Randy Rhoads Tribute tone VS VH

[Santino]

I was at the Randy Rhoads Remembered concert about a week and a half ago. Supposedly they tour with Randy's actual amps. They were all Marshall with "Rhoads" slapped over the Marshall name. Different guitar players all with different guitars. All sounded great! Marshall rock tone all day and it rocked! It did not sound like any Randy tones I've heard. Especially not Tribute. it sounded way, way better!


http://www.californiamusicfest.com/randy-rhoads.html

[plexified]

Quite an interesting question for sure . If you think about it the Ozzy lineage comes from the origination of metal and has a certain sinister mood and the VH stuff is more sun and fun and girls and now we are going to compare ? Pretty much nuts and bolts . The thing is Randy did have an epic live tone. I think Schon had one too . But like I mentioned the first gig on the World tour with VHII is insane . He had the snake out and no spotlight. So its a draw. These days we get those tones in headphones or a small room with locked and loaded ammo courtesy of Metro amp . So Randy was a big showing of Sabbath hybrid tones. And that is no disrespect to Father Iomi. Randy channeled his vibe and added his own to it , but if he was still around its like asking what Hendrix would be . Such a gut wrenching thought. Its up to us to pick up that thought and you fill in that blank . What would Randy do ? What would Hendrix do ? man that is the genesis of what we do . isn't it ? I think if we all could fill up a darn coliseum like the greats did , what would we do . They showed us how good it feels and its what we aspire to . Right?

[kennzo5150]

Don't forget the genius that is billy gibbons. Dig deeeep into zz top stuff and you'll know what I mean. Hell even Ed has borrowed from the rev multiple times.....

[dirtycooter]

Totally see the BG influence takin somethin really simple and makin it sound so complex and some rythm tricks too

[evh100]

After hearing Eddie's tone with his 5150 iii stealth on the new live album, I really feel that it sounds a lot like Randy's tone...ie: more midrange and more dirt. Which is what Randy seemed to have in comparison to Ed 30 years ago.

[fivecoyote]

^ Now that is interesting, and accurate. Great observation.

[dirtycooter]

With one observation of deviation.
It seems to be more couped up and not as open. I think 6L6's have a different response to 34's takin this much pushed midrange. And that much preamp gain. But yes. Its in that zone of midrange exploitation.
34 based amps seem to welcome mids better than 6L6's from what I have been able to ascertain.

[Coalface 71]

1st post here.

I love both, and wouldn't be able to decide. It's hard to compare Girls and Beer, v Dungeons and Dragons.

Where Eddie slays it with the rhythmic/swing and ballsy improvisations in a party-song framework and never bogs the listener down, Randy kills it with textures and variation amongst the fire and brimstone epics.

Randy's studio tone is a bit cruddy at times, but the RRT album has a killer screaming Marshall tone.

VH have better songs than Ozzy in the main, but Randy never got a real chance in a different context for obvious reasons. And does EVH have a Crazy Train or Mr Crowley? It's unfair for me to compare. Apples and oranges.

Where would Randy be now? Hopefully doing what would have made him happy

Think I read an interview with Lynch years ago, where in it (paraphrasing) he claimed Randy thought EVH was god of the scene by miles, and everybody else was playing catch-up. But the facility RR was building up at just 25 years old, kinda reminds me of where guys like Kotzen, Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert and Vinnie Moore developed into as there years have advanced.

BTW, might be blasphemy here, but my preference for EVH tones are actually Fair Warning, than the loaded down/Bradshaw 5150, OU812 and the LWAN vid era. I'm only 43 though, I was in Kindergarten in '77.

