Blue Murder w/ John Sykes

[Gainfreak]

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.

Trust me when I say this, when you use the Boogie setup for max gain the pickups used will not be as important because you can use the Graphic EQ to get what you want. Ive gotten that sound with PAF type pickups, Duncan distortions, PRS dragons and even a tone zone although the bass has to come down on the graphic when using the tone zone hahahaha!! My preferance is to use a high output pickup.
I also noticed that when you go for the back pickup boaty dreamy Sykes ballad leads that turning the tone knob down helps A TON



It sounds sick with my Les Paul and just as insane with my Charvels!!

You are correct about the Charvel. If I was a betting man, id say that the rhythms were done with the LP and any of the wammy dived wide vibrato leads were done with the Charvel. Id also keep in mind that he used a wah in front of the amp like a filter on the Blue Murder stuff, so that's cool to try out as well

 

[paulyc]

Cool pic ! Anyone know the issue of GFTPM this came from ?

 

[paulyc]

I've tried alot of pick ups over the years. Just the other night I was playing my 81 white with gold hardware Gibson Explorer (think Mathias Jabs) through my Atomica and I though it sounded pretty good...'till I pulled out my low serial number black / gold Jackson RR with original Duncan Distortion and destroyed the Gibby. No contest. Really opened my eyes (ears ?) !

 

[Gainfreak]

I've tried alot of pick ups over the years. Just the other night I was playing my 81 white with gold hardware Gibson Explorer (think Mathias Jabs) through my Atomica and I though it sounded pretty good...'till I pulled out my low serial number black / gold Jackson RR with original Duncan Distortion and destroyed the Gibby. No contest. Really opened my eyes (ears ?) !

My favorite pickup of all time is the Duncan Distortion. It gets ragged on by a lot of players because of having "Distortion" in the name and other rag on the ceramic mag, but whenever I've strayed away from that pickup, I always come back to it when I pick up my older guitars that have them loaded in them hahhahaha!

I'm actually going to load one in my White Charvel mutt

 

[paulyc]

I would have to agree that it's MY fav too Freak ! Have you ever tried the 1 or 2 meg ohm volume pot trick in any of your guitars ? I FRIGGIN LOVE IT ! Makes the guitar more "alive" with high output pick ups .

 

[Gainfreak]

I would have to agree that it's MY fav too Freak ! Have you ever tried the 1 or 2 meg ohm volume pot trick in any of your guitars ? I FRIGGIN LOVE IT ! Makes the guitar more "alive" with high output pick ups .

I have wanted to try that ever since picking up the Tube Amp book by Dan Torres lol! He was a HUGE pusher of the 1 - 2 meg Volume pot trick.

Like many things in my life, I got to lazy to try it hahahaha

 

[paulyc]

Give it a shot. I think you'll dig it. You can order a couple 1 megs from Ted Webber's site...I got a couple that were push/pull for the Lynch p/u switching deal...the pots are great...don't like the push / pull..too hard to pull it fast.

 

[garey77]

..too hard to pull it fast.

It's never too hard to pull it fast!

 

[paulyc]

You know...I thought that too...but sometimes I like it slow...lol

 

[paulyc]

Gainfreak...who did your Jose mod to your Metro build if you don't mind me asking, and is it the LG or HG Jose ? How do you like it ?

EDIT : Nevermind about who...I re-read your post about Fortin

But how do you like it and which / what spec is it ?

 

[Wayniac3]

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.

He also briefly used Wizard cabs on (I believe) the first Blue Murder tour

 

[Gainfreak]

Gainfreak...who did your Jose mod to your Metro build if you don't mind me asking, and is it the LG or HG Jose ? How do you like it ?

EDIT : Nevermind about who...I re-read your post about Fortin

But how do you like it and which / what spec is it ?

Pauly,

The Mod that Mike did was actually cloned from an original Jose Modded Marshall. It's not a spin on the Jose stuff and It's not taken from the Schematic that's floating around on the net. It's 100% taken from an original Jose modded amp and I absolutely love it. I would say that compared to the mods that are out today that it's lower gain even when you engage the clip circuit ,but when you throw a Tubescreamer in front, It's quite possibly one of the best tones I've ever had. Ola Englund used the amp on his USA leg of his SFU tour and I just got it back.

 

[paulyc]

Did you have the Schematic yourself or did Fortin have it ? Can you describe the amp ? Extra pots or switches ? Different master ? efx loop ? extra tubes ? seperate clean channel ? 50 or 100 watt ? is it gooped ? if I asked Fortin for the GAINFREAK mod would he know what I'm talking about or would he be like " huh ?" ? Thanks for all the help here, I know this is getting long winded...

 

[MrDan666]

Yup that Jose Mod in your Metroamp is KILLER Ralph! Here's one that i did last year, with the exact same mod that's in your amp

 

[MrDan666]

Oh and by the way.... Holy crap is this an old thread

 

[paulyc]

I know it's old as the hills, but it's new to me. I love Sykes' tone and playing and I love Aldrich too. Love talkin' gear.

 

[MrDan666]

I know it's old as the hills, but it's new to me. I love Sykes' tone and playing and I love Aldrich too. Love talkin' gear.

Then you came to the right place Always enjoy chatting with other Sykes/Aldrich fans!

 

[Drew]

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.

He also briefly used Wizard cabs on (I believe) the first Blue Murder tour

He used those cabs on the last two Lizzy tours he was on (in '07 & '08). They weigh a lot! He had 6 of them and we sold off 4 in 2000. However, a few years later we were after A/B'ing the 2 remaining cabs with his favorite Marshall cabs and the Wizard cabs sounded better and eventually he ended up getting some of the 4 previously sold cabs back. These are the "custom made" 4x12 cabinets I mention on the website and is quoted above.

 

[MrDan666]

He used those cabs on the last two Lizzy tours he was on (in '07 & '08). They weigh a lot! He had 6 of them and we sold off 4 in 2000. However, a few years later we were after A/B'ing the 2 remaining cabs with his favorite Marshall cabs and the Wizard cabs sounded better and eventually he ended up getting some of the 4 previously sold cabs back. These are the "custom made" 4x12 cabinets I mention on the website and is quoted above.

Thanks for sharing that info Drew!

What speakers does John have in those Wizard cabs? And are they front loaded?

 

[paulyc]

If they're really heavy, it sounds like EVs or some other huge magnet, cast frame monsters. Thanks !