robert Nighthawk, Johnny Shines, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rodgers, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Lowell Fulson, Wayne Bennett, Ike Turner, Lonnie Johnson and probably a lot of guys buried in my CD collection that I'm blanking on at the moment. Albert Collins again, he's so incredibly unique... and Peter Green too.
Great homework!! With exception of the jazz players, everyone else "cranked" and over droved their amps. And let's not forget Steve Cropper, studio guitarists Grady Martin, Perry Botkin Sr., Hank Garland, James Burton
Roy Buchanan. "Extreme Guitar Wizard" was on the ticket when he played Liberty Hall in Houston mid 70's. A man, a Telecaster, a Twin Reverb and a folding chair to set it on backwards. Jaw dropping stuff
The undisputed king of harmonics squeals. Billy Gibbons probably listened to Roy. And made it sound so smooth and effortless with ZzTop#sunnyside of excellence
Robert Cray is one of the most underrated guitarists out there, IMHO. Saw him opening for Tina Turner in London, years ago, and he blew me away. Unique style, with an amazing soulful voice.
All due respect but - Robert cray is well known - he's got what ? One hit song ? So I have to strongly disagree - the ones who are underrated are guys like elton's long time guitar player and jim croce's dude - I don't even know their name - these guys are great and there are others + little river band for example
@@davidrice3337 , Robert Cray is pretty dull in my opinion. I saw him play once, only because John Hiatt and the Goners with Sonny Landreth were the opening act. They revved up the crowd, and then Cray put everyone half to sleep.
Eric Clapton was playing a rare gig in a nightclub back in the eighties, some one offered us $150 for our pair of tix so yeah we sold em and went across town to see Robert Cray for like $13. Cray was great, I heard Clapton played a great show too.
i think an important thing to consider is amp volume. today very often even at smaller gigs guitar amps are mic`ed up and the sound guy tells you to turn down. back in the days the amps often had to fill the whole venue, and if you can really turn up an amp the compression and drive starts to kick in. no (such) need for pedals. it`s better to crank a rather small amp than to put a twin reverb on "2" so it`s not only the hands, it´s also circumstance
Sound guys are idiots who don't understand. How. Sustain. On a guitar will show up in the red being control fools they will make a Les Paul sound like a TELECASTER AND KILL A INDIVIDUALS PERSONAL VOICE!#SUNNYSIDE OF EXCELLENCE
I can't count the number of times I've seen BB King starting in around 1967 here in Seattle at the Paramount Theater. You're right, his rig consisted of two blackface twin reverbs and his Cherry Gibson at the time it was an ES-345. I'm a guitar player myself for 50 years so I paid attention to his Rigs and he did move to Silver panel twin reverbs and then ultimately to those Gibson amplifiers. But you know the one thing in common with all those amplifiers? BB King! He could have played One Note through a transistor radio and we all would have known who it was! Rest in Peace BB. 💜 Thanks for another great upload Mason! You're the best dude and I absolutely love your effects!
I think the trouble many of us have is we love these tones but we either can't afford those tube amps or we cannot turn our tube amps loud enough to get that tone. OR we actually need the clean headroom for clean songs and we want to be able to kick a footswitch on for a heavier song without having a crazy volume jump. So using pedals is really about practicality, but what we want is that tube amp distortion. And that actually does seem to be the initial intention behind the development of every single overdrive circuit.
When I started playing the original production of Grease on Broadway, they didn't allow us to use any pedals, I guess in keeping with the era we were re-creating. The only effects they allowed were reverb and tremelo and we used Twin Reverbs. This led us to an ever evolving quest for more powerful pickups to drive the amps harder, and I went through several iterations until I found a '55 tele which has stock a really powerful bridge pickup. Playing like that was great for my technique and tone. These days of course I'm addicted to pedals.
This list is pretty focused on classic rock and blues musicians. To add some other flavors I'd include Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine from Television, John Reis from Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, and Drive Like Jehu, Ian Makaye and Guy Picciotto from Fugazi, and D Boon from the Minutemen.
Great video! I provided backline for a lot of events with a Fender Stage 100 solid state head going into a 2X12 Celestion cab. I had a lot of blues and jazz guys show up and plug straight into the amp, dial it in a bit and rip all night. Tone is in the fingers.
I have nothing against pedals, I used to use delay, overdrive, wah, compression and a noise gate. Now I use literally no pedals, I don't even own one. My tone is the best I've ever had. I play a lot of blues and rock. This is what I do: 1-Set up guitar to have good tension on action, plenty of sound. 2-Have great pickups 3-Have a tube amp with good speaker (mine has good overdrive built in and reverb, most good ones do) 4-Get your levels right on your guitar and your equalisation on your amp. That makes a big difference. It's not for everyone, but for those who like to hear a more pure guitar sound it's the way to go. A good tip is that if your guitar sounds good before you plug it in then it will sound amazing plugged in. My reason for dropping all pedals was because I wanted a more real guitar sound, more tactile and responsive. It makes me feel more connected to each note. Not for everyone, but it is for me. It also makes you a better player because there's nothing to hide behind. Interestingly BB King is probably the greatest blues player of all time, and Angus Young is probably the greatest rock player and they both play straight through the amp, nuff said.
I always hear Keith say that he doesn't use effects and I call BS on that one. Love Keith !! please don't get me wrong, but he's using phasers flangers and all natures of swooshy effects on several tracks on albums from Goats Head up until ending with Heaven from Tattoo You. Great episode btw
The one that I think of is Leslie West. Les Paul Jr into an old p.a. using volume and control knobs. Mountain doesn’t get the credit they deserve. Leslie West was amazing.
He (Keith) had an Echoplex behind his fender deluxe reverbs and used the tremolo effect on the amp. The Echoplex might have just been used for the preamp like Jimmy Page did.
Louisiana blues legend Tab Benoit tops the list for current players. Just the pickup switch and volume knob on a Thinline Tele with fat Fender dual coils. Rich, blues goodness.
