The Douchey Douchbag

[Kapo_Polenton]

Why does it take so long to announce?

Never have been good at waiting for anything .. let's hear it Fig!

 

[Jaymzrock]

Totally man, don't Chinese Democracy your fellow moddies!

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Totally man, don't Chinese Democracy your fellow moddies!

lol, that was classic..

 

[Mike P]

I'll never understand where this notion that George Lynch used a Soldano on Wicked Sensation came from. He used Aspen Pittman's 1971 purple Plexi with a Boss SD-1 on nearly every track and used a JC120 for cleans. There was a Soldano in the studio but it wasn't used on the record, from what I've been told.

I confirmed this with George himself back in 1990 when I met him while he was on tour. The amp is also featured in his Star Licks video with Max Norman and is clearly visible.

I think Rob perfectly emulated the SLO-100, including its notoriously slow response. I've always preferred Bogner's and Marshall's because of their faster response. The Soldano's have never felt "right" for me. Great tone, wrong feel.

FWIW, George used a Bogner Fish for the majority of the second Lynch Mob record.

 

[scary groove]

FWIW, George used a Bogner Fish for the majority of the second Lynch Mob record.

According to George's website posts that he and his longtime friend/guitar tech Gerry G put together regarding the 1992 Lynch Mob second record "Lynch Mob":

"I bought two 50-watt Marshall plexi's in Japan six months earlier. When they got delivered, they sounded great. That's what on the record. I didn't use anything but the plexi Marshalls and a Soldano, which are the obvious things to use."

No mention of a Fisch here. But that's not to say it didn't happen

 

[Mike P]

FWIW, George used a Bogner Fish for the majority of the second Lynch Mob record.

According to George's website posts that he and his longtime friend/guitar tech Gerry G put together regarding the 1992 Lynch Mob second record "Lynch Mob":

"I bought two 50-watt Marshall plexi's in Japan six months earlier. When they got delivered, they sounded great. That's what on the record. I didn't use anything but the plexi Marshalls and a Soldano, which are the obvious things to use."

No mention of a Fisch here. But that's not to say it didn't happen

I ran into George at the old Makin' Music in North Hollywood back in June 1992, along with his guitar tech at the time (I can't remember his name: He was of Mexican/Native American descent). They both told me he used the Fish, although he really wanted to use an Ecstasy, but Reinhold didn't have any built in time for the record.

When I saw him on tour, they invited me back stage where he had a pair blue Fish with black knobs in his rack, along with VHT power amps.

I don't know why he's always changing his stories because in the end, he always ends up sounding essentially the same.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

So the question is, is he using Soldano's abd Friedmans now or is that also smoke and mirrors? We know the second generation lynch mob heads aren't making a sound.. wonder what else he's got hidden away under some blanket.

 

[Mike P]

So the question is, is he using Soldano's abd Friedmans now or is that also smoke and mirrors? We know the second generation lynch mob heads aren't making a sound.. wonder what else he's got hidden away under some blanket.

Who knows? I saw him at the Key Club in Lynch Mob (with Robert Mason) back in 2003 and he was using Uberschall's the entire night. IMO, regardless of what he uses, his core tone is always the same.

IMO, his best recorded guitar sound was Wicked Sensation but I chalk that up to Max Norman, not the gear used. I didn't care for the dark, over-compressed sound of Lynch Mob and Revolution was pretty awful (and often, out of tune).

Smoke and Mirrors was much better but not great. The Stone Mountain Sessions guitars are pretty cool, IMO, albeit a little cleaner than normal. The new KXM is classic Lynch tone, but again, a little cleaner than in the past but certainly his best recorded tone, IMO, in more than two decades.

I credit the engineers/producers that captured his tone, not the gear he used, for the differences.

Some guys are just better at recording guitars than others.

 

[The Rossness]

I feel like he uses dark amps to match his bright guitars.

 

[Mike P]

I feel like he uses dark amps to match his bright guitars.

Having seen him in clubs numerous times, I've never thought his sound was "dark". It's definitely on the brighter side live these days, though not nearly as much as in Dokken.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I also hear the sound as bright from most of the live clips and clinics he has put on. I would say that MikeP is probably bang on with pointing out that producers have a HUGE part to do with how good an album sounds. Wicked Sensation sounds perfect and Lynch Mob sounds darker. It isn't that he used dark amps or guitars or pickups.. it is more than likely the way the guitars were recorded right down to the placement of the mic (outer dust cap, darker for example) and how many of those types of tracks were blended. Then add studio EQ curves and the overall mix by the producer and there is your answer. That's why this whole chasing a tone on a record is like a black hole.

Everyone raves over the AFD tone.. I did the Levi mod to my 2204 clone and it was bright and thin. I didn't like it much at all and that album was my holy grail. Production went a long way in making that the album it was with the "tone" it was.

 

[Mike P]

Everyone raves over the AFD tone.. I did the Levi mod to my 2204 clone and it was bright and thin. I didn't like it much at all and that album was my holy grail. Production went a long way in making that the album it was with the "tone" it was.

Did you use a great sounding Les Paul with Alnico pickups?

I can get Slash's tone easily with mine and the SG MK22+ or Bully (MK19+). I can totally nail his tone on Apocalyptic Love in a heartbeat.

But if you try to match that tone with a Floyd Rose guitar made out of basswood or alder or even ash, you won't get it.

