@Ron Gillespie Do you know what a "riff" means? What u just said isn't a riff but a verse aka lyrics. Mars has nothing to do with the lyrics, he meant the guitar riffs that he wrote and played are killer. He's indeed very underrated
A lot of that had to do with Geoff Workman's engineering skills. That whole album had a certain grittiness and dark sound that no other Motley Crue album had.
Mick Mars: criminally underated. Other guitarists that should get more recognition are: Robin Crosby & Warren DeMartini of RATT. and Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. these guys had some amazing tone.
The best way to describe Mick's tone is some raucous combination of "sleazy" and "sexy". The guy has ALWAYS been one of my all-time favorite guitarists. He's always been somewhat underappreciated...criminally so I feel at times.
Think of how many guitarists play Les Paul guitars into Marshall stacks, and they all have different, distinct tones. What does that tell you? It says the meat-and-potatoes of their sound is in their hands and the feel they use when they approach playing. This is why Mick Mars, Slash, Jimmy Page, Ace Frehley, and God knows who else all sound different from each other despite using similar equipment.
Glad to see you giving MM a wrap. I am 50yo and was heavily into hard rock/blues rock and remember 'Shout at the Devil's release and that whole American scene. Mick always had a tough sound which was always different to everybody else not to forget his ability to write great riffs. Who cannot deny G,G,Girls riff or the classic 10 sec to love. I could go on.
The self titled Album "Motley Crue" has some of the best sonics, songs, riffs of most anything he's done! Hopefully his anticipated solo release will eclipse that one, but I won't hold my breathe.
I'm in two bands, and most of my friends are Metal Heads; I don't recall anyone EVER bagging on Mick. Thanks for the informative video; and, I just subscribed 🤘🏻
Owen, I recently tried Amplitube, Guitar Rig and Bias Fx. I liked the tone to be honest BUT I WAS NOT REAL. Nothing will replace my valve amps, the analog FX, my preamps and even cables. And I see myself in a few years surrounded by real gear just like you. Thank you for being "the old school guy", cuz you are the real deal. Great video. Never been a fan of the music, but I'm a fan of the Motley tone. Keep it up.
This is probably one of the best videos I ever watch, no joke I’m like you a tone chaser so we speak the same language. Mick Mars sound is really awesome and I hate that he is so underrated. Thanks so much and congratulations you nailed it
NOTHING like based Marshalls doing their thing in slightly different environments at the same time. What a joyful sound. 'Too Fast For Love' - That's my favorite from them.
Mick Mars is another guitarist that will go on certainly in my book to be one of the greats. I've been chasing tone nearly 40 years and I can't come anywhere close what's someone like Mick Mars is doing. Back to the drawing board. I like to see you even do it tone run down on Ace Frehley am I think is another underrated guitarists. Keep it coming Owen. Rock on!!
Dude. What a great vid! I love your passion. I’ve commented before how I’m a thrash/metal head at heart but Crue is part of my roots. Great work!!! \m/
There is that clean tone he gets when the music breaks down on Kick Start My Heart that I've always been curious about how ge got? Im sure its just him turning down the volume knob on his guitar possibly because I've heard Van Halen do something close sounding
Oh PS - I worked at Jose's Shop...... yup and EVH built my guitar there with dan armstrong who made some pups for him 1984 tour. I was at rehearsals and hauled EVH amps back and forth etc.
its the blue face mxr... I was also at the first Motley gig (he sounded spot on to the records and literally the blue face maybe 6 feet from me at the roxy/whiskey/6 flags etc). 2nd third etc blue face mxr start at push button 2 3 4 5 etc.... he would switch between songs and has always used it... its his trademark... mixture of clean and dirt and both pauls and starts later.... and then there is Corabi who was doing a project with me and flew up here to Portland. I learned a lot from John as well. John is one hell of a writer producer/guitarist/vocalist Jose invented the ampeg v4.... marshalls were modded to use sylvania tubes and to emulate the V4.... variac to 80 No pedals other than the flanger and other terry kilgore impliments... all of that cam from terry.... like half of EVH at least.
Good to hear you mention the old school death/grindcore underground...my band started in 92 so I have been in that scene for a minute. The good old days....was on Wild Rags Records at the beginning...got to play a few Milwaukee Metalfests in the mid 90s...must a magical time man. Good show
Well are you not the little researcher...lol...Mick,is simply one of the kindest men I know. And if you ever see him, run because he will not be happy to see you!!! Lol...no jk...Mick, is a very technical guy who simply worked very hard with his gear and guitars. Always involved with things and damn near born with his guitar attached to him. His tone has always been Motleys best kept secret weapon and he sounded amazing even on the glorified demo "Too fast" album...Also having Father Jim Marshall work out your little things...likes and dislikes of the amp...helps indeed. Not many pics of his rack and surely not much info. on his sound...nothing of any real use anyways...but the real trick at the end of the day was simply his things done in the iso cab rooms and such. I even remember him doubling a guitar track and slightly offsetting one track from the other to create this really interesting 12 string like thing. He is VERY, VERY INFLUENTIAL GUITAR PLAYER AND GREAT GUY HANDS DOWN!! But like I said.....run!!!
Great video, thank you, super interesting. You have an awesome amp set up, just outstanding. MC owes everything to Mick. It was his decision to drop down to D tuning and that is what made the Motley sound.
Kickstart My Heart is the ultimate metal anthem in my opinion. And the drum and guitar sound in that song is fucking massive and heavy as fuck. I love that fucking song.
Furman Pq-3 and LPB-1 into a Jose modded Super Lead Marshall at the US Festival and a Les Paul Custom with a DiMarzio X2N, he also used a Phaser effect during the Shout tour you can really hear it on Bastard live during that Tour.
Good luck figuring out how Mick gets his tone. I have been trying since 1983 and regardless of what I come up with it never sounds exactly the same. The secret lies in the finger tips of Mick's fret hand. Without Micks fingertips we are SOL.
Mick also uses super weird chords, lots of jazz and odd power chords, as well as often using alternate tunings. That's one reason why this stuff doesn't sound quite right. He's playing it all wrong.
I can get there with my Friedman Be 100 and any boost. Sounds HUGE, all the saturation without sounding muddy, enough low end to flap pants but not fart, and enough treble to cut but not scrape your eyes out.
