Anyone know what John Norum used in final Countdown days?

keano

New member
I was listening to final Countdown CD and fuck me... amazing melodic shred. amazing tone.I know he uses 2205 but curious as to what he used then?
 
According to himself, Strats with DiMarzio HS-2 pickups AFAIK. (Read it in an interview in a Swedish mag, "FUZZ")
 
Im am pretty much certain back then he used superlead's/superbasses with two tubescreamers in series boosting the amp. And old Marshall cabs too! That album has a lot of 'studio magic' happening too though... his tone is quite processed on some tracks but not so much others.

Around that sorta time and closer to the time of 'Total Control' he also used a Hiwatt with a DS-1 infront, and a Jose modded Marshall live
 
MrDan666":79e8f said:
Im am pretty much certain back then he used superlead's/superbasses with two tubescreamers in series boosting the amp. And old Marshall cabs too! That album has a lot of 'studio magic' happening too though... his tone is quite processed on some tracks but not so much others.

Around that sorta time and closer to the time of 'Total Control' he also used a Hiwatt with a DS-1 infront, and a Jose modded Marshall live

Can someone please explain to me what is a Jose modded amp? and how do we know it's a dead man's mod? just curious thats all..I know who the guy was, did work on EVH's amps, not gain mods though ...so where does this Jose hi-gain stuff come from ?

thanks Dan
Ant
 
70strathead":f5402 said:
Can someone please explain to me what is a Jose modded amp? and how do we know it's a dead man's mod? just curious thats all..I know who the guy was, did work on EVH's amps, not gain mods though ...so where does this Jose hi-gain stuff come from ?

thanks Dan
Ant

Hey Ant,

Jose did loads of gain mods and various other mods for many players amps. I know everyone knows about EVHs amps being worked on by Jose, but Jose did a lot more than just that... His gain mods are in tons of guys amps such as John Norum's, Sykes's, Joe Holmes, Doug Aldrich played one in the early days and many more. I heard that some of them were really high gain tone, and others were more of a plexi EVH vibe.

Mark Cameron is the guy who can tell you all the info on Jose and his work, as i remember reading that the shop Mark worked for bought out Jose's shop when he passed away.

Dan
 
Im am pretty much certain back then he used superlead's/superbasses with two tubescreamers in series boosting the amp.

Definitely studio magic. Wold love to know for sure if it was SLP. I know those pickups are very low output.
 
keano":0b8fd said:
Im am pretty much certain back then he used superlead's/superbasses with two tubescreamers in series boosting the amp.

Definitely studio magic. Wold love to know for sure if it was SLP. I know those pickups are very low output.

I remember him saying he used HS-3's and also a FS-1 too.

It was probably an SLP, but the cabs he used also wouldve made the tone very different too. Those old original Greenbacks and H30's sounded great, and added a sort of growly sound to the low end.
 
MrDan666":838b2 said:
70strathead":838b2 said:
Can someone please explain to me what is a Jose modded amp? and how do we know it's a dead man's mod? just curious thats all..I know who the guy was, did work on EVH's amps, not gain mods though ...so where does this Jose hi-gain stuff come from ?

thanks Dan
Ant

Hey Ant,

Jose did loads of gain mods and various other mods for many players amps. I know everyone knows about EVHs amps being worked on by Jose, but Jose did a lot more than just that... His gain mods are in tons of guys amps such as John Norum's, Sykes's, Joe Holmes, Doug Aldrich played one in the early days and many more. I heard that some of them were really high gain tone, and others were more of a plexi EVH vibe.

Mark Cameron is the guy who can tell you all the info on Jose and his work, as i remember reading that the shop Mark worked for bought out Jose's shop when he passed away.

