Doulg Aldrich Whitesnake rig

  • Thread starter Thread starter MARK1970
  • Start date Start date
Chubtone":2ew11dkd said:
Nah man... a stock JMP with a Furman PQ-3 and split into stereo with a PCM-41 is more than capable of nailing Dougs old tone. Doug should have left those amps alone and he should have just remained Doug Aldrich and not become Sykes Lite. I'm not saying he shouldn't have taken the WHitesnake gig, but the old Doug tone and style would have been just sick, sick, sick in this gig and the new Doug makes you go, wow this sounds a lot like Sykes wrote or played this. Yawn.

I love Sykes, don't get me wrong. But it's disappointing watching a guy who could seriously (easily) have stood toe to toe with Sykes in a headcutting contest turn into a Sykes clone. Sykes didn't die, he's still doing his thing. Now Doug is doing Sykes thing too.

I think i can agree to some of that Curt! Obviously i know im a total Aldrich fanboy, so my opinion may be biased in some points... but i do feel that Doug did drastically change his style around the kinda time of the 3rd BMR album. Since then he went thru the bluesy phase, using vintage guitars and going for the whole 90s image, then he got the Dio gig about 4 or 5years after.. and IMO absolutely killed.
In Dio, his playing reminded me of the Doug from the early days. That pure pissed off tone, and playing like he was out to show what he could do and make a big impact.
Since moving over to Whitesnake.. its just my opinion, but i feel his playing and tone isnt as intense and creative as it was when he was in Dio.. let alone the early days in Lion.

I absolutely agree he could easily have stood toe to toe with Sykes, and IMO could've gone further when he was at his best.
 
SgtThump":3areh6i7 said:
MrDan666":3areh6i7 said:
Chris, have you ever heard Doug's first band, Lion?

Eh, not really. I mean, I know about them and have seen a video or two on YouTube with Doug playing Jacksons, but that's about it. I do have two Burning Rain CDs, the Dio CD, and the new Whitesnake CD (that I only listened to once), but none of his other stuff. I just like him best on that instructional video clip I posted above. I like that style.

Thats cool!

Well there's a bunch of stuff that you might like of his that you havent heard. I think you would dig the Lion stuff, and the album he recorded when he was in Hurricane was cool too. Slave To The Thrill was the name of the CD. His tone isnt that killer on that CD, but the playing sure is!! The album he did with House Of Lords was cool too.. He was kinda the hired gun in that band though rather than an actual member.
 
Gainfreak":bngw2nzx said:
SQUAREHEAD":bngw2nzx said:
He should go buy one of Syke's old Marshalls.


"That" was the Whitesnake tone. period.

:thumbsup:
Keith


Not the 87 album. The Coliseum MKIII head was the Whitesnake tone back then :D

Yep!! The Coliseum MKIII ...
True Ralph!!
 
I too was very disappointed in the guitar tone on the Whitesnake album, especially after the live DVD, which to me had a much superior tone. The Dio album and DVD also had a much ballsier tone, as did the Burning Rain albums - I find his current tone to 'fuzzy'
 
SgtThump":22g83cfn said:
I agree with you 100%. His tone on the Dio album, DVD, and even live was freaking killer. Not so much with Whitesnake (even on the DVD.)

Believe it or not, his rig during the Whitesnake DVD and the Dio DVD was absolutely identical. Same amps, same rack same everything. Its more to do with the way the tone is mixed/mic/etc.

I know for a fact in Whitesnake his guitar is sat in the mix way differently to how it was in Dio.. He told me this a while back. In Dio because there was only one guitarist, they had much more room to mess around with his tone in the overall mix and he got much more of a wide stereo sound because of that.
 
SgtThump":3ursx9vx said:
Oh, I believe it. I figured his Whitesnake rig was identical to the Dio rig. I believe it's exactly what you say - with only one guitar player in Dio, they could double parts, add in little "ear candy" here an there, etc...

Exactly! And i think bad mixing on the guitars is what we'r hearing on the new Whitesnake record too.. Im sure Doug used his main modded Marshalls and the VM for the whole record. I know he had a Voodoo V-Rock but he says it was purely for some last minute overdubs, some of which never made it on the record.

If it had been mixed similar to the way the Killing The Dragon album had been.. i think it would have killed!!
 
SgtThump":3lbi2qfg said:
Do you think he really uses that VM head? I'm betting it's just there as a backup or for an endorsement dealy.

Yeah he does use the VM, its used mainly for crunchy rhythm parts or he uses it during some of the slide guitar parts!
 
