6 stringer Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 I've been listening to a lot of 80's guitar music, but I do not know how some of those awesome sounds were done. It's like distorted, yet clean, and ominous. If any of you know how these great sounds were done it would be cool if you could do a graphic something like this--- source--->dist box--->comp--->amp---->mic--->board pre--->verb---->out Maybe some clue as to the settings would be good too. Like compressor: threhold 23, attack--XXX, release---YYY, and ratio...ZZZ Even if it involves very expensive pieces of gear, it would be good to know how those great 80's guitar sounds were made. Please help us all understand. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel E. Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Er, what kind of 80s sounds? Cleaner sounds by the Cure, Smiths, etc.? Or hair metal tones? Some specific examples would help. "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 A lot of fellas fom that time loved souped-up Marshalls. Anything from modded SLP's and JCM 800's. This is also the period when the Mesas, Riveras, and Soldanos were coming into prominence. Also, big racks seemed to be the rule. Remember Vernon Reid with his three racks, plus the stomp boxes? Man, that was crazy. Of course, he no longer does that. Here are some examples: http://www.vai.com/Machines/images/livegear/livegear_whitesnake01.jpg http://www.vai.com/Machines/images/livegear/livegear_whitesnake02.jpg http://www.georgelynch.com/images/gear/liverigs/backfortour/1988ampsright.jpg http://www.georgelynch.com/images/gear/liverigs/backfortour/rackb2.jpg sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 If it's The Cure, though, IIRC, Robert Smith liked a particular set of BOSS boxes. Not sure of the amps, but I think they were most likely vintage blackface Fender combos (?). He's also fond of semi hollow guitars, like the ones made by Gretsch and Gibson. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Strat Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Randy Rhoads used a Distortion + on some things. Most of the metal distortions on the market will get you there, if you scoop the mids and boost the lows and highs. Also, a stereo chorus is a good thing to use for the big 80's tone too. Almost forgot, pickups play a big part of this too. Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon and JB humbuckers are great for this, and also the JB jr. and Hot Rails. Mainly, it's all about preamp gain. BlueStrat a.k.a. "El Guapo" ...Better fuzz through science... http://geocities.com/teleman28056/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedro Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Give some examples. Are you talking about rhythm sounds or lead sounds? I'm sure that some folks here would be familiar with the setups of certain guitarists. You've also got to figure in recording techniques. Metallica would double and triple their rhythm parts, so would Randy Rhoads. The '80s are remembered by high-gain tones, but I always think that to get a bigger tone - particularly on rhythm sounds, you should back off the preamp gain a little and let the power tubes do the work along with a great sounding speaker cabinet pushing some air. Everybody knows rock attained perfection in 1974. It's a scientific fact. - Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 stringer Posted March 19, 2004 Author Share Posted March 19, 2004 I suspect that many of the sounds I'm thinking required racks of processors like the ones pictured above. Who wants to take a stab at explaining the signal flow of those big racks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel E. Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 Also forgot to mention cheesy LA pop music from the 80s - Mr. Mister, Toto, etc. There was a guitar sound associated with that music too. I think one thing that everyone seemed to use back in the 80s is chorus. It was part of the metal sound, the clean pop sound, the "alt." sound. Who wants to take a stab at explaining the signal flow of those big racks? I'll try: -Guitar -High Gain Preamp (ADA MP-1, Mesa, etc.) or Marshall/Soldano head cranked and run through a dummy load -EQ -Multi-effects processor(s) for chorus, flange and phasing -Evantide H3000 harmonizer -TC 2290 for delay (this was a must) -Noise gate -Power amps or slave ins of Marshall, Soldano, Bogner, etc. -Speaker cabs (usually one dry and one or two used for effects) All controlled by a switching system (Bradshaw, Midi Octopus, Ground Control, etc.) "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 stringer Posted March 19, 2004 Author Share Posted March 19, 2004 I forgot, I'm talking about those 80's soaring lead sounds. Gabriel, if you know, what kind of setting would they use on the TC and Eventide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabriel E. Posted March 19, 2004 Share Posted March 19, 2004 No clue. Those processors are so complex that I doubt that there are any basic settings that everyone used. I might be wrong though. Figure that most 80s guys used lots of preamp gain and a pretty heavy effects mix (heavy chorus, long delays with lots of repeats, etc.) - I recommend that you just turn everything up and go from there. You can get that sound without a huge $20K rig. Those racks were designed for maximum flexibility - lots of presets were available at the touch of a button. That's what where the expense was. All you need to cop the sound is a high gain amp with an effects loop (Peavey XXX or 5150, Marshall JCM 900, Mesa Dual Recto, etc.) and a few pedals. You could get a used Yamaha SPX90 or Alesis Quadraverb for cheap instead of the pedals if you wanted. If you want the harmonizer functions, get a Whammy Pedal (only adventerous players like Steve Vai and Vernon Reid used the extreme arpeggiating/randomizing H3000 functions - most guys just added a simple 5th here or there). "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted March 20, 2004 Share Posted March 20, 2004 I can do any of the 80's stuff with just my Ibanez RG560 guitar, ZOOM GFX-5 amp sim/multiFX unit, an overdrive and a wah. Then, route the ZOOM's output signal to a power amp that has at least 125 watts a side, and 2 4x12's. Wireless optional. Done. Of course, if you care about protecting your hearing, you may want to use earplugs, or consider using in-ear monitors. sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6 stringer Posted March 23, 2004 Author Share Posted March 23, 2004 Dr Taz, are you saying you can get the same sounds with a stompbox as rack full of outboard gear costing 20k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimK Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 Taz is right. Just about any modern day multi-effects pedal can reproduce the 80's sound. And for under $300 or $400 too. Just one of the full sized racks (empty) would cost more then that. In an effort to improve the responsiveness of e-mail for everyone, the e-mail servers will be out of service. We are hopeful that this change will improve the performance of e-mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc taz Posted March 23, 2004 Share Posted March 23, 2004 (Continuing from JimK's point of view...) The only disadvantage here is that I can't have every single effect on. The Zoom GFX-5 only allows for this combination: Amp sim + cab sim (for going direct to board) + mod (chosen effect) + delay/reverb Now, in the mod section, the one effect can be anything. Pitch shifting, vibrato, another delay, whatever's in here. In a way, that's a good thing. Of course, I have one of the few units under $500 that actually do the amp sims using analog circuitry. The only downside is that the digital effects are processed at 32k, not 44.1k as in some fx units. I've found that it makes little difference, anyhow, as it's meant for guitar, but nobody says that it can't be used for anything else. I read of one user on the Harmony Central forums that loves his GFX-5 with keyboards. How cool is that? sevenstring.org profile my flickr page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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