Sykes' 1987 tone- Not a Mark III??

[GJgo]

So I'm a huge fan of the 1987 tone. I'm also a huge fan of Marks. ...And a huge huge fan of Mark Coliseums. (Have one for sale? LMK!)

It's common wisdom that Sykes used a pair of Mark III Coliseums in stereo with a little delay & doubled for the 1987 tone. I always wondered what stripe it was..

Note this was the spring of 1985. The Mark III came out in 1985.

Anyway, I was watching this video. If you pause very carefully between the text blocks at 1:25, and if this is John's amp, you can see that despite having a Mark III face plate it's a Mark IIC or IIC+! It says gain boost which makes it early, and it has presence on the front which makes it a non-reverb model.

This may blow my mind!!!

 

[Rising Farce]

I'm pretty sure that picture is of his 1993 touring rig, which, if memory serves, contained both IIC+s and Dual Rectifiers. (There may have been a Triaxis or two in there as well.)

Everything I've read points to the III Coliseums being the main amps used on the '87 Whitesnake album and the first Blue Murder album.

 

[Bxlxaxkxe]

The question is where'd this picture come from. I mean this dude likely just pulled this from the internet somewhere. Doesn't really prove anything about what was actually used on the album.

 

[napalmdeath]

Jesus.. This is about as beat to death as EVH brown sound.

Really... Take your pick.. The only John Sykes tone you're gonna get, is if you have him come over, and hand him your guitar.

I love his Marshall tones, personally. But I'll never have it, buying a Jose Marshall. John Sykes tone is all John Sykes.

I've heard George Lynch play through a Randall, a Bogner, a Dirty Shirley, an SLO, and they all had Lynch tone. Seriously.

 

[Goat]

Jesus.. This is about as best to death as EVH brown sound. I love his Marshall tones, personally.

 

[turtlefingers]

A friend of mine live in Finland and Van Hallen was there for a show which this friends band was going to play at the same day.
So he had the chance to play the EVH rig some chords.
Guess what?
He didn't sound like the Master.

 

[Goat]

A friend of mine live in Finland and Van Hallen was there for a show which this friends band was going to play at the same day.
So he had the chance to play the EVH rig some chords.
Guess what?
He didn't sound like the Master.

Why do I keep hearing this same tale, over and over again?

 

[GJgo]

This has nothing to do with me wanting to sound like Sykes. It has to do with the thought that the amp used may have been a IIC+ Coliseum, not a III Coliseum. To me as a Mark fanboy that's a big deal.

 

[psychodave]

So I'm a huge fan of the 1987 tone. I'm also a huge fan of Marks. ...And a huge huge fan of Mark Coliseums. (Have one for sale? LMK!)

It's common wisdom that Sykes used a pair of Mark III Coliseums in stereo with a little delay & doubled for the 1987 tone. I always wondered what stripe it was..

Note this was the spring of 1985. The Mark III came out in 1985.

Anyway, I was watching this video. If you pause very carefully between the text blocks at 1:25, and if this is John's amp, you can see that despite having a Mark III face plate it's a Mark IIC or IIC+! It says gain boost which makes it early, and it has presence on the front which makes it a non-reverb model.

This may blow my mind!!!

The picture in the video (and what you used in this thread) is there as a picture prop...it’s not there as factual pictures of the amp he used. Also, they say it was a Mark IV... which didn’t come out until 1990.

 

[LP Freak]

So I'm a huge fan of the 1987 tone. I'm also a huge fan of Marks. ...And a huge huge fan of Mark Coliseums. (Have one for sale? LMK!)

It's common wisdom that Sykes used a pair of Mark III Coliseums in stereo with a little delay & doubled for the 1987 tone. I always wondered what stripe it was..

Note this was the spring of 1985. The Mark III came out in 1985.

Anyway, I was watching this video. If you pause very carefully between the text blocks at 1:25, and if this is John's amp, you can see that despite having a Mark III face plate it's a Mark IIC or IIC+! It says gain boost which makes it early, and it has presence on the front which makes it a non-reverb model.