[plexified]

We are in no mans land in a sense trying to compare stuff here . If you take that snake tone from VH in the second world tour with the Live Randy Tones its a toss up for sure . SO much power and massive coliseum tone we can only dream of being able to muster not being in those large venues . I only dream of that kind of stuff man , I have had the blessings of playing some cool places with massive tone but that's a barn burner . I say guys like Lynch in Radio City Music Hall and epic performances in MSG like Rush where Alex LIfeson had huge tones . Even In the Meadowlands in Jersey where SRV , Dio with VIvian Cambell and Def Leppard just killed it . For the money however it does not stop , Rainbow with the Scorpions opening during a MSG epic event was even just so hard to detract from , just Massive tones . That's the big power epic venue thing going on their . EVH in the Meadowlands on Diver Down when it was rescheduled from Eds broken stuff was amazing too . Its just another league and they all slayed . Meadowlands with Iron Maiden opening for Judas Priest on the Number of the Beast tour with Screaming for Vengance was insane even when KK fell and broke his arm , Glen just killed it . HUGE tones . They all are dreams of ours .
So cool to put Eds tones against Rhoades though , Its like a JBL cab versues the ALtec cab , Marshall style and who boosted who ? We were so blessed to have that stuff , today its a little watered down sometimes . Good bands still get some great tones and I won't bore you with my feelings on that , but , still great tones are attainable and I can think of many . BTW , Viv killed it like now other with Dio . OMG , do I remember that night , as did Ritchie and Mathias in those days.Lastly I waived my junior prom to see Yngwie in Lamours in Brooklyn and every band that night had hybrid tones to die for and Yng was amazing with vintage Marshalls and guts .

[fivecoyote]

I was at that Lynch/Radio City show man! Solid POWER that night. No pedals I can recall. Just volume. George killed it.

[FL6]

Does anyone know who Randy's guitar idols were? It always threw me off that he wasn't into Black Sabbath even though he got the call from Ozzie.

[Tone Slinger]

Mick Ronson ( that LP Custom !), Leslie West, Alice Cooper's guitarists. Randy was also into Michael Schenker and Gary Moore. These guy's he has mentioned, but I'd also assume that Randy had heard and LIKED Uli Jon Roth's work with the Scorpion's (as well as his first solo record), the diminished run in 'Steal Away The Night' is similar to Uli's in 'The Yellow Raven' off of the Scorpuon's 'Virgin Killer' album ('76) as well as ' Earthquake' off of his '79 solo album. That track's ending solo/cadenza ( 'Earthquake') actually exposes Malmsteen as an obvious fan

[Carbia]

Randy, Yngwie and even Uli are sons of Ritchie Blackmore.

I don't like Randy's sound, at least in studio. Crazy train, for example. It's a greaaaat song, but guitar sound lacks definition, it's a little bit fuzzy and Randy isn't very clean playing solos.
To me, Randy was far better writing songs than playing.

But I'm not a fan of VH sound either.

And, I have a question. Can anybody explain why Eddie's sound is called BROWN?
If I think in a brown sound I imagine a creamy, round and warm sound. Something like Warren Haynes, and Eddie is the opposite, it's more "razor sound"

[fhn_lopes]

. Crazy train, for example. It's a greaaaat song, but guitar sound lacks definition, it's a little bit fuzzy and Randy isn't very clean playing solos.
To me, Randy was far better writing songs than playing.

Have you ever heard anything live from RR? If He wasn't clean at solos, tell me who is.
The studio tone was discussed here before and yes it was bad engineered, but his live tones were KILLER. Tons of punch and sustain, way more defined and less fizzy.

But I'm not a fan of VH sound either.

And, I have a question. Can anybody explain why Eddie's sound is called BROWN?
If I think in a brown sound I imagine a creamy, round and warm sound. Something like Warren Haynes, and Eddie is the opposite, it's more "razor sound"

Be carefull, it's an EVH forum

It's called brown in the very opposite of your definition... dirty, with a pack of mud over (in a good way) , harsh, thick, spongy , but AWESOME and LEGENDARY. By no means I hear RAZOR SOUND in early VH, but describe tone with words is such a bitch sometimes.

[fivecoyote]

Randy's solos -- masterful compositions on their own in my opinion -- were doubled by him so don't sound tight sometimes.