Under Lock and Key

[Greazygeo]

I listened very close on my monitors over the weekend. It sure sounds like a Rockman to me. A friend of mine still has one I think...I'll try and borrow it. He probably still has his 4track too.

Used my plexi with the GE-7 in front....doesnt have that sound at all really.

 

[6CA7]

Yeah, been reading all the posts here.

ULAK is one of my fav Lynch tones too.
I think as usual there are Rockman tones here and other stuff.. SLP's, Modded Marshalls etc blended to some extent for various songs.
I remember an old guitar mag from the 80's where George talked about "It's Not Love" and using the Rockman.. and like another stated here "Don't lie to me" has heavy Rockman on it. If you listen to "Til the Livin End" I think that's a good compromise between Rockman and Marshall's etc.

Anyway, FWIW I saw George at a clinic a few years back and he actually said that "believe it or not the Rockman was used pretty heavy on that record". Didn't surprise me.

Like I said...what % was Rockman and what % was Tube amp etc...or Randall. Who knows. They do so much in the studio but you can hear a Rockman influence in the tone. And yes..I've read MW's post at GearSlutz. I'm not discounting that 100% either...the Fostex might just be there too.

I remember Def Leppard saying they used the Rockman but actually had Tom Sholtz (sp?) come and tweak it a bit to their liking...again from what I've read...

 

[paulyc]

For those who don't believe a Rockman was used (in addition to Marshall AND Laney AOR heads), try this...take any higher gain tube amp and put it on one side of a stereo chorus pedal...on the other side plug into a Rockman and send it through some good computer speakers ( the seperate kind, with a sub woofer) and roll all the high end off the Rockman side with a graphic eq...adjust the balance of volume between the amp and Rockman and play some of the rhythms from ULAK...there it is.

 

[bravedude2]

fingerless gloves was the missing link in this tone chasing debate

 

[romanianreaper]

Like someone already mentioned, it is a bit ridiculous that we are trying to chase tones and people back then would kill to have the gear we have now.

I have an Axe-FX II and I'd trade it and my left nut to have George Lynch's cable or DiMartini's pick from 1985.

 

[rupe]

I have an Axe-FX II and I'd trade it and my left nut to have George Lynch's cable or DiMartini's pick from 1985.

I have one of Randy Rhoads' Fender Mediums from the Diary tour...send me the Axe II and it's yours. And you can even keep your nut

 

[Anonymous]

For those who don't believe a Rockman was used (in addition to Marshall AND Laney AOR heads), try this...take any higher gain tube amp and put it on one side of a stereo chorus pedal...on the other side plug into a Rockman and send it through some good computer speakers ( the seperate kind, with a sub woofer) and roll all the high end off the Rockman side with a graphic eq...adjust the balance of volume between the amp and Rockman and play some of the rhythms from ULAK...there it is.

The only thing anyone is arguing is that there are real amps + Rockman mixed to get that tone, not just a Rockman alone.

Stev

 

[loudgtr]

I have an Axe-FX II and I'd trade it and my left nut to have George Lynch's cable or DiMartini's pick from 1985.

I have one of Randy Rhoads' Fender Mediums from the Diary tour...send me the Axe II and it's yours. And you can even keep your nut

 

[paulyc]

There were a couple of people above that mentioned pushing 800hz through any amp would get there, and it does get very close (put a Furman PQ3 through a Marshall sometime and mess with the frequency and bandwidth controls on the mid band sometime), but I think a Rockman Distortion Generator or Sustainer gets closer mixed with an amp. Also, try the Furman through a Laney AOR (I know, I know) and there is Nuno from Extreme's first album

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Are you sure about the furman/Laney combo on the first Extreme record? I thought it was RAT pedal + JCM800 or JMP? I have a Laney AOR, has a real raspiness to it which i found i liked then didn't like depending on the day. Didn't have the beef the 800 does unless you pulled that bass boost and set it to 0. (yes that did make a difference) Right now it is gutted and there is a PTP in it.

 

[paulyc]

I have a GFTPM interview where he says the sound is split...Laney AOR on one side and a JCM800 channel switcher on the other (for the loop). He describes the Laney as a "soft" sound and the Marshall as "harder" and the Furman was used by the engineer as a way to get more signal because the guitar signal had to travel through the wall to get to the amps (the PQ3 is a preamp as well as an eq). I plugged mine into a Laney AOR and a Splawn Pro Stock and was shocked at how close it is. And don't forget the huge, wet gated reverb either. There used to be a video floating around the 'net of Nuno in his pre- Extreme band Sinful where he played a 3 single coil guitar during a solo and you can see the AOR behind him on stage. He sounds like Yngwie (sweep picking minor scales) until he gets to the "cartoon anthem" part of the solo where he plays melodies from "The Flintstones" and "The Munsters" themes...he was probably less than 19 years old at the time, and already ferocious on the gee-tar.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Thanks for the info Pauly C! I prob should never have gutted mine but whatever... grandiose ideas and there it sits on the shelf needing to be troubleshooted now (and where it has sat for a year)

Not rockman related but last night I hooked up my MIJ GE-7, positioned it after my SD-1 and left all the sliders level except for a slight bump in the 400 and 800 sliders, and the level slider bumped up just a bit as well into a stock 2204/Splawn 4x12 and was suprised how close it sounded.

So guitar-OD-GE-7-amp?

