I mostly agree with this, especially with how he dial his amps in. The only caveat is that his tone usually changes riff by riff and I think to really do the AJ thing you need to swap amps depending on what you're playing. For mostly later stuff I think the VH4 seems to cover the bulk of his tones well. I feel like a 1959 will NAIL some of the tones but it can't really do a lot of the others.
I have it in some aspects as well, but when it dictates how I dial in digital presets, that's a red line.I have that OCD a bit, 33 is basically a third so it's a "nice" number, ending in .0 or .5 is cool with me, and I used to crew on an MH-47 so if something is set to 50, I'll make it 47 just because lol. I also like prime numbers (like listening to music in my truck I'll set the volume to 45, 47, 51, or 55 depending on the song's mix volume lol) and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm a psycho
This is fair. The later stuff definitely feels drier and more saturated to me, which screams VH-4. I prefer the older tones personally but there are elements of the later stuff (10k days onward) that I genuinely love and will occasionally chase. The Superlead alone won’t do those.
The one true not-modeller !!First everyone was buying rectifiers. Then it was Mark series. Now it’s Superleads.
This is cracking me up. We’re all going to own the same 5 amps.
This is true on album, but I don't think it is true for his live tones. his live tones are straight up really. Two amps, one set bassy, one set mid-rangey, gain and volume properly 420'd, slap some mics on it and call it done.
First everyone was buying rectifiers. Then it was Mark series. Now it’s Superleads.
This is cracking me up. We’re all going to own the same 5 amps.
Let me know how you like it. I don't have a Helix (Stadium on preorder though) but I'm curious how it is anyway.
Pretty sure it's always three amps live? At least it has been every time I've seen them live (except the VIP thing where he just had a single VH-4 blue; that was an incredible VIP experience).
Nah, one of the VH4's is a backup, far as I'm aware. Loads of shows where it never even gets turned on.
I agree with you 100% - get the gain and EQ right and the rest is up to your hands as much as that’s a cliche. I feel the same with effects, just get the effect into the ballpark and play. It’s fun to try and get as close as possible but I have a lot more fun just making what I have work for the situation and saying fuck it.
I recall that there is no daw or eq tricks with this kind of tone, it's straight up amp+cab and carefully adjusted mic position and blend, as simple and old school as it gets.
I've often thought that you can hear a lot of Dual Rec on those two albums tbh.
Yep. From years of reading forum posts that almost exclusively focus on the Super Bass and Diezel, I kind of overlooked how much the Dual Rectifier was a huge part of his tone. He seems to dial them all somewhat similarly so sometimes it’s not easy to pick them out. The Marshall is quite characteristically non-MV, and so has less low end and sounds a bit more blown out, which makes it easier to hear in isolated parts.
Dave Bottrill rules, thanks for doing that. Both he and Joe were a great fit for the band, and Dave’s work especially just sounds timeless to me.
I get that - I was just trying to understand how similar the tone is when standing in the room with the rig as opposed to the recorded sound which is getting help from the microphone. As you said, carefully positioning mic is part of it.
Yeah. And it's glorious.
I usually surround myself with good players, but this one’s me.
