The Many Guitar Tones of Eric Clapton

[ Updated March 2019 ]
Eric Clapton is not only one of my favorite guitarists, but he has also been a big influence on the way I approach my guitar tone.
Through the years he has created a number of amazing sounds coming from his guitar and below I’ll link to some of my favorite tone.
Most guitarists usually have only one sound for most of their career, but Clapton has created many unique sounds during his lifetime and has pretty much set the standard for blues rock tone throughout the decades.  I’m not sure if there has been another guitarist who has influenced blues rock guitar tone in so many different ways.
Here are the defining Era’s of Eric’s tone in my opinion.
Bluesbreakers Era
This era from 1965-1966, Eric played a Gibson Les Paul through a 1962 Marshall combo. This setup resulted in a buttery, thick and saturated tone that many think was one of his best tones ever.  You can hear the tubes overdriving on these classic recordings.  Listen to this tone below.

Cream Era
Eric mainly used a Gibson Sg, a Gibson 335, and 100 watt Marshalls during this time period. In this era Eric developed the classic “Woman Tone” and created some of the most classic blues rock tones to date. Just listen to the tone on “Strange Brew” or “Spoonful”.  Great sustain and thickness.

Derek and the Dominos Era
During this time period, Eric moved to a maple neck Fender Stratocaster (“Brownie”). It was during this era that Eric recorded the classic rock album Layla with Duane Allman.  I believe he was using a Fender Champ amp when recording his guitar parts.  I heard Duane Allman comment when asked how a listener could figure out who was playing what part on the album. (Duane or Eric)  He said, “It’s easy.  I play the Gibson, Eric plays the Fender.”

80’s Era
Now is when Eric really starts to change his tone.  Before, he never used many effects other than a wah to my ears and just cranked the amp.  He was now using the famous “Blackie” guitar as his main axe with Marshall 800 series heads.  The “Journeyman” album to me depicted what his tone was like during this time period as well as his “Behind the Sun” album.  A lot more gain, delay and reverb sometimes, and a very “dialed in” tone to me.  I really like the tone though, but on certain songs I could hear some chorus, which I’m not a big fan of. His version of “After Midnight” and “Forever Man” have some killer tone on it.

90’s Era
To me, this period saw a resurrection of Clapton going back to basics but still had one foot in the 80’s for some of the material which to me worked really well.  The tones he captured during this era are really amazing for me.  Two albums that defined his tone in my mind during this time period are  “24 Nights” and “From the Cradle”.  These two albums were the guitar bible for me when I was learning how to play in the early nineties.  I wore out both of these albums by practicing along just trying to get some of those licks down. At the time it seemed impossible.  But I kept trying.
Eric was mainly using “Blackie” during “24 Nights”, but during the recording of “From the Cradle”, Eric played all kinds of different guitars, and we saw a return of the Gibson to his arsenal.  Eric was mainly using a Soldano Slo-100 amp head giving him a very saturated blues tone.  I really wanted this amp in the nineties but I couldn’t come close to affording this beast.  Warren Haynes was using this amp as well in the nineties.

In additon to the SLO-100, Clapton was also using Fender Tweed Twins which have an amazing tone as well but not quite as thick as the SLO.

2000’s Era
And now we get to the modern era where Clapton to me has been very hit or miss with his tones.  He has been using mainly different Strats and various models of reissue Fender Tweed amps.  Most of the tones I hear during this period have been ok, but nothing like he sounded like in the past.  I think the best tones I heard were from the Cream Reunion Tour and on the album with BB King called Riding with the King.

Well, that’s my rundown of how Clapton’s tone has changed throughout the years. What is your favorite era of tone Eric Clapton had?
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