Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

[Axl H]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Quite a few of the metal dudes back then used LPs:

Vivian Campbell - Les Paul for Holy Diver - X2N's during Sweet Savage, X2N for rhythms on Holy Diver, JB for leads.. Some weird pickup from JayDee after that (You can see it in live videos where viv uses the guitar back then) - later FullShreds during his Riverdogs tenure

John Sykes - Dirty Fingers and T-Tops - the rest is in the fingers.

Zakk - EMGs - No Rest For The Wicked, dudes.. Awesome 80s metal tone.

Mick Mars - Super D for Too Fast For Love and Shout At The Devil

there were a few others from what I have read and seen in videos, the dude from Seduce used EMG 81s, the dudes from Faster Pussycat used Les Pauls - no idea on the pickups..

Dont forget Steve Stevens, the first Billy Idol record was done with a Les Paul IIRC - he was a big JB user back then, dont know about the Les Paul.. Check out the Atomic Playboys video, for some cool stage moves

One good thing to remember, even though you see various superstrats in the videos, quite a few of these guys recorded with Les Pauls and vintage Strats. Anything goes, I guess

I always go back to the Dirty Fingers for this kinda stuff.. It just has this edge in a Les Paul, that just... works. It is so different to anything else, but for this type of stuff, it is the business. I would look into the Distortion or Custom. Think Distortion for some of the heavier and more aggressive tones, and Custom for the thicker tones - McAuley period Schenker for instance. Like a huge fat PAF on steroids

[greekdude]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

My Ibanez ARZ800 (EMG 81/60) LP-style can do hair metal fine (as any other genre). The only think it can't do is that surf/dire straits typical position 2-4 strat tone. But nearly nails all the rest. I have another partscaster which does only 2-4 decently.

That said, my prefered hair metal guitar is a Kramer 210 with Seymour Duncan livewires/livewires metal, with floyd rose, which screams van halen/hair metal from miles away!

[darthphineas]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Hasn't Vivian Campbell been back to LPs for a number of years now? At least from the shots I've seen on stage.

Steve Stevens has been going with LPs a lot and I think he has a sig model with some company called Knapps ( or something like that ). He also has the Bare Knuckle Pickup signature model ( Rebel Yell ) that is a bit hit in LPs, as is the John Sykes BKP sig model ( Cold Sweat, a lot like a Gibson Dirty Fingers model ).


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[loversmoon]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

yeah viv uses the paul almost exclusively now. I saw an interview recent which he stated he couldn't imagine going back to a tremolo type guitar. ahh but never say never.

[Securb]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Tom Keifer and Jeff LaBar were big Les Paul guys

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Is this the sound you are looking for?



79 Les Paul
Distortion Bridge
Marshall VS100 on OD1
Boss DD-3 in the loop

Hey, that VS100/OD-1 sounds good.

[SFW]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Steve Clark's Les Pauls were in fact loaded with Duncan 59s. He said so in several interviews.

[Aceman]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

I stand corrected and am going with the black one had a Dirty Fingers in the bridge with stock Gibsons, and the white was Duncan 59's

[Aceman]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

And I still say go Distortion.

[Reid]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

DiMarzio Super Distortions. Duncan JB, Distortion, etc...

It really all boils down to amp settings and playing technique.

Blasphemer!

Oh, and... +1.

[dreadguard268]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

I'm thinking I might try to go for the dirty fingers. John Sykes on whitesnake is almost exactly the sound I'm interested in actually haha. So I'm gonna try that first. I'm not to sure about the neck. But it's not a big I don't do much there beyond cleans and I for the most part know what I like.

[Hairmail]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Steve Clark's Les Pauls were in fact loaded with Duncan 59s. He said so in several interviews.

Yep, you're right. I stand corrected too, did a bit more searching and found an old interview where he said he had duncan '59s.

[Aceman]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

I'm thinking I might try to go for the dirty fingers. John Sykes on whitesnake is almost exactly the sound I'm interested in actually haha. So I'm gonna try that first. I'm not to sure about the neck. But it's not a big I don't do much there beyond cleans and I for the most part know what I like.

That's a great idea except for the part that he is John Sykes. And as we all know...


JOHN SYKES IS WHITESNAKE!!!!

[51501984]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

I'm thinking I might try to go for the dirty fingers. John Sykes on whitesnake is almost exactly the sound I'm interested in actually haha. So I'm gonna try that first. I'm not to sure about the neck. But it's not a big I don't do much there beyond cleans and I for the most part know what I like.

He used mesa boogie coliseum heads on the Whitesnake album and was rumored to have double tracked the rhythm tones . Something to think about when trying to tackle his tone

[JohnnyGuitarCA]

Re: Anyone use a les paul type for hair metal?

Here's a great clip with a reissue Dirty Fingers in a Les Paul Custom. He gets some great Sykes-ish sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbZnbvovlx8