Randy Rhoads 1959SUPER LEAD

[Shiny_Surface]

Aren't fish and chips wrapped in newspaper when you buy them over there, or is that some other food.

 

[guitar_god123456]

Aren't fish and chips wrapped in newspaper when you buy them over there, or is that some other food.

pretty much

 

[Greazygeo]

Great post Chubtone! Thanks for taking the time to write this...Randy bashing makes my jaw drop. The guy was amazing, tone was amazing, songwriting was brilliant.

It just makes me mental. I KNOW these guys who bash Rhoads' tone are not guys who were serious guitarists in that era. Maybe right after that era, but they didn't experience it as it happened. They have no perspective on it. At the time there were guys who liked Rhoads tone better than Van Halen's. Lots of guys. Tons. Perhaps even one writing this post. However, listening back I now much prefer Eddies tone. Randy's tone and the production on those albums hasn't aged well whereas the Van Halen stuff sounds timeless.

Hey George, maybe you could see if your rep can get you two of these Rhoads heads ?

Yeah Curt...I'll check first part of the week if you want.

BTW don't forget the reason the drums and bass sound massive.....they were redone with the new drummer and bassist......I hate it everytime I hear it!

 

[Chubtone]

BTW don't forget the reason the drums and bass sound massive.....they were redone with the new drummer and bassist......I hate it everytime I hear it!

George,
I was being sarcastic about the drums and the bass on the real Blizzard album because they were pretty thin and wimpy too. It's so bizarre that nowadays people just go off on the tone Rhoads had when it's like, uh listen to the album. Whoever was responsible for getting those sounjds to tape didn't have it figured out yet.

 

[MrDan666]

Aren't fish and chips wrapped in newspaper when you buy them over there, or is that some other food.

LOL gotta love chippy dinner Pukka pies FTW

 

[Digital Jams]

The same goes for Satch's tone on Surfing, that was a watershed cd for guitarists and some younger people wizz all over the tone. HE was using what was being used in the day with a limited budget while still working full time with his teaching. I dont think any of the guitars he brought into the studio were worth more than $400

 

[zuel69]

What's funny to me is that about an hour ago I was sitting here disgusted at the price hike with Marshall's new 2 channel head..."I'm done buying amps", I think to myself. I stumble upon this thread and I'm looking around my room to see what I need to sell to get this 1959RR...

 

[Bob Savage]

I was being sarcastic...

Wait, you were being sarcastic in that post? That sheds a whole new light on it.

 

[evhfan]

i predict a whole article on this amp in guitar world in a month or 2

 

[Chubtone]

I really wonder what sort of tweaks were REALLY done to this head of Rhoads. An MXR Distortion + and an MXR 10 Band EQ and a Super Lead seem to get me right in the ball park for Rhoads tone.

 

[Chubtone]

I was being sarcastic...

Wait, you were being sarcastic in that post?

Always

 

[MrDan666]

I really wonder what sort of tweaks were REALLY done to this head of Rhoads. An MXR Distortion + and an MXR 10 Band EQ and a Super Lead seem to get me right in the ball park for Rhoads tone.

I bet they've put a circuitry like the Dist + in the amp and allow it to be footswitchable... kinda like the EQ/Gate on the 2203KK...

 

[zuel69]

I really wonder what sort of tweaks were REALLY done to this head of Rhoads. An MXR Distortion + and an MXR 10 Band EQ and a Super Lead seem to get me right in the ball park for Rhoads tone.

No doubt. When I had my Peacemaker I had an easier time getting his type of tone than VH. That's probably true for any amp of that nature really...at least for me!

 

[Greazygeo]

BTW don't forget the reason the drums and bass sound massive.....they were redone with the new drummer and bassist......I hate it everytime I hear it!

George,
I was being sarcastic about the drums and the bass on the real Blizzard album because they were pretty thin and wimpy too. It's so bizarre that nowadays people just go off on the tone Rhoads had when it's like, uh listen to the album. Whoever was responsible for getting those sounjds to tape didn't have it figured out yet.

Ahh I thought you were talking about the remastered version they play now with the new guys tracks.....it sux having to listen to the Faith No More drummer and Metallica bassist on those tunes now....

 

[Odin]

The number of amp channels is irrelevant to the price. If the amp sounds great on all 4 channels then it's very versatile. I've played plenty of 3 channel amps that are effecitvely 1 channel amps for me since only 1 of the channels sounded really good and the other 2 were pretty much useless to me.