I remember Doug Aldrich using the Frank Levi modified amps in the late 80's/early 90's with Hurricane and Brunette (which became Hardline). But he used neck-through maple Jackson guitars with tons of Eventide Harmonizer to thicken up the tone.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

More or less.. not a les paul but an old Epiphone les paul which is thick and heavy from the 90's with Alnico II duncans. My own brownstone module gets me close enough to that tone but the actual mod on a 2204 that I did was just too cutting even for me and I love my treble! I could def. hear where Lynch would have taken either the Caswell or Levi out on one tour. It cut like a knife. Cool sound but just not a great all around sound that appealed to me as I mostly play alder strats. In a mix it has it's place for sure though.

 

[Mike P]

More or less.. not a les paul but an old Epiphone les paul which is thick and heavy from the 90's with Alnico II duncans. My own brownstone module gets me close enough to that tone but the actual mod on a 2204 that I did was just too cutting even for me and I love my treble! I could def. hear where Lynch would have taken either the Caswell or Levi out on one tour. It cut like a knife. Cool sound but just not a great all around sound that appealed to me as I mostly play alder strats. In a mix it has it's place for sure though.

Interesting. Was it an early 2204 or a 1984 and later? The later amps sounded significantly different than the early models. Either way, your Brownstone module definitely hit the mark, IIRC.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

It was neither of those..it was a mid 80'4 laney pro tube. I somewhat regret gutting it and putting in a PTP but hey, I was in my experimentation phase..I might wire it back one of these days but I don't remember it sounding that great. So yeah, too many variables with a build.. Components can drift, sound different, and the laney iron sure as hell isn't a thick Drake transformer. All this to say that it was cool and did sound cutting and raspy just like the afd tone sounds BUT, what else is it usable for? Didn't sound great with preamp turned down so I scrapped it and went with a standard 2204 which I tweak here or there. Would love to put in a bogner blue channel preamp next and see how that would sound.

 

[Mike P]

It was neither of those..it was a mid 80'4 laney pro tube. I somewhat regret gutting it and putting in a PTP but hey, I was in my experimentation phase..I might wire it back one of these days but I don't remember it sounding that great. So yeah, too many variables with a build.. Components can drift, sound different, and the laney iron sure as hell isn't a thick Drake transformer. All this to say that it was cool and did sound cutting and raspy just like the afd tone sounds BUT, what else is it usable for? Didn't sound great with preamp turned down so I scrapped it and went with a standard 2204 which I tweak here or there. Would love to put in a bogner blue channel preamp next and see how that would sound.

That's the beauty of MTS and modified modules: Swap a module and have essentially another amp. 8)

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

It was neither of those..it was a mid 80'4 laney pro tube. I somewhat regret gutting it and putting in a PTP but hey, I was in my experimentation phase..I might wire it back one of these days but I don't remember it sounding that great. So yeah, too many variables with a build.. Components can drift, sound different, and the laney iron sure as hell isn't a thick Drake transformer. All this to say that it was cool and did sound cutting and raspy just like the afd tone sounds BUT, what else is it usable for? Didn't sound great with preamp turned down so I scrapped it and went with a standard 2204 which I tweak here or there. Would love to put in a bogner blue channel preamp next and see how that would sound.

That's the beauty of MTS and modified modules: Swap a module and have essentially another amp. 8)

I think i have actually come around to this way of thinking more and more.. i love my 82' 800 combo but i get tones as good and close enough out of a Friedman brahma, AFD tones out of my brownstone, Lynch and 80's tones out of boosting the brahma or the scary i now have so what else do I need really. The effects loop is the only thing i still hate about these amps but Rob is cooking up some good stuff beyond his STEP pedal which will address this soon.

 

[Mike P]

That's the beauty of MTS and modified modules: Swap a module and have essentially another amp. 8)

I think i have actually come around to this way of thinking more and more.. i love my 82' 800 combo but i get tones as good and close enough out of a Friedman brahma, AFD tones out of my brownstone, Lynch and 80's tones out of boosting the brahma or the scary i now have so what else do I need really. The effects loop is the only thing i still hate about these amps but Rob is cooking up some good stuff beyond his STEP pedal which will address this soon.

De-coupling your cabinet from the floor and either buying or building gobos to surround it will allow you to get even closer to your desired sound and tone when recording.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Funny you should mention gobos, I actually had left over material from my bass traps and wall panels so I made a few free standing ones. I have the cab I want to record off the floor on top of another cab so I think I will use a combination of Gobos plus a moving blanket over everything so that I can crank it up a bit more. I had wanted to build something into the basement closet but the GF moved in so well... we all know how that goes.

 

[Mike P]

Funny you should mention gobos, I actually had left over material from my bass traps and wall panels so I made a few free standing ones. I have the cab I want to record off the floor on top of another cab so I think I will use a combination of Gobos plus a moving blanket over everything so that I can crank it up a bit more. I had wanted to build something into the basement closet but the GF moved in so well... we all know how that goes.

That should definitely help. I use the Auralex Great Gramma for both my guitar and bass cabinets. It makes a huge difference, IMO.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GreatGRAMMA?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC&utm_campaign=recording&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=CPCT9LP-sL0CFY17fgodQpgAUg

And for studio monitors, the Primeacoustic Recoil Stabilizers are life changing. When I purchased those for my Focal's and matching sub back in 2010, my whole world changed. The difference in monitoring and mixes was mind-blowing.

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/primacoustic-rx7a-recoil-stabilizer-monitor-isolation-platform-w-5/226105045.html?listingId=287063078&scid=pla_google_SamAshDirect&adid=18176&gclid=CMLA7Nz-sL0CFQWTfgodLJIA3w