"extremes" in tone but both really GREAT

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mentoneman

mentoneman

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i agree with brian may that nuno's solos on that album where so fiery and full of heart, but man the live tone nuno gets on the video after brian's interview is epic rock fury! the chirp on his single notes is wild! anybody know what he was using on tour during this period? he has his signature randall amps behind him but? reminds me of why i love a cameron amp:



and this next cat is a natural and just seems like a sweet guy and that tele tone is killer! i had an opportunity to speak with some friends of his at a music store while routinely driving through spokane and coeur d'Alene on my way to northern montana for work, and i wish we could have hung out. they mentioned something about him having some type of vision/eye issues and i later found out he is legally blind which makes him even more heroic in my book!

 
I thought he toured with 100wt DSL2000’s??

It’s his hands man. He digs hard.
 
I watched a interview with Nuno recently. When asked what amp/pedals he used he said JCM 2000 DSL boosted with a Rat, exactly as Nevus has pictured.
 
The rat gets that crunchy tone but the bill lawrence L-500 is a huge part of his sound. Naturally his right hand is what brings out all the attack but that pickup does that chirpy high end thing all day long on the lead runs. I had one installed for a while and really liked it but it is a tad thin for me on the high strings. The way I pick on the higher strings tends to cause harmonics and with that pickup it was too much for me. I've been working on my picking though after realizing it is shit.
 
mentoneman":2r6i4kq8 said:
i agree with brian may that nuno's solos on that album where so fiery and full of heart, but man the live tone nuno gets on the video after brian's interview is epic rock fury! the chirp on his single notes is wild! anybody know what he was using on tour during this period? he has his signature randall amps behind him but? reminds me of why i love a cameron amp:



and this next cat is a natural and just seems like a sweet guy and that tele tone is killer! i had an opportunity to speak with some friends of his at a music store while routinely driving through spokane and coeur d'Alene on my way to northern montana for work, and i wish we could have hung out. they mentioned something about him having some type of vision/eye issues and i later found out he is legally blind which makes him even more heroic in my book!

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Hey Pat...

I have that BluRay and there are several shots of the performance from a camera behind the stage and you can clearly see a Marshall head. Most likely the DSL. It's a great live performance. I've never heard his signature Randall head sound like that (which were front and center on stage for the show).
 
Back when I saw the Take Us Alive tour from 2009 I thought maybe the Randall's actually might be decent. Well... It turns out to be Marshall JCM2000 DSL tone. You would think Marshall would just endorse Nuno and get some good press out there on the DSL line.

Like Mr Polenton says the RAT and either a L500L or L500XL is the tone, which one exactly is still up for debate IMO. Even without the Bill Lawrence I get close to Nuno's tone with a Marshall JCM/JMP and my Rat Reissue pedal with the LM308 chip, you get that chirpy highs on the singles notes as you descibed plus crunchy grindy aggression on the chords which I feel sets Nuno's tone apart yo ay like it you may not, I for one like it. Years ago if you told me that was coming from a RAT fuzz pedal I would have laughed at you, it's all in how you set it up.

If you listen to carefully to Dimebags tone even without the Rat pedal his higher register Harmonics and pinched harmonics are very similar to Nunos excluding the playing styles. The L500L/XL pickups contribute alot to the harmonic texture and tone. I have one guitar project left to and I have both the L500L and XL Bill Lawrence to put in it for my NUNO tones. I tried a 500XL many many years ago and I absolutely hated it so we'll see if I get anywhere near Nuno's tone with it.
 
I see the photobucket pics in my previous post were changed. I thought it was weird that it was working again. Here they are again. You can even see Nuno’s settings. Look to the far right in the last pic next to the tech. You can see his DSL behind the dummy Randall cabs. I agree, the BL pickup is a huge aspect of his sound. I have 3 old N4’s and they all have that tone. Nuno also plays with a very unique Left hand. A lot of his tone comes from the percussivness of his fretting.











 
So he's just using it as a semi-dirtyish boost or just for EQ? It looks like the Distortion knob is set super low and Volume is set high.
 
SpiderWars":qqvw5el1 said:
So he's just using it as a semi-dirtyish boost or just for EQ? It looks like the Distortion knob is set super low and Volume is set high.
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From my memory you are correct, used more as a boost.
 
I never paid much attention but look how he has the EQ set on the amp. My god... Bass cranked at 7, Presence Middle and Treble at about 1. Man that tells you how bright the Bill Lawrence pickup is. With all the mids and high rolled and Nuno still has a great biting high end presence with greenbacks no less.

