For the 'Load' album, I was experimenting so much with tone that I had to keep journals on what equipment I was using. For 'Hero of the Day,' I know I used a 1958 Les Paul Standard with a Matchless Chieftain, some Boogie amps and a Vox amp - again, they're all blended.
Bryan Adams might not be what I want to put on, but he's a pop singer with a great voice and great guitar tone. Plus, he's done more for Canada than Rush have, because he works all the time. I envy him for that.
I couldn't not play a Les Paul guitar. Les always used to point to my Strat and say, 'Why do you have that piece of crap around your neck?' I'd say, 'Yours are too heavy. I had to drill holes in it.'
I honestly believe that you have to be able to play the guitar hard if you want to be able to get the whole spectrum of tones out of it. Since I normally play so hard, when I start picking a bit softer my tone changes completely, and that's really useful sometimes for creating a more laid-back feel.
I like the sound of a Silvertone amp for myself. It's kind of cleaner guitar sounds when necessary, maybe a little less metal-sounding. But it really doesn't matter what amp I play through; it's really the way I voice chords and play guitar, how I strike the strings.
Vocally, I don't think analogue makes that much difference, but with guitars, it definitely makes some difference. With drums and bass, absolutely.
James Hetfield, I mean, the minute he plugs in his guitar and adjusts the tone knob, he comes up with the world's greatest riff.
When I started to play with my fingernails, it was not just for volume. The most important thing was giving the guitar different colors in its voices.
When I need to nail that riff to the cross, Marshall will always provide the hammer!
I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers.
In my opinion, the P-90 is the best pickup for slide - it has the right overtones.
I love the sound of Elmore James, the sound early guitarists like him got just by using minimal means.
There's something about a wah pedal that really gets my gut going! People will probably say, 'He's just hiding behind the wah.' But that isn't the case. It's just that those frequencies really bring out a lot of aggression in my approach.
The only way you can get Scotty Moore's tone is with a big hollowbody guitar.
What I noticed, in the short time I've been in Chickenfoot, we wound up doing a tour and a live DVD with basically that scoop sound. I was using OD2 for that entire tour. When we went out on this new tour and made the new record, I used the amp in an entirely different way. It was already modified.
I like guitar sounds to be a little somber.
I still fall back a lot on my Les Paul, and there is just no getting away from a Les Paul and a hot pickup.
Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'
I have somewhat [Taylor's or Gallagher's guitars], but I like the power of the Martins.
I always sort of liked Mesa/Boogies, but I wasn't sure if they were cool or not cool.
As far as people, I've always loved Tony Iommi's sound, just the grittiness that was in that era of metal where it wasn't too fuzzy, and you could still hear the guitar and the fingers, but it still had this chunky, meat-and-potatoes sound to it.
I've always stuck with Gibsons. I've had Guilds and Fenders, too, but I always wind up going back to Gibsons.
When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain.
I've really gotten over pedals. I can't keep up with this craze of boutique pedals that make you sound like everything but your guitar. I can't get my head around it.
The most obvious thing you can't do with a guitar synthesizer is to really sound like a guitar.
