Bob Savage":b5db2 said:Slaytallica":b5db2 said:I must be missing something
This tone is absolutely sick.Just listen to it.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E0XygeMKNB8
I don't particularly care for that guitar tone.
Bob Savage":f307f said:
Greazygeo":1dd1e said:I think his tone is awesome....I guess I'd like to hear these other bands that have that sound
You guys and your Mesa mud machines must have permanent ear damage
Slaytallica":f531d said:Gainfreak":f531d said:Core9":f531d said:Good player, tone lacking to me though (notice I said "TO ME"). Sounds like any 80's "chain saw" modded/boosted/distortion pedaled Marshall.
Id have to agree with you. Almost every live band I played with back in the 80's had that tone. Sounds like a distortion box into a marshall or in Akira's case, a preamp into a Marshall. leads sounds thin also.
But with that said, Ive always dug somne of the stuff Akira did back in the day. There were some killer riffs for sure. The only thing is that his vibrato kind of killed it for me. If he had that wide Lynch vibrato, he would have been one of my favorite players back in the day, but thats just me knitpicking.
I must be missing something
This tone is absolutely sick.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E0XygeMKNB8
Like who? I still have two of my Marshalls from back in the day and can't get that with any boxes I tried. I could get close with a wah left on and my SD-1 though.Gainfreak":ba0e1 said:Greazygeo":ba0e1 said:I think his tone is awesome....I guess I'd like to hear these other bands that have that sound
You guys and your Mesa mud machines must have permanent ear damage
In all honesty, all the Metal bands in NY had that tone and I'm not Bs'ing. Get any Marshall from back in the day and hit it with a distortion box ....not boost pedal.....and you will have that sound IMHO.
The Mark series boogies are not mud machines...... the Rectos on the otherhand can be lol
Oh and if you want to have a laugh... Akira used a Boogie MKIII later on and thats the tone I dig from him
When his tone changed, I didnt really care for it, but there is still alot of killer riffs and playing.... That sounds like a box in front of amp tone to me.... 
I'm pretty sure he uses Greenbacks, but I've never been able to actually confirm that. I know he loves those two old Marshall cabs he always brings around on tour with him.
Greazygeo":e99fa said:Like who? I still have two of my Marshalls from back in the day and can't get that with any boxes I tried. I could get close with a wah left on and my SD-1 though.Gainfreak":e99fa said:Greazygeo":e99fa said:I think his tone is awesome....I guess I'd like to hear these other bands that have that sound
You guys and your Mesa mud machines must have permanent ear damage
In all honesty, all the Metal bands in NY had that tone and I'm not Bs'ing. Get any Marshall from back in the day and hit it with a distortion box ....not boost pedal.....and you will have that sound IMHO.
The Mark series boogies are not mud machines...... the Rectos on the otherhand can be lol
Oh and if you want to have a laugh... Akira used a Boogie MKIII later on and thats the tone I dig from him
I knew he used Boogies at one point. It was the downfall of the 80's.
But then again you guys go ga ga over Aldrich's tone
Boogies are mud machines.....
.
(And yes, I know they had that american guy for a bit)
I saw him a year or so ago in a small club and got right down front. He was using a DSL and two reg 1960A cabs with a Boss GT6 in front. That was it....Code001":a292b said:The only time I have Akira using Mesa amps was on the album "On The Prowl." That was two IIIs, two Lee Jackson Marshalls, and an MP-1. Right now, he pretty much uses JMP-1s with Roger Mayer RM6500 poweramps. This information was from someone who used to work with Loudness back in 1995 and followed them for awhile (you can search HRI for the post). Any more information on Akira would be great.
Funny, I had both of those setups at one point or another....the RAT pedal was dreaddful!! The KASHA wasnt bad, but too smooth on the attack. I've got a bunch of old stuff recorded with it somewhere.Gainfreak":e581c said:Sup!
Im not talking about bands that were signed, Im talking about a few bands I used to play shows with that had that sound down cold. One guy did it with a rat distortion box into a JMP and greenback speakers. Another guy who was a Akira Nut had a kasha rockmod preamp and piped that through the front end of his marshall set on clean!
FWIW, I love Dougs playing but I was never a huge fan of his tone although I don't think it sucks lol
If you really want to know who I dug in the 80's tonewise, Heres my list!
EVH - the Marshall Years
John Sykes
Warren DeMartini
Ronnie LeTekro
George Lynch
Steve Lukather
Harry Cody (Shotgun messiah)
Brian May (70's I know but I dig his tone!)