I like the JVM clean and crunch channels, but the OD channels are lacking IMO. To me, the biggest feature of the JVM is the extreme flexibility in programming the footswitch for options. You can have a clean and a crunch and a clean boost and a crunch boost, which makes it a great 2 channel amp with solo boosts for both channels.

So the number of channels is irrelevant but programming flexibility is a "big feature?" Did you not think that one through or am I missing your point?

You missed the point. A 10 channel amp with 2 good sounding channels is no better than a 2 channel amp with 2 good sounding channels. The other 8 channels sound bad so they add no value to the amp.

A 2 channel amp with 2 good sounding channels and felixble programming of the boosts, master volumes, effects loops, etc (like the JVM has) is better than a 2 channel amp with 2 good sounding channels but lacking the flexibility.

 

[Greazygeo]

I really wonder what sort of tweaks were REALLY done to this head of Rhoads. An MXR Distortion + and an MXR 10 Band EQ and a Super Lead seem to get me right in the ball park for Rhoads tone.

They took the tubes out.....

 

[Odin]

I wonder if it gets that awful thin fizzy tone from Blizzard Of Oz?

Yeah, it's so weird that Randy's tone was so thin and fizzy on that Blizzard of Ozz album. It's really in contrast to the absolutely huge sounding drums and massive sounding bass guitar on that album.

That ALBUM sounds very poorly produced 28 years later because, well, it WAS poorly produced. Ozzy had no budget whatsoever and could not even afford a producer, so they used the studio's in house ENGINEER as the producer. That was Max Norman and he was a total NOOB on that record. Listen to Rhoads live bootlegs from around that same time. FOR THE TIME, Randy's tone was freaking huge. I blame Randy's studio tone on the guy responsible for capturing Randy's tone and getting it to tape, Max Norman.

And before anyone brings up the Tribute album tone, listen to the original recording of the concert Tribute was taken from. Max Norman in an interview talked about how heavily they EQ'd Randy's live tone from the concert for Tribute to make it sound more like the albums. When I read that before Tribute was released I wanted to smack Max Norman silly

And let's try and get some perspective here. NO ONE at the time was saying Rhoads tone was thin and fizzy. Max Norman became one of the most sought after producers AFTER he recorded those two Ozzy albums. Loudness, George Lynch and everyone else wanted Max Norman to produce them. Why would all these guitar oriented bands want Norman if his claim to fame, which obviously was Ozzy and RHOADS, was a horrible guitar tone?

So yeah, 20-28 years after the fact, Randy's tone WAS kind of thin. I don't know why Randy didn't use a Dual Rectifier or a Diezel, or Engl or Bogner Uberschall......... oh wait, there was no such thing. There were Marshalls, or there were Marshalls. Anyone ever hear an old Super Lead with a ton of low end thump? Now of course Van Halen had a way better Super Lead tone two years before Randy did, but Van Halen had Warner Bros and Ted Templeman behind them. Ozzy had anyone with a pulse behind the console and was scraping for change under the couch cushions to pay for that first album.

Now that I think about it, how wimpy was J.S. Bach's tone when he used that harpsichord? Why didn't he play a Schecter Hellraiser 7-string tuned down to drop Q through a Krank Bachenstein?

AC/DC had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Van Halen had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

The Scorpions had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Def Leppard had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Judas Priest had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.


I'm not saying that Randy's tone might have been good coming out of the amp but ended up sounding lousy on tape, but the fact is that the guitar sounds on Blizzard are not what I would consider good tone, especially for a classic Marshall. To market an amp based on that sound seems odd to me.

 

[zuel69]

Yea, but the guitar tone on Diary is f'n awesome.

 

[zewango]

Whats the $$$?

When did the JVM go to $2199.99

 

[Greazygeo]

AC/DC had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Van Halen had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

The Scorpions had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Def Leppard had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.

Judas Priest had good tone with Marshalls before Blizzard.


I'm not saying that Randy's tone might have been good coming out of the amp but ended up sounding lousy on tape, but the fact is that the guitar sounds on Blizzard are not what I would consider good tone, especially for a classic Marshall. To market an amp based on that sound seems odd to me.

How many albums back then came out sounding like crap? From your list it sounds like you like lower gain tones... there wasn't much for high gain back then...only a few pedals to pick from and they all sucked really....

I saw Randy live about 5 feet from the stage....he sounded great to me. But I like his tone anyway.....