Time to get a monte allums mod for my GE-7 and bump the 400 and 800 sliders! Cheap man's furman effect. It's all about that killer mid range live and you hear it on most of the classic 80's live shows from a lot of the big bands. LEt's not forget that glassy chorus thrown in too.

BTW, Lightning Strikes is such a shit song, why they even bothered playing that with that extended solo is beyond me. It sounds like nobody knows where they are because Lynch is all over the place in and out of key. Bass and drums are just holding steady because they don't know what range Don is going to sing the next line in and what George is going to do while jerking off all over the neck. I like the tone though..

 

[Gainiac]

So, wait,
you guys are saying I can use a Kemper to match a stock Rockman and sound just like Lynch?

AWESOME!!

 

[paulyc]

Kapo- I would revise that order to GUITAR- GE7-OD-AMP...if you put the eq before the distortion it tends to make the mid bands ( or whichever bands you're boosting) more distorted and gives less "woofy" bass and "fizzy" highs. It's giving you a gain boost in the mids only. Any parametric eq will work better than a graphic eq though, because the "Q" or bandwidth is adjustable, so you can make your spike or notch VERY narrow (the key to most 80's tones from Lynch and De Martini to Gillis and Oz Fox (as well as many others)). It doesn't have to be a Furman...or even rack mountable. There have been a few parametric eq pedals over the years from Boss, Ibanez, Pearl, and Carl Martin. Some rack mountable parametric eqs would be Audio Arts Engineering, Rane and Loft.

I know for sure that the "response" solo on the studio version of "Lightning Strikes Again" was a Laney AOR cuz Lynch said so in a Guitar Player Magazine back in the day. The "call" is a Lee Jackson Marshall. I doubt that a Rockman anything was used for any of the soloing...just the rhythms. The compression in the stock Rockman stuff seems to get in the way of fast picking...like the attack time is too slow.

There are also probably "better" graphic eqs out there (for guitar) than the Boss and Ibanez versions, as they don't have the 1k band represented at all (key for VH1, and lets face it-even if they don't sound like Ed, that's what they wanted). The old (and new) MXR 6 and 10 bands, the old (BIG!) DOD 610, and the Scholz (Rockman again !) half rack space units work GREAT for guitar...as well as the OLD AND RARE AND SUPER WHACKY EXPENSIVE Boss GE10 (because Eddie used it, now Lynch uses it too) graphics are cool ( but the old MXR and DODs are kinda noisy).

EDIT: what I should have said was it makes the distotion a little more frequency selected...there isn't any more gain...

 

[Mudder]

I thought the key to Lynch's earlier recordings was some tape delay that could be uses as a boost pushing the front end?

 

[paulyc]

Yes Mudder- a tube Echoplex on " Breaking the Chains" into his Marshalls in Dieter Dierks Studio B in Germany (as well as 220 volts). Tooth and Nail was Furman PQ3 into Randall RG 80s or 100s, ULAK was Lee Jackson Marshalls, Laney AOR, and Rockman (direct), BFTA is Aspen Pittman's purple plexi (probably with a Tube Screamer)...and Wicked Sensation is a Boss Overdrive or Super Overdrive into the purple plexi again (you can see the yellow box on the floor in his REH instructional video when he's playing that cool ESP orange quilted maple guitar during the solo overdub section). Wicked Sensation and ULAK are my current Lynch favorite tones.

 

[Mudder]

Yes Mudder- a tube Echoplex on " Breaking the Chains" into his Marshalls in Dieter Dierks Studio B in Germany (as well as 220 volts). Tooth and Nail was Furman PQ3 into Randall RG 80s or 100s, ULAK was Lee Jackson Marshalls, Laney AOR, and Rockman (direct), BFTA is Aspen Pittman's purple plexi (probably with a Tube Screamer)...and Wicked Sensation is a Boss Overdrive or Super Overdrive into the purple plexi again (you can see the yellow box on the floor in his REH instructional video when he's playing that cool ESP orange quilted maple guitar during the solo overdub section). Wicked Sensation and ULAK are my current Lynch favorite tones.

Check out the big brain on Paulyc!!

 

[ibenhad]

I heard George had his guitar routed out and a rockman mounted inside and he used it like a pre-amp.....
























Yeah Right.... Guy used everything including the kitchen sink but only he and the engineer know whats on those tracks.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

So guitar-OD-GE-7-amp?

Yes I've been doing that way, but in light of the above post I'm going to put the EQ first just to compare.

EDIT: Just tried it and the amount of overall gain is roughly the same as the other way around (with this particular setup), I think I like it the other way around personally.

 

[paulyc]

Look...I don't KNOW what was used 'cuz I wasn't there...but I've read and / or watched EVERY article or video I could get my hands on since I first saw Dokken on MTV doing "Breaking The Chains" and was knocked ON MY ASS by Lynch and his original Tiger guitar...but the BIGGEST thing is just use your ears and powers of deduction based on what was going on at the time these recordings were made...there were NO boutique builders anywhere of amps or effects, so it's all off the shelf stuff. The Furman thing has been talked about TO DEATH all over the 'net, and if you try it, I'm sure you WILL hear it...with everyone from Lynch and Di Martini , Amir Derakh ( Rough Cutt), Nuno,Stryper and Brad Gillis ( the last two with Boogie amps) as well as others. Chris Holmes from WASP comes to mind. These guys all knew each other (legend has it that EVH borrowed an Ibanez Destroyer from Holmes during the VH1 sessions)