Who is the better guitarist for Judas Priest? KK Downing or Glenn Tipton

Tipton. Both are amazing, precise players. The band was the best early with Les Binks.

Being a Priest fan since the Stained Class album,I like Tipton and Downing.
Les Binks was amazing as well

Les Binks era. Tipton in his finest hour.

Nobody really knows, but I'll say it's a tossup.

Tipton apparently did more lead solos on the albums, but that doesn't indicated "better."
Maybe he had a more steady hand once the "record" button was pushed.

...------

Tipton was the more iconic, melodic lead player. His leads set JP apart as one of the leaders of the new wave of British heavy metal and helped JP stand out amongst their peers. Just compare Tipton's first solo in Beyond the Realms of Death as compared to Downing's outro solo and you will hear the difference at that time...Tipton kept elevating and improving upon his very unique style for the era.

Tipton and Downing were so tight rhythmically it was difficult to separate their guitar tones...just one big riff. Downing was the original member and wrote incredible songs. To me, he was your traditional bluesy hard rock lead guitarist. Great player but not at Tipton's technical, firey level that continued to elevate (e.g., similar to how Iommi on the 1980 Heaven and Hell album grew into a monster lead player as compared (to my ears) from his style throughout the 70s.

The way I understand it as the band progressed through the late seventies Halford and the band wanted Tipton to play more of the lead parts which he did and which I think led to some friction in the band over the years. Downing interviews touch upon this.

For me I look at the two of those guys as one big unit. The last JP album I like is Hell Bent for Leather as their production ans style and approach got boring, predictable and "turbo" sounding on the following albums. I do have a soft spot for 1982s Screaming for Vengeance as that was my introduction to them that year.