Alvin Lee! Start with Goin' Home from Woodstock then dive into the extensive library of Ten Years After and his solo career. Tone for days ,Chunky Brown sounds from his Frankenized ES 335 . With shredding techniques and abilities.
I saw Alvin Lee with Ten Years After in 1971- you're right, he went right into two stacks of 100W Marshall Super Leads. He may have used a wah-wah for one song, but that's all he used.
Kieth Richard used one of the first "Fuzz" box's on "Satisfaction." The recordings used a lot of effects. "Shattered" with the phase shifters comes to mind. Pedals do help to avoid monotony of straight guitar into an amp. Players need to use discretion to make sure they don't use them too much. Alot of times player search for the perfect amp, and a pedal might have got them there much quicker. It is nice to have an amp like that, but most can't afford an old "Plexi" or a Dumble.
First time I saw Derek it was in a tiny club, and I could have just stuck out my hand and given him a fist bump or, turned the knobs on his super reverb amps. He had at least one of them just cooking and there was nothing on the floor. It was pretty moving, and I have seen Robert and bb but also seen guys with huge amounts of effects and there’s no wrong way. If the player can really grab you and hold the audience that’s what is memorable.
@@VertexEffectsInc in an interview in Guitarist magazine he was reported as saying he never used any effects pedals for the reason stated and that if he had he'd have spent more time tripping over the cables than playing. Ace Frehleys words not mine.
i think another good idea is guitarists who use maybe 1-3 effects. you’ve got jimmy page, SRV, hendrix, kurt cobain, tony iommi, and a bunch of other great artists.
Thanks. This commentary was very much needed. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much a "pedal" guy due to the cover music I'm hired to do. Personally, I only us them when necessary. But trust me. It's hard to play or convince your audience it's the "Theme to Shaft" without a wah pedal.
I play either a Les Paul or a Strat directly into a tweed Champ or a tweed 5e3 deluxe. Crank it up, use the volume knob. Need reverb? Let the strings ring a little between the notes. From the time I ditched all of my pedal, I've never been happier with my tone or my playing.
I did a multi band show this weekend. There were several guitar players onstage with me. I wanted my rig to be basic so I went with a small Vox amp and my Rick 620 6 string and left the pedals home. I love the sound of a single coil guitar straight into a low wattage amp running hot. But I have no issue with anyone using pedals. What gets you YOUR ideal sound is what's really important. Take Edge for example, he uses a lot of pedals and he gets beautiful tones. So to each their own. I normally use a pedal board but it has a volume pedal, wah wah, tuner, and and an Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini that I only use to make sure I have a boost for solos. All followed by a splitter to my two small Vox amps. Pedals do give you versatility though. So for bands that cover lots of styles in one show they are great. My main guitar is a Tele into a 4 Watt Vox tube amp so I'm a pretty basic guy when comes to setup. I honestly don't know how you guys keep all those pedals under control. But I image you get used to it.
Richard Loyd and Tom Verlaine from Television. The album "Marquee Moon" is Fender Jazzmasters into Twins (if I remember correctly). Amazing guitar record.
Lots of old guys, including me. Pedalboard went down two shows in a row and I got more compliments both nights after plugging straight into my Marshall. Sold everything but the tuner that’s taped to top of amp.
Loud amps, dynamics in attack and use those volume and tone controls, I use a Vox AC30 cranked that way when I can, which is very rare in performance nowadays, mostly at home when no one is around. My Drive pedals are to get to that when I can't use that set up and volume level. I think this discussion is more to drive pedals than modulation, reverbs and delays, that is a whole different thing.
No one comes close to Roy Buchanan. I played with Roy in the early 1960's and the only thing he did was cut a slit in his speaker and turn the amp around. His tone was perfection.
He also used the tone knob on his Telecaster to simulate a wah pedal and the volume control to simulate a volume pedal.The knobs are close to the pinky on Fender guitars.
I wouldn't say Keith Richards NEVER used pedals. In the song Satisfaction, one of his most iconic riffs had fuzz, which is actually one the first recordings with that effect.
Nile Rodgers man, he didn’t even use an amp sometimes. I think he could plug any guitar into any amp and it would would sound like Nile. He does have a very modest pedalboard now that I think he uses mainly to get the tones that were on some specific records but it’s mostly Strat to Deville when he’s live.
He did a masterclass at my music school one time and he just plugged straight in to a DI and yet, it sounded so clear and clean. You could literally hear every single note in the chords he was playing.
Ritchie Blackmore has been around for a long time , he used a wah pedal in the early Deep Purple albums and maybe a treble booster here and there in the 70’s , but in some live footage from the Machine head to Burn years you don’t see any guitar pedals on the stage floor what he used was a reel to reel Aiwa tape recorder
Two you forgot: Michael Bloomfield Les Paul or a Tele into a Fender Ronnie Earl Strat into a Fender Also Jimmy Vaughn might not have in his early days but these days he's using a Strymon Flint Trem/Reverb
Had to chime in on the Lab Series comments...BB King regularly used an L5 2x12 100 watt combo. He was my hero along with many others. I had an L7 4x10 version of the amp in high school. The 100 watt L series amps were master volume with an analog pre-gain circuit and master volume. It had a built in compressor and a Bob Moog designed EQ that had so much range that it could make an electric guitar sound like a balalaika if you wanted....very unnatural. With the gain full up it sounded like Neil Youngs fully dimed tweed. Also, the speakers were thin and inefficient with lots of damping. They broke up as well at higher volumes. None of the tones I had were what I would call "sterile"...not like a JC120 at all. I'd call them warm clean. You could set it right at the edge of breakup at all volumes and with big iron it would knock the fillings out of your teeth when cranked. Full up single notes hit like a ball peen hammer to the chest and it would shake the panes of glass in the frames of my old house. Good times.
Waddy Wachtel, one of the greats of 70s rock (for example with Linda Ronstadt). I read an interview with him in which he said he felt that pedals removed the tone of a good amp.
