Ah Gary Moore, my all time favourite.
Yes he used effects but he had so much emotion & feel in his playing.
Could play many style & make them his own, blues, rock, metal, shredding, flamenco etc & often played all those styles in one song.
Shredding just for shreddings sake leaves me a little cold TBH.
Players like for instance Buckethead, although obviously very talented, who just shreds continuously, don"t do a lot for me, although I appreciate shredding has it"s place.
A local hero of mine, & very underrated IMO is wales own Tony Bourge, ex Budgie guitarist