I used to have an old guitar magazine from back in the 1990's (forget what the name of it was), it came out after Feelgood so it was likely somewhere from 91'-94'. It was a special issue that focused on just a few 80's players with 5 or 6 pages on each one and a good 3-4 pages of full text interviews! I lost this mag years ago but I remember Mick talking about his Marshalls being modded. He also talked about live shows using a line-out connected to a pair of QSC 1500 PA amps that powered the Marshall cabs bypassing the power amp section of the Marshalls altogether. This could have been one of the stories you said he likes to sometimes tell but I don't really know. Stella guitars is what Blues legend Ledbelly played, likely why Nicky liked it so much (Ledbelly is one of my favorites to). I read somewhere back in the day that Nicky had his first basses strait-wired from the toggle switch so it was just on or off.
I didn't care because Crue weren't my cup of tea, but I distinctly remember noticing in the 80s and 90s, even among guitar geeks and the buy-this-gear-oriented magazines, that Mars seldom ever got credit for even existing much less being a good melodic soloist, writing some catchy hooks and having a great hard rock tone in general. I guess he just wasn't flashy enough on the fretboard or enough of a wildman jerk to get people's attention. Someone below mentioned Steve Stevens and much the same applies to him.
Cannot deny that Mars tone! Great video as always Owen. It is amazing how mic placement with microphones and types of rooms creates an excellent presence that you cannot replicate with digital. Creates a "WOW" nuance! Case in point ; evidently Queen would place a small tube amp on a rope tether from the ceiling and swing it back and forth as per "Bohemian Rhapsody" for that classic album.
They are saying he used a mimic or doubler to give it a fatter like 2 guitar playing the same chords. Try a mimic pedal and he also used a Soldano SLO 100 per every so many Marshall's for extra bite and down tune a step and like a chainsaw he definitely had the best tone no doubt. I hope this helps and enjoyed this video, thanks!
Another thought. As t who worked on Mick's amps. Who was known for adding the second control pot and what was it for? Was it a completely new added gain stage on the front end that cascaded the current into a preamp tube? Since he was using Superleads as his platform, and his distortion isnt into high gain territory(as far as by today's standards), if he in fact had an additional cascaded preamp installed ie: 1959 > 2203 the post from Vol I & II could easily handle that. Is that a PPIVMV control? Post Phase Inverter Master Volume which would allow Mick to crank the preamp section and use that pot as a means to control how much was let into the poweramp section? Most of the guys who had modded amps back in the day (myself included) who had superleads and adding a Randall Smith type cascading preamp topology to the front end to get that preamp distortion ( essentially the same thing that Marshall started using on their 2203/4 amps) would use one of the preexisting volume pots to control that. Those of us who also had a PPIVMV installed (usually prior to the preamp mod) would need the extra pot control. Of course by the end of the 80's guys were modding amps with extra tube gain stages, PPIVMV, switchable tone stacks, all sort sof other bells and whistles and the amps would have all sorts of mini swithces and added pot controls. Now, who was modding amps at the time? Best known is Jose Arredondo. In his case it was a local guitar hero helping out a friend of the family who owned a TV repair shop. The Jose mod is an ok mod, but are a little noisy and arent that articulate. Besides, they require additional switches and additional pots to implement. Neither of which were ever on Eddie's or Mick's amps. Mike Soldano? Mike was the guy Mick went to right after he stopped touring with his Marshalls. Stayed with him forever as well. Too Fast sounds like a Marshall and MXR Distortion+, Shout sounds like a Soldano Avenger 100 with the resonance feature added. The Avenger is just the Solo channel of a SLO100 so there isnt any clean bleed into the signal. ITs a hairier amp than a SLO. The SLO can be accomplished inside a MArshall platform with no extra pots on the front panel. But you need an additional pot to add the variable resistor into the negative feedback section of the circuit to get that extra depth/resonance control. Bill Fryette? Nope that dudes ego would have made sure the world knew he did Mick's amps. Frank Levi (SIR Studios)? #34 & #39 sound nothing like Mick's amps. guys who mod usually have a signature to their mods the SIR facilities amps (Appitite for Destruction, George Lynch Dokken tone) have more of a grind in the upper mids than Mick's amps.. Ruling Levi out. Lee Jackson? I would put him on the more possible list right after Mike Soldano. Mainly able to keep his mouth shut about working and modding peoples amps. Another thing is that Lee's mods tend to keep the existing tone stack of an amp or to make them beefier( read lower mids). Tim Caswell? See #34 & #39 above apparently it was Caswell and Levi who worked on the circuits, but it was Levi who actually installed them Caswell being the maintenance Manager for the gear lock at SIR. Im not even sure on these stories as that whole era of Rock&Roll is filled with as much bullshit as truth. From EVERYONE. editied because I used the wrong name of who was at SIR. It was not Friedman. Bob Egnator? Can get the goods but I dont think he was in southern California in this era. Guitar Services Unlimited? Have the right clientele. In the area, have beent here for 30 years? pushing it there, but who were they prior? have to determine their pedegree. Put these guys on the list. There are also many stores who are probably not around any longer who had techs that would have make easy work on anyones amp Mick included. We also have to remember Mick only became Mick in Motley, Prior to that, he had already been in the LA Music scene for 10-15 years as Bob Deal. Were his amps worked on prior to Motley? If so, then good luck because it would be one of those Who the fuck is Bob Deal type things. Especially if a few years before Motley. I love this type of mystery as I geek out on guitar amps. Oh, Look at the Arion chorus pedal the old shitty plastic box stomp pedals from the 1980's. That is the chorus everyone used. It was the secret weapon of the 1980's they are high dollar on reverb.com compared to the other offerings by Arion.
Good to see Mick rightly getting some respect. I saw Crue about 15 years ago and wasn't expecting much ( I saw them in 91 at a festival and they were bad) Mick Mars sounded fantastic....the others sounded semi pro at best. It makes me smile that ToP gets so much hate when in my opinion there were a fair few dud tracks on the first two albums. ToP has plenty of good riffs and solo's.
5 лет назад
I’ve noticed that TOP fans typically don’t love the other albums.
