Randy Rhoads Isolated guitar tracks (2 Viewers)

[woohoosaint]

Also cool are the Eddie VH isolated tracks.

The guitar track for "I'm The One" is amazing!

 

[Brennan77]

I could be wrong, but it seems like he used a wah in his sound. He probably had the pedal pressed around halfway and when he hit solos, he put it forward all the way? One thing about Randy's tone that everyone could agree on, is that it sounded like crap. Its not a tone many actually want because it was just heavily distorted. I know he did use an MXR 10 band EQ as well as an MXR Plus distortion pedal. I've often seen guys incorporate a wah into it but their wah "leaks" from what is heard. He also used a chorus pedal. One guy used 2 chorus pedals to add depth which sounded pretty good with no wah. But his tone is not extemely hard to obtain. Not like trying to get Jimmy page, Peter Green or some type of tone where the "fingers" produce the tone as well.

Now with that said, his musicality is by far one of the best out there. To incorporate classical music into his playing is just phenominal.

He truly is/was one of the best out there and its sad his life so trageically ended young. But if he was still here today, I'd think by the 90s, hed have left playing live and focused on teaching because thats where his heart really was...

I was thinking of this while listening to some of the links. I can mimic his tone on even a strat by cranking the distortion and overdrive and throwing in a little chorus. Of course I'm not rhoads but you get the idea. It later became a little more compressed and polished and IMO became the guitar sound of glam rock/metal. Classic 80s really.

But if you really wanna talk about terrible tone from a great player, you have to look at Jeff Beck. If he were not so amazing you'd think he sucked!

 

[woohoosaint]

I was thinking of this while listening to some of the links. I can mimic his tone on even a strat by cranking the distortion and overdrive and throwing in a little chorus. Of course I'm not rhoads but you get the idea. It later became a little more compressed and polished and IMO became the guitar sound of glam rock/metal. Classic 80s really.

But if you really wanna talk about terrible tone from a great player, you have to look at Jeff Beck. If he were not so amazing you'd think he sucked!

A coworker of mine has an old friend that was a guitar tech for Jeff Beck in the early '70's.He said Beck was the easiest guitarist to work for because he never wanted his strings tuned! His guitars would be out of tune for whole shows sometimes...he would quickly adjust and bend the notes up to where they needed to be.

 

[Brennan77]

A coworker of mine has an old friend that was a guitar tech for Jeff Beck in the early '70's.He said Beck was the easiest guitarist to work for because he never wanted his strings tuned! His guitars would be out of tune for whole shows sometimes...he would quickly adjust and bend the notes up to where they needed to be.

Haha. That's awesome. I mean. The guy just bends and tremelo's his way to a song.

 

[saintsbank]

I could be wrong, but it seems like he used a wah in his sound. He probably had the pedal pressed around halfway and when he hit solos, he put it forward all the way? One thing about Randy's tone that everyone could agree on, is that it sounded like crap. Its not a tone many actually want because it was just heavily distorted. I know he did use an MXR 10 band EQ as well as an MXR Plus distortion pedal. I've often seen guys incorporate a wah into it but their wah "leaks" from what is heard. He also used a chorus pedal. One guy used 2 chorus pedals to add depth which sounded pretty good with no wah. But his tone is not extemely hard to obtain. Not like trying to get Jimmy page, Peter Green or some type of tone where the "fingers" produce the tone as well.

Now with that said, his musicality is by far one of the best out there. To incorporate classical music into his playing is just phenominal.

He truly is/was one of the best out there and its sad his life so trageically ended young. But if he was still here today, I'd think by the 90s, hed have left playing live and focused on teaching because thats where his heart really was...

They say he wasn't using a wah pedal at that time with QR and he was disgruntled with his tone. It was when he got with Ozzy he could afford better equipment. Him and the bassist from QR was such an awesome duo they really put the Ozzman on the map.

 

[woohoosaint]

awesome, i'd never heard those before. listening to it, i have to say i never realized how much flanger he used. it sounds awesome the way he has it all orchestrated & layered into his stuff, which is really cool, because to me the flange is normally something you can easily overdo.

at any rate, he was an amazing rock guitarist who left way too soon. RIP

According to this RR fan website he used a flanger, a chorus,and a phaser.

