Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

[WhoFan]

I have been blasting the heck out of my ears with the remastered Sabbath cd Live Evil.... i always liked those Ronnie James Dio era albums... This live album is killer!

But what gear did Tony use on that tour?

What Amp brand and model?

Gibson or Custom made SG's?

What Flanger is he using on the extra long Heaven And Hell?

What did he use for massive volume boosts on solos?

WhoFan

 

[Mincer]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

the guitars were JayDee's and John Birch custom 24 fret SGalikes. My guess is that the amps were Laneys...massive tone on this great CD.

 

[AdmiralB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Dunno about that record, but I have the Black and Blue movie from the '80 tour with BOC, and the stage is full of Marshalls...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

wow, would love to see that show!

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Actually I think he was using Mesa Boogies, there's a "starlicks" DVD with him, where he plays some of the solos from the Live Evil album, and he explains his gear, and as far as I remember he's using a Mesa on that DVD.

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

I can check for you when I get home from school if you like.

 

[brit84]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

if he used a mesa it was because thats what they had in the studio. Iommi used Laneys ,then Marshalls for the dio stuff and most of the other 80's albums i think, because of quality control issues at the Laney factory , then he returned to using Laneys and has a signature made by them.

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

No, he chose to use that Mesa. He's been using it live too. This DVD was made not long after live evil, and he talks about some of his guitars too. IIRC he used a mesa on Born Again too. I could be wrong though, but I've seen some old sabbath fans say the same thing as I'm telling you now.

If someone can definately prove me wrong, then I am sorry for my ignorance :laugh2:

 

[Faraday]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

On Live Evil he used Mesa Boogie. On Heaven and Hell and The Mob Rules he used Modded Marshalls.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Ok if it's a Boogie, what model type for that massive OD sound i wonder.....

I also wonder if any of that massive amount of fuzz is a pedal......

Any ideas what the Flanger effect was?

how low was he tuned on this recording i wonder.... C+, D

 

[AdmiralB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Ok if it's a Boogie, what model type for that massive OD sound i wonder.....

I also wonder if any of that massive amount of fuzz is a pedal......

how low was he tuned on this recording i wonder.... C+, D

Well, the only Boogies around then were Mark Is and Mark IIs of various 'stripe'.

I wonder if he was still using a Rangemaster. That's definitely the key to the late Ozzy-era tone.

 

[Sludgenutz]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

WoW! Great thread! I have nothing to add really...just a huge Iommi fan, reading and learning. It just shows how gear can be secondary to talent when acheiving tone.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

He is tuned to D on Live Evil. And yes, that is a massive sound- it is way different than the Ozzy era, and I doubt he is using the Rangemaster (which really sounds pretty bad, but he made it sound good).

Check out the clean intro in Children of the Sea, going into the heavy part...sounds like a volume knob, but the gain is amazing.

Also, his wah (I believe a custom one) has a *huge* sweep.

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

I'll check the DVD, I think he says which Mesa Boogie model it is. I'll check for you when I get home from school.

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Well, he doesn't mention what model, he just said "On stage I use eight 300 watt boogie amps".

 

[AdmiralB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

The only model they made that would fit that description would be that 12x6L6 thing they made for a little while...the guitar version of the Bass 400, I think it was just a Mark II preamp stuck on the Bass 400 power amp.

They made 135W (Simulclass) and 180W (regular) versions of the Mark II and Mark III, with six power tubes - the Coliseum Series, I had a Mark III Simulclass with four 6L6s and two EL34s, the loudest amp I've ever played.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Coliseum series had some 300 Watters as well: Same amps John Sykes played on "1987", and the first coupla Blue Murder albums.

It's basically a MKIIC+ with ALOT more horsepower.

 

[AdmiralB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

They called them 'Coliseum 300', but they were being...optimistic...and quoting potential peak power. The amp I had was identical to the ones Sykes used. They didn't make many.

Could be that that was what Iommi was using and he was simply quoting Mesa. In fact, that seems more likely.

His would definitely have been Mark IIs of some variation.

 

[Sune]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

Well I can tell you that it looks like some of the mark series amps I've seen from boogie, but I don't know anything about boogie amps so I don't know if there's a difference between the different mark's.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Sab's Iommi Live Evil gear

They called them 'Coliseum 300', but they were being...optimistic...and quoting potential peak power. The amp I had was identical to the ones Sykes used. They didn't make many.

Could be that that was what Iommi was using and he was simply quoting Mesa. In fact, that seems more likely.

His would definitely have been Mark IIs of some variation.

Ahh very cool...good info to have. Still..even at 1/2 the "rated" power...that some serious volume...ughhh :blackeye: :laugh2:

Sune, I had that old Iommi Star Licks or whatever video at one time when I was a kid..with him playing the MESA combo. It was a MKII Mesa of some sort..prolly a IIc or IIc+. And yes, there are pretty significant differences in the MK series Mesas.

MKI's are basically the Santana type sound, or Larry Carlton...the smooth liquidy original modded Fender Princeton type sound.

The MKIIB/C/C+ & MKIIIs are the "classic" Boogie "metal" amps: From Iommi, to Brad Gillis on Speak of the Devil (IIB) to Metallica (IIc+/III) and Sykes (C300)....And I'm sure plenty of others used them as well.

MKIVs are the "do alot of things well, but nothing absolutely spectaular" MESAs. Not that it's a slight, cos they do sound great..they just didn't do the MKI sound as well as the MKI or the MKII/III sound as well as the MKII/III. But very versatile!

then the Rectumfriers hit and the Marks went by the wayside pretty much. Kinda sad really.