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

[threadkiller]

CC, especially Look What the Cat Dragged in was the first thing that came to mind. Then Randy Roads, not only was the tone bad, the production was really awful. I was first introduced to Rush in the mid 80's and hated it. I didn't hear any of there early stuff until I was in high school in the early 90's and I was like, wait this is good stuff. Not sure what they were doing then but everything sucked about Rush IMO for several albums after Moving pictures, including the guitar tone.(what guitar). I'll through Brittny Fox into the list for fizzy shitfest tone.

 

[paulyc]

Randy Rhoads was Altec speakers...not EVs. Zakk uses EVs. And Randy's tone sucks for sure, but hi playing and compositions are awesome.

 

[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.

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.

Definitely all Hetfield until Load/Reload, dude. Check out this interview - http://www.guitarworld.com/archive-meta ... d?page=0,2

OU812 is probably the worst that EVH's tone has sounded, if there is such a thing, along with VH3 (But we don't really count that one, right?). Wishy washy 80's chorus does not complement his sound at all! That's coming from a huge VH fan as well.

 

[paulyc]

Kirk Hammet is the most overrated guitar player of all time, his tone SUCKS, and I doubt if he's ever played on a Metallica rhythm track.

 

[jlbaxe]

BB King (most early blues) early recordings. Sounds like the amp is 3 rooms away and to much reverb, and I luv reverb. His later recording sound great, like with him playing with Eric Clapton.

A lot of old blues have that thin over reverb several rooms away sound I know alot of it is because of what they had to record with. Robert Cray, BB and alot of blues guys have great tone and feel now compared to then.

I listen to Bluesville on Xm quite a bit while driving

 

[rupe]

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

First of all, NOBODY was down on Randy's tone when Blizzard and Diary were released...quite the opposite. Nobody had ever heard anything so mean and aggressive sounding and players were doing everything they could to cop that sound. Has it stood the test of time? Not so much for most, yet I have a hard time imagining the Crazy Train riff or opening chords to Flying High Again sounding any better with a different tone...it just worked for that music.

And why would anyone judge a mixed tone after "peeling back the tracks"? That's pure idiocy. Tones that work in a mix don't necessarily stand up well on their own, and vice versa. Using that line of thinking, David Gilmour had terrible solo tone...those tracks in isolation sound like garbage, but put them in the mix and they're epic. It's one of the reasons that I don't pay much attention to the opinions of non-gigging/recording guitarists when it comes to tone...they typically have little to no understanding of the differences between good tone in a mix vs good tone in an unaccompanied setting. And it's not out of any lack of respect for home players that I say that...simply a practical observation based on my experience. At the point where I do all of my playing at home (that day is coming), those opinions will be more valuable to me.

I'll also agree that CC turned a corner on Flesh and Blood...his tone got much better on that album. His solo on Life Goes On is one of my favorite "guilty pleasures" of the era.

 

[Gorehog]

Worst sound of the 80s?

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

+1

Perfect answer.

 

[Gainfreak]

For me it was most of the Shrapnel guys from back in the day. Some of the albums had such bad tone that it's almost unlistenable IMHO

 

[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 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.

Iron Maiden IMHO always had great tones up until they went with Gallien Krueger stuff on Somewhere In Time, then their tones went downhill, as well as the whole band IMHO. Peace Of Mind and Number were classics.

Yes, when EVH went with chorus I hated his sound. It sounded like he used chorus as early as Fair Warning but with 0U812 his tone got soo processed.

But I'll add Dimebag to the mix. Great band, great player, but he sounds like he's playing through a chitty Crate solid state amp. Michael Romeo as well, such a great player who usually had crap tone on most of their stuff. Their last 2 CD's did sound better though.

 

[koury73]

I really hated Slayers tone.

 

[leib10]

I really am not a fan of Dimebag Darrell's tone. Too scooped and compressed.

 

[jcmlespaul]

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

First of all, NOBODY was down on Randy's tone when Blizzard and Diary were released...quite the opposite. Nobody had ever heard anything so mean and aggressive sounding and players were doing everything they could to cop that sound. Has it stood the test of time? Not so much for most, yet I have a hard time imagining the Crazy Train riff or opening chords to Flying High Again sounding any better with a different tone...it just worked for that music.

And why would anyone judge a mixed tone after "peeling back the tracks"? That's pure idiocy. Tones that work in a mix don't necessarily stand up well on their own, and vice versa. Using that line of thinking, David Gilmour had terrible solo tone...those tracks in isolation sound like garbage, but put them in the mix and they're epic. It's one of the reasons that I don't pay much attention to the opinions of non-gigging/recording guitarists when it comes to tone...they typically have little to no understanding of the differences between good tone in a mix vs good tone in an unaccompanied setting. And it's not out of any lack of respect for home players that I say that...simply a practical observation based on my experience. At the point where I do all of my playing at home (that day is coming), those opinions will be more valuable to me.