Ultimate Rhoads

MXR Stereo Chorus and MXR Flanger specifically.

 

[wizard1183]

They say he wasn't using a wah pedal at that time with QR and he was disgruntled with his tone. It was when he got with Ozzy he could afford better equipment. Him and the bassist from QR was such an awesome duo they really put the Ozzman on the map.

I mean on the BOO stuff. You can hear there's either a wah, flanger (def just turned on enough to give it a sound) or dual choruses to give it a "wah" sound if you listen well enough. For instance on Crazy Train; just listen to the opening riff, or even before he hits the riff when he hits those 2 notes and then pick scrapes. You can hear there's a "wah" sound or swoosh in it.

Back then, you can listen to live stuff and there was no ProTools or anythign out there so what you heard on a live album was how it actually sounded.Now adays, a guitarist can hit a unison bend and not even make it in unison and the sound engineer can bring it in unison. Or a singer can sing and be off a note and the engineer can make it sound like theyre a natural. And all this can be done live. Its bs. I understand on record, you want it to sound as awesopme as can be and the way you have it in your head, but live? I say, plug and play. Break a string, miss a note, hit the wrong note, change your solo or whatever. Be original and human.

This is Randy's setup. You'll notice the HUGE pedal board at the top, but thats not his setup for Ozzy. Beneath the Marshall Speaker cabs, you'll see his exact setup of his 6 pedals he used.
http://www.guitargeek.com/randy-rhoads-ozzy-osbourne-1981-guitar-rig-and-gear-setup-diagram/

 

[keefresh2]

According to this RR fan website he used a flanger, a chorus,and a phaser.

Ultimate Rhoads

MXR Stereo Chorus and MXR Flanger specifically.

some of those guys seem to be talking about what he used live, but fair enough.

I had read he used mxr 117 flanger, which is a very musical effect (same one van halen used a lot). It's not one of those real airplane swooshy flangers at all. It has settings on it that sound like chorus, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he had a dedicated chorus in his rig too.

anyway, it sounds like the way he used it was only in certain spots to make certain notes pop out with that metallic "zing" sound. I can respect that.

There is certainly some crossover in sound between chorus and flanger though, so in some places where I'm hearing flanger it could actually be chorus. the mxr stereo chorus is also very nice. sounds like he could have used phaser on some of the clean parts but without listening to the tracks again i can't put my finger on it.

btw, the 117 flanger used the SAD1024 chip which is now out of production and very difficult to find. I built a diy one that is adapted for mn3007 chips (it's called the collosalus over at madbeanpedals), and it sounds freaking awesome.

 

[wizard1183]

Well while we may not be able to play like Rhoads, we can quite easily get THAT sound. Now you go to late 60s early 70s? THAT sound is very difficult and expensive to obtain. And that's THE sound I'd love to have but I'd have to sell half or more than half my equipment to obtain and I haven't played enough with it to see of I enjoy the sound I'm getting. Guitars get you a qrtr of the way, the amp is what gets you at minimum 50%. I want to get a fender tweed or super deluxe vintage amp. May have to sell my 87 JMC 800 and 4x12 scumback equipped cab to get it. I'll never part with my 3 LPs. Though I'd love to get a 2013 LP 59. My 2008 RI 59 is pretty good but I'd like to hear the diff between them to see how much better a 2013 is. I'm sure if I just played with what I have I could get some decent tones with my equip. Thing is a 100w head and 4x12 is just so LOUD, not many places you can play it dimed. And that's where the Marshall shines...