Thanks for the research Owen. I remember spending the night at a friends house in 4th grade. We snuck around his house at 1am and he put Shout at the Devil onto his parents record player. We had to sit an inch away from the speakers to hear anything so that we didn't wake anyone up. I remember the look on my face listening to the intro on that album, like we were going to be in big big trouble if his parents woke up and saw that record album cover. Love their first two albums and Dr. Feelgood as well. Thank you again. Btw- TC Electronics makes an ok pedal that can help with that layered sound - The Mimic. I found out about it through your listeners here.
I signed up on Patreon; I had no idea the donation amounts were as low as 3 bucks a month. I'll look up on how to get your pedal and pickups this week.
Man your house looks like the layer of a mad tone scientist, also your pickups are starting to really intrigue me. You always demonstrate them with driven tones and they sound spectacular, but how do they do with cleans? This is probably one of your best and coolest videos you've done in a while 🤘🤘🤘
Thats sounds monstrous, theres a pedal that emulate 2 guitars its call the mimiq or something like that , you think that we can get that effect with this pedal?
Speaking of Gallien Krueger, I just bought a 250ML which were all the rage mid eighties and was on Motley Crue's Theater of Pain, ZZ Top's Afterburner, as well as Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time. It's amazing for a solid state amp, though for some reason using the two internal speakers get closer to those tones than plugging it into a cabinet (I also added EXTRA chrous and a delay pedal to get close to Adrian Smith's tone on SIT). Would love a video on Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time/Seventh Son tone- different amps (both Gallien Krueger) but it would be interesting. I'm gonna try to get close, I bought it because of the Maiden albums and it's my 30th anniversary as a metal fan this year, and that was part of the reason I bought the Krueger lol
yeah it was great! Also should mention, that very same Gallien Krueger was used on Rush albums like Power Windows- a very controversial amp (the infamous picture of Lifeson with his sockless loafers and Miami Vice outfit right next to the stool with the Krueger on it years back was used as an example of when "guitarists lose their balls", most famously back in the day on the "Dinosaur Rock Guitar" website)- I dig it though, very much like the Scholz Rockman I once had, but more open and slightly less compressed sounding.
Mars is a musician. The other 3 entertainers. BUT , lead /only guitar is where the talent must lie. It does and they are a well meshed group. Enjoy the entire act a lot !
Hey thanks for doing this one! One thing I was hoping you'd address was Micks tone specifically on the track Too Young to Fall in Love, that really dark nasally guitar tone- much more so than any other track on SATD. My only guess is a heavy filter, like a wah set to a fixed position. Any ideas?
As a thrasher. I never liked Vince Neil but I like Mick Mars. I thought he was in the wrong band or just have a lazy singer. And yes every thrasher I know rips on Motley but not on Mick, they respect the hell out of him.
Have you listened to the 94 album with John Corabi? It's thick and heavy as hell with Mars still achieving his bluesy melodies. It's their best album, but least known.
This week I was able to bring up the gate fold cover of Theatre of Pain in a conversation at work. I never thought that would be possible. This vid feels like Karma nice one man \m/
@@CIRCLEOFTONE was also able to bring up Lords Of Chaos and the church burnings which I refereed to as wonderful nostalgia, It was worth it for the blank stares and the uncomfortable smiles
Awesome vid bro! I watched the Dirt last week and this was really cool. I always remember Mick had some monster tone. I think a big part was that he tuned down.
Early days- Gibson LP Custom, probably a Dimarzio Super Distortion from photos, modded Marshall Plexi, and an ElectroHarmonics LPB-1 booster ( from an interview I read ) and probably Greenbacks
Man, this is so true. Was never really a huge fan of the Glam / Hair thing (well, with the exception of WASP but I was more interested in Thrash / Speed, Death, Black, Viking and other "extreme" styles). Still, I liked dudes like Mick Mars and George Lynch, especially Mars with his grittier tone. I know he eventually moved to playing Strats almost exclusively around the mid 1990s but the "dirt" was still there. There are some early shots of him playing Les Pauls, Kramers, BC Rich Warlocks and at least one Hamer that I've seen. Had no idea he used anything else, I never knew about the PRS. Maybe he wasn't the most technical or proficient guitarist but he totally rocked. Nikki definitely played a mean bass but I probably wouldn't have liked Crue as much without Mars. Great vid and I dig the Kramer. Totally old school. =) \m/
Thank You for having class man. Crüe is my band and I appreciate your honesty and class here and hell there are other bands that can play way better than my boys for sure but, Crüe is my band.
Not sure if I agree on all the "Mod" stuff. When did he afford that on Too Fast or Shout. His main signature sound is "loud" and double-tracking the parts.
Man for me it was the '83 US festival tone that wins wrt live tone. But my favs are the first two records. But the rest of the records are really good too.
Could you expand more upon setting up the room mic - how to get the desirable phase shift. Did you you go by ear or measure it by distance to the cab ? Or rearrange the 2 tracks in the DAW
I placed the mic where I did because I know the room. I've mic'd the room many times. Different sized rooms will require different placement but generally walk around while a looper pedal is playing the riffs and find a good spot then plonk a mic there.
Aren't you recreating the HAAS effect? I think this is what Mick, knowingly or unknowingly was doing. There are many ways to get this effect, this is the original way to do it, but you can also do it with a very short delay - around 15-30ms...
Awesome video dude, you did a great fucking job! He has such a big fucking sound these days that it's almost funny 😅😎 Yeah, the main reason one listened to Motley Crue is because of the riffs created by Mick Mars, but to be honest, I actually liked Vince's voice on the first 2 albums, it had attitude to it 👍😎 Mick deserves a lot more praise than he gets, maybe he will get that now, following the movie, this video etc. 👍 And for a fact, sidetracking here, Dime did actually use the PQ-3 on two albums, Cowboys from Hell and The Great Southern Trendkill, he has said that in quite a bit of interviews, and he prefered that one over the PQ-4, which he used on Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven 👍 Maybe do Dime for a tone video at some point? 😏 Anyways, keep it up dude!
Yeah but if you double track like on later albums, that up's the perceived gain. In shout at the devil it wasn't that gainy and you can hear how much gain I had when I had the lpb-1 boost enabled.
