Criss Oliva - tone and gear.

[Bachelard]

Hello,

I've read a lot of different bits of info on Criss Oliva's tone - some of it contradictory and vague. Anyone get a good idea on how to get his "Hall of Mountain King" type tone. It has an almost Warren DeMartini brown sound vibe to it, lots of legato, mid-range, and slow vibrato, but more crunch.

Anyway, beyond the Charvel - pedals, pick-ups?

Thanks.

[markD]

i took several lessons from him between '86-'87. at that time, he was using 2 distortion pedals into a silverface fender bassman, or one distortion pedal into a laney aor 100. he was using a raggedy marshall 4x12. i couldn't tell you what pickups he used, but i will tell you he was using a kramer guitar. i was just a teenager and he was the local guy that made records. it was cool shooting the breeze and talking about guitar. at that time, his distorion pedals were a boss heavy metal pedal and a boss overdrive with the fender and the boss overdrive with the laney.

[Bachelard]

Thanks, that's a great bit of insight. And wow - must have been quite an experience. He's up there with the best, in my estimation. Will check out the pedals. Did he use them in conjunction, or one for lead/rhythm? I guess things got a little more complex for his live set-up, etc. Thanks again.

[markD]

the pedals were used in conjunction with either set up. it was cool getting lessons, but not as cool as it would seem now. he was just a local guy. you'd see him at the grocery store and the mall and stuff, haha. actually, johnny lee middleton lives about 4 blocks from where i am now. he has a litle a/c repair company. does good work too!!! he fixed the a/c on my place last year.

[ulijdavid]

Doesn't Johnny Lee Middleton play bass for the Transiberian Orchestra? I guess that gig is only seasonal so he works like the rest of us during the year.

[K.Dee]

Also he was tuned down to D,be sure to detune if you want such a heavy bad ass tone.

Try find a series 1 Laney AOR too,it was the foundation of his tone.

[Bachelard]

Thanks, the Laney AOR seems quite hard to find, at least in the UK. I'm currently using a Marshall 8080, which is okay. Can you think of any amps that are a bit more available to give that kind of dry almost "brown" crunch?

Anyone know about Oliva's use of chorus pedals?

[VitaminG]

I don't know if Bill or John will see this and chime in, but John can apparently nail Criss's sound (and playing) & used to do it with a JCM900. I know Bill has mentioned it a bunch of times that he couldn't get never get anything good out of the amp but John would totally cop Criss's sound with it using an EQ in the loop and a boost in front

might be a bit easier to find if you're having trouble locating AOR Laneys

[DonP]

Thanks, the Laney AOR seems quite hard to find, at least in the UK.

That seems odd. Laneys and Marshalls were made in the UK, so you'd think they'd be plentiful.

I have a couple of AOR 50s - one combo and one head. Since I don't like using pedals that much, I usually go to the DSL100 for my tones, including Savatage.

Who knows, if they had DSL100's back then, this might have been the amp most recordings were done on.

[K.Dee]

Well DSL can get real edgy,its a good amp but way to contemporary sounding for nailing true Hall of the Mountain King tones imho.

I'd say if you cant find an AOR series 1 go for a GH50L Laney which is a great amp and pair it with Celestion G12-T 75 speakers.
They sound pretty similar to old AORs minus the EQ push pull boost.

As for chorus i'm pretty sure he was using a Boss CE-2,it was a standard back then.I advice you to get a BBE Sonic maximizer too,they can be very helpfull with old school amps and speakers.

Thats my beloved 30W '87 AOR combo

[Tekky]

Also he was tuned down to D,be sure to detune if you want such a heavy bad ass tone.

Try find a series 1 Laney AOR too,it was the foundation of his tone.

Actually Criss is usually tuned to Drop-D and then a whole step down on all strings.

[K.Dee]

Didnt knew that his low E was tuned to C,i thought he tuned down to D all 6 strings.
Thats cool.

[mrhiwatt]

I was confused on the tuning cris used a few years ago. I emailed Chris Caffery and Matt Laporte fro Jon Oliva's Pain and they both gave me the same info. Dungeon,Sirens, Hall of the MTn King Power of the night were all D Standard except for the songs Power of The night and Hall of the Mtn king which are Drop C. Gutter Ballet standard and Drop D going forward. He also used Laney Aor for Edge of Thorns. Early Were Yamaha Bass amp then Marshall JMP. He used 2 Boss SD-1 onw ith tone all the way up on with tone all the way down. He also used a Boss chourus and a rockman and a 31 band eq and a gate. YOu can look it up on the internet This info was posted by his his guitar tech with credits to Caffery as well. They also said to always use the low input of the amp.
I use the crunch red of my JVM boosted with SD-1 with light 80's chorus and 300ms analog echo. It comes close. YOu must also know he used metal picks and lots of your tone is in your hands.

MrHIwatt

[mrhiwatt]

Here is the website for his rig http://www.savintage.com/criss/gear.htm


MrHiwatt

[K.Dee]

Great info Thanx man