The flips side.."worst tones" of the 80's?

[racerevlon]

Steve Vai
EVH
Steve Stevens
Paul Gilbert
Warren Dimartini
George Lynch
Yngwie Malmsteen
Mattias Jabs
Michael Schenker
Slash
Jason Becker
Vivian Campbell
Jake E Lee
Marty Friedman
Zakk Wylde
Angus Young
John Norum
Wolf Hoffman
Jimmy Page
Akira Takasaki
Chris Poland
Shawn Lane
Andy Timmons
Adrian Vandenberg
Greg Howe
Ritchie Kotzen
Tiny Tim
Eric Johnson
Jeff Beck
Tommy Iommi
Ritchie Blackmore

"You forgot 'ugly,' 'lazy,' 'stupid,'... SHUT UP BITCH, GO MAKE ME A TURKEY POT PIE!!!

But what about you Bob? What about you?

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

And I love that warrant album for the guitar tones...so really I guess we truly can go all over the map with this one. Very interested to hear those unprocessed randy tracks, will have to give a listen later because I thought the tribute tones were awesome as they were.

As for the "negative" aspect of this discussion, I honestly can't see why this topic would be such a big deal given that this is a gear/guitar forum? I also brought in the studio/engineer question into the equation to balance things out. I honestly find it hard to believe that some of these guys would have been happy with what they put on tape for the artists. Then you have the wagener types that consistently put out great material for bands...maybe the issue is actually the shit engineer vs the artist that knows no better?

 

[Anonymous]

Some thoughts

I can't understand how anyone could think Metallica had bad tone in the 80's. The Master of Puppets tone was the tone everybody was after for so long (rhythm tone) and built the legend around the Mark IIC+. While all the other trash bands went with Marshalls, they tried something different with Mesa and it set them apart. As far as Kirk, I think his recorded tone is alright; his live tone his horrendous in recordings of live performances, although his settings are probably that way to cut through the mix (anybody that has seen them live could testify if this is true or not, as I haven't seen them).

Randy Rhoads = shit tone? That's like saying Ozzy has a shit voice. Both might be true, but as long as it serves the song, it's all good. The example I always give is Dimebag: horrible tone by itself, but in the Pantera context, it fits very well.

I like the Maiden tones on Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son! Even though they were quite processed, it was something different and fit the music. Same thing with Judas Priest, it's just how classic metal sounds to me.

Lifeson's tone on Rush recordings didn't strike me as being all that bad. I think I saw (or listened to) a video on youtube that isolated all his solos from "Signals": horrible, by itself. When put in context, again, it's a hell of a lot better. Kudos to Lifeson for going in a different direction and trying something new with his tone.

 

[metalmaniac93]

I am so tired of this Rhoads tone sucked nonsense. How does Randy's tone sound in this clip? His tone is freaking monster. Just like when I saw him live, with Pete Willis in Def Lep opening. Def Lep was cool and at the high point in their career in my opinion. And Randy's tone was bigger than both the Def Lep guitarists combined..... live. High and Dry was a great record though. I can only imagine what Randy and Ozzy would have sounded like if Mutt Lange or Ted Templeman had been in the budget to produce Ozzy. They weren't though. Ozzy was a drugged out, washed up has been and the record company had no faith in him that he would make a comeback. They stuck him in a budget studio and the house engineer ended up producing the albums after the original producer was fired by Ozzy and they couldn't afford to get anyone else. Look at Max Normans producer credits. The very first two ever were the two Ozzy albums.

Anyway, in my opinion, you give the raw, uneffected guitar tone in this clip to Mutt Lange or Templeman or any quality producer from that time in a decent studio with a decent budget and this whole argument would not occur every 12 minutes on the forums.

Skip to about 1:10 and listen til the end. Can you tell me, for 1981, this was a bad tone and worthy of being called a worst tone of the 80's? Listen to the chords at around 1:28

And this is a horrible tone? Sounds like a cranked Marshall with a boost pedal. Again, this is Randy's sound. A great producer would have known how to capture it more accurately.

