Secret to Mick Mars/Joe Holmes Heavy massive tones?

[D-Rock]

I read Mick say that in the 80's he blended his Marshalls with an old Garnet amp that was maxed out. He said the Garnet was ugly and thick, and sound like crap by itself. But made his tone huge when blended with his Marshall.
I've played Garnets, and I have to agree. Huge, thick, loud and clear sounding. Probably the meanest low gain vintage amp I've ever heard/played.

 

[Mailman1971]

The '94 album Motley Crue is pretty thick and heavy. Sounds massive on a good system.

That was all Slo on that album right?

 

[XSSIVE]

that was a lot of SLO but i'm not sure about all i think Mick always layers stuff. i love that album and the tone on it. the crazy thing i remember reading was that the main guitar for that album was the 21 fret strathead charvel which was formerly owned by Marc Diglio of XYZ. i say crazy since that guitar is a 2pc solid birdseye maple body, 1pc maple neck, floyd and a duncan distortion in the bridge...all things that tend to add up to bright but Mick makes it sound HUGE with his rig.

 

[Mailman1971]

Yeah we play alot of Crue in our Trio....and hard to capture his 'overlaying' sound.
Does sound massive....while not over saturated.

 

[bigtrex76]

The '94 album Motley Crue is pretty thick and heavy. Sounds massive on a good system.

That was all Slo on that album right?

Mostly slo but he used hiwatts, fenders, orange and his marshalls too. Listen too that thing with headphones you'll hear slight tone changes. That album is fn insane

 

[bigtrex76]

all those killer amps then he has to muck it up with the Quadraverb

I thought the same thing but I read he used it for only a Leslie effect. So it doesn't hurt his tone with so much going on and it in a loop. His rig is fn insane.

 

[bigtrex76]

He has alot going on yes? Mick

Good god where did you get that pick. There's a few on the Marshall (Italian) forums. But this shows the heads......

 

[Jordon]

He has alot going on yes? Mick

It's cool to see he still has that old Rivera Bonehead in there.

 

[thegame]

Don't forget Bob Rock produced the 94 Motley Crue album. A heavier tone than anything he ever acheived for Metallica IMO.

 

[rupe]

I saw Holmes on tour with Ozzy in '96 and I distinctly remember how bad his tone was. I pushed my way to the soundboard to hear what the knob twiddlers were hearing...same thing...thin, washed out, awful. It may have had a lot to do with the building but that's what soundcheck is for. Sepultura opened the show and their guitars were much more present even though their tones were much more scooped.

 

[reverymike]

I saw Holmes on tour with Ozzy in '96 and I distinctly remember how bad his tone was. I pushed my way to the soundboard to hear what the knob twiddlers were hearing...same thing...thin, washed out, awful. It may have had a lot to do with the building but that's what soundcheck is for. Sepultura opened the show and their guitars were much more present even though their tones were much more scooped.

Weird. I saw the same tour, and was blown away at how good it sounded, especially for being at an amphitheater. I had planned on leaving after a few songs, and ended up staying for the whole show. Sounded HUGE, Marshally, and slightly effected (delay), but not too much. Just perfect.

 

[Chubtone]

I saw Holmes on tour with Ozzy in '96 and I distinctly remember how bad his tone was. I pushed my way to the soundboard to hear what the knob twiddlers were hearing...same thing...thin, washed out, awful. It may have had a lot to do with the building but that's what soundcheck is for. Sepultura opened the show and their guitars were much more present even though their tones were much more scooped.

Weird. I saw the same tour, and was blown away at how good it sounded, especially for being at an amphitheater. I had planned on leaving after a few songs, and ended up staying for the whole show. Sounded HUGE, Marshally, and slightly effected (delay), but not too much. Just perfect.

If you read some of the old threads about Joe Holmes on here, a surprising amount of people described Holmes live tone as "huge" and "massive". I'd say it was freaking MONSTROUS. One of, if not the best live tone I have EVER heard. But I have no reason to doubt rupe either. Who knows what was going on the night he saw him?

His tone was just how reverymike described it. To me it was Van Halenish but heavier and thicker. I have wanted a real Jose Marshall for 15 years because of that gig.

David Philips from LA Sound Design had this to say about what Joe is doing lately:

"Joe is in the studio finishing up his new project. He is currently working with an unammed vocalist. This is some of the most intense playing I have heard in years. It is scary. The tones are unbelievable. Joe has some of the best Jose modded Marshalls. Six total. Plus a huge collection of vintage cabs. He has been taking his heads to Jose Arrendondo since the early 80's. They were good friends. Martin Golub has worked on Joe's amps for years. When this music comes out it will blow people away.

David Phillips"

 

[mightywarlock]

I wonder if an Axe-Fx can dial in that rack's tones...

 

[Shark Diver]

I wonder if an Axe-Fx can dial in that rack's tones...

I'm sure it could come close as it does to anything else. So not really.

 

[dual lead]

So what speakers does Mick use in his massive set up? Always kinda sounded like H30's to me.
Didn't he use Soldano cabs at one time, probably with Eminence legend V12's ?

Does anybody know if Eminence V12's and the Governors are real similar?

I know that Mick's thick guitar tone of Dr. Feelgood and many other tracks is due to massive layering as stated earlier. He would even keep his dummy track with a little fender squire 15 sometimes , he would say it just added so much to use different sounding amps and keep all the tracks. In the past couple years I have really grown to like Mick Mars thick guitar tone. Always a Crue fan since the early 80's!

 

[bigtrex76]

The guitar geek site may have the cabinet (speaker specs) type his name with guitar rig added too into google and stuff comes up. On the corabi tour I do remember seeing soldano orange and Marshall cabs. Since the crüe has come back I've seen marshalls and Rivera Los bottom subs. As far ad the Marshall's it's hard too say what he uses or combines. Quite frankly I'm surprised he let's much info out. On the other hand he shouldn't worry..... Who can afford that rig much less pay some peeps too lug it around

 

[kasperjensen]

Yeah a HB in a Strat really livens the bastard up. I have a American Deluxe FMT, and that bastard sings!

 

[jerrydyer]

He has alot going on yes? Mick

all this stuff for that brash garbagy tone..... I think it sucks! too much stuff.

 

[Anonymous]

are there any cheaper options like pedals for pitch shifting to thicken up your guitar tone?
Eventide and W/D/W are both very expensive.

Without the W/D/W setup, it won't work the same at all. If anything it will just wash out the tone trying to do the same thing in a standard Mono rig.

+1. Unless you are gonna step up to 3 cabs and a stereo power amp for W/D/W, you are gonna be disappointed... also, units like the SDE-3000 or and Eventide harmonizer add their own color to the tone that is unique. The only hardware unit I've found that sounds like the Eventide mircopitchshift is the Axe-FX, which costs way more than a used H-3000D/SX...

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

I remember going to see Ozzy on the tour that Joe Holmes played on, and I honestly only planned to stay for a song or two (I had free tickets), and as soon as they started, Joe's tone was just unbelievable! I stayed for the whole show. From what I understand it was a very simple rig too. Jose Marshall into a dry cab, a line out into left and right SDE3000s and then into a HH V800 power amp. I think he might have had something like a SD1 to boost for solos.

It was SICK. Someday, I need to replicate that rig and see how it sounds.

He has a Boss SE-70 in there and a Lexicon PCM-41 used as an always on boost (no delay) in the the Jose preamp send/return as well:



Steve