I think you are forgetting about Girls Girls Girls even though you mentioned it because that album compared to Theater, was a HUGE comeback to a lazy and uninspired album. Gave me some great ideas for recording one guitar though! A lazy man just pans the same guitar to the other side and offsets the timing by a second and boom! Huge sound.
Super effort in research man...simple licks but deceptively difficult to play with good feel - great job. I think it’s wiser to trust your ears than the mischief that mick may have dealt out in interviews 🤣
CIRCLE OF TONE. Man I remain highly suspicious that RUclips is fu@king w your ranking algorithm though I have no idea why they would. You sound like you’ve gone thru the optimisation suggestions and not seen a significant change - true? Have you measured whether cutting length to 15m and under (even if it splits a vid into 2 parts) has any effect?
@@CIRCLEOFTONE its all about sharing for a common goal. But there are early pics around of his gear with the PQ3, the green face unit, in his gear.i think the PQ4 came around Far Beyond Dricen... might be off on that, but think its in that time frame.
Great vídeo, brother! Im a thrasher since the late 80's. I liked WASP, but never could like glam bands like Motley Crüe, Guns n Roses, Poison 🤮...etc. From some years ive been liking some riffs, and even a few songs, from Motley Crüe, and i think Mick deserves respect. But I still dont like most of Motley Crüe songs. Cheers from Portugal 🤘🍺🇵🇹 PS: Fuck yeah, i have subscrived!
It’s true. Mars never gets the adoration he should, his riffs are brilliant, he’s the backbone of the band
@Ron Gillespie Do you know what a "riff" means? What u just said isn't a riff but a verse aka lyrics. Mars has nothing to do with the lyrics, he meant the guitar riffs that he wrote and played are killer. He's indeed very underrated
The majority of the riffs wore written by Nikki Sixx, Mars perfected them and they sure sound the way they do bc of Mick, but wasn’t him writing them
Well he's the only one in the band that actually has any talent so, maybe not brilliant but yeah
No one is going to make a "backbone" joke? Okay. I won't either.
Shout at the devil guitar tone is the best
Mick’s tone is simple.
Loud , Rude , and Aggressive...
Sounds like the ad they placed.
Let me fix the title for you:
"Güïtär tönë sëcrëts öf Mötlëy Crüë änd Mïck Märs?"
I believe you're missing a few umelets?
Hahaha... good one! 😅😅😅
Mick's tone on the album 'Shout At The Devil' is fire... 🔥🔥🔥
unparalleled to this day
A lot of that had to do with Geoff Workman's engineering skills. That whole album had a certain grittiness and dark sound that no other Motley Crue album had.
My mentor! I miss him terribly.
His tone was very similar when Crue played the 83 US festival.
The best
Mick Mars: criminally underated.
Other guitarists that should get more recognition are:
Robin Crosby & Warren DeMartini of RATT. and Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P. these guys had some amazing tone.
Agreed. You may like this one I did on Chris ruclips.net/video/Ls28gjuUFX8/видео.html
Mick is like Billy Gibbons - simple riffs and TONE. He just had that SOUND!. Though on the latest album his guitar was too low in the mix.
The best way to describe Mick's tone is some raucous combination of "sleazy" and "sexy".
The guy has ALWAYS been one of my all-time favorite guitarists. He's always been somewhat underappreciated...criminally so I feel at times.
Hell yeah! I've already watched "The Dirt" three times. Mick Mars had great tone and a great story of survival.
Think of how many guitarists play Les Paul guitars into Marshall stacks, and they all have different, distinct tones. What does that tell you? It says the meat-and-potatoes of their sound is in their hands and the feel they use when they approach playing. This is why Mick Mars, Slash, Jimmy Page, Ace Frehley, and God knows who else all sound different from each other despite using similar equipment.
Glad to see you giving MM a wrap. I am 50yo and was heavily into hard rock/blues rock and remember 'Shout at the Devil's release and that whole American scene. Mick always had a tough sound which was always different to everybody else not to forget his ability to write great riffs. Who cannot deny G,G,Girls riff or the classic 10 sec to love. I could go on.
I love his tone. My favourite Crue album is Too fast for love. THAT is Motley Crue.
The self titled Album "Motley Crue" has some of the best sonics, songs, riffs of most anything he's done! Hopefully his anticipated solo release will eclipse that one, but I won't hold my breathe.
He will have his trick bag close by!
I'm in two bands, and most of my friends are Metal Heads; I don't recall anyone EVER bagging on Mick. Thanks for the informative video; and, I just subscribed 🤘🏻
Cheers Jeff.
Owen, I recently tried Amplitube, Guitar Rig and Bias Fx. I liked the tone to be honest BUT I WAS NOT REAL. Nothing will replace my valve amps, the analog FX, my preamps and even cables. And I see myself in a few years surrounded by real gear just like you. Thank you for being "the old school guy", cuz you are the real deal. Great video. Never been a fan of the music, but I'm a fan of the Motley tone. Keep it up.
Yep. The initial impact of VST is
Good but after a few mins it grates on the ears. Check this out ruclips.net/video/7L9RcbZYaz0/видео.html
This is probably one of the best videos I ever watch, no joke I’m like you a tone chaser so we speak the same language. Mick Mars sound is really awesome and I hate that he is so underrated. Thanks so much and congratulations you nailed it
Thanks man. Made my day.
NOTHING like based Marshalls doing their thing in slightly different environments at the same time. What a joyful sound. 'Too Fast For Love' - That's my favorite from them.
Mick Mars is another guitarist that will go on certainly in my book to be one of the greats. I've been chasing tone nearly 40 years and I can't come anywhere close what's someone like Mick Mars is doing. Back to the drawing board. I like to see you even do it tone run down on Ace Frehley am I think is another underrated guitarists. Keep it coming Owen. Rock on!!
Great suggestion. Thanks Jack.
Dude. What a great vid! I love your passion. I’ve commented before how I’m a thrash/metal head at heart but Crue is part of my roots. Great work!!! \m/
Cheers man. Means a lot.