Love your videos and respect. I do want to say respectfully: while Robert Cray doesn't have a jumbo jets worth of gear he does use pedals. Check out his live rendition of "Poor Johnny" at The Crossroads Festival where he's using a long delay and working it into his solo. I've also been blessed to see him live and while most of the the set was his "straight away" sound, I remember at one point he grabbed a silver stratocaster and had this insanely saturated tone and I wasn't able to make sense of if he had a pedal or just high output pickups. The stage at The Gillioz is elevated and I could not make out what he was using... though he rocked and with a great variety of tones.
I've not heard this as a part of his sound on his hit songs...this video doesn't mean that these artists never used a pedal, but rather they're known to not use pedals. I'm sure we could find an instance on every artist her that would disqualify them.
Cray does use a footswitch to change channels, and he said in the video he may have used a modulation or reverb pedal in some situations, to be fair thats technically using pedals but it definitely counts as a straight in player because he’s pretty much using a shortcut for performance reasons, using pedals instead of turning knobs, but it’s not creating a signal chain so to speak, almost every multi channel amp comes with a footswitch so that doesn’t even count, only effects pedals, and some have or come with modulation pedals, for the amp, not changing the signal, still just the amp.
@@optimus3305 A guy that comes to mind when it comes to "pure" players is Jubu Smith. Also uses a lot of strat and the only pedal I've typically seen is an amp switch (I think) though he covers a lot of ground. Also I get it - even if it's just a tuner more players don't go "ZERO" pedals - I even think about Clapton who, at times, has wah, rotary, and maybe one or two goodies, though other times he's into the twin truly no pedals, not even a foot switch where he's more in "sit in" brain and wants both easy set up and nothing to take the focus away from the featured artist. To me that is "truly" no pedal and it's fun to see how people act when they don't have anything but the instrument.
I was not referring to the echo system as a pedal....not even the natural studio reverb of Abbey Road consisting of big cylindrical columns....Cheers Francesco...
Marty Stuart and his side man Kenny Vaughn go straight into a Deluxe and Princeton respectively... It makes me wonder how many other iconic Country players went straight in. I'm on all kinds of guitar forums and am amazed at how many ignore the great country players. When I had a Blues band, i played a Harmony Rocket, straight into a battery powered 'Lectronics Mouse with a 57 on it to the PA, which provided the reverb. We were a local sensation for a few years. Big fun. It took me a long time to begin using pedals. I eventually had a well populated board. Recently, i have cut way back. All I have now is a compressor, Vertex Clean Drive, and a reverb pedal, that sounds better than the 'verb in the Deluxe amp. These pedals are always on, set and forget, easy.
I don't know how many country music guitariists use pedals but it sounds like most of them don't,for me I just like to plug into my amp (no pedals) and play.
I'm not famous but I've made a living for almost 50 years as a guitarist (and upright and electric bassist) and although I have a bunch of pedals, I rarely use them. I've gone through phases but I always come back to just guitar and amp. It seems like that's the best sound (for the styles I play)
When I first started practicing with a band in Denver, we went to a show after practice one night. A dive bar on Colfax. The guitarist had some technical difficulties. He had to stop their set for 20 minutes while he was troubleshooting his pedal board. That's all I needed to see. I now buy amps based on their tone and effects.
You’d think he’d just bypass the pedals and troubleshoot it during a break. Only time I had to stop playing mid-set was I broke an E string on my stand up bass, and you can drop the soundpost if you keep playing. Fastest I’d ever changed a string. Now I usually bring a backup P-bass.
Vinny Martell of Vanilla Fudge. I saw him live a dozen times, Gibson 335 straight into a pair of dimed Black Face Twins. All the variation in tone came from the controls on the guitar.
Johny winter. Was Notorious for not using effects and would always turn down the mid-range tp zero on every amp he played or borrowed. Used a little bit of chorus later in his career not long before he died but for the most part clean and awesome.
One thing is for sure: all these shown artists cranked up their amps up to ultimate loudness, that means 10 - the only way to get dynamics and never to miss the amps defined sweet spot. Try that nowadays in either a rehearsal room or even a small clubs live gig, you won´t find many friends after the gig or by the stage sound mixing crew. When I come up on stage with my VOX AC30 and turn it up to 9 o´clock, I see the eyes rolling in disaprovement - and that´s far below the "sweet spot".... so, for that reason pedals might help to achieve a great sound by less deafness as result.
That’s why I only play at home as hobby to make me happy. F*ck people. I run what you see in my profile pic. Guitar and amp cranked. Feedback when you want it, literal eternal sustain, ultimate room shaking power. Maybe join a metal band and only do metal shows. I’ve never heard of anyone complaining at a rock/metal show.
Jabrille Williams of the Delvon Lamar Organ Trio, say him tear it up with no pedals and a clip on tuner. When he went to solo and need more gain he just turned his twin reverb up to max while holding a bend. It was actually incredible
Recall he did experiment after leaving Fleetwood Mac with a wah-wah pedal on the recording of 'The End of the game' studio instrumental album. Although the material on that album was w-a-y different from his more recognised and outstanding blues/early-rock style work between '66 into early'70.
I love when youtubers like you challenge their own perspective and feel free to share ideas opposite to their own tendencies. So thank you for just sharing ideas behind good tone!
Ironic as Keith Richards helped popularize the fuzz pedal😳! (Songs like I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Mercy Mercy and She Said Yeah). He also used a lot of phasers on Some Girls (1978) and Emotional Rescue (1980).
Paul Burlison invented the fuzz by banging/dropping his amp which created the fuzz. If you don't know who Burlison is who do you think was the original Train Kept a Rolling?
In my opinion you almost could not do a better promotion for your channel and your products than with this video and its theme. This is right on! I am a total fan of both pure, direct tone on acoustic as well as electric but also totally fascinated and many times inspired (and of course sometimes overloaded and sucked empty) by the endless possibilities of effects for electric and acoustic as well. I get a very reputable impression of your enterprise by not claiming that we could not live on without your kind of products. In memory of George Harrison I would like to state that music goes on within and without us - so it does with and without effects. But of course a great distortion or reverb is not possible without distortion or reverb. Except maybe when tripping on LSD. Also kudos to your wonderful feature of Wendy Melvoin. Greatly led interview with a wonderful guitar player and composer!
