Lately something has come to my attention,

Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

I think a better example is Toni's sound now in contrast to then. I LOVE his sound on 13... and reading about the recording of the album, he used his new Laney instead of all the vintage amps the label and producers wanted him too because he had 'been there and done that' and had already blown those up lol. If I'm over 60, and can survive cancer and then finish an album like that and STILL TOUR... that album is awesome.

To tie it up... I'm sure he still has volume :) and uses far less gain than expected, but gets a crushing tone.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

I used to think Eddie Van Halen had a magic way of making a high gain sound come out clear and singing*
But then recently a friend gave me a General Electric 12au7. I put in my Ibanez Tubeking pedal & used a BD2 Blues Driver to crank a ton of volume through it: no matter how much gain the NOTES stayed super singin' clean while the distortion was raging, but out of the way. THAT's WHAT MAKES IT POP OUT THE SPEAKERS- at any volume!!!

I went to my friend's place to show him: we posted our discussion on his Pixxy Lixxx channel. When it wasn't enough distortion for him on my Egnater Tweaker, I plugged him through my Tubeking & as he plays, I slowly turn up the volume on the Blues Driver. Still not enough distortion for Steve: so he brings out a LesPaul with Blackouts.
>No matter how much I would dime every knob available, the GE 12au7 tube always delivered pitch first, distortion secondary.<>
**** IN FACT, i think i discovered that's what makes a tone BADASS- the amount of clear pitch/ tone/ notes authoritatively dominating the hairy fuzz. ***
And the old school brands of tubes used by the afore mentioned Ax Titans helped deliver that musicality (along with pro pickups of course)






*( so does Steve Vai- EVH used Steve's rig once to ask a question- sounded like Eddie, much to Vai's amazement.)
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

+1, Iommi's tone now is better than ever!

(....and playing, songwriting, etc. Him & Geezer are the first guys to rock MORE over 40, 50, +)
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

I honestly think Geezer's sound on 13 was perfect. Now I just wish the production wasn't so big on the "loudness war", but overall the production was great. I'd think it was in part due to Rubin actually giving a **** because he was aware this was a Sabbath album, and if the production was FUBAR'd he'd probably be done.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

youngthrasher9 said:
Yeah, I hope that no one thought I was dogging on the use of pedals. That would be a little bit naive, because Brian May, Jimi, AND Tony Iommi used pedals at times. Brian and Tony both used a treble booster a lot, and Jimi is known for his use of fuzz.
Click to expand...

They used pedals pretty much all the time, and Brian had a pretty complex rig by any day's standards.

I don't disagree that volume certainly played a part for all the guys you mentioned, but to say that their rigs were spartan and the determining factor in their sound was all amp isn't really the case with the exception of the Young brothers.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

Andrew Lamprecht said:

Go to 4:04


Thats made in Japan. That's ritchie blackmore with a strat. Those are cranked 120 watt marshalls with the only thing in front being a treble booster.
Click to expand...

You forgot the tube preamp gain from the Akai reel to reel he also used to goose those Majors.

Like I said, these rigs were more complex than people realize.

A lot of the more fuzzy gain May got on records were due to that little Deacy SS combo he used in tandem with the treble boosted AC-30s. He cobbled together his sound from a variety of sources and rarely was it ever a single guitar line.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

dominus said:
High gain wasn't available back then.
Click to expand...

Sure it was and there were plenty of ways of getting it. Unless you're talking cascaded preamp gain but even then that was available by the early-mid '70s.

What those dudes understood was that high gain comes at the price of dynamics - and in the case of all those dudes listed dynamics played a huge part of not only ther own sounds but the overall sound of their respective bands. That's what made them heavy - the dynamics, not the amount of gain used.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

The thing I hate about crusty's posts is that he never tells you exactly how he feels.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

Andrew Lamprecht said:

Go to 4:04


Thats made in Japan. That's ritchie blackmore with a strat. Those are cranked 120 watt marshalls with the only thing in front being a treble booster. Simple.... but that's tone man.


It's no new thing that volume gives you that extra push that all these blues lawyers are trying to get with their bootique overdrive pedals. It's unfortunate that we can't crank them like they used to be able to. When I play with my band I get to 2 on the volume knob of my 60 watt mesa and I'm being told to turn down.
Click to expand...

Actually, those were modified Marshall Majors, which stock were 200W but were modified somewhere around 300W according to Ritchie and his tech, Jon Dawk.
Apparently they only put them around halfway up because being so modified, they'd explode if set louder than that.

Here's a GREAT read on Ritchie's gear back then: http://www.woodytone.com/2009/04/20/ritchie-blackmores-tone-and-more-part-1/
He first says they were boosted to 400W, then 250-300W, then 500W. Go figure.
 
Last edited:
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

That's why I crank it up at home when I play.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

Thats why I pay cash moneys for rehearsal space.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

erksin said:
They used pedals pretty much all the time, and Brian had a pretty complex rig by any day's standards.

I don't disagree that volume certainly played a part for all the guys you mentioned, but to say that their rigs were spartan and the determining factor in their sound was all amp isn't really the case with the exception of the Young brothers.
Click to expand...

Looks pretty simple to me...It was even simpler in the early days.

TB83review.jpg
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

erksin said:
You win - if you think running a triple amp set up with signal routing to synchronize two sources of delayed signal is a 'simple' rig...
Click to expand...

Compared to others today? Hell yeah. In the early days with the classic sound we all know and love, it was pretty much guitar-treble booster-amp.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

I dunno dude, I feel like way more thought and planning went into that rig than mine (guitar, tuner, four effects, amp).
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

uOpt said:
BTW, I don't think it's the power tubes mainly.
Click to expand...

I read an interview where Blackmore said he had to have a reel to reel tape machine in his signal chain before the amp. If I remember correctly, I think he said it smoothed out the treble.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

some_dude said:
The secret has always been volume. Whether we're talking low gain or high gain, if it ain't loud it's just not that impressive.
Click to expand...

VERY True Words !

When ever i can . . . i crank my 50W Bassman atleast to '5' on the vol knob.
And at '6', i start to get that GODLY tone that made me fall in love with this amp in the 1st place.
If i wan to keep it simple, i just ad a Java Boost or EP-Booster.
 
Re: Lately something has come to my attention,

Myaccount876 said:
Exactly! I consider Brian May as high-gain, though the volume is maxed, he also has a treble booster.s:
Click to expand...



hell yes . . .



 
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