Scott Ian's Anthrax Tone from the 80's

[droptrd]

Scotts my hero

 

[droptrd]

What kind of setup were you using on the first SOD album? That distortion tone was sick!

My 81 Gibson V and my 82 Randy Rhoads were the guitars.
Marshall JCM 800 with a TC Electronic Booster/Distortion in front of it.
And my right hand.

I think I wanna look for one of those old TC Boosters!

Theyre expensive

 

[jcmtone1]

I did a craigslist trade in the Philadelphia area for a Metropolous Plexi. When I opened up the amp, it was built by Dan Spitz from anthrax. Pretty cool amp.

 

[thegame]

but i still have too say the guitar sound on metallicas' cover of helpless...

Mesa 2C+, Furman parametric EQ, Celestion G12-65s.

Actually, that would have been G12T-75's, then switching over to V30's for AJFA.

Its the 65s for sure. Well documented in the guitar rags of the time. 75s lack a certain crunchy midrange that is very prevalent in the 65s that rings crystal clear in RTL, MOP and 5.98 EP to my ears.

AJFA is V30s, EV12Ls, plus who knows what else.

 

[The Hoff]

Damn it, "thegame" everytime you post I lose

 

[thegame]

Also, Duncan JB pickups, 6550 tubes, and old G12-80 Celestions.

One of my favorite tones! This is definitely on the list of influences I use when I tweak the 2203 based amp I built.

Did Scott use 6550 tubes for sure? It seems like every 2203 tone I like was based on 6550 tubes. Maybe I need to see if my transformers could handle them... The EL34's seem to hold me back from ultimate brutalness!

I believe so though he had several Marshalls, some of which probably had 34s too. When they recorded with producer Alex Peralias (sp?), his studio's JCM800 was equipped w/6550s that all the heavy bands that passed through used.

His tone in this era certainly suggests 6550s though. Very hard, lots of slamming tight bottom without the usual creamy EL34 character IMO.

 

[thegame]

but i still have too say the guitar sound on metallicas' cover of helpless...

Mesa 2C+, Furman parametric EQ, Celestion G12-65s.

Do you know what they do with the Parametric EQ? I have heard this many times, but no one seems to know the settings. There are lots of pics of their Mark IIC+ settings, but I have never seen one of the extra EQs...

I'm sure to sculpt certain frequencies, post gain. Lots of 80s guys used Furmans to boost the mids in front of the amp but its not necessary with a Boogie since its tone controls are pre-gain. Sometimes James left the Boogie graphic EQ flat and used the parametric instead.

Copying visual settings is not a good idea IMO because the room sound plays a big part of dialing in an amp, let alone external EQ. Plus factor in they often slaved amps, which lead to setting the EQ differently than if it were just in a loop. Also many of the pics of their amp settings online are from the Black album period, when they first began using isolation chambers for their cabinets. You certainly wouldn't EQ an amp for a small, 100 % enclosed space the same way for a big room or stage.

 

[thegame]

Damn it, "thegame" everytime you post I lose

Did I hassle the Hof ?

 

[Mailman1971]

Damn it, "thegame" everytime you post I lose

Did I hassle the Hof ?

 

[CaseyCor]

but i still have too say the guitar sound on metallicas' cover of helpless...

Mesa 2C+, Furman parametric EQ, Celestion G12-65s.

Do you know what they do with the Parametric EQ? I have heard this many times, but no one seems to know the settings. There are lots of pics of their Mark IIC+ settings, but I have never seen one of the extra EQs...

I'm sure to sculpt certain frequencies, post gain. Lots of 80s guys used Furmans to boost the mids in front of the amp but its not necessary with a Boogie since its tone controls are pre-gain. Sometimes James left the Boogie graphic EQ flat and used the parametric instead.

Copying visual settings is not a good idea IMO because the room sound plays a big part of dialing in an amp, let alone external EQ. Plus factor in they often slaved amps, which lead to setting the EQ differently than if it were just in a loop. Also many of the pics of their amp settings online are from the Black album period, when they first began using isolation chambers for their cabinets. You certainly wouldn't EQ an amp for a small, 100 % enclosed space the same way for a big room or stage.