This may blow my mind!!!

The picture in the video (and what you used in this thread) is there as a picture prop...it’s not there as factual pictures of the amp he used. Also, they say it was a Mark IV... which didn’t come out until 1990.

I saw that too

 

[Metlupass2]

That tone is in John's fingers....

 

[Racerxrated]

So I'm a huge fan of the 1987 tone. I'm also a huge fan of Marks. ...And a huge huge fan of Mark Coliseums. (Have one for sale? LMK!)

It's common wisdom that Sykes used a pair of Mark III Coliseums in stereo with a little delay & doubled for the 1987 tone. I always wondered what stripe it was..

Note this was the spring of 1985. The Mark III came out in 1985.

Anyway, I was watching this video. If you pause very carefully between the text blocks at 1:25, and if this is John's amp, you can see that despite having a Mark III face plate it's a Mark IIC or IIC+! It says gain boost which makes it early, and it has presence on the front which makes it a non-reverb model.

This may blow my mind!!!

I read somewhere that he has had a Mark around since Tygers of Pan Tang..which would mean he used or at least owned them during Thin Lizzy and of course WS. He has always had a collection of C+s...Coliseums and DRGs. But mostly Coliseums. Then of course he added Mark III Coliseums when they came out. There is/was a RT member here, who worked with John out in LA over the yrs, I think he goes by Drew here on RT? He might know what's what with JS rig over the yrs. I do know that his favorite speaker is the original G12 65, as he would search out those cabs specifically.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

I'm 99.9% sure it was the MKIII... not the MKIIC+ or other variant WS 1987 recorded tone for Sykes.

 

[SpiderWars]

See there...fuck a pandemic. A guy makes a post about a classic tone and immediately the 'tone is in the fingers' police storm in but then the 'this is fucking Rig Talk' sentiment prevails. We are getting back to normal.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

tone fingers is a bit overrated. That one video had the producer of Ratt saying he filled in guitar chords and tiny spots here and there on recordings after everyone left using the Warren rig chain. No one including Warren D knew about it.

 

[Mailman1971]

Well the robot voice is never wrong.

And hell I got Sykes fingers....,(Won em in a auction)

Tone seems the same?

So that myth is debunked.

 

[GJgo]

Thanks Spider for pointing out this is a GEAR FORUM. LOL

Regarding the picture of the head- let's say whoever put the video together was looking for random a pic of a Mark head. What are the odds they'd find a picture of a IIC+ long head with presence on the front? SLIM!

If he did use a Mark III Coli, based on the timeframe alone it would have to be a black / no stripe. On a partially related note a no stripe Coli with presence on the front popped up in Germany a couple months ago & I've been kicking myself for not grabbing it.

 

[Racerxrated]

Thanks Spider for pointing out this is a GEAR FORUM. LOL

Regarding the picture of the head- let's say whoever put the video together was looking for random a pic of a Mark head. What are the odds they'd find a picture of a IIC+ long head with presence on the front? SLIM!

If he did use a Mark III Coli, based on the timeframe alone it would have to be a black / no stripe. On a partially related note a no stripe Coli with presence on the front popped up in Germany a couple months ago & I've been kicking myself for not grabbing it.

That same configuration is the Coli Braintheory here owns..and swears its every bit as good as his present and past C+s.

 

[GJgo]

I have a working theory that the no-reverb Mark IIs and IIIs are tonally superior.

 

[Exo-metal]

...man, all these amps are killer at different levels and it's the sum of the parts and how you set up the amp. I have two that have SP11 boards and one that has a RP11 and wouldn't begin to think of selling through pandemic, apocalypse, or nuclear assault. My Coliseum has the reverb and I use a shorting plug to kill the reverb ala Mike... JS tone is a sum of the parts and the way he dials everything to his ear and then it's in the hands as they say.