Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
The dude had it all! Looks, chops, stage presence, attitude.
Tone Reminder 2:No Rest for the Wicked
- Thread starter Techdeth
- Start date
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
Miracle man sounds jcm800 predominantly, some of the other tunes sound fizzy. I would assume that's the Lee Jackson bees in a box.
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
It's one of my favorite stories.
Roy Thomas Baker initially produced the album and they recorded with the Metaltronix gear. After recording, Zakk was really unhappy with how his guitars sounded. So he asked Baker if he could rerecord all of his guitars. Baker was so offended he quit. Keith Olsen was brought in to salvage it, and Zakk told him he wanted this sound:
Olsen brought in the JCM800 combo that he'd used on the Whitesnake record, Zakk ran into it with his SD-1 and that was the sound.
It was a critical move too. The barrelling intro to Miracle Man, was thicker and heavier than anything that had been on an Ozzy album. The first song on any album sets the tone, and this song and this sound was a statement: Ozzy is going heavy.
I just love the idea of Zakk, barely 21 (if that), totally green, first time ever in a studio, telling a legendary producer that he wants to redo his guitars. It just tracks with what I most admire about Zakk. Dude started playing seriously when he was 14 or 15, devoted 100% of his energy into it, and five years later landed the gig playing for his hero.
He was determined to make it, and he did. He wrote and played two of Ozzy's best albums, toured the world over, and made a mark on it.
If you want something, put in the work and get it.
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
For my money the best sound Zakk ever got on an album was his tone on No More Tears. It just has the perfect blend of thickness, crispiness and shimmer.
mentoneman
Well-known member
i saw the no more tears tour at irvine meadows and his live tone was great and he was a wildman performer, but compared to seeing dokken at the same venue within a year or so, lynch’s sound destroyed zw.
311splawndude
Well-known member
Agreed. My favorite ZW
shar-vell Dan
Well-known member
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
Saw them the following year with Jason Newsted on bass. My first concert. It was lifechanging.
It’s like Benihana but in reverse.
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
It’s great. But no rest is super unique . Out there tone . No more tears is great massive no bones shit
JR-OZ
Active member
It's a Jcm 800 combo that was used on another famous album I cannot remember at this point maybe whitesnake? It was the same amp Sykes used.
Besides an Spx 90 that everyone knows about a tiny unknown is that there is a Aural Exciter used. You can really hear it on the solos it lifts and boost the top end. Also does that thing to the Main Rhythms its not chorus but not verb its that weird plastic thing thats mad cool in my opinion. Keith Olsen was the man!
Besides an Spx 90 that everyone knows about a tiny unknown is that there is a Aural Exciter used. You can really hear it on the solos it lifts and boost the top end. Also does that thing to the Main Rhythms its not chorus but not verb its that weird plastic thing thats mad cool in my opinion. Keith Olsen was the man!
nightlight
Well-known member
This was my first Ozzy album. Sure brings back memories.
PDC
Well-known member
Great Red Dragon for the win. (Didn’t want to use the ‘reply’ button and reproduce the posts). I met Zakk very briefly while living in LA within months of No Rest’s release. Hung out and connected wholly by accident after he gave a clinic at the Sunset Guitar Center and had a few beers together the following night at the TNT show at the Palace in Hollywood. No, Zakk would never remember me or those 2 evenings - but he could not have been a nicer, cooler person. And his war stories of the recording sessions, tone and gear match Great Red Dragon’s post to the ‘T’
And I concur, for my ear, the No More Tears tone remains one of my favorite heavy guitar tones ever. No Rest was killer, for sure - but almost sounded like there was a blanket over the tone for lack of a better description when compared with No More Tears.
And I concur, for my ear, the No More Tears tone remains one of my favorite heavy guitar tones ever. No Rest was killer, for sure - but almost sounded like there was a blanket over the tone for lack of a better description when compared with No More Tears.
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Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
It was a fun time
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
There's something so ballsy and clean about Zakk's lead tone on NRFTW . Is it the Exciter's work?
It's hard to describe what it sounds like... it's like he's using the neck pickup but there is zero muddiness. Every note is well defined yet super thick, and they don't smear into each other. And that sound is there onstage, but in recordings from the NMT tour it's not really there anymore. Even on super fast leads like Mr. Crowley it remains crystal clear and bold.
JR-OZ
Active member
As far as clean anything is possible. Zakk is known for rolling the volume down and stepping off his sd1 but I bet there was another amp in the studio dubbed. Please I’m not a Randy staub lol so take this as a grain of salt but I’m willing to bet the Spx 90 is a mono in stereo out unit and I believe the exciter is also. Could be wrong about that but either way it was probably sent using an aux or using the busses on an ssl console returning on two stereo channels.
From there the effects “ Spx in symphonic preset and the exciter are Eq/compressed on their corresponding return channels then sent to other effects such as lexicon 480 or 240 or plate reverb any h3000 etc whatever was available at the time to help blend and gel yet give it that thing. Then maybe even widened with the ssl stereo channel feature and tucked back in. Then using automation was blended in either at a static setting or during some pinch squeels during key parts ridden louder to make those little licks, leads, parts by themselves stand out and push out of the speakers. They weren’t used in the amps effects loop. Again please I’m not bob rock but this is my best guess lol how I would do it.
And I think zakk doesn’t use chorus during tracking he doubles/ triples his parts. The chorus sound is the Spx in the studio in the old days.
hope this helps Again my best guess.
shar-vell Dan
Well-known member
GreatRedDragon
Well-known member
Zakk's go-to setup for clean tones in the studio is a '57 Les Paul Junior through a Jazz Chorus or a Bluesbreaker. That's the sound on Road to Nowhere. Ozzy gave him the Junior for his birthday during the No Rest sessions.As far as clean anything is possible. Zakk is known for rolling the volume down and stepping off his sd1 but I bet there was another amp in the studio dubbed. Please I’m not a Randy staub lol so take this as a grain of salt but I’m willing to bet the Spx 90 is a mono in stereo out unit and I believe the exciter is also. Could be wrong about that but either way it was probably sent using an aux or using the busses on an ssl console returning on two stereo channels.
From there the effects “ Spx in symphonic preset and the exciter are Eq/compressed on their corresponding return channels then sent to other effects such as lexicon 480 or 240 or plate reverb any h3000 etc whatever was available at the time to help blend and gel yet give it that thing. Then maybe even widened with the ssl stereo channel feature and tucked back in. Then using automation was blended in either at a static setting or during some pinch squeels during key parts ridden louder to make those little licks, leads, parts by themselves stand out and push out of the speakers. They weren’t used in the amps effects loop. Again please I’m not bob rock but this is my best guess lol how I would do it.
And I think zakk doesn’t use chorus during tracking he doubles/ triples his parts. The chorus sound is the Spx in the studio in the old days.
Again my best guess.
Zakk's setup on Tears was a stock JCM800 with EL34s, a 4x12 with Greenbacks and an SD-1. He double tracked everything on the album except for the solo on No More Tears, that was a single take. Wagener added the Symphonic afterwards.
I think what I'm hearing in Zakk's No Rest tone is the Exciter. Looking at clips of it on Youtube and seeing what it does, I think that's the secret sauce. That and really clean, tight playing.