Saw Satch/Vai, heard the 3rd Power Dragon

[RevDrucifer]

And it fucking rips!

Easily the best I've ever heard Joe sound, it still sounds like him, but whether it's been the DS-1 into Marshalls, the JSX or the JVM, I always felt the dude had too much saturation that didn't let enough character come through. Even in a concert setting, you can hear so many more dynamics in that dude's playing. There's a 'thunk' at the start of every note, regardless where he is on the neck, and then you hear that sizzle bloom out after when he holds a note out.

On the way home I was thinking of what amps I can do without to get one of these. I'd happily give up my Shiva for one based off what I heard last night.

This was from the night before and as usual, cell vids don't do what you get in the venue-


From Dylana's FB- (they're trying out both an aluminum and steel chassis)

 

[JohnnyGtar]

Wow... Dylana is a frickin' genius. She took Satch's tone up a few BIG notches.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

 

[CarlF]

Amp sounds good. Cuts thru well. Some of the harmonic bloom may have been the Sustainer in his guitar.
Vai sounds like shit since he's been using the Synergy stuff, IMO. Get a real amp for Christs sake.

 

[PurityS.L.G]

Hmmmm....still not Van Halen enough. Might need to look elsewhere for a different custom amp

 

[errrrrl]

I wonder if those cabs are 3x12 Switchbacks?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Wow... Dylana is a frickin' genius. She took Satch's tone up a few BIG notches.

Def the juciest and most cutting tone he has ever had.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Amp sounds good. Cuts thru well. Some of the harmonic bloom may have been the Sustainer in his guitar.
Vai sounds like shit since he's been using the Synergy stuff, IMO. Get a real amp for Christs sake.

Lol synergy stuff is solid..maybe the preamp they designed for him sucks though. That i can see.

 

[jabps]

Sounds good but so many clips do, gotta hear and see for myself. Is he still running his sig OD's? Weren't they run through the clean channel?

 

[* velcro-fly *]

That sounded killer

 

[stratjacket]

Nice, I’m going to see them this Wednesday in Atlanta. Can’t wait.

 

[skoora]

Yeah, that does sound really good. Maybe the best tone I’ve heard him have in a vid.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Hmmmm....still not Van Halen enough. Might need to look elsewhere for a different custom amp

No? I thought it perfectly exemplified Van Halen throughout a Joe Satriani solo set where he doesn’t go for VH tones at all.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Sounds good but so many clips do, gotta hear and see for myself. Is he still running his sig OD's? Weren't they run through the clean channel?

That’s what he used to do with the DS-1 and he Marshalls when he did the JSX sig. Not sure how he used that Vox pedal, I stopped paying attention for a little while. Looking at a vid Jonathon from 3rd Power posted, I don’t see the Vox on his board, but I can’t make out what they are.

If that’s a pedal getting that dirt sound, I want that fucking pedal.

 

[technomancer]

The only question I'm asking myself about these is do I want one enough to pay the inevitable $4k price tag.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Amp sounds good. Cuts thru well. Some of the harmonic bloom may have been the Sustainer in his guitar.
Vai sounds like shit since he's been using the Synergy stuff, IMO. Get a real amp for Christs sake.

Nah, this was just regular sustained notes, not the Sustainer. If anything, those tend to compress shit and remove some of that amp magic/sizzle and replace it with a weird zipper sound. Vai’s earlier days with that thing were some of the worst tones I ever heard him use.

Though I think Joe uses a Sustainiac and Vai’s on the Sustainer. Regardless, never heard so much of that shit in one night before.

 

[dstroud]

Amp sounds good. Cuts thru well. Some of the harmonic bloom may have been the Sustainer in his guitar.
Vai sounds like shit since he's been using the Synergy stuff, IMO. Get a real amp for Christs sake.

agreed on both counts especially Vai. I’ve been to several Vai camps, where I’ve stood next and played both his rigs. The Legacy’s seemed much better to me. They just sit in the mix onstage much more comfortably than the Synergy rig.

 

[CarlF]

agreed on both counts especially Vai. I’ve been to several Vai camps, where I’ve stood next and played both his rigs. The Legacy’s seemed much better to me. They just sit in the mix onstage much more comfortably than the Synergy rig.

I had a Synergy setup a few years back, including the Vai module. I liked it.
However, since Vai has been using this setup, I noticed it's not as big sounding as when he used the Legacy or IMO, the old Bogner/ Egnator setup was sick.

 

[RevDrucifer]

Vai’s got less mids these days than the Bogner/Legacy days, I prefer it with some stuff. It sounds fucking GREAT on “Teeth Of The Hydra”, that guitar sounded noticeably different than any of the JEMs or PIAs at the show. That song in particular was fun to watch, 2nd time I’ve seen him do it and he’s clearly quite comfortable with it now, I thought that thing was going to come off the stand the other night, he was going apeshit on it.

Honestly, if someone played me this clip from the other night and any clip of any iteration of the Legacy, I’d have no clue which was which and the Legacy was the first full stack I ever owned.

 

[stratjacket]

Saw Vai/Satriani tonight in Atlanta. It was in Atlanta Symphony Hall and sold out, not an empty seat in the house. That is a good sounding venue with acoustic treatments, but it’s pretty large inside there with balconies and a very tall ceiling.

I thought Vai sounded good, but it was just washed in delay and reverb, which is his sound. But made it hard to really make out fast runs.

Satriani sounded good, maybe mixed a little better, not sure. But could better make out the guitar. Maybe because Vai had a 2nd guitarist and Satriani did not on most songs so his guitar had more space.

Anyway, highly recommend if the show comes to your town.