CIRCLE OF TONE. Feel free to check out my past band. ruclips.net/video/yKFjunhO_ks/видео.html
There is that clean tone he gets when the music breaks down on Kick Start My Heart that I've always been curious about how ge got? Im sure its just him turning down the volume knob on his guitar possibly because I've heard Van Halen do something close sounding
Oh PS - I worked at Jose's Shop...... yup and EVH built my guitar there with dan armstrong who made some pups for him 1984 tour. I was at rehearsals and hauled EVH amps back and forth etc.
That's cool. Absolute legend.
Would love to hear you tackle that crunchy early 90’s Deicide tone, but Slayer’s Reign in Blood is an absolute must! Sheer face-melting tone
Just a JCM800 mid scooped for RIB.
Mash Potatoes Slayer use lots of mids!
its the blue face mxr... I was also at the first Motley gig (he sounded spot on to the records and literally the blue face maybe 6 feet from me at the roxy/whiskey/6 flags etc). 2nd third etc blue face mxr start at push button 2 3 4 5 etc.... he would switch between songs and has always used it... its his trademark... mixture of clean and dirt and both pauls and starts later.... and then there is Corabi who was doing a project with me and flew up here to Portland. I learned a lot from John as well. John is one hell of a writer producer/guitarist/vocalist Jose invented the ampeg v4.... marshalls were modded to use sylvania tubes and to emulate the V4.... variac to 80 No pedals other than the flanger and other terry kilgore impliments... all of that cam from terry.... like half of EVH at least.
A lot of respect here! you went in deep and the sound shows.
"A MARSHALL & A GIBSON & SOMETHIN' IN FRONT NOW & THEN & YOUR GOOD TO GO BRO..." DAMN RIGHT OWEN. WELL STATED !!!
Hehe
Good to hear you mention the old school death/grindcore underground...my band started in 92 so I have been in that scene for a minute. The good old days....was on Wild Rags Records at the beginning...got to play a few Milwaukee Metalfests in the mid 90s...must a magical time man. Good show
Well are you not the little researcher...lol...Mick,is simply one of the kindest men I know. And if you ever see him, run because he will not be happy to see you!!! Lol...no jk...Mick, is a very technical guy who simply worked very hard with his gear and guitars. Always involved with things and damn near born with his guitar attached to him. His tone has always been Motleys best kept secret weapon and he sounded amazing even on the glorified demo "Too fast" album...Also having Father Jim Marshall work out your little things...likes and dislikes of the amp...helps indeed. Not many pics of his rack and surely not much info. on his sound...nothing of any real use anyways...but the real trick at the end of the day was simply his things done in the iso cab rooms and such. I even remember him doubling a guitar track and slightly offsetting one track from the other to create this really interesting 12 string like thing. He is VERY, VERY INFLUENTIAL GUITAR PLAYER AND GREAT GUY HANDS DOWN!! But like I said.....run!!!
He shot his "wife" in the ass....yeah your right thanks for the advice you're a nice nice man! Ha
Great video, thank you, super interesting. You have an awesome amp set up, just outstanding.
MC owes everything to Mick. It was his decision to drop down to D tuning and that is what made the Motley sound.
Kickstart My Heart is the ultimate metal anthem in my opinion.
And the drum and guitar sound in that song is fucking massive and heavy as fuck. I love that fucking song.
Hell yeah
per pete thorn: 73 superlead with added pre and post eq gain stages, with diodes added, making it a hybrid tube/solid state 4 plug plexi 😆
16:57 I absolutely loved that tone!
Awsome man. Im glad you got in to this. Motley is great. Thanks and job well done
Cheers Bryan
Furman Pq-3 and LPB-1 into a Jose modded Super Lead Marshall at the US Festival and a Les Paul Custom with a DiMarzio X2N, he also used a Phaser effect during the Shout tour you can really hear it on Bastard live during that Tour.
Source?
Good luck figuring out how Mick gets his tone. I have been trying since 1983 and regardless of what I come up with it never sounds exactly the same. The secret lies in the finger tips of Mick's fret hand. Without Micks fingertips we are SOL.
Mick also uses super weird chords, lots of jazz and odd power chords, as well as often using alternate tunings. That's one reason why this stuff doesn't sound quite right. He's playing it all wrong.
I can get there with my Friedman Be 100 and any boost. Sounds HUGE, all the saturation without sounding muddy, enough low end to flap pants but not fart, and enough treble to cut but not scrape your eyes out.
D standard tuning. This is the way and Mick is the master.
The 'Dr. Feelgood' album has one of the greatest heavy rock guitar tones of all time.
Bob Rock also has a big part in that.
I used to have an old guitar magazine from back in the 1990's (forget what the name of it was), it came out after Feelgood so it was likely somewhere from 91'-94'. It was a special issue that focused on just a few 80's players with 5 or 6 pages on each one and a good 3-4 pages of full text interviews! I lost this mag years ago but I remember Mick talking about his Marshalls being modded. He also talked about live shows using a line-out connected to a pair of QSC 1500 PA amps that powered the Marshall cabs bypassing the power amp section of the Marshalls altogether. This could have been one of the stories you said he likes to sometimes tell but I don't really know.
Stella guitars is what Blues legend Ledbelly played, likely why Nicky liked it so much (Ledbelly is one of my favorites to). I read somewhere back in the day that Nicky had his first basses strait-wired from the toggle switch so it was just on or off.
I didn't care because Crue weren't my cup of tea, but I distinctly remember noticing in the 80s and 90s, even among guitar geeks and the buy-this-gear-oriented magazines, that Mars seldom ever got credit for even existing much less being a good melodic soloist, writing some catchy hooks and having a great hard rock tone in general. I guess he just wasn't flashy enough on the fretboard or enough of a wildman jerk to get people's attention. Someone below mentioned Steve Stevens and much the same applies to him.
Steve Stevens is the man. Amazing subtle digging in when chugging.
Nailed it bud. Well fucking done.
Cheers Fuzz!
Cannot deny that Mars tone! Great video as always Owen. It is amazing how mic placement with microphones and types of rooms creates an excellent presence that you cannot replicate with digital. Creates a "WOW" nuance! Case in point ; evidently Queen would place a small tube amp on a rope tether from the ceiling and swing it back and forth as per "Bohemian Rhapsody" for that classic album.
Haha. That's cool. I didn't know that about the amp on a wire.
In the movie it was for their first album, not for the album that Bohemian Rhapsody was on.