That's probably why I hated the L500L I had in the 80's it was thin an shrill compared to my duncans with the same amp EQ... Yep mystery solved 25 years later! :lol: :LOL:
 
The Rat inherently creates a lot of high end even with the distortion knob set low. I’m sure that’s also a reason the amp eq is set like that, along with the DSL being an inherently bright amp. It’s not just because of the pickups.
 
Nuno can’t just jump ship and use Marshall’s openly. He likely has a contract with US Music Corp. which distributes Washburn and Randall.
 
harddriver":33ozeu0r said:
Back when I saw the Take Us Alive tour from 2009 I thought maybe the Randall's actually might be decent. Well... It turns out to be Marshall JCM2000 DSL tone. You would think Marshall would just endorse Nuno and get some good press out there on the DSL line.

Like Mr Polenton says the RAT and either a L500L or L500XL is the tone, which one exactly is still up for debate IMO. Even without the Bill Lawrence I get close to Nuno's tone with a Marshall JCM/JMP and my Rat Reissue pedal with the LM308 chip, you get that chirpy highs on the singles notes as you descibed plus crunchy grindy aggression on the chords which I feel sets Nuno's tone apart yo ay like it you may not, I for one like it. Years ago if you told me that was coming from a RAT fuzz pedal I would have laughed at you, it's all in how you set it up.

If you listen to carefully to Dimebags tone even without the Rat pedal his higher register Harmonics and pinched harmonics are very similar to Nunos excluding the playing styles. The L500L/XL pickups contribute alot to the harmonic texture and tone. I have one guitar project left to and I have both the L500L and XL Bill Lawrence to put in it for my NUNO tones. I tried a 500XL many many years ago and I absolutely hated it so we'll see if I get anywhere near Nuno's tone with it.
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Nuno uses what came stock in Davies era N4’s, the USA BL L500XL. They are nothing special. His current touring #1 guitar (“4N”) is just an unmodified 1991 Davies N4 with the original L500XL pickups. He bought it from a member of the N4’s Facebook page a few years ago and he didn’t change a thing. He apparently liked the 4N sticker and kept that also.
 
nevusofota":2kj903hw said:
Nuno uses what came stock in Davies era N4’s, the USA BL L500XL. They are nothing special. His current touring #1 guitar (“4N”) is just an unmodified 1991 Davies N4 with the original L500XL pickups. He bought it from a member of the N4’s Facebook page a few years ago and he didn’t change a thing. He apparently liked the 4N sticker and kept that also.
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Your Nuno knowledge is impressive so I wanted to ask you this. Have you played a Wilde Bill Lawrence L500XL versus a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL? I have a Wilde Bill and Becky L500XL because that was the so called original and I just ordered a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL to compare.

I see the Bill Lawrence USA looks like it is potted either with wax or epoxy whereas the Bill and Becky is wide open with nothing. I think I read Bill Lawrence(Bill and Becky) built them with what he called shielding but no potting. Does the Bill and Beck L500XL squeal like a banshee under high gain and volume versus the Bill Lawrence USA?
 
harddriver":2xmbbv9b said:
Have you played a Wilde Bill Lawrence L500XL versus a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL? I have a Wilde Bill and Becky L500XL because that was the so called original and I just ordered a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL to compare.
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Be sure to post your findings. I'm super interested!

On the Rat, I have an 80's Woodcutter and find it real bright with the tone knob at noon. Makes sense that Nuno offsets those frequencies with the tone knobs on the amp. I love how percussive his attack is.
 
Tone Jones":3t4qnavb said:
harddriver":3t4qnavb said:
Have you played a Wilde Bill Lawrence L500XL versus a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL? I have a Wilde Bill and Becky L500XL because that was the so called original and I just ordered a Bill Lawrence USA L500XL to compare.
Click to expand...
Be sure to post your findings. I'm super interested!

On the Rat, I have an 80's Woodcutter and find it real bright with the tone knob at noon. Makes sense that Nuno offsets those frequencies with the tone knobs on the amp. I love how percussive his attack is.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I was never a huge Nuno fan really but I happened to watch the 2009 take us alive show and his tone really got my attention, it was one of the best live tones I had heard in a really long time, crunchy, prescussive, nice chirp on the high notes and pinched harmonics, it's an awesome rock tone for sure. I decided to build one more guitar Nuno style and I want to get it right first time out if I can.
 
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