Most of the time, Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton. Tele to amp, that's all! Doesn't get much better than these guys. Also, Robbie Robertson, another tele cat!
Well, it helps to clarify the understanding of myself. Now I know I'm better off with a medium quality guitar into a boutique amp that does practically everything but mostly a almost clean crunchy/on the edge of breakup at best. The rest with the controls of the guitar. A preferred transparent OD pedal is always good to bring down the volume of an amp from its sweet spot to a healthy volume with just a bit of hair so it sounds like the amp cranked.
you could`ve mention a guy like glenn branca. for his incredible electric guitar monuments he also didn`t use any fx-pedals. he produced his outstanding guitarsounds by alternate weird tunings and using a multiple of guitars. too fascinating in this case to not mention him imo;-). cheeers!
Criminally underrated guitarist who could make something easy sound good enough to make someone think it was difficult and something complex sound effortless
Tab Benoit has great tone playing straight into basically a Twin set low volume, high headroom, and a Super Reverb cranked up a little, with a ‘72 Tele Custom (two Widerange PU’s).
Thankyou. Nice to see. Me and some righteous others are getting resolute on the use of a Equaliser pedal as means to simplify yet enhance sound, as in the spirit of this video.
Did we miss any guitarists that should have made it on to this list? Tell us in the comments below!
Danny gatton ,Roy Buchanan,Johnny winter
Eric Clapton, when you ignore the Wah-Wah-pedal.
@@timh1204 Clapton loved rack effects and the like when it became available.
@@timh1204 Clapton is a good shout. Sure, he uses a wah once in a while, but the dude gets the tone from the fingers.
Tab Benoit
Charlie Christian, Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Tiny Grimes, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, Albert King, Freddie King, Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Willie Johnson, Albert Collins, Junior Barnard, Anson Funderburgh, Ronnie Earl, Dave Specter, Kid Ramos, Jr. Watson, Guitar Slim, Gatemouth Brown, Johnny Guitar Watson, Clarence Hollimon, Pat Hare, Luther Tucker, Robert Nighthawk, Johnny Shines, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rodgers, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Lowell Fulson, Wayne Bennett, Ike Turner, Lonnie Johnson and probably a lot of guys buried in my CD collection that I'm blanking on at the moment. Albert Collins again, he's so incredibly unique... and Peter Green too.
Great homework!! With exception of the jazz players, everyone else "cranked" and over droved their amps. And let's not forget Steve Cropper, studio guitarists Grady Martin, Perry Botkin Sr., Hank Garland, James Burton
Lol
Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood didn't use any pedals. Famously when asked what pedals he used he replied, "I'm playing guitar not riding a bicycle."
Wilko Johnson is awesome , especially Roxette .
Roy Buchanan. "Extreme Guitar Wizard" was on the ticket when he played Liberty Hall in Houston mid 70's.
A man, a Telecaster, a Twin Reverb and a folding chair to set it on backwards. Jaw dropping stuff
The undisputed king of harmonics squeals. Billy Gibbons probably listened to Roy. And made it sound so smooth and effortless with ZzTop#sunnyside of excellence
Robert Cray is one of the most underrated guitarists out there, IMHO. Saw him opening for Tina Turner in London, years ago, and he blew me away. Unique style, with an amazing soulful voice.
All due respect but - Robert cray is well known - he's got what ? One hit song ? So I have to strongly disagree - the ones who are underrated are guys like elton's long time guitar player and jim croce's dude - I don't even know their name - these guys are great and there are others + little river band for example
Ike Turner!
Alledgedly he fired Jimi Hendrix for plugging into a pedal, although some people say it was because Jimi tried to plug in to Tina 🤣
@@davidrice3337 , Robert Cray is pretty dull in my opinion. I saw him play once, only because John Hiatt and the Goners with Sonny Landreth were the opening act. They revved up the crowd, and then Cray put everyone half to sleep.
Eric Clapton was playing a rare gig in a nightclub back in the eighties, some one offered us $150 for our pair of tix so yeah we sold em and went across town to see Robert Cray for like $13. Cray was great, I heard Clapton played a great show too.
@@Hartlor_Tayley I've heard Robert Cray, Live, in Europe, and I agree: He was worth the ticket!
Wes Montgomery. IMO best pure jazz tone. Listen to anything by him. Never used a pedal or pick for that matter.
i think an important thing to consider is amp volume. today very often even at smaller gigs guitar amps are mic`ed up and the sound guy tells you to turn down.
back in the days the amps often had to fill the whole venue, and if you can really turn up an amp the compression and drive starts to kick in. no (such) need for pedals.
it`s better to crank a rather small amp than to put a twin reverb on "2"
so it`s not only the hands, it´s also circumstance
Sound guys are idiots who don't understand. How. Sustain. On a guitar will show up in the red being control fools they will make a Les Paul sound like a TELECASTER AND KILL A INDIVIDUALS PERSONAL VOICE!#SUNNYSIDE OF EXCELLENCE
I can't count the number of times I've seen BB King starting in around 1967 here in Seattle at the Paramount Theater.
You're right, his rig consisted of two blackface twin reverbs and his Cherry Gibson at the time it was an ES-345.
I'm a guitar player myself for 50 years so I paid attention to his Rigs and he did move to Silver panel twin reverbs and then ultimately to those Gibson amplifiers.
But you know the one thing in common with all those amplifiers? BB King!
He could have played One Note through a transistor radio and we all would have known who it was! Rest in Peace BB. 💜
Thanks for another great upload Mason! You're the best dude and I absolutely love your effects!
wasn't BB King a big advocate of the boss Metal zone?
Lol
Hubert Sumberland, T-bone Walker, Wes Montgomery, Chuck Berry, Albert King, and George Benson to name a few.
Thank You very much…I’m often angry that these and many others get over looked consistently!
❤️
I think the trouble many of us have is we love these tones but we either can't afford those tube amps or we cannot turn our tube amps loud enough to get that tone.
