Vinnie Moore Time Odyssey gear?

[Cleveland Metal]

I'd agree with thin and nasal-ish.

That sucks, cuz the first VM release (Minds Eye) would be pretty friggin crushing with a serious tone to it. I still listen to that every couple weeks.

Seems that I heard VM recorded Mind's Eye on like 24 hours studio time.

[horns666]

I had read that in those early days, Mike Varney of Shrapnel was producing all of the hottest shredders. He was on such a tight budget with time and money, that the guys he brought in (Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Jason Becker, Joey Tafolla, Paul Gilbert (RacerX), etc) could only bring in their specific guitars and that they would use the amplifiers and such that he had in the studio. I believe I read that way back in the day. If you listen to alot of those early releases by the players, to me they all have a similar tones (kind of thin and nasally in my opinion).

Mike Varney was the man who introduced to us Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Marty Frediman, Jason Becker, Michael Lee Firkins, Joey Tafolla, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Ritch Kotzen, Billy Sheehan, Shawn Lane, Derek Frigo, Alex Masi, and ect. My very good old friend made The Spotlight colmun in Oct '88 issue of GP, right next to Kotzen. He hooked him up with Greg Howe, but became was tired of comuting from Cleveland to PA every other weekend. Mike also got his a endorsement deal with Carvin..his first bass Carvin stack became mine, and my introduction with Carvin. Varney would call him once or twice a month offering him work with many of the aboce players..but he didn't want to travel. Mike was extremely active and agressive for his love for shred, and getting music he wanted to hear out there for others to enjoy. ..Spotlight, Shrapnel, Unsung hero releases. Ironically, I taught Dave how to play alot of the things on the demo tape he entered. I just got married and was much too busy with work and workining on our own first home ..and always wondered about the "what ifs".

666 Hails to Mike Varney..he is the man!!!

Here's his wikipage..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Varney

[horns666]

OK, her's my take on my good bro John's complaint of Vinnies, early production flaws and nasily weak tone.

I wouldn't change Vinnie's first two cds for the world. They are perfection as is! They just wouldn't be the same with a high cost production. Vinnie has written music much like those first two since, but nobody cares. Because Vinnie, Tony, Yngwie came at the right time. Malmsteen is a perfect example he's been writing the same songs since '84, but his fans like his first three, Steeler, and especially his debut and Alkatraz. Yngwie's debut/Alkatraz would NOT have the same impact if it was recorded today with protools and produced by Andy Sneap himself..IMO!

Think about it. We loved Van Halen's tone in 1978. Countless players are still chasing THAT tone. If Van Halen's debut was recorded today with the best production possible and tweaked by say Mutt lange, Bob Rock or whoever. Do you think it would be better??

Same goes with Randy on those two Ozzy records..you can't change that!!! Who would want to..not me!! The shortcomings of that time is what makes it unique and timeless. Shit like protools, and triggers makes bands sound so fuggin' cooki-cutter for the most part. Sure, there is amazing modern bands with tone and production. But it the talent of the artist and music writing that establshes them as great. Bands have to work much harder these days to sound different. Being "original" is extremely few and far between. There is trends but its the trend setters that don't get the credit. Trends are watered down, clone copies of something that was ..well original. Before everyone hops on a bandwagon..such as At The Gates. ATG should be the richest band in the metal world. They have been ripped off more than Led Zep, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen combined. Especially the last decade with all the Swede-thrash and its dummied down, retarded American offspring Metal/Emo core. ATG should be getting fuggin' royalties. ..Ok that took some turns..but why not. Its my perception of music thru my wide angled lense..

The bottom line is.

You can't change perfect no matter of flaws, because any flaws themselves is what makes it timeless IMO.

[Cleveland Metal]

Your perception of usic throught bloodshot eyes? Heehee... Doh!!

Dif between Eddies first release and Vinnies, is that Eddies tone was amazing and Vinnies tone was terrible, haha.. Not quite as bad as Randy's tone tho, haha... Even Vinnie wasn't too happy as I've heard. Too rushed etc. Playing was excellent IMO though. Not sure I have even noticed anything I'd call a glitch in his playing at all on that CD.

I for one, would love to hear Mind's eye done with a better guitar tone (and the same enthusiasm) as well as Randy's early stuff with a bit better guitar tone. Ain't neither gonna happen tho, and I'm happy they did what they did when they did. Made my life pretty enjoyable at times really.

[ulijdavid]

Made my life pretty enjoyable at times really.

Gets me through many a days!!!!

[Endrik]

OK, her's my take on my good bro John's complaint of Vinnies, early production flaws and nasily weak tone.

I wouldn't change Vinnie's first two cds for the world. They are perfection as is! They just wouldn't be the same with a high cost production. Vinnie has written music much like those first two since, but nobody cares. Because Vinnie, Tony, Yngwie came at the right time. Malmsteen is a perfect example he's been writing the same songs since '84, but his fans like his first three, Steeler, and especially his debut and Alkatraz. Yngwie's debut/Alkatraz would NOT have the same impact if it was recorded today with protools and produced by Andy Sneap himself..IMO!

