What happened to Malmsteen's tone over the years?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kapo_Polenton
  • Start date Start date
I can't take his playing at length but his tone from the early 80's was pretty magnificent.
 
Loved his earlier stuff
One other thing I'll throw out - didn't his tone change around the same time he was recovering from his car accident?
A lot of his earlier tone came from a heavy right hand and light left hand.. and he had to realearn to pick/play.
Wonder if that is why he relied on a dirtier tone..?
 
Wayniac3":1wmvl5zx said:
Loved his earlier stuff
One other thing I'll throw out - didn't his tone change around the same time he was recovering from his car accident?
A lot of his earlier tone came from a heavy right hand and light left hand.. and he had to realearn to pick/play.
Wonder if that is why he relied on a dirtier tone..?
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I was just about to say the same thing. The guy was never the same after that accident.
 
Massive intake of donuts has been linked to a disease that causes gradual tone suckage.........
 
Badronald":2t8u7ons said:
charveldan":2t8u7ons said:
I saw Yngwie open for Triumph in the 80's, Rik Emmitt had a tough act to follow.

Malmsteen when I saw him was spectacular. Which is more than I can say for nowdays.

Still Yngwie on a bad day > anybody else. :thumbsup:
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I hear ya, but nobody could touch Rik Emmitt live...........because of his voice. :thumbsup:
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No doubt, but his playing is stupidly underrated...very few rock players were better than him in the late 70's/early 80's
 
Business":2eqf0seq said:
I'll quote this from a thread on MetroAmp

"Regarding Yngwie's pre-1985 guitar tone (from 1978-Alcatrazz live ~1983) you are right that the Boss Roland Chorus Ensemble CE-1 played a vital role. The CE-1 was not originally designed for guitar and it therefore boosts the guitar signal a bit like a pre-amp in addition to the shimmering chorus effect. This is not the case with the retrosonic re-issue pedal...

However, you missed the most important thing... ;) Yngwie did NOT use DiMarzio HS-3 pickups until end of 1983. All recordings from 1978-1983 were made using DiMarzio FS-1 pickups (Higher output, true single coil, yet warmer and more bassy than HS-3 pickups). Yngwie also used Fender stock pickups on some early demos from Stockholm, Sweden..."
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You can always count on the guys at Metro Amp to have the scoop. Between this and what Carl said above about keeping it simple. And yes, I agree. Some of his tones on that live Alcatrazz album just floor me!
 
And obviously he composed those early solos. Nobody phrases like that while improvising...... especially Yngwie as shown in his later work.
 
Business":2ob4mhqh said:
I'll quote this from a thread on MetroAmp

"Regarding Yngwie's pre-1985 guitar tone (from 1978-Alcatrazz live ~1983) you are right that the Boss Roland Chorus Ensemble CE-1 played a vital role. The CE-1 was not originally designed for guitar and it therefore boosts the guitar signal a bit like a pre-amp in addition to the shimmering chorus effect. This is not the case with the retrosonic re-issue pedal...

However, you missed the most important thing... ;) Yngwie did NOT use DiMarzio HS-3 pickups until end of 1983. All recordings from 1978-1983 were made using DiMarzio FS-1 pickups (Higher output, true single coil, yet warmer and more bassy than HS-3 pickups). Yngwie also used Fender stock pickups on some early demos from Stockholm, Sweden..."
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Good point! I was just thinking about the pickups the other day too.. i thought he must have been using stock Fender and then something before he got the HS-3. I couldn't stand the HS-3. Damn thing has no balls and cuts like glass. Hard on the ears just brutal. I think the FS-1 is also what Norum was using in his strats was it not??
 
The DiMarzio FS-1's were great pu's. Back in the early 80's I used them in a few Strats.
 
lespaul6":267vaa2k said:
Rezamatix":267vaa2k said:
Analog to digital.
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bingo
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I would doubt it's only the analog/digital differences
 
Don't know that you can pinpoint that on analog vs. digital recording, that's an oversimplification IMO. Probably it's due to tighter budgets as time went on for recording his albums. They probably hired a bunch of sub-par recording engineers for the later stuff. Or maybe ear-fatigue on his part for what sounds good? He was known for playing at stupid loud volumes all the time, so he probably damaged his ears quite profoundly.
 
carlygtr":2v20sng1 said:
The DiMarzio FS-1's were great pu's. Back in the early 80's I used them in a few Strats.
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They still make and sell them....
 
Thought I'd join the forum to chime in. As some of you said, he was never the same after the accident, but the one thing nobody said was that he also changed to .008s at that time. Listen to the Leningrad show for a taste of this thinner tone that's a bit closer to modern Yngwie. Having said that, his change in tone never dissapointed me as much as the detriment of his improvisational skills. He started out playing these passionate, urgent lines that didn't sound like patterns, went to a weird place during the 90's and now he's just a machine, but that's another story.

-Jon.
 
I'm the opposite to yngwie ... my tone use to suck 20yrs ago, now it rules ..... but still nobody cares :lol: :LOL: :) :D
 
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