OR we actually need the clean headroom for clean songs and we want to be able to kick a footswitch on for a heavier song without having a crazy volume jump.
So using pedals is really about practicality, but what we want is that tube amp distortion. And that actually does seem to be the initial intention behind the development of every single overdrive circuit.
When I started playing the original production of Grease on Broadway, they didn't allow us to use any pedals, I guess in keeping with the era we were re-creating. The only effects they allowed were reverb and tremelo and we used Twin Reverbs. This led us to an ever evolving quest for more powerful pickups to drive the amps harder, and I went through several iterations until I found a '55 tele which has stock a really powerful bridge pickup. Playing like that was great for my technique and tone. These days of course I'm addicted to pedals.
❤️
Ritchie Blackmore. Sometimes with his Aiwa Tape Echo or Univibe. I think all these players have one thing in common: Loud amps. Cool video. Thanks ✌🏼
This list is pretty focused on classic rock and blues musicians. To add some other flavors I'd include Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine from Television, John Reis from Hot Snakes, Rocket from the Crypt, and Drive Like Jehu, Ian Makaye and Guy Picciotto from Fugazi, and D Boon from the Minutemen.
Ian plugged straight in, but Guy used an MXR Distortion +, and later I think a wah and delay.
Focused on iconic guitar players I think
@@WorshipFog777 Richard Lloyd and John Reis are iconic.
@@SeanMRoberts not like the ones Mason mentioned, I'm afraid
@@WorshipFog777 Hard Disagree.
What about Sister Rosetta Tharpe?
Oh yeah🤘🤘🤘
Who?
Great video! I provided backline for a lot of events with a Fender Stage 100 solid state head going into a 2X12 Celestion cab. I had a lot of blues and jazz guys show up and plug straight into the amp, dial it in a bit and rip all night. Tone is in the fingers.
Roy Buchanan, his '53 Tele into his '59 Tweed Bassman........'enuff said.
I have nothing against pedals, I used to use delay, overdrive, wah, compression and a noise gate. Now I use literally no pedals, I don't even own one. My tone is the best I've ever had. I play a lot of blues and rock.
This is what I do:
1-Set up guitar to have good tension on action, plenty of sound.
2-Have great pickups
3-Have a tube amp with good speaker (mine has good overdrive built in and reverb, most good ones do)
4-Get your levels right on your guitar and your equalisation on your amp. That makes a big difference.
It's not for everyone, but for those who like to hear a more pure guitar sound it's the way to go. A good tip is that if your guitar sounds good before you plug it in then it will sound amazing plugged in.
My reason for dropping all pedals was because I wanted a more real guitar sound, more tactile and responsive. It makes me feel more connected to each note. Not for everyone, but it is for me. It also makes you a better player because there's nothing to hide behind.
Interestingly BB King is probably the greatest blues player of all time, and Angus Young is probably the greatest rock player and they both play straight through the amp, nuff said.
I always hear Keith say that he doesn't use effects and I call BS on that one. Love Keith !! please don't get me wrong, but he's using phasers flangers and all natures of swooshy effects on several tracks on albums from Goats Head up until ending with Heaven from Tattoo You.
Great episode btw
You're right sir. I forgot, "Shattered" played with a phaser, possibly an MXR Phase 45.
One of my favorites who never used effects was Paul Kossoff.
The one that I think of is Leslie West. Les Paul Jr into an old p.a. using volume and control knobs. Mountain doesn’t get the credit they deserve. Leslie West was amazing.
I thought Leslie West used a red Sam Ash Fuzz, I think he might have even used two at once. He did use a Sunn PA though
Mr West was unique great tone and great chops a stud smooth and fluid. And had a controlled boldest in his hands.#sunnyside of excellence
The big exception for Keith was “Satisfaction”. He used a Maestro Fuzz for the main riff
He (Keith) had an Echoplex behind his fender deluxe reverbs and used the tremolo effect on the amp. The Echoplex might have just been used for the preamp like Jimmy Page did.
Yep...then never again did he play stylistically like this or with this tone.
@@VertexEffectsInc that’s true. Such a shame!
............Hubert Sumlin........Albert Collins.........Johnny Graham.........Cornell Dupree........Johnny "Guitar "Watson.......
Paul Kossof was unmatchable
Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell
Jazz players don't really count...they make a point of not using effects.
@@Mr77pro exactly, great tone without effects 🙂
Louisiana blues legend Tab Benoit tops the list for current players. Just the pickup switch and volume knob on a Thinline Tele with fat Fender dual coils. Rich, blues goodness.
I’ve seen him perform on several occasions at jazz fest and he kills it
Ian Mckaye of Fugazi (and Minor Threat) 😉
Gibson SG and JCM800
This video is the Edge’s nightmare!!! 😎😂
hahahaha!
Carlos Santana played Woodstock with a SG/P90's directly into a 800 watt Gallien-Krueger SS amp. Unforgettable.
Alvin Lee!
Start with Goin' Home from Woodstock then dive into the extensive library of Ten Years After and his solo career. Tone for days ,Chunky Brown sounds from his Frankenized ES 335 .
With shredding techniques and abilities.
I saw Alvin Lee with Ten Years After in 1971- you're right, he went right into two stacks of 100W Marshall Super Leads. He may have used a wah-wah for one song, but that's all he used.
Kieth Richard used one of the first "Fuzz" box's on "Satisfaction." The recordings used a lot of effects. "Shattered" with the phase shifters comes to mind. Pedals do help to avoid monotony of straight guitar into an amp. Players need to use discretion to make sure they don't use them too much. Alot of times player search for the perfect amp, and a pedal might have got them there much quicker. It is nice to have an amp like that, but most can't afford an old "Plexi" or a Dumble.
Fuzz was one and done...not really something I'd typecast him as. Also the Phaser in the 70s was more Ronnie than Keith.
The one and only Roy Buchanan those volume swills all done with no pedals just done with the knobs on his tele.