Mick is the reason I play guitar to this day.
They are saying he used a mimic or doubler to give it a fatter like 2 guitar playing the same chords. Try a mimic pedal and he also used a Soldano SLO 100 per every so many Marshall's for extra bite and down tune a step and like a chainsaw he definitely had the best tone no doubt. I hope this helps and enjoyed this video, thanks!
Another thought. As t who worked on Mick's amps. Who was known for adding the second control pot and what was it for? Was it a completely new added gain stage on the front end that cascaded the current into a preamp tube? Since he was using Superleads as his platform, and his distortion isnt into high gain territory(as far as by today's standards), if he in fact had an additional cascaded preamp installed ie: 1959 > 2203 the post from Vol I & II could easily handle that. Is that a PPIVMV control? Post Phase Inverter Master Volume which would allow Mick to crank the preamp section and use that pot as a means to control how much was let into the poweramp section? Most of the guys who had modded amps back in the day (myself included) who had superleads and adding a Randall Smith type cascading preamp topology to the front end to get that preamp distortion ( essentially the same thing that Marshall started using on their 2203/4 amps) would use one of the preexisting volume pots to control that. Those of us who also had a PPIVMV installed (usually prior to the preamp mod) would need the extra pot control. Of course by the end of the 80's guys were modding amps with extra tube gain stages, PPIVMV, switchable tone stacks, all sort sof other bells and whistles and the amps would have all sorts of mini swithces and added pot controls.
Now, who was modding amps at the time? Best known is Jose Arredondo. In his case it was a local guitar hero helping out a friend of the family who owned a TV repair shop. The Jose mod is an ok mod, but are a little noisy and arent that articulate. Besides, they require additional switches and additional pots to implement. Neither of which were ever on Eddie's or Mick's amps.
Mike Soldano? Mike was the guy Mick went to right after he stopped touring with his Marshalls. Stayed with him forever as well. Too Fast sounds like a Marshall and MXR Distortion+, Shout sounds like a Soldano Avenger 100 with the resonance feature added. The Avenger is just the Solo channel of a SLO100 so there isnt any clean bleed into the signal. ITs a hairier amp than a SLO. The SLO can be accomplished inside a MArshall platform with no extra pots on the front panel. But you need an additional pot to add the variable resistor into the negative feedback section of the circuit to get that extra depth/resonance control.
Bill Fryette? Nope that dudes ego would have made sure the world knew he did Mick's amps.
Frank Levi (SIR Studios)? #34 & #39 sound nothing like Mick's amps. guys who mod usually have a signature to their mods the SIR facilities amps (Appitite for Destruction, George Lynch Dokken tone) have more of a grind in the upper mids than Mick's amps.. Ruling Levi out.
Lee Jackson? I would put him on the more possible list right after Mike Soldano. Mainly able to keep his mouth shut about working and modding peoples amps. Another thing is that Lee's mods tend to keep the existing tone stack of an amp or to make them beefier( read lower mids).
Tim Caswell? See #34 & #39 above apparently it was Caswell and Levi who worked on the circuits, but it was Levi who actually installed them Caswell being the maintenance Manager for the gear lock at SIR. Im not even sure on these stories as that whole era of Rock&Roll is filled with as much bullshit as truth. From EVERYONE. editied because I used the wrong name of who was at SIR. It was not Friedman.
Bob Egnator? Can get the goods but I dont think he was in southern California in this era.
Guitar Services Unlimited? Have the right clientele. In the area, have beent here for 30 years? pushing it there, but who were they prior? have to determine their pedegree. Put these guys on the list.
There are also many stores who are probably not around any longer who had techs that would have make easy work on anyones amp Mick included. We also have to remember Mick only became Mick in Motley, Prior to that, he had already been in the LA Music scene for 10-15 years as Bob Deal. Were his amps worked on prior to Motley? If so, then good luck because it would be one of those Who the fuck is Bob Deal type things. Especially if a few years before Motley. I love this type of mystery as I geek out on guitar amps.
Oh, Look at the Arion chorus pedal the old shitty plastic box stomp pedals from the 1980's. That is the chorus everyone used. It was the secret weapon of the 1980's they are high dollar on reverb.com compared to the other offerings by Arion.
Yep. Whoever did it was would have used Jose circuit as a base probably. He seemed to be the originator as far as I know.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Yep, on Dr. Feelgood he used Jose modded Marshall. Pete Thorn reviewed his original amp on his channel. Now Richard Fortus owns it.
Good to see Mick rightly getting some respect. I saw Crue about 15 years ago and wasn't expecting much ( I saw them in 91 at a festival and they were bad) Mick Mars sounded fantastic....the others sounded semi pro at best. It makes me smile that ToP gets so much hate when in my opinion there were a fair few dud tracks on the first two albums. ToP has plenty of good riffs and solo's.
I’ve noticed that TOP fans typically don’t love the other albums.
25 wt Greenbacks makes sense. MASSIVELY Overdriven Amp turns into Micks Filthy Distortion. Love it.
Omg, FUCK I've been long waiting for this video. Fucking THANK YOU man, omg
Haha. Cheers.
You know your stuff man this is awesome!
Thanks Dan.
Looking forward to watching this.
Thanks for the research Owen. I remember spending the night at a friends house in 4th grade. We snuck around his house at 1am and he put Shout at the Devil onto his parents record player. We had to sit an inch away from the speakers to hear anything so that we didn't wake anyone up. I remember the look on my face listening to the intro on that album, like we were going to be in big big trouble if his parents woke up and saw that record album cover. Love their first two albums and Dr. Feelgood as well. Thank you again. Btw- TC Electronics makes an ok pedal that can help with that layered sound - The Mimic. I found out about it through your listeners here.
That is rock and roll. :-)
I signed up on Patreon; I had no idea the donation amounts were as low as 3 bucks a month. I'll look up on how to get your pedal and pickups this week.
I love Mötley Crüe.
Man your house looks like the layer of a mad tone scientist, also your pickups are starting to really intrigue me. You always demonstrate them with driven tones and they sound spectacular, but how do they do with cleans? This is probably one of your best and coolest videos you've done in a while 🤘🤘🤘
Thanks man. Relativley for humbuckers the cleans sound great.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Cause I have 496r 500t pair on my '95 explorer, and I feel like they're a little too high output for me.