MrDan666":3o5bezup said:
SgtThump":3o5bezup said:
I get all mixed up with the Suhr/Bradshaw/Martin Golub/etc... stuff. But yeah, Doug's number one amp in the past was the one modded by Martin. Does that guy work with Suhr, work with Bradshaw, friends with both, do they all work together, etc...? I don't understand the relationship between those folks.

Plus, Reb has played a Suhr guitar since sometime in the '80s and is now playing the Suhr Custom Audio amps. It's safe to say Suhr is in good with that band. lol

Chris

Ok heres the deal..

John Suhr and Bob Bradshaw worked together at Custom Audio Electronics in the early 90s, and when John left.. Martin took his place.

Martin was working at Custom Audio right up until a few years ago. He now works for LA Sound Design doing racks/mods/servicing etc for a lot of big names.

Obviously as you know Suhr has his own business now too. So Bradshaw/Suhr/Golub really dont have anything to do with each other anymore as far as business goes!

One of Doug's fav amps is his 79 JMP which Martin modified. He also has some Suhr modded Marshalls and a bunch of Cameron modded Marshalls too.

Reb uses Suhr guitars and has since day one, and he used a Suhr modded Marshall since the early days too!

That should clear things up :thumbsup: :rock:

SEE BELOW :)

Mark
 
Not that any of this matters at this point but....
CAE is not the amplifiers CAA is.

There was CAE Custom Audio Electronics which is was Bobs business, when I came on board we formed a partnership Custom Audio Amplifiers CAA we were 50/50. Martin was hired on after a few years, he worked for myself and Bradshaw. He was not hired to replace me but hired to help Bob and I get things done, test preamps, wire racks and help do amp mods. So there were two separate companies CAE and CAA. We shared one roof as well as the secretary and Martin who was trained by Bob and myself depending on what we needed to get done. My side of the business "CAA" would get charged for Martins services when he worked for CAA. All the mods performed during this period were mine. We did work together. Martin did mod a head for Doug that was identical to the amp I modded for Doug after I left Bradshaws to work for Fender and Martin stayed on. I have no idea what he is up to now as far as what his new mods are patterned after. After we (Suhr Guitars) setup shop we took over the production of CAA Custom Audio Amplifiers only.

According to Doug he has been using the same main amp I did many years ago on most of the live shows including Dio. In the studio he uses many amps for many flavors. Many times on live records the guitar tone is out of the hands of the player.
Which amp is his favorite at the time usually has to do with which has fresher tubes and is healthier at the moment since they do get a lot of wear and tear. I am also rebuilding another one for him as we speak. Doug loves to try different amps depending on the gig and is obsessed with his tone. I'm sure any recorded live tones that seemed not as good as previous had nothing to do with his stage tone.

Rebs amps were my mods, that amp was also lent out to other bands for songs such as Cherry Pie, Warrant. Those Marshalls were also used for Dokken "Live at the Sun" this is also a rare period when Reb used our passive pickups instead of the EMGs. Now Reb is using the OD100SEplus which is just like his Marshalls but we might give him a new version when he gets off tour, I just finished rebuilding one of Rebs Marshalls and the other one is here to get rebuilt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7m1x5XA ... re=related
Any Questions on any of this stuff shoot me an email !
Thanks
John Suhr
 
SgtThump":2z0u5hti said:
Suhr":2z0u5hti said:
Not that any of this matters at this point but...

Howdy Mr. Suhr! I talked with you over email many years ago (and on TGP) and I'm glad you decided to pop into Rig-Talk! I hope you stop by more often! It's great to have experts like you, Peter Diezel, Bruce Egnater, etc... on the board.

Chris

EDIT - Oh yeah, thanks for clearing all of that up! I never knew the history.

Hey Nice Road King Classic !

Does that mean I get my own section ??? :) :D
 
Suhr":3oqug3z8 said:
SgtThump":3oqug3z8 said:
Suhr":3oqug3z8 said:
Not that any of this matters at this point but...

Howdy Mr. Suhr! I talked with you over email many years ago (and on TGP) and I'm glad you decided to pop into Rig-Talk! I hope you stop by more often! It's great to have experts like you, Peter Diezel, Bruce Egnater, etc... on the board.

Chris

EDIT - Oh yeah, thanks for clearing all of that up! I never knew the history.

Hey Nice Road King Classic !

Does that mean I get my own section ??? :) :D

That would be so COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mark
 
Back
Top