@ yngwie308
Hi, I just found your post from " » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:29 am " regarding the secret to Yngwie's Alcatrazz tone ...
Firstly, I have always been a great fan of Yngwie and especially of his early work from around 1978-1985. His guitar tone from the early days is indeed "like a laser beam in how it cuts thru the mix...yet is warm and musical and with great sustain" This if of course the reason why so many players have tried to find the secret to his incredible tone.
I live in Sweden and I have thus read many articles in papers and watched several radio and video interviews, vhs videos etc featuring 16-19 year old Yngwie (nickname "Dyngve"). There is actually a lot of interesting information in this material regarding his guitars, pickups, amps and effects from the "pre-USA" time when he was still living in Stockholm...
The most interesting stuff from 1978-1981 was recorded by a band named "Powerhouse", featuring Marcel Jacob on bass guitar. Yngwie recently released a new version of the these recordings on the "Genesis" album. Some of the tracks on the Rising Force album are also said to be recorded in the same era in Stockholm. Yngwie's guitar rig did not really change after that until he moved to LA and after recording the Steeler album, when he started working with DiMarzio on the HS3-pickup...
The secret to Yngwie's s amazing guitar tone from the ~1978-1983 is therefore (according to the various sources mentioned above):
* Guitars: Only 1-2 Fender stratocaster's were used (vintage olympic white "the duck"+maybe 1-2 other guitars 1967-1972)
* Modifications: All guitars were scalloped by Yngwie, standard nut (not brass), disconnected tone controls
* Pickups: DiMarzio FS-1's in neck and bridge position (higher output, warmer and more bass). Yngwie did not use HS-3 pickups until around 1983. Early recordings were made using DiMarzio FS-1s or Fender stock pickups...
In some early videos you can see that his pickups have two wires (like FS-1) instead of four (HS-3). Maybe, the pickups in the famous "duck" guitar are still FS-1's?
* Overdrive pedal: DOD250 (gray only) with gain on max and level on nine o'clock
* Amplifier: Marshall MKII 50W, 1972 (according to Yngwie this was because there were really cheap at the time and he wanted as many full stack's as possible on stage, simply because it looked cool).
* Cabinets: Marshall 4x12 with Celestion 75W (not 30W's, they are too muddy according to several interviews with Yngwie).
* Effects: Roland DC-10 echo, BOSS OC-2, VOX flanger and a vintage Dunlop Cry Baby. However, the most important effect is (besides the DOD250) the Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1. This pedal was used on several of the early recordings including the Steeler and Alcatrazz albums "No parole from rock'n roll", "Live Sentence" and "Metallic Live 84" video. The interesting thing about the CE-1 is that it was not designed for guitar (impedance etc) so it adds some extra overdrive and boosts the signal even further, especially in a live configuration. This is also the reason why the retrosonic pedal is not as "good" in re-creating the Yngwie guitar tone...
Cheers
RisingForce