First time I saw Derek it was in a tiny club, and I could have just stuck out my hand and given him a fist bump or, turned the knobs on his super reverb amps. He had at least one of them just cooking and there was nothing on the floor. It was pretty moving, and I have seen Robert and bb but also seen guys with huge amounts of effects and there’s no wrong way. If the player can really grab you and hold the audience that’s what is memorable.
Ace Frehley once said that he got all the effects he wanted from his Les Paul and Marshall stack
He used an LPB-1
@@VertexEffectsInc in an interview in Guitarist magazine he was reported as saying he never used any effects pedals for the reason stated and that if he had he'd have spent more time tripping over the cables than playing.
Ace Frehleys words not mine.
i think another good idea is guitarists who use maybe 1-3 effects. you’ve got jimmy page, SRV, hendrix, kurt cobain, tony iommi, and a bunch of other great artists.
Thanks. This commentary was very much needed. Don't get me wrong, I'm very much a "pedal" guy due to the cover music I'm hired to do. Personally, I only us them when necessary. But trust me. It's hard to play or convince your audience it's the "Theme to Shaft" without a wah pedal.
I play either a Les Paul or a Strat directly into a tweed Champ or a tweed 5e3 deluxe. Crank it up, use the volume knob. Need reverb? Let the strings ring a little between the notes. From the time I ditched all of my pedal, I've never been happier with my tone or my playing.
❤️❤️❤️
How can you miss Peter green?
You forgot the late great Roy Buchanan.
Keith Richards , BB King & all these Guitar Greats are inspirational to me . Thanks for an enjoyable video .
I did a multi band show this weekend. There were several guitar players onstage with me. I wanted my rig to be basic so I went with a small Vox amp and my Rick 620 6 string and left the pedals home. I love the sound of a single coil guitar straight into a low wattage amp running hot. But I have no issue with anyone using pedals. What gets you YOUR ideal sound is what's really important. Take Edge for example, he uses a lot of pedals and he gets beautiful tones. So to each their own. I normally use a pedal board but it has a volume pedal, wah wah, tuner, and and an Ibanez Tube Screamer Mini that I only use to make sure I have a boost for solos. All followed by a splitter to my two small Vox amps. Pedals do give you versatility though. So for bands that cover lots of styles in one show they are great. My main guitar is a Tele into a 4 Watt Vox tube amp so I'm a pretty basic guy when comes to setup. I honestly don't know how you guys keep all those pedals under control. But I image you get used to it.
Paul Kossoff - Roy Buchanan - Mike Bloomfield- Ted Nugent
Richard Loyd and Tom Verlaine from Television. The album "Marquee Moon" is Fender Jazzmasters into Twins (if I remember correctly). Amazing guitar record.
Lots of old guys, including me. Pedalboard went down two shows in a row and I got more compliments both nights after plugging straight into my Marshall. Sold everything but the tuner that’s taped to top of amp.
Loud amps, dynamics in attack and use those volume and tone controls, I use a Vox AC30 cranked that way when I can, which is very rare in performance nowadays, mostly at home when no one is around. My Drive pedals are to get to that when I can't use that set up and volume level. I think this discussion is more to drive pedals than modulation, reverbs and delays, that is a whole different thing.
Redd Volkaert calls pedals tone reducers and he is not too wrong :D
Great you mention Jimmie Vaughan, true master of pure tone
Nelson Faria is a incredible Brazilian jazz guitar player who plays without any effects. Great video. Cheers from Brazil!
I'll have to check him out!
No one comes close to Roy Buchanan. I played with Roy in the early 1960's and the only thing he did was cut a slit in his speaker and turn the amp around. His tone was perfection.
He also used the tone knob on his Telecaster to simulate a wah pedal and the volume control to simulate a volume pedal.The knobs are close to the pinky on Fender guitars.
I believe this....This was how distortion was invented in the early Britpop days.....
Roy really was in a league of his own
Keith Richards (& I’m his biggest fan) really used far more effects than he wants to admit (TS9 or 10, Phase 100, & many studio effects).
He also started the love for pedals with fuzz on satisfaction.
Keith just plugs into the amps and has other people play his pedals for him.
I wouldn't say Keith Richards NEVER used pedals. In the song Satisfaction, one of his most iconic riffs had fuzz, which is actually one the first recordings with that effect.
He used a wah wah,a phaser,a flanger and so on on certain songs.
One song over a 50 year career...he's pretty well documented saying he doesn't like pedals.
@@jansimmelman267 Keith and Ronnie use a few hidden offstage, including the Fulltone Tube Tape Echo.
@@VertexEffectsInc No he has seldom used pedals!To quote him: "There is no secret.A good guitar plugged into a good amplifier!"
Nile Rodgers man, he didn’t even use an amp sometimes. I think he could plug any guitar into any amp and it would would sound like Nile. He does have a very modest pedalboard now that I think he uses mainly to get the tones that were on some specific records but it’s mostly Strat to Deville when he’s live.
He did a masterclass at my music school one time and he just plugged straight in to a DI and yet, it sounded so clear and clean. You could literally hear every single note in the chords he was playing.
I guess if you don't include the compressors he uses.
@@VertexEffectsInc Heh sure
Ritchie Blackmore has been around for a long time , he used a wah pedal in the early Deep Purple albums and maybe a treble booster here and there in the 70’s , but in some live footage from the Machine head to Burn years you don’t see any guitar pedals on the stage floor what he used was a reel to reel Aiwa tape recorder
Roy Buchanan.
Two you forgot:
Michael Bloomfield Les Paul or a Tele into a Fender
Ronnie Earl Strat into a Fender
Also Jimmy Vaughn might not have in his early days but these days he's using a Strymon Flint Trem/Reverb
Derek Trucks actually uses an MXR echoplex delay on top of his amp, it’s used rarely but still in his rig
Chuck Berry!!!
