Secret to Mick Mars/Joe Holmes Heavy massive tones?

[gbsmusic]

He has alot going on yes? Mick

Good God!!!!!

 

[Jimmie]

anyone else really want to turn those big knobs on the voltage panel?

High Voltage Copulations....

 

[Mailman1971]

anyone else really want to turn those big knobs on the voltage panel?

High Voltage Copulations....

I expect you to bring this next amp fest....





FN with ya Jimmie!!

Cant wait for next ampfest Brother!!

See ya then!

Danno

 

[thiswaythatway]

equipment/efx aside. How about their fender guitars? pickups/picks/strings etc? how do they get them to sound so massive/beefy/thick.

Mick Mars was a bigtime Kramer player/endorser back in the heyday of Crue. As Chubtone said, not much like a real Strat at all.

 

[tehuk]

do you know which humbuckers they use? and how they set the pickup height?
I heard Joe Holmes used Jackson J-80 humbuckers which is similar to a Duncan JB
and Mick Mars used the Dimarzio Super distortion. I think there is also something else they are doing to make their guitar tones so massive. I have played strats with humbuckers b4 and none of them sound as thick/aggressive/meaty as Joe's/mick's.

Mick uses JM Rolph pickups wound to 16 k.

IMO the key to his tone is an Eventide H3000. The main use is for micro pitch shifting in WDW but it also adds a very pleasant color to his tone.

 

[thiswaythatway]

do you know which humbuckers they use? and how they set the pickup height?
I heard Joe Holmes used Jackson J-80 humbuckers which is similar to a Duncan JB
and Mick Mars used the Dimarzio Super distortion. I think there is also something else they are doing to make their guitar tones so massive. I have played strats with humbuckers b4 and none of them sound as thick/aggressive/meaty as Joe's/mick's.

Mick uses JM Rolph pickups wound to 16 k.

IMO the key to his tone is an Eventide H3000. The main use is for micro pitch shifting in WDW but it also adds a very pleasant color to his tone.

Which tone though. On Shout At The Devil he had that nasty nasal tone going on which sounds like a Marshall or Mark series Boogie with a lot of EQ. After that when they made some money his tone changed probably when he started adding all that gear.

 

[tehuk]

do you know which humbuckers they use? and how they set the pickup height?
I heard Joe Holmes used Jackson J-80 humbuckers which is similar to a Duncan JB
and Mick Mars used the Dimarzio Super distortion. I think there is also something else they are doing to make their guitar tones so massive. I have played strats with humbuckers b4 and none of them sound as thick/aggressive/meaty as Joe's/mick's.

Mick uses JM Rolph pickups wound to 16 k.

IMO the key to his tone is an Eventide H3000. The main use is for micro pitch shifting in WDW but it also adds a very pleasant color to his tone.

Which tone though. On Shout At The Devil he had that nasty nasal tone going on which sounds like a Marshall or Mark series Boogie with a lot of EQ. After that when they made some money his tone changed probably when he started adding all that gear.

I'm talking about his live tone after 1989.

 

[Shark Diver]

Salved into a VHT Classic. His classic is at LA Sound Design now I believe.

 

[veji]

are there any cheaper options like pedals for pitch shifting to thicken up your guitar tone?
Eventide and W/D/W are both very expensive.

 

[Vrad]

Volume... That's the secret.

 

[MrDan666]

are there any cheaper options like pedals for pitch shifting to thicken up your guitar tone?
Eventide and W/D/W are both very expensive.

Without the W/D/W setup, it won't work the same at all. If anything it will just wash out the tone trying to do the same thing in a standard Mono rig.

 

[sled]

I've never listened to Motley Crue. How about pointing to some tones you're talking about.

 

[Hard&Heavy]

He has alot going on yes? Mick

WOW what a rack

 

[crankyrayhanky]

all those killer amps then he has to muck it up with the Quadraverb

 

[aftec]

Dave Friedman worked on his rig. That big red thing on the middle of the rack on the left is a Variac.
You can Variac a small city with that.

 

[killertone]

I dig the Crue and all but I would never have described Mick's tone as "thick" and "massive."

What has Joe Holmes done since playing with Ozzy those couple years in the mid 90s? Saw him live back then but don't remember if his tone was good or not. Point me to some YT stuff or something so I can check it out.

 

[reverymike]

I remember going to see Ozzy on the tour that Joe Holmes played on, and I honestly only planned to stay for a song or two (I had free tickets), and as soon as they started, Joe's tone was just unbelievable! I stayed for the whole show. From what I understand it was a very simple rig too. Jose Marshall into a dry cab, a line out into left and right SDE3000s and then into a HH V800 power amp. I think he might have had something like a SD1 to boost for solos.

It was SICK. Someday, I need to replicate that rig and see how it sounds.

 

[petejt]

are there any cheaper options like pedals for pitch shifting to thicken up your guitar tone?
Eventide and W/D/W are both very expensive.

Yes, there is a new pedal out called the Chroma Chorus, by Neunaber Technology.
There are demos of it on the web site, and YouTube clips.


I haven't tried one yet, and a little reluctant to get one because I have enough chorusing gear as it is (five in total...).

But they do exactly what you're after:

ChromaChorus™ is a new spin on an old idea. Chorus is great for getting that thick, shimmering sound; but the constant warbling—the pitch changing up and down, up and down—can become fatiguing. So why not use micro-pitch transposition instead? In fact, many musicians have been doing this for years, usually with expensive rack gear.

ChromaChorus™ simply puts this in an easy-to-use pedal.

ChromaChorus™ was designed to be an always-on effect. Easy to dial in, it ranges from extremely subtle to thick & liquid, or anywhere in-between. There are no unusable settings.

And the ChromaChorus™ pedal is made to be simple. If you're a knob twiddler, ChromaChorus™ may not be for you. There is no Speed knob—don't need one. Just Mix and Width:

* Mix controls the amount of effect, from 100% dry to 100% wet. You can easily get subtle chorusing by turning the Mix knob down.
* Width controls the amount of pitch transposition, from none ("tripling" with slow movement) to +/- several cents.

Features

* Simple two-knob adjustment results in a surprisingly wide range of sounds
* Very high input impedance: no "tone suck"
* Analog dry signal for low noise and zero latency
* Selectable buffered or unbuffered bypass
* Unity-gain design
* Long battery life with low battery indicator
* Small footprint
* Compatible with standard center-negative 9V power supply (not included)
* Works with many* series/parallel FX loops or in front of an amp
* Manufactured in Santa Ana, California USA

FAQ

How is micro-pitch transposition different than pitch modulation? You're familiar with how a chorus usually sounds: the chorused signal changes in pitch—sweeping up and down, up and down—around the pitch of the dry signal. This is called modulation. Pitch transposition, on the other hand, is a constant relative offset in pitch. ChromaChorus™ uses two pitch-transposed voices, offset by +/- a few cents and controlled by the Width knob, to create a chorused sound without the up-and-down sweeping of a standard chorus. The resulting effect is more natural, more like multiple voices in unison.

Of course, this means that you can't get vibrato or tremolo-like sounds from the ChromaChorus™. There are plenty of fine choruses that will get you that sound, and ChromaChorus™ is meant to be a different animal. However, if you find yourself constantly turning down the speed knob on your chorus to alleviate that spinning feeling, then ChromaChorus™ might be worth checking out.

 

[racerevlon]

Doesn't Mick Mars tune to D???

Yes

 

[Shark Diver]

The '94 album Motley Crue is pretty thick and heavy. Sounds massive on a good system.