And here is the audio that became the Tribute album before Max Norman got his hands on it and in his own words re-eq'd it and added the AMS delay (in Normans words to add a hollow and grindy edge)to make it sound more like the studio albums. If this is an offensively bad tone for 1981 straight into the board with no intention of it ever being released, we must be living on different planets. And I like my planet better.

Thanks for sticking up Randy's tone and I agree with you on this. While it was not the greatest on Blizzard and much improved on Diary, his live tone killed IMO and I had the chance to see him live on the Diary Tour. I always loved his live tone and the KBFH Montreal 81' show did it for me. Max Norman ruined it on the LPs, but he was inexperienced and had little funds. It is ironic since Akira's tone on Thunder In The East and Lightning Strikes kicks ass and Max produced those as well!!

 

[racerevlon]

I think the Scholtz Rockman is the cheesiest, worst high gain distortion tone ever and it just epitomizes 80's tone.

<rips clothing> You are dead to me...

ROCKMAN was neither high-gain nor cheesy. The problem is, it was made to work a specific way, which everyone summarily ignored, hence the bad tones. A ROCKMAN and a good EQ run correctly (either into the return of an older Marshall effects return, a great tube power amp, or straight to the board) can be hard to beat. Push the 125 Hz and you've got Marshall tones for days. Run it as a preamp only into the front of another amp and you've got, well, exactly what you described.

Saying a ROCKMAN sucks is like trying to open a tin can with a crayon and then saying, "This can opener sucks."

 

[racerevlon]

While we collectively blow our loads over famous recordings or guitar players with great tone, how about some guys that had absolute shit tone? I mean these are the same million dollar studios that brought us some of our faves, how did some of these bands end up with such shitty recordings and tone??

So I'll start:

CC deville..seriously wtf is up with that look what the cat dragged in. It also never got a hell of a lot better.

Tracii Guns - this guy can't find the mids knob on his fizzy amps. Pick your recording , they almost all suck.

This whole thought came about as I have been listening to hair nation on sirius every morning going to work.. How about you guys? Who blew tone wise for you?

I'll jump in on this one and ad-lib parts of other posts as applicable.

C.C.--spent all his money on BC Rich guitars. Nothing left for good amp tone.

Tracii (who happens to be an awesome dude and player that I've known for a long time) used Fender amps, and as many of us know, 80's Fenders didn't sound the greatest. Couple that with trying to turn a blues tone into a rock/metal tone and you have a recipe for disaster.

Satriani admits his first few albums were done on shoestring budgets with whatever happened to be lying around.

I think anything overly-effected like that garbage Vinnie Vincent tone in that clip qualifies.

 

[Beyond Black]

I am so tired of this Rhoads tone sucked nonsense. How does Randy's tone sound in this clip? His tone is freaking monster. Just like when I saw him live, with Pete Willis in Def Lep opening. Def Lep was cool and at the high point in their career in my opinion. And Randy's tone was bigger than both the Def Lep guitarists combined..... live. High and Dry was a great record though. I can only imagine what Randy and Ozzy would have sounded like if Mutt Lange or Ted Templeman had been in the budget to produce Ozzy. They weren't though. Ozzy was a drugged out, washed up has been and the record company had no faith in him that he would make a comeback. They stuck him in a budget studio and the house engineer ended up producing the albums after the original producer was fired by Ozzy and they couldn't afford to get anyone else. Look at Max Normans producer credits. The very first two ever were the two Ozzy albums.

Anyway, in my opinion, you give the raw, uneffected guitar tone in this clip to Mutt Lange or Templeman or any quality producer from that time in a decent studio with a decent budget and this whole argument would not occur every 12 minutes on the forums.

Skip to about 1:10 and listen til the end. Can you tell me, for 1981, this was a bad tone and worthy of being called a worst tone of the 80's? Listen to the chords at around 1:28

And this is a horrible tone? Sounds like a cranked Marshall with a boost pedal. Again, this is Randy's sound. A great producer would have known how to capture it more accurately.