I'll also agree that CC turned a corner on Flesh and Blood...his tone got much better on that album. His solo on Life Goes On is one of my favorite "guilty pleasures" of the era.

You once again eloquently crystallised the thoughts in my head.

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Frusciante on Mother's Milk... in fact all of the '80's Peppers albums had mediocre tone at best. BSSM is when they really got their shit together; maybe it was the production more than anything?

Tom Scholz's guitar tone rubbed me wrong a bit, but I've come to really like it.

Never thought Slash had good tone. Never liked Jim Martin's tone much either.

I always thought Cobain's tone fit the music, but in any other context, no. Even on Bleach.

Hate to say, but for the most part, John McLaughlin's tone was pretty horrible. For you guys who worship Randy Rhoads, McLaughlin was that guy for me in a lot of ways (never got into Ozzy/Rhoads but respek). Incredible player, and tone that, I guess, kind of fit the music, but still just bad. On the flipside, DiMeola's tone was amazing.

Megadeth tones up until Rust in Peace were downright horrible also. Like, oh my god, what the hell were they thinking horrible. Anthrax also. Ugh.

 

[ibenhad]

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

First of all, NOBODY was down on Randy's tone when Blizzard and Diary were released...quite the opposite. Nobody had ever heard anything so mean and aggressive sounding and players were doing everything they could to cop that sound. Has it stood the test of time? Not so much for most, yet I have a hard time imagining the Crazy Train riff or opening chords to Flying High Again sounding any better with a different tone...it just worked for that music.

And why would anyone judge a mixed tone after "peeling back the tracks"? That's pure idiocy. Tones that work in a mix don't necessarily stand up well on their own, and vice versa. Using that line of thinking, David Gilmour had terrible solo tone...those tracks in isolation sound like garbage, but put them in the mix and they're epic. It's one of the reasons that I don't pay much attention to the opinions of non-gigging/recording guitarists when it comes to tone...they typically have little to no understanding of the differences between good tone in a mix vs good tone in an unaccompanied setting. And it's not out of any lack of respect for home players that I say that...simply a practical observation based on my experience. At the point where I do all of my playing at home (that day is coming), those opinions will be more valuable to me.

I'll also agree that CC turned a corner on Flesh and Blood...his tone got much better on that album. His solo on Life Goes On is one of my favorite "guilty pleasures" of the era.

First of all are you high? No one was down on his tone? Really, well Steve Jones (1977) had some killer mean and aggressive tones and I think Rainbow - Long Live Rock N Roll (1978) for more aggressive tones and even further back some pretty mean tones on Volume 4 and earlier Sabbath records. I agree the Randy's tone worked for the music but however you slice it dice it or wine, dine and 69 it the tone sucked then and now. Not knocking the guy he is my favorite guitarist ever, I even saw him live right before his death and I think Pete Willis (opening for Ozzy with Def Leppard) had a more aggressive and meaty tone than Randy.

I also saw CC back in the day and when he did that extended solo IIRC from "Something to believe in" I was pretty impressed with his tone and solo work. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Deleted member 10619]

Another +1 for Randy Rhoads. He is my guitar hero, but his tone, in retrospective, (although very appropriate for his time) didn't age well.

 

[Elric]

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.

This was pretty much my first thought, too when I saw the thread title. Rhoads is a fantastic example of monster player not always == monster tone under every circumstance. And @rupe: I dunno about everyone, but I thought it sucked balls from the day my brother brought Blizzard home from the record store the first week of release.

 

[geetarmikey]

I can definitely see where people are coming from with Randy's tone, but I quite like it because it's unique to him and think it does get a bit fatter and better on the Diary... album. The opening chords to Flying High Again are a perfect example.

CC Deville is a guilty pleasure of a lot of people here it seems and I'd include myself haha. The first few opening bends on Unskinny Bop solo have a lot of meat behind them even though the rest of the solo is a bit coked-up and sloppy on the bending in pitch etc!

I think EVH started added chorus to his distorted sound around the Diver Down album, if you listen to Fair Warning that, for me, is his tone at it's very best and brownest. Maybe the best distorted guitar sound EVER! Sinner's Swing is an awesome example. Yeah, he was using flanger almost all the way through Hear About It Later, but that's more of an effect thing rather than the chorus he'd permanently add to his sound Diver Down and onwards.

George Lynch had pretty good tone in the 80's but it wasn't amazing for the reputed gear hound he's supposed to be!

 

[Schaf]

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.

Mostly a production issue imo. I thought his tone was good on the live album.

 

[Schaf]

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.

 

[MrDan666]

For me it was most of the Shrapnel guys from back in the day. Some of the albums had such bad tone that it's almost unlistenable IMHO

Beat me to it bro. I always found most of those Shrapnel albums to have horrendous guitar tone!!!