Blue Murder w/ John Sykes

  • Thread starter Thread starter MrDan666
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I was so looking forward to their self-titled album releasing after he was outed from Whitesnake. Sykes made that self-titled Whitesnake disc. I went to the first Blue Murder tour when they went through Boston. What a great band. I always wished he could've kept the original lineup together. If you haven't done so yet pickup the live disc Screaming Blue Murder. It is a must have for Sykes fans!
 
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Drew":b5788 said:
John has never used 5150's. On the that video Carl linked to, John is most likely using a combimation of a rack mounted Dual Recto and a Mesa IIB.
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Yeah, I thought I might have mixed the Jake show up with that one. They were within a month or so of each other and it was like 13 years ago.... :alcoholic:
 
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Gainfreak":53da5 said:
Drew (John Sykes' Webmaster) is a member here and probably could chime in.
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Tell him to get John to post here, so I can 'fan boy' him to death! :D
 
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STEEL KAGE":b6a0e said:
I swear , Sykes and Yngwie are the Vibrato Champions of the friggin world...
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Yep, I`d like to add Nuno to the list as well :) But they are, and I`ve always strived to get my vibrato as fat as those two guys (No pun intended, and Yng is slim again anyway :mrgreen: )
 
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Randy Van Sykes":f2b27 said:
>|<>QBB<Tell him to get John to post here, so I can 'fan boy' him to death! :D
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Methinks You've got a better chance of seeing Jesus then seeing Sykes post here :hys:
 
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Chubtone":2031a said:
Sykes is one of my all time favorites.

The volume knob and pickup switch selector checks that he does an average of 237 times per song is pretty hilarious. Makes him look like a mental patient. A mental patient with huge tone and great vibrato!
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Hahaha dude i thought i was the only one who noticed that! It surprised me because i have the exact same problem when i play live.. cant leave the volume knob and pickup switch alone! Its as annoying as a bloody nervous twitch haha!
 
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carlygtr56":a570a said:
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He does it constantly :D

His tone sounds like Mesa to me on this vid.
Guy has the sickest neck pu tone/ vibrato :)
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That tone in the Vid sounds like a Mesa and a Marshall ran at the same time. I tried the same thing with my MKIII and my Cameron modded JMP and it gets real close, you need the right speakers though to nail it!

I agree about the neck pickup tone, the guy inspired me to get an LP for that reason alone!! :D
 
Are the Mesa Mark III and your Marshall in phase with each other, or did you need a phase switching device to use them together ? :thumbsup:
 
From John's website:

AMPS: John uses Marshall amps and Mesa Boogie amps. For the last ten + years of Thin Lizzy tours or Sykes tours, John has been plugging his Les Paul straight into one 50 watt JCM 800 Marshall head running in to one Marshall 4x12 (or one of his custom-made made 4x12's). A back-up 50 watt JCM 800 Marshall and 4x12 are also on stage ready to go should the first amp go down.

For much of the Whitesnake '87 album and first Blue Murder album John used 2 Mesa Boogie Coliseum heads. These amps have a Mark III pre-amp section but use six 6L6 power tubes--giving the amps180 watts each! John also owns several Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+'s, Mark III's and some rack mounted Mesa Dual Recto heads. Other Mesa Boogie equipment includes a Tri-Axis preamp and a Strategy 500 Power Amp.

For speaker cabinets, John uses Marshall 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie metal grill "Half Back" 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto cabinets and some custom made 4x12 cabinets.



EFFECTS: The rack setup used during the later Blue Murder days included a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto head, a Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis Preamp, a Mesa Boogie IIC+ head, a Mesa Boogie Strategy 500 Power Amp, a rackmounted Dunlop Crybaby, a Lexicon PCM 41, a Lexicon PCM 70, and an H&H V800 Power Amp.
 
Anyone know for sure what speakers he uses in his cabs with which heads ? MC90s, EVs, or ?
 
The Big Snit":1e42orwu said:
Nice!
'Billy' is my favorite BM tune as well! 8)
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Definitely one of my faves too! In fact, I named a kitten after that song when that album first came out. He lived to be 18 years old. Died about 7 years ago I think. Wow... I'm gettin' old! :confused:
 
paulyc":1mefcqwu said:
Anyone know for sure what speakers he uses in his cabs with which heads ? MC90s, EVs, or ?
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I've been chasing Johns tone for many years and Pretty much nailed it. I'm not claiming to know how John Achieved that sound ,but I can tell you wholeheartedly that after trying an assload of speaker combos with my MKIII coli , a good cab with front loaded MC90's will get you closer then any combo I've tried. Even the Half back cabs with the MC90's and EV's will get you there.


I can say this with 100% conviction that just about any high gain amp that I put through My front loaded Ear candy cab loaded with mc90 speakers has a very Sykes like tone especially if I set it up with a bit of mid scoop. The MC90's have a shit ton of mids, so you can actually scoop the mids on your amp a bit and not get washed out.

I hope this helps.

~R~
 
Thanks Freak ! How close is a regular Mark III blue stripe to a Coli ? I have a Mark III blue stripe, but I only had 75 watt Marshall JCM 900 cabs, and to me , the 75s sound brittle with that amp. Just got 4 mc90s to try...does cab need to be front loaded ?
 
paulyc":1y8m2b3k said:
Thanks Freak ! How close is a regular Mark III blue stripe to a Coli ? I have a Mark III blue stripe, but I only had 75 watt Marshall JCM 900 cabs, and to me , the 75s sound brittle with that amp. Just got 4 mc90s to try...does cab need to be front loaded ?
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The Coli has a certain something to the sound but I've gotten a regular MKIII to sound like it no problem.

If you ever back track over the years, you can see some of my posts searching for that sound LOL. I once thought greenbacks would do the trick but I was wrong ;)

With that said, In my findings, having the Speakers Front loaded IS KEY.

As far as the 75's, I know what you are talking about because those are the speakers thatI started out using. They have way to much top/bottom and the mid is to scooped for that sound. The MC90's have a ton of mids to offset the scoop that you get from the Graphic EQ of the Boogies.

If you load your MC90's in a front loaded cab and set your MKIII to max gain, scoop the crap out of the mids with the Graphic eq , crank it and add some sauce(chorus/delay), you will thank me later :D
Even playing that combo Dry will put a smile on your face.

I have a Fortin modded Metroamp Modded to an old Jose spec that sounds just like MKIII when I hit it with a tube screamer.
I put it through a regular greenback cab it sounds insanely cool, put it though the MC90 front loaded cab, scoop the mids... Instant Sykes, I shit you not.

All the best!

~R~
 
Great info ! Can't wait to try it out ! What guitar / pick ups were / are you using for Sykes tone ? I'd love to believe it's all his '78 LPC, but there's too much whammy bar on alot of it, so I've always assumed (dangerous, I know) that he may have used that natural finish San Dimas with 2 humbuckers , black pickguard and black hardware that I've seen pics of floating around the 'net. :rock:
 
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