Hey 80's fans.. John Norum back to rocking a strat..

[paulyc]

I can tell you that I have Virtual Heavy Blues in the neck position of 3 different super strat style guitars, the neck and middle on another and they sound amazing...I can't comment on the bridge position though as I haven't tried one there (yet). I will say that I have a few 3 single coil strats (ESP 400 series and a newer Vintage Plus), and one of them has the Dimarzio Malmsteen pickups...utter shite. Not enough output for dirty sounds, the Virtual Heavy Blues are WAY better (to me). Warm and FAT ! YMMV.

 

[steve2112]

1st off...great to see John Norum get mentioned! His 80's work is kind of dated...but most of 80's work is so...{shrug}.

jimo is correct...if you like blues-based rock....check the Play yard Blues album. Very nice. Not quite Gary Moore legendary..but nice listening anyway.

Not sure about the Yngwie story..but lots of guys were influenced by Yngwie rather than or along with EVH. That story sounds like an internet legend trying to get born...but who cares? Word has it that EVH turned around on stage while he was doing his tapping so no one could tell he was actually ripping someone else off and didn't want anyone to know...lol. (I kid)

I do not read too much into what guitar player uses what guitar. Most of my influences use MANY guitars....namely Alex Lifeson...so I don't see some cataclysmic operation going on here. But hey if you want to start internet fantasmic ufo files...well okay. John plays well on both strat and lp...so...whatever.

It's all about the music. Enjoy!

This interview was back in the 80s, well before the internet. Is Norum Swedish ? Or from some other European country near Sweden ? I know Europe are a Swedish band, so I assumed Norum was from there.

And so were UFO's and Bigfoot...lol

 

[November5th]

As far as I know John Norum and Yngwie were always friends.
Here is Yngwie playing on a Tone Norum song.By the way she is John's sister.

 

[Dingleberries]

Thanks, that was killer! He hasn't lost a thing

 

[V2a]

Neoclassical Norum

 

[Chubtone]

I prefer Norum on a strat and I prefer pure, vintage style single coil pickups, 60 cycle hum and all, even with heavy rock amounts of gain. There is a realness to them and this strat purity that I don't get with any other noiseless or stacked single coils.

 

[Wayniac3]

Meh...who cares about this 80's dinosaur with awesome chops, killer tone, and a great sense of melody?
When he starts playing 1 finger power chords on a detuned 8-string using a shit-ton of gain while staring at the floor in front of him, then I'll be impressed.

He was a monster the 2 times I saw him live (both tone AND chops, as well as stage presence)- once on the Don Dokken Solo tour, and once with Dokken

I was shocked that with Dokken, Billy White actual got most of the solos. As a Norum fan it was a bit of a bummer, but White definitely delivered. Kinda like Reb Beach playing second fiddle to Aldrich in Whitesnake.

100% agreed Rupe! I was standing right in front of John - the first solo part came up.. wish I could have seen my face when he was playing rhythm!
By the end of the night, I was in Front of Billy White. That boy had chops and some great feel. Their tone was monstrous! PLus Peter Baltes bass tone, and Mikkey Dee on drums. Ridic.

 

[paulyc]

I prefer Norum on a strat and I prefer pure, vintage style single coil pickups, 60 cycle hum and all, even with heavy rock amounts of gain. There is a realness to them and this strat purity that I don't get with any other noiseless or stacked single coils.

I'll agree with you on tone, but the 60 cycle hum through a loud gainy amp SUCKS. Some of my ESP strats have stock ESP singles and they sound great, better than the Dimarzio Malmsteen pick ups.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Do the ESP strats with stock ESP singles have hum cancelling/stacked or are they old school hummers? Personally hate the 60 cycle hum. I do however feel like playing an axe with singles now though. I was wood shedding some Norum last night. Think I'm going to do some covers soon.

 

[paulyc]

They are true singles, which sound great, but have the 60 cycle hum blues. I know Malmsteen used to shield the whole cavity with copper tape before the invention of stacked humbuckers when he played with Steeler and Alcatrazz, and he played LOUD, so there may be hope. My ESP Vintage Plus has stacked Duncan singles and it sounds pretty good, but I prefer the DiMarzios...going to buy 2 Virtual Heavy Blues (neck and middle) and a Virtual Solo and put those on a different pickguard to see how they "stack up" to the Duncans in the same guitar.

I should also mention that one of my ESPs has 2 ESP singles (neck and middle) and a Duncan 'Lil Screamin' Demon (in the bridge) that sounds really good in that guitar (alder body, rosewood board, 21 fret neck).

There are other ways around the 60 cycle hum too, a good noise gate pedal before the amp and another gate in the loop will help A LOT.

There is also Suhr's dummy coil under the pickguard to help true singles with hum issues.

And don't forget a decent power conditioner for your rig either...every little bit helps.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Let us know how you like the dimarzios when you get them in there, I could see myself going either all virtual solo or heavy blues. Would like to hear someone's feedback who has a similar ear to mine first though.. youtube clips really don't do anything justice for the most part when people play through pods.

 

[paulyc]

You got it. The only reason I decided to go Virtual solo bridge is because the DiMarzio tone chart says it has more lows, midrange, and less highs than the Virtual Heavy Blues, and I don't like the ice pick to the forehead sound of most singles in the bridge of a strat.