Blues Saraceno
Mike Slammer
Stryper
Accept
Michael Schenker
Scorps
Not a fan of that tone at all....donbarzini":8cb15 said:Greazygeo":8cb15 said:I like some of those tones on your list...Stryper??? Ughh, there is some kazoo tone
Ralph's famous boost the 800hz with a Furman trick
Greazygeo":53ff2 said:I saw him a year or so ago in a small club and got right down front. He was using a DSL and two reg 1960A cabs with a Boss GT6 in front. That was it....Code001":53ff2 said:The only time I have Akira using Mesa amps was on the album "On The Prowl." That was two IIIs, two Lee Jackson Marshalls, and an MP-1. Right now, he pretty much uses JMP-1s with Roger Mayer RM6500 poweramps. This information was from someone who used to work with Loudness back in 1995 and followed them for awhile (you can search HRI for the post). Any more information on Akira would be great.
You could hear his tone change alot after Lightning Strikes, I think that is the album.
Cool info. Yeah it was the "06 tour I saw...he didnt have any of that stuff from the HRI post...just the DSL and Boss unit. Might have been rented gear but it still sounded like him...Code001":5254e said:Greazygeo":5254e said:I saw him a year or so ago in a small club and got right down front. He was using a DSL and two reg 1960A cabs with a Boss GT6 in front. That was it....Code001":5254e said:The only time I have Akira using Mesa amps was on the album "On The Prowl." That was two IIIs, two Lee Jackson Marshalls, and an MP-1. Right now, he pretty much uses JMP-1s with Roger Mayer RM6500 poweramps. This information was from someone who used to work with Loudness back in 1995 and followed them for awhile (you can search HRI for the post). Any more information on Akira would be great.
You could hear his tone change alot after Lightning Strikes, I think that is the album.
I've heard a lot of accounts of him using DSLs on a recent tour. These were photos from his 06 tour:
http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23139
And here's the info on Akira:
Akira Takasaki: For anyone interested in his axology, it's almost impossible to find anything in English about his gear. Certainly no one has put under a microscope Akira's gear evolution like say, Ed Van Halen's. At least not in English.
I worked with Loudness in Japan in 1995 and Akira is definitely one of my favorite guitarists. I always thought he had great tone. What's even more remarkable to me is that even in the '80s, he seemed able to resist using all the heavy gloppy choruses, reverbs, delays, "enhancers," heavy EQ'ing, doubling, Rockmans, etc., etc. that so many others couldn't resist throwing into the mix.
Listening to "Thunder in the East" or "Lightning Strikes," the tone does not sound dated, at least to these ears.
And so, when I was in Japan, I asked Loudness Supervisor George Azuma about this very topic. He told me that "Thunder in the East" was from a José Arrendondo-modded Marshall.
"Lightning Strikes" was from a pair of Lee Jackson-modded Marshalls. I should mention that the mix on "Lightning Strikes" is brighter and crunchier than the Japanese domestic release of this album "Shadows of War." So some of the tone is due to the mix.
As far as I could tell, the Lee Jackson-modded Marshalls had the standard Lee mod as per his Marshall Mod instructional video along with the addition of a push/pull crossline master volume, effects loop, six-way Mid Shift control. The push/pull MV is in addition to the normal preamp MV and was called an "Attenuator" on some of his other amps -- which to be perfectly honest, is not really an attenuator in the way most guys think of it.
The Mid Shift control switched various treble caps into the circuit for thinner and thicker sounds.
Akira set his controls thusly: Presence = 10, Bass = 2, Middle = 8, Treble = 10, Master = 6 Preamp = 8.
Power tubes were 6550s, I'm pretty sure. I believe that Japanese Marshalls continued to come equipped with 6550s past when American market Marshalls reverted to EL-34s. That may be one reason why he used them?
I think he still has these amps to this day. I don't think he has the José amp anymore and it doesn't show up in any of the Japanese guitar publications' retrospectives.
"Hurricane Eyes" - don't know or don't remember. "Jealousy" I am pretty sure was from the Lee-modded Marshalls. "Soldier of Fortune" - Two Metaltronix M-1000 heads. "On The Prowl" - Two Mesa heads, the two Lee-modded Marshalls, ADA MP-1. After that, Akira seems to be sticking with the Marshall JMP-1 into the Roger Mayer RM6500 power amps (no longer made).
FWIW, the old Lee Jackson Perfect Connection GP-1000 ads: "This is the sound of George Lynch, Paul Gilbert and Loudness:" Former Loudness manager Kazuo Sumida told me that Akira did not use the GP-1000 in his rig, but may have used it in the studio here and there. FWIW...
or warm, full bodied and 