I've seen some pictures in the past of James' MKIIC+ Rig where he ran the Parametric mostly flat (some sliders were a bit above/below center, but I'd assume it was merely from moving the rig around and not his actual settings). I've also seen the rig set up using his standard settings AND a parametric EQ set up. I think at this time he was using the Parametric EQ (whichever he was using at the time, he's had a few different models) to tweak his usual amps settings to the room. EQ the amp as normal, and tweak with the Parametric to tune to the acoustics in the room,.

Just my theory, not saying its 100% accurate. I'd love to be proven wrong

 

[CaseyCor]

but i still have too say the guitar sound on metallicas' cover of helpless...

Mesa 2C+, Furman parametric EQ, Celestion G12-65s.

Marshall JMP's as well. Most likely used to slave with the Mesa as they did on MOP/AJFA,ect..

 

[roadifier]

I haze all the metallica boogie and Eq notes from when they were in studio.

This is the Eq they used.

 

[bravedude2]

the opening to milk, the easiest thing too play but, to have written that riff....all the riffs on that cd ( speak english or die ) in 3 days. fucking cool!!!!!

 

[CaseyCor]

I haze all the metallica boogie and Eq notes from when they were in studio.

This is the Eq they used.

Yup, that's the Parametric EQ James has used since "..And Justice For All". An Apex "Lunchbox".

He used a Furman PQ-3 on "Master of Puppets", and a ADA MQ-1 along with 3 of the Apex "Lunchbox" EQ's shown in the photo on the Black Album.

 

[NewWorldMan]

Its the 65s for sure. Well documented in the guitar rags of the time. 75s lack a certain crunchy midrange that is very prevalent in the 65s that rings crystal clear in RTL, MOP and 5.98 EP to my ears.

AJFA is V30s, EV12Ls, plus who knows what else.

Well, the guitar mags also quoted James as saying he used "30W Vintage 30 speakers" and Kirk saying he liked a "warm Midi sound" in reference to his tone while using ADA MP-1's...

This is from Flemming R. because they used his cabs on both albums (MoP and 5.98 EP). He said they had a full stack of Marshall cabs - stacked side by side - 300W cabs loaded with 75's that sounded good to him, 3 mics on each.

 

[roadifier]

Its the 65s for sure. Well documented in the guitar rags of the time. 75s lack a certain crunchy midrange that is very prevalent in the 65s that rings crystal clear in RTL, MOP and 5.98 EP to my ears.

AJFA is V30s, EV12Ls, plus who knows what else.

Kirk saying he liked a "warm Midi sound"

 

[CaseyCor]

Its the 65s for sure. Well documented in the guitar rags of the time. 75s lack a certain crunchy midrange that is very prevalent in the 65s that rings crystal clear in RTL, MOP and 5.98 EP to my ears.

AJFA is V30s, EV12Ls, plus who knows what else.

Well, the guitar mags also quoted James as saying he used "30W Vintage 30 speakers" and Kirk saying he liked a "warm Midi sound" in reference to his tone while using ADA MP-1's...

This is from Flemming R. because they used his cabs on both albums (MoP and 5.98 EP). He said they had a full stack of Marshall cabs - stacked side by side - 300W cabs loaded with 75's that sounded good to him, 3 mics on each.

Yeah, that magazine article was awful. Tons of typos and misquotes..

AFAIK, they used 65 watt speakers up until the Black Album, which was V30's. They also used some Mesa cabs with EVL-12L's for cleans. All the gain sounds were Marshall 4x12's until the 90's when James got his Wizard rig.

 

[PurposeToMelody]

i've heard he ran some rockman stuff through his 800s also.

http://forums.birdsandmoons.com/forum/s ... hp?t=68133

there is an interview somewhere on YT with him talking about it. Give me a few minutes...