Vintage voiced
Marshall Super Lead Plexi
The template for British rock. Little gain on paper, enormous attitude in practice — the crunch happens because the power section is being asked to do something it barely wants to do.
RawMid-forwardVintage
Fender · The standard
Fender Stratocaster
TGP Staff Pick
The TGP take
The most adaptable electric guitar ever designed. Three single coils, a five-way switch and a vibrato that rewards a light touch — it covers Hendrix, Gilmour, SRV and Mayer without ever pretending to be more than a plank, a neck and some wire.
The one guitar that will never be the reason your tone isn't working.
Best for
BluesClassic rockFunkStudio
Tone character
GlassyArticulateVintage
Players associated with it
Often used alongside
Overdrive
Ibanez Tube Screamer
Not really a distortion — a midrange lens. Set the drive low, the level high, and it turns a decent amp into a focused one. Half the blues and metal tones you love have one in front of the amp.
Mid-forwardCompressedFocused
Combo
Fender Deluxe Reverb
The most recorded clean amp on earth and a pedal platform that flatters almost everything you put in front of it. Breaks up early enough to be musical, loud enough to be a problem.
CleanChimeyWarm
More from the Guitar Wall
Hard rock & high gain
EVH Wolfgang Special
A serious working guitar built around speed, stability and high-output rock tones. The compound-radius neck makes fast legato feel effortless, and the bridge humbucker is voiced tight enough that palm mutes stay defined under heavy gain instead of turning to mush.
AggressiveArticulateModern
The standard
Gibson Les Paul Standard
Mahogany, maple and two humbuckers — the recipe behind most of the riffs you learned first. Heavier and darker than a bolt-on, but it pushes an amp's front end in a way nothing else quite replicates.
WarmThickSustaining
The standard
Fender Telecaster
Two pickups, a bridge plate and zero excuses. The Tele's snap sits in a mix without EQ surgery, which is why it never left country, indie, punk or session work.
SnappyBrightDirect