Had to chime in on the Lab Series comments...BB King regularly used an L5 2x12 100 watt combo. He was my hero along with many others. I had an L7 4x10 version of the amp in high school. The 100 watt L series amps were master volume with an analog pre-gain circuit and master volume. It had a built in compressor and a Bob Moog designed EQ that had so much range that it could make an electric guitar sound like a balalaika if you wanted....very unnatural. With the gain full up it sounded like Neil Youngs fully dimed tweed. Also, the speakers were thin and inefficient with lots of damping. They broke up as well at higher volumes. None of the tones I had were what I would call "sterile"...not like a JC120 at all. I'd call them warm clean. You could set it right at the edge of breakup at all volumes and with big iron it would knock the fillings out of your teeth when cranked. Full up single notes hit like a ball peen hammer to the chest and it would shake the panes of glass in the frames of my old house. Good times.
Waddy Wachtel, one of the greats of 70s rock (for example with Linda Ronstadt). I read an interview with him in which he said he felt that pedals removed the tone of a good amp.
Liked the twist on this topic, really good examples!
Love your videos and respect. I do want to say respectfully: while Robert Cray doesn't have a jumbo jets worth of gear he does use pedals. Check out his live rendition of "Poor Johnny" at The Crossroads Festival where he's using a long delay and working it into his solo. I've also been blessed to see him live and while most of the the set was his "straight away" sound, I remember at one point he grabbed a silver stratocaster and had this insanely saturated tone and I wasn't able to make sense of if he had a pedal or just high output pickups. The stage at The Gillioz is elevated and I could not make out what he was using... though he rocked and with a great variety of tones.
I've not heard this as a part of his sound on his hit songs...this video doesn't mean that these artists never used a pedal, but rather they're known to not use pedals. I'm sure we could find an instance on every artist her that would disqualify them.
@@VertexEffectsInc Oh yes, zero negativity from my end whatsoever. If anything I'd love to know all his secrets. LOL
Cray does use a footswitch to change channels, and he said in the video he may have used a modulation or reverb pedal in some situations, to be fair thats technically using pedals but it definitely counts as a straight in player because he’s pretty much using a shortcut for performance reasons, using pedals instead of turning knobs, but it’s not creating a signal chain so to speak, almost every multi channel amp comes with a footswitch so that doesn’t even count, only effects pedals, and some have or come with modulation pedals, for the amp, not changing the signal, still just the amp.
@@optimus3305 A guy that comes to mind when it comes to "pure" players is Jubu Smith. Also uses a lot of strat and the only pedal I've typically seen is an amp switch (I think) though he covers a lot of ground. Also I get it - even if it's just a tuner more players don't go "ZERO" pedals - I even think about Clapton who, at times, has wah, rotary, and maybe one or two goodies, though other times he's into the twin truly no pedals, not even a foot switch where he's more in "sit in" brain and wants both easy set up and nothing to take the focus away from the featured artist. To me that is "truly" no pedal and it's fun to see how people act when they don't have anything but the instrument.
Hank Marvin comes to mind, Fender Strat, Vox AC 15 and AC30, great match and that magical tone without pedals.
He used a Watkins Copicat for echo.
@@kalebaldwin5398 Not a Watkins Copycat....but a Meazzi Echo system....and the famous Abbey Road built in natural studio Reverb system
@@monmac1165 True, a tape Meazzi Echo, but I would not call that a pedal.
I was not referring to the echo system as a pedal....not even the natural studio reverb of Abbey Road consisting of big cylindrical columns....Cheers Francesco...
@@monmac1165 Cheers!!!
Marty Stuart and Kenny Vaughn. Teles and Fenders.
Marty Stuart and his side man Kenny Vaughn go straight into a Deluxe and Princeton respectively... It makes me wonder how many other iconic Country players went straight in.
I'm on all kinds of guitar forums and am amazed at how many ignore the great country players.
When I had a Blues band, i played a Harmony Rocket, straight into a battery powered 'Lectronics Mouse with a 57 on it to the PA, which provided the reverb. We were a local sensation for a few years. Big fun.
It took me a long time to begin using pedals. I eventually had a well populated board. Recently, i have cut way back. All I have now is a compressor, Vertex Clean Drive, and a reverb pedal, that sounds better than the 'verb in the Deluxe amp. These pedals are always on, set and forget, easy.
I don't know how many country music guitariists use pedals but it sounds like most of them don't,for me I just like to plug into my amp (no pedals) and play.
I'm not famous but I've made a living for almost 50 years as a guitarist (and upright and electric bassist) and although I have a bunch of pedals, I rarely use them. I've gone through phases but I always come back to just guitar and amp. It seems like that's the best sound (for the styles I play)
skynyrd..straight in to Peavey's when i saw em back in the day..they sounded bloody wonderful
yes!
Awesome video. I do not use a pedal because it makes me appreciate the tone of my guitar more.
Rock on!
When I first started practicing with a band in Denver, we went to a show after practice one night. A dive bar on Colfax. The guitarist had some technical difficulties. He had to stop their set for 20 minutes while he was troubleshooting his pedal board. That's all I needed to see. I now buy amps based on their tone and effects.
You’d think he’d just bypass the pedals and troubleshoot it during a break. Only time I had to stop playing mid-set was I broke an E string on my stand up bass, and you can drop the soundpost if you keep playing. Fastest I’d ever changed a string. Now I usually bring a backup P-bass.
Vinny Martell of Vanilla Fudge. I saw him live a dozen times, Gibson 335 straight into a pair of dimed Black Face Twins. All the variation in tone came from the controls on the guitar.
Johny winter. Was Notorious for not using effects and would always turn down the mid-range tp zero on every amp he played or borrowed.
Used a little bit of chorus later in his career not long before he died but for the most part clean and awesome.
I saw Johnny open for George Thorogood in 1984. He put on a hell of a show.
Irish blues-rocker Rory Gallagher famously used no pedals, just amp overdrive. Check out the Irish Tour ‘74 album for an hour of classic rock tone.
He famously used a treble booster… his use of which was what inspired Brian may to do the same
Treble booster all day!
Derek Trucks' amp heads are $12k each. For $12k for a head, I'd better not need a pedal
I dont think any amp could destroy Dereks amazing playing, he had played through a fender twin reverb .Hes tone has always been special.