By the way, Norum is NOT Swedish...according to Wikipedia he's from Norway.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

You got it. The only reason I decided to go Virtual solo bridge is because the DiMarzio tone chart says it has more lows, midrange, and less highs than the Virtual Heavy Blues, and I don't like the ice pick to the forehead sound of most singles in the bridge of a strat.

By the way, Norum is NOT Swedish...according to Wikipedia he's from Norway.

I'll have to look at the tone chart again on those pups, I thought it was the other way around..

my mistake on Norum, I always confuse that because Tempest is Swedish and the rest of the band were known as a Swedish band. I'm pretty sure he must speak some swedish but i guess as a canadian, i wouldn't want someone to confuse me with being american ZING!

disclaimer: I like all y'all don't worry, just havin fun..

 

[paulyc]

I guess he has some side project with other Norweigian musicians (Mikkey Dee and 3 others, one of whom is also in the band Europe).

 

[Chubtone]

Back in the day, while cranking the snot out of a Furman PQ3 into the front end of my Marshall, I got really quick with the volume knob on my guitar. Always turning it off in the quickest of breaks in between riffs and right in the middle of riffs. Otherwise, the Furman would squeal like a pig. I do the same thing with vintage style single coils and I get that tone that is untouchable IMO and I get dead silence whenever I need it. Playing the volume knob is just part of playing heavy rock guitar in my opinion. And I would much rather do that than settle for a pickup that I feel sounds like a compromise. I am more interested in what kind of tone I get while I am playing the guitar than what kind of noise I'm trying to avoid while not playing my guitar.

YMMV.

 

[rupe]

Back in the day, while cranking the snot out of a Furman PQ3 into the front end of my Marshall, I got really quick with the volume knob on my guitar. Always turning it off in the quickest of breaks in between riffs and right in the middle of riffs. Otherwise, the Furman would squeal like a pig. I do the same thing with vintage style single coils and I get that tone that is untouchable IMO and I get dead silence whenever I need it. Playing the volume knob is just part of playing heavy rock guitar in my opinion. And I would much rather do that than settle for a pickup that I feel sounds like a compromise. I am more interested in what kind of tone I get while I am playing the guitar than what kind of noise I'm trying to avoid while not playing my guitar.

YMMV.

Right on!

 

[steve2112]

Back in the day, while cranking the snot out of a Furman PQ3 into the front end of my Marshall, I got really quick with the volume knob on my guitar. Always turning it off in the quickest of breaks in between riffs and right in the middle of riffs. Otherwise, the Furman would squeal like a pig. I do the same thing with vintage style single coils and I get that tone that is untouchable IMO and I get dead silence whenever I need it. Playing the volume knob is just part of playing heavy rock guitar in my opinion. And I would much rather do that than settle for a pickup that I feel sounds like a compromise. I am more interested in what kind of tone I get while I am playing the guitar than what kind of noise I'm trying to avoid while not playing my guitar.

YMMV.

I do the same thing with my volume pedal. Might be sacrilege but currently using RP1000. Noise gate goes off religiously, and volume pedal gets used in between songs. I've been doing it this way for years as well. Not just pickups but any amp noise as well.

good reply and hope people are listening to ya!

 

[paulyc]

I rode the volume knob for years and got sick of doing it, so I found a better way IMHO. Having more than one gate makes for a better set up anyway because all the gating doesn't take place in one place, and you can use different kinds of gates in each spot. I like the Boss NS2 pedal in front and a Rockman Smart Gate in the loop of the amp, then I have a Boss SE70 on the poweramp out splitting the signal to 2 Roland delays and a H&H V200 and I have the noise suppressor on the SE70 turned on. Better to use a little gating in multiple places instead of trying to do it all with one.

 

[Badronald]

Back in the day, while cranking the snot out of a Furman PQ3 into the front end of my Marshall, I got really quick with the volume knob on my guitar. Always turning it off in the quickest of breaks in between riffs and right in the middle of riffs. Otherwise, the Furman would squeal like a pig. I do the same thing with vintage style single coils and I get that tone that is untouchable IMO and I get dead silence whenever I need it. Playing the volume knob is just part of playing heavy rock guitar in my opinion. And I would much rather do that than settle for a pickup that I feel sounds like a compromise. I am more interested in what kind of tone I get while I am playing the guitar than what kind of noise I'm trying to avoid while not playing my guitar.

YMMV.

I tried using real singles many times. Always pull them out.

I was in the studio years ago and the engineer kept asking me why my rig was so unbearably noisy, and that he was going to have to clean up so much stuff on my tracks.......after that I switched over.

I never found real singles sounded better, just different. I suppose I always wanted them to sound like humbuckers anyway.

Clapton, Gilbert, Malmsteen, Johnson, Beck etc.... have all used noiseless singles for so many years, I figure they're good enough for me.

 

[paulyc]

Has anyone ever done the copper tape or conductive paint trick to a real single coil strat cavity ? Does it work at all ? I remember reading that Yngwie did it years ago before the HS3s were introduced, when he used FS1s...I LOVE SDS1s, but they're noisy as a bastard.