I have got to say Yngwie's tone is the best, its what I model after. I think is the most musical, with not to much saturation, and perfect long sustain. That 1972 Marshall Superlead is the key!

Does anybody even come close to Yngwie's tone for you guys?

personally i think yngwie's tone is it, nothing can be that perfect, but i guess it is because Yngwie is what you think of when you say "neoclassical metal".

Early Vinnie Moore also has very good tone. Back when he went with Ibanez.

agreed 100% Vinnie's tone is like... when I think of tightness, I think of his tone... Sooo tight.

Muhammed Suiçmez's tone on the Epitaph album is nuts, its the right combination of warm with insane clarity (probably due more in part ot player than equipment).
I Necrophagist arent strict Neo-Classical, but the tone on Only Ash Remains make me get all kinds of inspired.

Yngwie tone for shure.

Early Yngwie, Vinnie Moore's first two albums and Jason Becker's debut album. Check out Rob Marcello's Boss GT8 demo on YouTube, especially about 5mins in or so where he is playing some very cool harmonic minor stuff.

For me its definetly Yngwies early tone and Vinnie's early tone. and IbanezDaemon, I love Marcello, but in the the GT-8 clip on youtube, I didn't think there was much special there. I prefer the tone on his "Wild West Guitars" clips, although they aren't even anything spectacular tone wise, although an overall general good tone IMO.

Definitely Yngwies early tone. I thought some of his best stuff was on the Alcatrazz album which is much overlooked. As for Vinnie's tone I totally agree, Mind's Eye is my all time fave instumental album. I bought Greg Howe's first solo album when it came out and thought his sound was over processed. At times you would have been forgiven for thinking it was a keyboard. Great player though.

To the guys saying Vinnie Moore... I agree 100%. His tone was perfect... not only was his tone perfect, it's like each note was played perfectly. I even remember Jason Becker talking about this same thing in an interview a looooong time ago. I think they were asking Jason who he thought was the best current (at that time) guitarist was... he said Vinnie Moore. Jason said there are a lot of neoclassical guitarists, including himself, but nobody can play it as well as Vinnie Moore... every single note is picked with the same calculated attack, pressure, etc etc... something along those lines.

I'm surprised to see so many people saying Yngwie has the best tone. I haven't really heard him except for one the G3 DVD... and I think his tone is pretty bad on that. He must sound A LOT better on CD than live for so many of you guys praising his tone. I'll have to try to check it... any recommendations? or links?

Dude, Yngwie's tone is not to be messed with.... pure magic... and yes the G3 isn't his best at all. 1972 50 Marshall superlead, 1972 Fender Strat with Dimarzio HS-2s, DOD 250 = pure tonal bliss. Here is a clip of his cover of Carry On My Wayward Son.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgqry2BoK08

PURE MARSHALL BABY!!!! :P

I've got a weird "relationship" with Yngwie. I've been listening to neoclassical metal since I was probably 15 years old (I'm 32 now). I loved Cacophony, Vinnie Moore, T-Mac, Greg Howe, etc, etc... so, naturally, I started playing (or trying to play) that type of music. After that, many people would hear me play and tell me "You must listen to a lot of Yngwie Malmsteen". I always said "No... actually, I've never heard him". They NEVER believed me; but, it was always true. So, I think I almost made a point of never listening to him... just so that it would always be true when I said I've never heard him. Funny, right?? No? well... it's at least weird, right?? hahaha
So, the most popular neoclassical metal guitar player in the world and I never even heard him until I picked up that G2 DVD 2 years ago.
Anyways... Thanks for the link Devon. He is a kick@$$ guitarist, but I still don't like his tone. I think the problem, to me, is that he always uses maple fretboards. So, it's always got that kinda snappy punch... not twangy, but.... metallic.... screechy? I don't know. Jason Becker, who I absolutely love, often uses maple fretboards and sometimes his tone would get that same snappy thing going, but not to the extremes of Yngwie. I remember reading a long time ago that Yngwie's fretboards are scalloped, is that true? Could that be the reason why the metallic snap is so apparent in his tone? Does he ever play with a rosewood or ebony fretboard? I'm curious to know how drastically that would change his tone.

I have seen Yngwie in his early days use Strats that had rosewood fretboards. I have to say that the type of fretboard on a guitar would have little effect on the overall tone of a guitar IMO. There are so many other factors to consider when you consider how a guitarist get's his tone i.e pickups, strings, preamps and effects, valves or transistors in the amp and last but not least the guitarists own style and individual touch. But i agree that some people are of the opinion about the snap factor associated with maple necks but in my humble opinion the factors i have listed above would have a far greater impact on overall tone production. I suppose it is down to personal taste, if you don't like somebody's tone that's it, the buck stops there.

On scalloping I think the emphasis is more on vibrato and bending more than anything else.

I would suggest that you listen to some early Malmsteen stuff. I always thought his best tone was on his earlier albums, Rising Force, Marching Out and Trilogy. Songs? Check out Icarus Dream Suite, Far Beyond the Sun, Black Star and Trilogy Suite.

That is ok too, and I think Yngwie's tone is very unique compared to other musicians in the neo-classical genre... He has used the same vintage amps since the 70s and continues to this day. It may even be that his tone is a total different direction than the other neo-classical players... its very un-typical... since most neo-classical players use humbuckers, modern guitars, and modern amplifiers with high gain.

Coming more from a classic rock background than coming to Yngwie, can probably give you a completely different outlook than coming from a 80s, 90s, instrumental metal background to Yngwie, because in your head you have a different idea of what is a good tone.

In the end, all these guys have different but great tone, and some of them... some people really enjoy while others may not.

I agree with everything you have said IbanezDaemon, very true.

I love the look of an old maple fretboard on a strat, but sound wise I have to say I definitely prefer rosewood... even though in the end it makes less of a difference to your overall tone.

Yngwie's tone is more vintage, twangy, thick, raw, smooth, oldschool... than say Vinnie's solid state amps... which are without a doubt amazing tone (normally SS amps are considered worse, but it really depends - they give you a different sound). Vinnie's is tight, smooth, musical, natural.

Love them both.

Uli Jon Roth was the tone king in my book. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y_66RWM7cbY

OH DEFINITELY! extremely similar to Yngwie Malmsteen, same amp pretty much, Uli used a 1971 Marshall Super tremolo (100 watt). I think the biggest difference between them would be yngwie DOD-250 that he used to turn his SL's into beasts, while Uli rarely used any distortion/overdrive pedals. As well as that Yngwie used Dimarzio HS-2s, which is a stacked humbucker, compared to Uli's stock pickups (at least in the early days).

One thing i have to say/mention for all to ponder is how much gating does YJM use because i own a DOD-250.
They are noisy AS...
Very cool 'Old school' distortion/OD but frankly id rather a Tube screamer to compliment my DS-1. Its a tighter sound over all.

yngwie's tone. For me in the album attack! it is better than 80's or 90's tone :)

you can fix the noise problem with an NS-2, Yngwie uses it ;)

I could have phrased that better... i was going for a rhetorical question.
I know the wonders of the NS-1, but seriously it is one NOISY PEDAL.

To the point where i say... why not get a less noisy OD that sounds the same infront of a marshall (there are many) and NOT use the NS-1.

TBH I don't think the DOD-250 is any more noisy than the MXR distortion plus, tube screamer, marshall shred master... or any other pedals out at that time. All of them have some noise... maybe the one you tried had a problem?

all ODs are noisy, the only way to get rid of it is to turn off the drive.