Thats sounds monstrous, theres a pedal that emulate 2 guitars its call the mimiq or something like that , you think that we can get that effect with this pedal?
Mick Mars is bad-ass. I wasn't into glam-metal, but I would listen to Motley Crue simply because of Mick Mars playing guitar.
Yep. He's a legend.
He's the shit.
Great video! By the way are you planning to do a video about Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time tone?
Yep. Huge challenge.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Nice, I can't wait to see that!
Awesome....love mick mars
Speaking of Gallien Krueger, I just bought a 250ML which were all the rage mid eighties and was on Motley Crue's Theater of Pain, ZZ Top's Afterburner, as well as Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time. It's amazing for a solid state amp, though for some reason using the two internal speakers get closer to those tones than plugging it into a cabinet (I also added EXTRA chrous and a delay pedal to get close to Adrian Smith's tone on SIT). Would love a video on Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time/Seventh Son tone- different amps (both Gallien Krueger) but it would be interesting. I'm gonna try to get close, I bought it because of the Maiden albums and it's my 30th anniversary as a metal fan this year, and that was part of the reason I bought the Krueger lol
That's awesome. Did you see my maiden vid?
yeah it was great! Also should mention, that very same Gallien Krueger was used on Rush albums like Power Windows- a very controversial amp (the infamous picture of Lifeson with his sockless loafers and Miami Vice outfit right next to the stool with the Krueger on it years back was used as an example of when "guitarists lose their balls", most famously back in the day on the "Dinosaur Rock Guitar" website)- I dig it though, very much like the Scholz Rockman I once had, but more open and slightly less compressed sounding.
Great info man. The rockman is too much Solid state for me. I think it worked on old albums because of tape.
Fucking Killer Man For Real.....I Bet You Can Kill As A Player Too.
I dig your videos man! "Too young to fall in love" was one of the coolest riffs back in 1984 when I was learning :)
Cheers Lars.
All of his riffs are awesome
Steve Stevens gets some love as well. These buttrock guitar players had some chops.
Hell yeah. Amazing crunch.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Weird "death ray" sound FX too...
Listen to the Black Light Syndrome album.
They all worship at the altar of St Johnny Thunders!!! Nikki & Steve & even Razxle (RIP) all copped JTs ny dolls look!
yet you still have to shit on him by saying he plays "buttrock", as if whatever you listen to is so superior
Awesome dude!
The Dr. Feelgood guitar tone is personally one of my favorites, along with appetite for destruction and XYZ’s second album. Amazing tone
XYZ's second album; good call on guitar tone, indeed.
Topophobia yess!! “Hungry” is amazing
@@axlh.1827 mike Morrin preamps on hungry, as well as the SLO.
Mars is a musician. The other 3 entertainers. BUT , lead /only guitar is where the talent must lie. It does and they are a well meshed group. Enjoy the entire act a lot !
No! Tommy Lee is o e of the he best drummers on earth......what is wrong ya partner for real!
OMG is that Bubz?! And sweet tones, of course! Great to have some insight on the tone wizardry that is Mick Mars. |m|
Yep. Hehe. Mr Bubz = GOD. DOG backwards.
Hey thanks for doing this one! One thing I was hoping you'd address was Micks tone specifically on the track Too Young to Fall in Love, that really dark nasally guitar tone- much more so than any other track on SATD. My only guess is a heavy filter, like a wah set to a fixed position. Any ideas?
I get really close with a Les Paul with EMGs and a '84 JCM 800.
Only from a distance same
That part where you just went ham and flipped the headphones off had me in tears 😭 😂🤣
As a thrasher. I never liked Vince Neil but I like Mick Mars. I thought he was in the wrong band or just have a lazy singer. And yes every thrasher I know rips on Motley but not on Mick, they respect the hell out of him.
Have you listened to the 94 album with John Corabi? It's thick and heavy as hell with Mars still achieving his bluesy melodies. It's their best album, but least known.
@@larz456 those are one of my go to albums. Unfortunately there is no concert with him on youtube with good quality
@@sonofromel Agreed, it's a shame they don't have a pro shot of any of their concerts.
@@larz456 yeah. I bet my ass it's awesome. It's just not very audible for me. I watch them anyway
In what universe did crate make guitars?!? What am i lookkng at!!🫨🤯this was an awesome video my dude! 🤙🤘👊
This week I was able to bring up the gate fold cover of Theatre of Pain in a conversation at work. I never thought that would be possible. This vid feels like Karma nice one man \m/
Haha. Spreading the dirt.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE was also able to bring up Lords Of Chaos and the church burnings which I refereed to as wonderful nostalgia, It was worth it for the blank stares and the uncomfortable smiles
Awesome vid bro! I watched the Dirt last week and this was really cool. I always remember Mick had some monster tone. I think a big part was that he tuned down.
Thanks man.
Early days- Gibson LP Custom, probably a Dimarzio Super Distortion from photos, modded Marshall Plexi, and an ElectroHarmonics LPB-1 booster ( from an interview I read ) and probably Greenbacks
Did you watch? Good info by the way.
CIRCLE OF TONE. I commented before watching the video
But I’m watching it now
Swahili Good strategy.
Great job man! Very instructive stuff!
Thanks Andre.
I have an old Stella harmony acoustic. It was my first guitar.
Hehe. I still have my first acoustic. It was my dad's.
John Corabi says Mick played Soldano SLO during the Motley Corabi years 🔥
Nice
great video as usual. Great Job always liked the Cru tone.
Cheers Joe.
Man, this is so true. Was never really a huge fan of the Glam / Hair thing (well, with the exception of WASP but I was more interested in Thrash / Speed, Death, Black, Viking and other "extreme" styles). Still, I liked dudes like Mick Mars and George Lynch, especially Mars with his grittier tone. I know he eventually moved to playing Strats almost exclusively around the mid 1990s but the "dirt" was still there. There are some early shots of him playing Les Pauls, Kramers, BC Rich Warlocks and at least one Hamer that I've seen. Had no idea he used anything else, I never knew about the PRS. Maybe he wasn't the most technical or proficient guitarist but he totally rocked. Nikki definitely played a mean bass but I probably wouldn't have liked Crue as much without Mars. Great vid and I dig the Kramer. Totally old school. =) \m/
And sub to this channel before I go full Nikki and crack a bass over your skulls... =DDDD
Haha. Thanks man.