 

[Brennan77]

Well while we may not be able to play like Rhoads, we can quite easily get THAT sound. Now you go to late 60s early 70s? THAT sound is very difficult and expensive to obtain. And that's THE sound I'd love to have but I'd have to sell half or more than half my equipment to obtain and I haven't played enough with it to see of I enjoy the sound I'm getting. Guitars get you a qrtr of the way, the amp is what gets you at minimum 50%. I want to get a fender tweed or super deluxe vintage amp. May have to sell my 87 JMC 800 and 4x12 scumback equipped cab to get it. I'll never part with my 3 LPs. Though I'd love to get a 2013 LP 59. My 2008 RI 59 is pretty good but I'd like to hear the diff between them to see how much better a 2013 is. I'm sure if I just played with what I have I could get some decent tones with my equip. Thing is a 100w head and 4x12 is just so LOUD, not many places you can play it dimed. And that's where the Marshall shines...

A Fender Blues Jr was the best guitar equipment I ever acquired. It makes everything sound awesome, even my 'saints' cigar box guitar. Needless to say it makes my Strat Plus sound like it deserves someone who can play better.

 

[wizard1183]

A Fender Blues Jr was the best guitar equipment I ever acquired. It makes everything sound awesome, even my 'saints' cigar box guitar. Needless to say it makes my Strat Plus sound like it deserves someone who can play better.

Lol I used to have one! I sold it ages ago! def a good amp! But I hear a vintage Tweed, twin reverb or deluxe is THE amp to have.

 

[woohoosaint]

Well while we may not be able to play like Rhoads, we can quite easily get THAT sound. Now you go to late 60s early 70s? THAT sound is very difficult and expensive to obtain. And that's THE sound I'd love to have but I'd have to sell half or more than half my equipment to obtain and I haven't played enough with it to see of I enjoy the sound I'm getting. Guitars get you a qrtr of the way, the amp is what gets you at minimum 50%. I want to get a fender tweed or super deluxe vintage amp. May have to sell my 87 JMC 800 and 4x12 scumback equipped cab to get it. I'll never part with my 3 LPs. Though I'd love to get a 2013 LP 59. My 2008 RI 59 is pretty good but I'd like to hear the diff between them to see how much better a 2013 is. I'm sure if I just played with what I have I could get some decent tones with my equip. Thing is a 100w head and 4x12 is just so LOUD, not many places you can play it dimed. And that's where the Marshall shines...

One of my old guitar players used to run his Marshall 100w head as the distorted channel and a Fender Music Man for his clean channel...sounded awesome!

 

[Brennan77]

Lol I used to have one! I sold it ages ago! def a good amp! But I hear a vintage Tweed, twin reverb or deluxe is THE amp to have.

I have the vintage tweed version with the Jenson speaker. I haven't compared it to a regular model. I'd love to have any of the traditional great amps. Ultimately they are all way too loud!

 

[wizard1183]

I have the vintage tweed version with the Jenson speaker. I haven't compared it to a regular model. I'd love to have any of the traditional great amps. Ultimately they are all way too loud!

Very true, it seems now a days, you gotta play coffeeshop low because ppl dont care to see "original" live music where youre jamming and LOUD. I know there are places that play loud, but Marhsal stack loud? Not many at all!

Hell, my JCM800 and 4x12, Literally a half mile away in the country it can be heard dimed! An old buddy I used to jam with went to a bar a mile form his house and he lived about a half mile away. He went home to grab a mike stand and I was jamming and he could hear me from his home.

I just cant understand how in the late 60s/early 70s, ppl would go to dive bars to hear a band rock and they had their 100w amps dimed with dual stacks. I mean that crap has GOT to be seriously deafening those dBs.

I'd love to find a decent amp not overpowered that could bring vintage tone. But I wouldnt know where to begin. I mean I guess I could bring my guitar to a store and start playing with amps but thing is, I have 3 diff Les pauls and all3 sound TOTALLY different. My 59 RI produces clear bell tones, while my wine red 2002 custom produces a nice distortions. My 74 white custom, Ive yet to play that through any amp worth a damn to know how it sounds. Though I wouldnt use that to try and emulate late 60s/early 70s...

 

[woohoosaint]

Very interesting article with Max Norman (producer of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman) about his working relationship with RR and the recording process for BoO & DoaM.

I wish I could post the whole article,but mods won't let me do it because of possible copyright infringement.

(Article was written in 1982)

Randy Rhoads: The Max Norman Interview | Jas Obrecht Music Archive