Dan

Yeah Mark talked my ear off about this, i remember now. As matter of fact when Mark working out of a shop in san Diego way back when, there was a buzz going around that he had some of Jose's schematics...I liked Norums tone on that solo record he did with "Shimmmering Highs" ...ripping stuff! :thumbsup:
 
70strathead":a124d said:
Yeah Mark talked my ear off about this, i remember now. As matter of fact when Mark working out of a shop in san Diego way back when, there was a buzz going around that he had some of Jose's schematics...I liked Norums tone on that solo record he did with "Shimmmering Highs" ...ripping stuff! :thumbsup:

That album was done with a Marshall modded by Mark :)
 
As per usual I have nothing valid to add here, but I was listening to Secret Society earlier today, and John Norum is as freakin' good as eva :rock:
 
CharFace":147bd said:
As per usual I have nothing valid to add here, but I was listening to Secret Society earlier today, and John Norum is as freakin' good as eva :rock:

He's a killer player! On the Europe Live From The Dark dvd, on the second dvd theres a bunch of behind the scenes footage. At some point on there the camera man goes to John Norum while he's warming up backstage. Man he is just blazing on his LP through a small practice amp and still sounding huge!!!! :rock:
 
MrDan666":83462 said:
CharFace":83462 said:
As per usual I have nothing valid to add here, but I was listening to Secret Society earlier today, and John Norum is as freakin' good as eva :rock:

He's a killer player! On the Europe Live From The Dark dvd, on the second dvd theres a bunch of behind the scenes footage. At some point on there the camera man goes to John Norum while he's warming up backstage. Man he is just blazing on his LP through a small practice amp and still sounding huge!!!! :rock:

i busted out Wings of Tomorrow and boy did that bring back memories! :thumbsup:
 
70strathead":b23f6 said:
i busted out Wings of Tomorrow and boy did that bring back memories! :thumbsup:

Awesome playing on that album too!! Man John gets some killer strat tones on the early stuff :rock:
 
MrDan666":2288e said:
70strathead":2288e said:
i busted out Wings of Tomorrow and boy did that bring back memories! :thumbsup:

Awesome playing on that album too!! Man John gets some killer strat tones on the early stuff :rock:


no kidding! He played so raw and as always taseful and melodic...he's got that natural Euro - vibrato thing going on too. :thumbsup:
 
70strathead":6197e said:
no kidding! He played so raw and as always taseful and melodic...he's got that natural Euro - vibrato thing going on too. :thumbsup:

I can definitly hear it! He has an old school Gary Moore type of aggressiveness in his playing when he goes for it!
 
MrDan666":e3a72 said:
70strathead":e3a72 said:
no kidding! He played so raw and as always taseful and melodic...he's got that natural Euro - vibrato thing going on too. :thumbsup:

I can definitly hear it! He has an old school Gary Moore type of aggressiveness in his playing when he goes for it!

total Gary Moore influence and u can hear that Schenker vibe too!
 
Check out my avatar - John's latest solo album Optimus (2005). Guitar playing and tone is great but the songs, singing and vibe is incredible. John sounds like he was on a BLS binge at the time ogf making the album, but overall great record - it's been a personal fav of mine as of late.

I was listening to "face the truth" this morning - totally badass playing tone and songs. John is awesome!

Mike
 
MikeT":93321 said:
Check out my avatar - John's latest solo album Optimus (2005). Guitar playing and tone is great but the songs, singing and vibe is incredible. John sounds like he was on a BLS binge at the time ogf making the album, but overall great record - it's been a personal fav of mine as of late.

I was listening to "face the truth" this morning - totally badass playing tone and songs. John is awesome!

Mike

Optimus is a great CD! Face The Truth is one of my fav's though... he absolutely fkn tears it up on the solo to the title track. Sounds like old Gary Moore style on steroids!!! :rock:
 
I watched the Europe DVD and it doesn't have the part where John shows gear? I live USA so maybe that was a problem?
 
keano":2rr31ed1 said:
I watched the Europe DVD and it doesn't have the part where John shows gear? I live USA so maybe that was a problem?

Its on the Live From The Dark DVD on disc2, "OnStage interviews about the band's equipment". Each member of the band talks you through their gear and stuff. John shows you each guitar and tells a bit about it, then shows you the 2205's and talks about the KT88s. Then shows his Roland Delay and his pedalboard.
 
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