And here is the audio that became the Tribute album before Max Norman got his hands on it and in his own words re-eq'd it and added the AMS delay (in Normans words to add a hollow and grindy edge)to make it sound more like the studio albums. If this is an offensively bad tone for 1981 straight into the board with no intention of it ever being released, we must be living on different planets. And I like my planet better.

End of discussion and it was never spoken of again and they all lived happily ever after....THE END...

 

[Anonymous]

I really hated Slayers tone.

i did too....especially the seasons in the abyss album.

but, going back and listening to the early albums through the newer stuff, i realize it was the mix.

the guitar tones were there...the mix was shit....and the early "nothing but blast beats, punk, blah blah" stuff was so muffled you couldnt hear anything....when the grooves kicked in though, man, you could hear the body of the tone was there.

 

[Bob Savage]

Ok, I think I get it now bob, this is a topic that goes down a deep dark bottomless pit and never hits a bottom because everyone hears things differently. So far though, we all agreed look what the cat dragged in had absoluite shit tone. We are all good there. For everything else though, very interesting to see differing views.

Chorus and delay are the sound of the 80's man! I love it. That first skid row salbum has insane sounding guitars to me and I love the way the lead tone cuts. Randy's tone was a bit fizzy but I think it suffered more from production than anything else. His live work and tone crapped all over his recordings.

Total agreement with a lot of those shrapnel records..brutal metallic tones on a lot of those..

I was being 50% sarcastic, but yeah.

 

[thegame]

I think the Scholtz Rockman is the cheesiest, worst high gain distortion tone ever and it just epitomizes 80's tone.

<rips clothing> You are dead to me...

ROCKMAN was neither high-gain nor cheesy. The problem is, it was made to work a specific way, which everyone summarily ignored, hence the bad tones. A ROCKMAN and a good EQ run correctly (either into the return of an older Marshall effects return, a great tube power amp, or straight to the board) can be hard to beat. Push the 125 Hz and you've got Marshall tones for days. Run it as a preamp only into the front of another amp and you've got, well, exactly what you described.

Saying a ROCKMAN sucks is like trying to open a tin can with a crayon and then saying, "This can opener sucks."

I had a Rockman Distortion Generator for years. Ran it every conceivable way. They may as well have marketed it as a compressor with built in tinny distortion.

 

[voodooradio1]

AnYThing by Guy Mann Dude

From 1989:

Holy shit! That was like the train wreck scene from "The Fugitive". One disaster after another.
I remember seeing him in the guitar mags back in the day and thinking that anyone that would give their self a name like that, had to be a wanker not worth listening to. My instincts served me well on that one, but were nowhere to be found when I clicked play on the vid.

 

[tripstan]

So after reading just about ever post on here, the 1980's as a whole had the worst tone. The drum tracks bothered me more than anything from the 80's. WTF is up with all the verb and electric/triggered overtones?

 

[joepete77]

This will be a tough one to top. Listen that TONE.

I always thought that the lead tone and squeals at the end fit perfectly, especially considering the era. They are classic kk and demonic sounding and couldnt imagine this song any other way. Loved this album back then!

 

[skoora]

So after reading just about ever post on here, the 1980's as a whole had the worst tone. The drum tracks bothered me more than anything from the 80's. WTF is up with all the verb and electric/triggered overtones?

I totally agree about the drums. There's no shortage of awesome guitar recordings completely smeared over by huge, gated snare reverb obscenity. Up to about 83/84 was great and then it just went to shit.

For the shit tone but fantastic playing award my vote goes to Jake E Lee on Ultimate Sin. Actually the whole album sounds pretty horendous. I don't think they knew there's meant to be a kick drum in the mix. What cracks me up is it's still one of my favoriye Ozzy records because of the songs. I wonder if Randy Castillo pressed the pedal because No Rest For The wicked is also snare heavy, kick lite.

Testament on Practice What You Preach. Jesus that is a mess.

 

[thiswaythatway]

This will be a tough one to top. Listen that TONE.

I always thought that the lead tone and squeals at the end fit perfectly, especially considering the era. They are classic kk and demonic sounding and couldnt imagine this song any other way. Loved this album back then!