Think about it. We loved Van Halen's tone in 1978. Countless players are still chasing THAT tone. If Van Halen's debut was recorded today with the best production possible and tweaked by say Mutt lange, Bob Rock or whoever. Do you think it would be better??
Same goes with Randy on those two Ozzy records..you can't change that!!! Who would want to..not me!! The shortcomings of that time is what makes it unique and timeless. Shit like protools, and triggers makes bands sound so fuggin' cooki-cutter for the most part.

well the difference is that the sharpnell stuff had a bad production but Van Halen had an amazing production... it's legendary... they had amazing studio, equipment, sound engineer, producer etc. Early VH sounds great because of great production... the productional concept was to capture the band's live vibe and energy. That was and still is the best possible production for Van Halen. If someone would make them sound sterile with pro tools that would be shitty production because good production is to bring out the real essence of the band.
Varney couldn't capture the right vibe because he wasn't a great producer and didn't have a big budget, but the playing and tunes were good so people still listen to those records.

there was no shortcomings at that time... the studios had absolutely the best sounding equipment ever... these days the equipment isn't nearly as good.
the difference is that back then good equipment was really expensive, it still is but these days there's better options for cheap budget recordings.

S Before everyone hops on a bandwagon..such as At The Gates. ATG should be the richest band in the metal world. They have been ripped off more than Led Zep, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen combined.

that's an interesting statement... while Zeppelin and VH (and somewhat Sabbath) have influenced musicians from every style in the book, from jazz to pop and modern blues to heavy rock (that is a huge amount of people)... while At The Gates has influenced a small niche group in metal... no one else (people who do other type music) gives a shit about them and sure in the hell wont copy anything from that band.
And At The Gates wouldn't be the richest band in the metal world... it would be the band(s) who was/were ripped off by At The Gates

[horns666]

I didn't mean to compare Varney's Shrapnel releases to Warner Bros, with the backing of Gene Simmons production values for VH..that's obvious. I just said it wouldn't be the same if it was recorded today..

E, I said "metal" world..not jazz, blues, funk, heavy rock, pop and whatnots. Most popular swede-thrash, emo/metal core in the last decade or so took from ATG.

[Endrik]

E, I said "metal" world..not jazz, blues, funk, heavy rock, pop and whatnots. Most popular swede-thrash, emo/metal core in the last decade or so took from ATG.

well emo and core isn't metal :ROTF: and they ripped off from Fugazi and Rites Of Spring and a couple of other DC bands who were active years before At The Gates more than anyone else

[horns666]

well emo and core isn't metal :ROTF: and they ripped off from Fugazi and Rites Of Spring and a couple of other DC bands who were active years before At The Gates more than anyone else

.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Gates

[Trem]

I never got into At the Gates but i love what Alf Svensson did with Oxiplegatz.
Sidereal Journey is a Masterpiece, low budg production and all.
Sometimes it's just the feel or vibe that makes something so special, and it doesnt have to sound like a million bucks to be Great.
I've had this argument with people over the years, the "sound purists" never really agree or get it, we had this conversation a few times on this board with bands like Immortal and Necrophagist, it's killer stuff, it's not musically or sonically perfect, but it has that vibe, and that's why people cling onto it, it's not that they all have shitty taste in tone, they just like it for what it is.

[SliderJeff]

I think he played DiMarzio Double Whammy pups during Time Odyssey and yeah, his Ibanez Signature Vinnie Moore Model: VM-1

Straight from the horse's mouth!

"just remembered something about the time odyssey tone. i did use the peavey stereo chorus with an ibanez super metal as i already mentioned. but i forgot that i also used a scholz rockman in conjunction. my guitar signal went to the peavey and also the rockman and then each were sent to a fader on the mixing board. for each part i would play with the balance of the faders to get what i liked. the rockman sound was pretty prominent, not just low in the background. the rockman added a dimension that i wasnt getting from the amp.

i did a similar thing on the maze where i used a digitech 2101 in conjunction with other amps.

so there ya go............end of chapter.
vm"

I realize this is somewhat of a necrobump, but where did you quote this from? It almost sounds like he's talking about "Mind's Eye", not "Time Odyssey" since according to the "Guitarist" magazine interview from around that time, he was doing the Rockman + Marshall thing for rhythm and using T-Mac's Peavey for some of the leads.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?77841-What-pickups-did-Vinnie-Moore-use-on-Mind-s-Eye&p=4064214&viewfull=1#post4064214

The tone is pretty disimilar between those first two records and I'm almost positive he was using Laney by the time T.O. came out. But I'd love to know the real answer for both Time Odyssey as well as Meltdown gear.


Thanks,
Jeff