Digging the "Extol" shirt..."Undeceived"?It's probably one of my favorite albums they ever made.
It's a masterpiece.
Dang. Never thought of Owen as having such righteous chops!
I'm the Alex Jones of guitar.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE You're the Thror, King under the Mountain, of guitar, LoL(And I don't mean short in stature)!
That extol shirt is awesome
Richard fortus has posted a few pictures of the amp. You can also see it in the first time he was on rig rundown
Excellent video Owen
Thanks man.
I love your TONEEE TONE!!
Cheers Chris!
Not a huge fan of the crew, but mick has a monster tone.
Yep. I love that he's gets respect from all angles.
Thank You for having class man. Crüe is my band and I appreciate your honesty and class here and hell there are other bands that can play way better than my boys for sure but, Crüe is my band.
Not sure if I agree on all the "Mod" stuff. When did he afford that on Too Fast or Shout. His main signature sound is "loud" and double-tracking the parts.
The only tone I'm interested in is on " shout at the devil" lol.that album is killer.great vids
Thats your best tone yet!! When you doing Adam Jones tone?
Man for me it was the '83 US festival tone that wins wrt live tone. But my favs are the first two records. But the rest of the records are really good too.
Yep. You can see that double Marshall headcase in that tour. Killer tone ruclips.net/video/-1GQp3ZbjhI/видео.html
Could you expand more upon setting up the room mic - how to get the desirable phase shift. Did you you go by ear or measure it by distance to the cab ? Or rearrange the 2 tracks in the DAW
I placed the mic where I did because I know the room. I've mic'd the room many times. Different sized rooms will require different placement but generally walk around while a looper pedal is playing the riffs and find a good spot then plonk a mic there.
Aren't you recreating the HAAS effect? I think this is what Mick, knowingly or unknowingly was doing. There are many ways to get this effect, this is the original way to do it, but you can also do it with a very short delay - around 15-30ms...
Nah this is a bit more chaotic than the HAAS effect because the reverb does not conform to the original signal. Close though.
Awesome video dude, you did a great fucking job! He has such a big fucking sound these days that it's almost funny 😅😎 Yeah, the main reason one listened to Motley Crue is because of the riffs created by Mick Mars, but to be honest, I actually liked Vince's voice on the first 2 albums, it had attitude to it 👍😎 Mick deserves a lot more praise than he gets, maybe he will get that now, following the movie, this video etc. 👍 And for a fact, sidetracking here, Dime did actually use the PQ-3 on two albums, Cowboys from Hell and The Great Southern Trendkill, he has said that in quite a bit of interviews, and he prefered that one over the PQ-4, which he used on Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven 👍 Maybe do Dime for a tone video at some point? 😏 Anyways, keep it up dude!
Yep. Did you watch my movie review? I talk about why people like Vince.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Yeah, I did watch your movie review, you did mention that Vince had attitude both posture and voice vise, if I am not mistaken 👍
Excellent job man 🤟
Thanks man.
Pretty close, not one of the closest, but still a great sound. The one thing it might be missing is the the "almost too much gain" sound.
Yeah but if you double track like on later albums, that up's the perceived gain. In shout at the devil it wasn't that gainy and you can hear how much gain I had when I had the lpb-1 boost enabled.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE Yeah and some grainy-ness is something he always seemed to have too.
You got the "sound" dialed in for sure!!! =D
Cheers Sam.
i actually thought it sounded like your pickups before you mentioned it... sounds great
Thanks man.
I am super tempted to pick up a set of COT humbuckers, both this and the last AC/DC vid sounded emense. Just need to find the cash.
Thanks man. That means lot.
I think they might sound good blasting some motorhead, Just sayin
I think you are forgetting about Girls Girls Girls even though you mentioned it because that album compared to Theater, was a HUGE comeback to a lazy and uninspired album. Gave me some great ideas for recording one guitar though! A lazy man just pans the same guitar to the other side and offsets the timing by a second and boom! Huge sound.
Yep I said the wrong linear album.
Super effort in research man...simple licks but deceptively difficult to play with good feel - great job. I think it’s wiser to trust your ears than the mischief that mick may have dealt out in interviews 🤣
Hehe. Yep. Can't blame him.
CIRCLE OF TONE. Man I remain highly suspicious that RUclips is fu@king w your ranking algorithm though I have no idea why they would. You sound like you’ve gone thru the optimisation suggestions and not seen a significant change - true? Have you measured whether cutting length to 15m and under (even if it splits a vid into 2 parts) has any effect?
Also, you are correct, becuase Dime used the PQ3 early on...
Good info. Thanks man.
@@CIRCLEOFTONE its all about sharing for a common goal. But there are early pics around of his gear with the PQ3, the green face unit, in his gear.i think the PQ4 came around Far Beyond Dricen... might be off on that, but think its in that time frame.
Most Underrated member of the Crue
He was like the wizard of oz.....master of pupppets, tail that wags the dog..all in one.
Amazing tone, great job man.
Thanks man.
You should look into the Mortician guitar/bass tones. Darkest Day Of Horror is a tone I have never heard replicated.
Pretty sure they use a hm2 and peavy 6505.
And Mick played in D standard a whole step down from e
I am tuned to that.
Country Matt hahah
That was the secret to a lot of his tone.
Yeah one of the only LA bands to tune low like that.
Great vídeo, brother!
Im a thrasher since the late 80's. I liked WASP, but never could like glam bands like Motley Crüe, Guns n Roses, Poison 🤮...etc. From some years ive been liking some riffs, and even a few songs, from Motley Crüe, and i think Mick deserves respect. But I still dont like most of Motley Crüe songs.
Cheers from Portugal 🤘🍺🇵🇹
PS: Fuck yeah, i have subscrived!
@@portuguesebeer5069 thanks man
"Mick Mars genitalia, all over your face - Boom!"
Great video!!
After hearing him play I'm in the "me too" movment.
Love Mick's tone and that open E tuning
He's tuned to D standard