I CAN imagine it a different way....like not sucking KK set the standard for making a guitar solo sound like an out of key turkey fight.

 

[thiswaythatway]

So after reading just about ever post on here, the 1980's as a whole had the worst tone. The drum tracks bothered me more than anything from the 80's. WTF is up with all the verb and electric/triggered overtones?

I totally agree about the drums. There's no shortage of awesome guitar recordings completely smeared over by huge, gated snare reverb obscenity. Up to about 83/84 was great and then it just went to shit.

For the shit tone but fantastic playing award my vote goes to Jake E Lee on Ultimate Sin. Actually the whole album sounds pretty horendous. I don't think they knew there's meant to be a kick drum in the mix. What cracks me up is it's still one of my favoriye Ozzy records because of the songs. I wonder if Randy Castillo pressed the pedal because No Rest For The wicked is also snare heavy, kick lite.

Testament on Practice What You Preach. Jesus that is a mess.

Yeah, just listen to the drum sounds on Yngwie's first solo albums. Sounds like a chopstick hitting a sheet of tinfoil.....with the reverb knob set on 90.

 

[Greazygeo]

Hmmmmm.....

anything VH
Stryper
Slash
Sykes
Jake E Lee

The list could go on.....but that's enough.

 

[Anonymous]

not seeing how anyone here can say slash for bad guitar tones?

hmmm?

 

[tripstan]

So after reading just about ever post on here, the 1980's as a whole had the worst tone. The drum tracks bothered me more than anything from the 80's. WTF is up with all the verb and electric/triggered overtones?

I totally agree about the drums. There's no shortage of awesome guitar recordings completely smeared over by huge, gated snare reverb obscenity. Up to about 83/84 was great and then it just went to shit.

For the shit tone but fantastic playing award my vote goes to Jake E Lee on Ultimate Sin. Actually the whole album sounds pretty horendous. I don't think they knew there's meant to be a kick drum in the mix. What cracks me up is it's still one of my favoriye Ozzy records because of the songs. I wonder if Randy Castillo pressed the pedal because No Rest For The wicked is also snare heavy, kick lite.

Testament on Practice What You Preach. Jesus that is a mess.

Yeah, just listen to the drum sounds on Yngwie's first solo albums. Sounds like a chopstick hitting a sheet of tinfoil.....with the reverb knob set on 90.

Anybody know what dipshit producer thought it was a great idea to have no dry signal and 100% wet for drums? I guess it doesn't really matter cause after that everybody jumped on the verb wagon and didn't even ask where the trail goes. Maybe it was all that awesome 80's coke

 

[ACShreds]

So after reading just about ever post on here, the 1980's as a whole had the worst tone. The drum tracks bothered me more than anything from the 80's. WTF is up with all the verb and electric/triggered overtones?

I totally agree about the drums. There's no shortage of awesome guitar recordings completely smeared over by huge, gated snare reverb obscenity. Up to about 83/84 was great and then it just went to shit.

For the shit tone but fantastic playing award my vote goes to Jake E Lee on Ultimate Sin. Actually the whole album sounds pretty horendous. I don't think they knew there's meant to be a kick drum in the mix. What cracks me up is it's still one of my favoriye Ozzy records because of the songs. I wonder if Randy Castillo pressed the pedal because No Rest For The wicked is also snare heavy, kick lite.

Testament on Practice What You Preach. Jesus that is a mess.

Yeah, just listen to the drum sounds on Yngwie's first solo albums. Sounds like a chopstick hitting a sheet of tinfoil.....with the reverb knob set on 90.

Anybody know what dipshit producer thought it was a great idea to have no dry signal and 100% wet for drums? I guess it doesn't really matter cause after that everybody jumped on the verb wagon and didn't even ask where the trail goes. Maybe it was all that awesome 80's coke

I dont know what yall are talking about but obnoxiously over reverb'd snares are awesome. WIsh they wouldnt have died with the 80's. When i hear modern songs with dry drum tracks i just wonder what could have been...