One thing is for sure: all these shown artists cranked up their amps up to ultimate loudness, that means 10 - the only way to get dynamics and never to miss the amps defined sweet spot. Try that nowadays in either a rehearsal room or even a small clubs live gig, you won´t find many friends after the gig or by the stage sound mixing crew. When I come up on stage with my VOX AC30 and turn it up to 9 o´clock, I see the eyes rolling in disaprovement - and that´s far below the "sweet spot".... so, for that reason pedals might help to achieve a great sound by less deafness as result.
That’s why I only play at home as hobby to make me happy. F*ck people. I run what you see in my profile pic. Guitar and amp cranked. Feedback when you want it, literal eternal sustain, ultimate room shaking power. Maybe join a metal band and only do metal shows. I’ve never heard of anyone complaining at a rock/metal show.
Would cranking up the gain make a difference for you?
What if you use a lower wattage amp? Like 1-5W?
junior brown flat out killer
Mike Bloomfield!
Chris Cain, he is awesome. Just plugs in. Excellent tone. My mood is on CZcams I think.
Jabrille Williams of the Delvon Lamar Organ Trio, say him tear it up with no pedals and a clip on tuner. When he went to solo and need more gain he just turned his twin reverb up to max while holding a bend. It was actually incredible
Peter Green didn't use pedals. Good call with Jimmie Vaughan - one of my fav players.
Recall he did experiment after leaving Fleetwood Mac with a wah-wah pedal on the recording of 'The End of the game' studio instrumental album. Although the material on that album was w-a-y different from his more recognised and outstanding blues/early-rock style work between '66 into early'70.
peter green
I love when youtubers like you challenge their own perspective and feel free to share ideas opposite to their own tendencies. So thank you for just sharing ideas behind good tone!
I appreciate that!
Ironic as Keith Richards helped popularize the fuzz pedal😳! (Songs like I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, Mercy Mercy and She Said Yeah). He also used a lot of phasers on Some Girls (1978) and Emotional Rescue (1980).
Some girls stuff was often Ronnie Wood with the phaser. Satisfaction era wasn't really what became his tone as it's understood now.
Johnny " Guitar " Watson had a won derful sound - amp & 335 + picked with his fingers .
Marty Stuart and Kenny Vaughan also go straight in, telecaster into a Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Princeton.
Great suggestions!
Love Keith. Always makes a point and stands out whether he’s slapping a tele or caressing his Gibsons
Ray Flacke. Most of his career he used a tele and a Gibson Lab series. Check him out. Amazing guitar player.
I know It's kind of dumb but didn't Hendrix use a fuzz box and a wah wah and some times he didn't use anything.
I met Robert Cray after a show. He was a very nice guy. Talked with us for about 15 minutes before saying it was time to turn in.
I met Robert a couple of times in the 80s. He is, indeed, a nice guy. Friendly, down-to-Earth regular Joe.
I love the raw sound of a nice guitar and a sweet cranked amp. Live I use fuzz and wah. I record dry and clone the track to add effects.
Paul Burlison invented the fuzz by banging/dropping his amp which created the fuzz. If you don't know who Burlison is who do you think was the original Train Kept a Rolling?
Rock on!
In my opinion you almost could not do a better promotion for your channel and your products than with this video and its theme. This is right on!
I am a total fan of both pure, direct tone on acoustic as well as electric but also totally fascinated and many times inspired (and of course sometimes overloaded and sucked empty) by the endless possibilities of effects for electric and acoustic as well. I get a very reputable impression of your enterprise by not claiming that we could not live on without your kind of products. In memory of George Harrison I would like to state that music goes on within and without us - so it does with and without effects. But of course a great distortion or reverb is not possible without distortion or reverb. Except maybe when tripping on LSD.
Also kudos to your wonderful feature of Wendy Melvoin. Greatly led interview with a wonderful guitar player and composer!
Thanks for the support!
Most of the time, Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton. Tele to amp, that's all! Doesn't get much better than these guys. Also, Robbie Robertson, another tele cat!
Danny Gatton was a Monster!!!
Ironically I bought pedals to emulate his Dingus box
I saw Roy Buchanan once before he left us, he didn’t need pedals because his hands were magic!
@Daniel Heikalo Another Tele guy for your list is the Master of the Telecaster.. the Ice Man, Albert Collins.
❤️❤️❤️ Danny had the "Dingus Box"
Glenn Campbell. Roy Clark.
Well, it helps to clarify the understanding of myself. Now I know I'm better off with a medium quality guitar into a boutique amp that does practically everything but mostly a almost clean crunchy/on the edge of breakup at best. The rest with the controls of the guitar. A preferred transparent OD pedal is always good to bring down the volume of an amp from its sweet spot to a healthy volume with just a bit of hair so it sounds like the amp cranked.
you could`ve mention a guy like glenn branca. for his incredible electric guitar monuments he also didn`t use any fx-pedals. he produced his outstanding guitarsounds by alternate weird tunings and using a multiple of guitars. too fascinating in this case to not mention him imo;-). cheeers!
I’m not sure if he used any pedals but Robby Krieger had a amazing tone.
Criminally underrated guitarist who could make something easy sound good enough to make someone think it was difficult and something complex sound effortless
I don't think he did and his tone was excellent.
I feel like Ed King is one of the most under-rated guitarists who ever lived. He didn't use any pedals either. Also Toy Caldwell.
Tab Benoit has great tone playing straight into basically a Twin set low volume, high headroom, and a Super Reverb cranked up a little, with a ‘72 Tele Custom (two Widerange PU’s).
Love this show!! Props!! Don't forget Chris Cain-no pedals!!-Monster blues/Jazz guy!
didn't see his name in a quick look... Leslie West - Les Paul Jr w/ P90s
Peter Green, Paul Kossoff and Albert Collins.
Thankyou. Nice to see. Me and some righteous others are getting resolute on the use of a Equaliser pedal as means to simplify yet enhance sound, as in the spirit of this video.
Thanks for watching!