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

[311boogieman]

+1 BulletBoys. I dug their first album. I dug Kingdom Come too.

-1 Stryper. Couldn't get into the guitar tones. For some strange reason I couldn't get into SRV either. Not sure why. Mental block.

 

[Ventura]

Not trolling and NO BULLSHIT my favorite guitarist of all time Randy Rhoads. Sacrilegious as it may be his tone was anemic as hell and had it not been triple and quadruple tracked it would have really been the end all sewer of tone. His chops are what made him awesome. Sadly I used to want that tone. Still have the old JMP's and Script Logo MXR Dist +. He also loved those EV speakers IIR that were really clean. Anyway that's my take.

I was JUST about to post this.

RR is my guitar hero. He's the guy who made me take it seriously. He made "guitar" infectious for me. Awesome.

But man, you peel those tracks back and listen to his tone as is?? Horrendous compared to today's standards. Horrible.

But I love him man!! What a player

 

[Ventura]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Ya I gotta agree with Reza here, I think Hammett and Hetfield were a bit of alright for their 80s music. It made me grind my teeth, which was a sign of good times and good tone for me back in those days (I'm serious).

 

[thiswaythatway]

Stryper RULES

 

[maddnotez]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Sorry, but Kirk is one of my favorite metal players of all time. And he has KILLER rhythm tones. His lead tones fit his band and they are STILL gnarly.
Fast forward to 4:00 exactly.

totally fits the sonic vibe of the song, has gnarly fast leads with attitude. peaks valleys and some wah reprise at the end of the song.

I think Kirk Rules.

I agree Kirk kicks ass, however Metallica was the first thing I thought of when I read the title. His lead tone was always great but their rythym tone seems like it was always missing something.

I do keep in mind the quality of productions especially in metal between the decades which may have been a huge factor. They have always seemed to have kept their signature if you will with the piercing mids and rawness and the album quality just simply got better each time.

I have never seen them live so its hard to compare.

But hey its Metallica the most successful band ever so they must have done something right.

 

[Chris O]

Joe Satriani
Vinnie Vincent
Another vote for CC
Never liked Slash's tone

 

[HMJ]

Twisted Sister

 

[thiswaythatway]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Sorry, but Kirk is one of my favorite metal players of all time. And he has KILLER rhythm tones. His lead tones fit his band and they are STILL gnarly.
Fast forward to 4:00 exactly.

totally fits the sonic vibe of the song, has gnarly fast leads with attitude. peaks valleys and some wah reprise at the end of the song.

I think Kirk Rules.

I agree Kirk kicks ass, however Metallica was the first thing I thought of when I read the title. His lead tone was always great but their rythym tone seems like it was always missing something.

I do keep in mind the quality of productions especially in metal between the decades which may have been a huge factor. They have always seemed to have kept their signature if you will with the piercing mids and rawness and the album quality just simply got better each time.

I have never seen them live so its hard to compare.

But hey its Metallica the most successful band ever so they must have done something right.

Not even close.

But as far as tone goes Metallica sounded like metal to me. I don't think Kirk is a great player but still, great songs, great albums, great metal tones. And the 80's was when Metallica was great not the current mushy, gluey sound that they have now which sucks.

 

[gtr31]

i always thought cc's sound was subpar too..until flesh and blood.

i knew something had changed for him, i just didnt know why it sounded so different (back then) and better.
solo for something to believe in was really nice.

Read the notes on what he used on that album its insane
Soldano,Marshall ,Peavey .Mesa Groove tubes about 10 or 15 differnt amps..
Much like Lynch on Back for the attack

 

[jcmlespaul]

Slash

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Bob, what is so negative about the topic? Given the times, how were some guys getting great recorded tones and others complete garbagge? The responsibility rests with both producers but overall..the player who thinks it sounds good in the first place! The first ratt album btw, also sounds terrible. Thankgod they switched it up!

 

[Iceman8.6]

AnYThing by Guy Mann Dude

From 1989:

 

[Gorehog]

Tracii Guns??? I love his playing. Maybe it made me ignore bad tone. Debut album fee sure = bad tone but i really like cocked and loaded.

Hendrix-- i fucking hate his tone,playing and songs.

Skid Row= worst guitar tones. Their lead sounds are ice picky and rhythm doubds are just terrible.awful. Makes me not even wanna listen to them.

MAB's tones suck too. On all his solo albums. I never listened to Nitro more than once so no opinion there.

Jake E Lees Badlands debut tone sounds muddy,mushy and way too distorted to me too.

 

[EnGl]

Anything from Nirvana. Seriously.

 

[hunter]

Worst sound of the 80s?

Anything with Distortion and Chorus used together, so pretty much half of all of it

 

[garey77]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Sorry, but Kirk is one of my favorite metal players of all time. And he has KILLER rhythm tones. His lead tones fit his band and they are STILL gnarly.
Fast forward to 4:00 exactly.

totally fits the sonic vibe of the song, has gnarly fast leads with attitude. peaks valleys and some wah reprise at the end of the song.

I think Kirk Rules.

I used to roll around town in my '67 Elco with this particular album beating the shit out of my stereo sys... I am really glad they made this album.

 

[Oldschool]

Worst sound of the 80s?

Anything with Distortion and Chorus used together, so pretty much half of all of it

+1

 

[geetarmikey]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Sorry, but Kirk is one of my favorite metal players of all time. And he has KILLER rhythm tones. His lead tones fit his band and they are STILL gnarly.
Fast forward to 4:00 exactly.

totally fits the sonic vibe of the song, has gnarly fast leads with attitude. peaks valleys and some wah reprise at the end of the song.

I think Kirk Rules.

I used to roll around town in my '67 Elco with this particular album beating the shit out of my stereo sys... I am really glad they made this album.

Except Hetfield played all the rhythm tracks on every album up until Load/Reload. I know a lot of people love him, but I can't stand Kirk - shrill and brittle tone, awful vibrato and can't bend in tune half the time.

I'd add Iron Maiden to this discussion, to me they've never head a really fat guitar sound for a 'heavy' band. Was never a fan of when EVH started added loads of chorus to his sound on the 5150 and OU812 albums especially.

 

[garey77]

KIRK HAMMETT. /thread.

Sorry, but Kirk is one of my favorite metal players of all time. And he has KILLER rhythm tones. His lead tones fit his band and they are STILL gnarly.
Fast forward to 4:00 exactly.

totally fits the sonic vibe of the song, has gnarly fast leads with attitude. peaks valleys and some wah reprise at the end of the song.

I think Kirk Rules.

I used to roll around town in my '67 Elco with this particular album beating the shit out of my stereo sys... I am really glad they made this album.

Except Hetfield played all the rhythm tracks on every album up until Load/Reload. I know a lot of people love him, but I can't stand Kirk - shrill and brittle tone, awful vibrato and can't bend in tune half the time.

I'd add Iron Maiden to this discussion, to me they've never head a really fat guitar sound for a 'heavy' band. Was never a fan of when EVH started added loads of chorus to his sound on the 5150 and OU812 albums especially.

I dunno man, I'm sure Kirk is probably layered in there somewhere... but we'd probably have to ask Flemming...

I always figured the thing behind Maiden's three-guitar tone was that they had to somehow fit in the sonic spectrum and all be heard.

Also, did OU812 suck, tone-wise? I think that was a rather golden era of production, no? 87-88? I'm sure that no tonal expense was spared, and all.

 

[LP Freak]

Stryper RULES

I don't remember saying that......