"Then we bought the CD version that we could not wear out." Kids these days don't know how much of a technical improvement a CD was over previous formats.
Chip McDip most of my life has been spent listening to iTunes and CDs, but I just got into vinyl records. While they all sound good, it seems that with vinyl, there are little intricacies in the sound and in the mix that you don’t quite hear with other formats
Fantastic video!! Dave was so cutting edge for the time, I’m pretty sure if he had the tools we have now he would have utilized them. You’re right, all that matters is the end result! Great work! Alice In Chains are such an amazing band!
The key to Jerry's tone is Jerry. He said that he and EVH tried out each others rigs one time. And that EVH sounded like EVH through Jerry's rig. And that Jerry sounded like Jerry through EVH's rig. That & processing.
Growing up in the early nineties everything was simple and and analog all my guitar player buddies would always ask how I got my tone and every time we all tried out each other's rigs we would sound like who played and I always believed that it's the player not the gear..
@@Ken-yg4um That holds some truth but it's not 100% the case. If I play through a PV backstage vs my rig yes my style will shine but theirs a huge difference in the sound. So yes playing technique and style is paramount but its not the whole nut!
It really is in the hands of the player. There’s a video of Dimebag playing in a club with a small band and he’s playing through a Marshall and a Jackson and it just instantly sounds like dime even though he’s not using any of his usual gear
@@iceWaterProductions1 He didn't get a bad rap, he was scalping AIC tickets to buy dope among a host of other shady things, not to mention his love of underage girls. He didn't write any of the bass lines on Dirt, Ed Sheeley and Jerry wrote the bass lines to those songs, and Ed had to teach Mike how to play those songs.
I remember one weekend in 1992 my sister came home from college and she had 'Dirt' playing in her car. I heard 'Would?' and was immediately hooked. I listened to the entire album front to back and it's nothing short of a masterpiece. Jerry's dark modality on 'Would?' along with his wild vibrato and extreme string bends made me a fan from the start.
Yes. I read that the engineer brought the modded marshall (2204?) to the sessions. Apparently Jerry tried to buy it a number of times over the years. It was finally offered to him just after the engineer passed away, but he said it was too much.
Unholy Paimon That amp was used on Facelift. Much much more likely was that it was a Bogner fish preamp probably into a VHT power amp. I don’t believe the Ecstasy even existed in 91/92.
its such a shame that every youtuber has to justify their way how they do things infront of 12year old comment writers anyway great tone - got really close!
It's not a hard trick to do. Anyone can do it when you BUY a couple of profiles. OLD guys with REAL skill do it with REAL amps... These kids today I tell you...
@@ogulcanyolcu8714 i agree bro killer album my all time favourite .
4 года назад
The bogner amp was the fish preamp thru his mosvalve power amp, at least that was what he said back then. They basically divided frecuencies in low mids (mesa) mids (fish) and high end (rockman/Marshall microstack i think) The bogner 800 was on facelift, there was a huge thread on gearslutz about it
I love how people think this is "too woofy". Bruh... have you even heard music made before 2005? Add some low end in your guitar it won't kill you. I think you got pretty damn close. AiC definitely had some beefy, thick guitar tones.
I saw the Deftones in the 90s at the Roseland theater in Portland Oregon. You wouldn’t believe it but they were actually using huge rack systems. The power went out several times because they were pulling so much wattage. It caused the show to go past the city noise ordinance time. The cops showed up and shut down the show. I also saw Helmet. They were using VHT Pitbulls.
Fun fact: Jerry Cantrell’s Dual Rectifier was a prototype gifted to him by Mesa. Another fact: a key factor of his tone was a modded JCM800 maybe a JVM with a gain mod, running into a open back 1x12 mic’d on both sides.
I wonder if it did, in fact, rain the day Layne passed. And I agree... Great song. Very surprised it wasn't a hit single. Then again... That album was loaded with hit singles.
I've always liked the snarly guitar tone on this album, even if I wasn't a big fan of all their work. The one thing I found lacking in the album was the bass guitar was just thinned out because of the focus on getting a heap of punch out of the kick drum. I ended up running this album through Ozone to boost the mid-bass in the EQ, then compress the low-end up to around the 220Hz mark with about 5dB boost and fast attack and release, add some harmonic excitation of that band as well and finally control whatever remaining peaks through the final limiter on reasonably fast settings too. As a drummer, I should be biased and demand more kick but my head just loves a phat low end to complement such snarly guitars, so a compromise is needed. :) What you did with your rendition of this tune is exactly what my ears want. Killer stuff mate!
They were highly subdued on the album in my opinion. They were regressed further into the track vs the tone that he was actually seeking to represent. If you boosted the tracks from Jerry’s playing it would be nailed.
I agree, I mean, I had like 15 AIC shirts, my nickname in HS was Alice Sickman I was such a psycho fan,lol, and just pummeled my ears to death with this record..his tone on this record is VERY UNIQUE. MAY ALSO have something to do with the fact I heard he had a cab mic"ed from the BACK,an open back cab and a mic in the dead center of the back. I believe Jerry said this himself,and one was a Marshall nodded by Bogner. I wouldnt even attempt to recreate the tone cuz theres too much going on in the studio..but I didnt think his tone matched AT ALL.im not doggin him, I think it's awesome he loves the record so much too...but trying to recreate Jerry's Dirt tone is just impossible...one of a kind..
I remember reading somewhere that on the first two AIC records Dave would mic up the back of the speaker cabinet as well as the front to make the guitars sound even larger. Great tone, super close
The Bogner Jerry Used on Dirt was actually a Marshall JCM800 2204 Modded by Reinhold Bogner (His mod can be acheived with either the Brown Channel of the Fish Preamp or his "recent" Helios amplifier)
Really cool! That tone is huge and you came pretty close. The hard word paid off! Waiting for a Ghost - Meliora tones! Keep up the great content Fluff!
You're essentially creating a model of a tone so using a modeling rig for that isn't blasphemy. I think it's cool! As long as you're using something to make music and it sounds good, I don't think the amp matters. Being a hardcore tube amp guy, I think all amps and really any kind of guitar gear have their place.
12:07 without the plugins- is the only time in this video I thought the tone was really close. Every other time in the video- I doesn't sound close at all, in my opinion. Good video either way :)
I remember reading an interview from jerry when dirt came out. He used three amps for different frequencies. Rectifier was used solely only the lowend , Marshall for midrange and the Tom sholtz rockman for the highs. Sounds massive when you assign specific heads for specific frequencies. Somewhere his bogner fish preamp and vht power amp was fitted in there as well.
I'm actually curious how you got that bass tone. I see some a "pedal" plugin(Logic Pro plugin?) on what I believe is a DI track. Any chance of a run down on how you got that tone?
you can get a really nice bass sound with the inbuilt amps in logic, on the modern amp if you mess around a bit, put a logic pedalboard with their rat emulation (everything set pretty low) in front it sounds great. however i second wanting to know what he is using
This is my favorite of all your "find the tone" videos. You really killed it. And, I know you don't care, but the bass, when solo, did sound a little computery. But wow, you really crushed it this time. Also, this is one of my favorite bands, seen them with Staley and the "new guy". Great job.
Back in my addiction 5 years ago I sold my Signature Dunlop JC95SE Pedal and had now idea that only 250 of them where made. Fast forward to today, I finally caught up with buddy I sold it to and managed to get it back. I’m soooo damn excited to get playing that Wah again
Fluff I’m glad you floss.... omg there’s a dead dog in your room!!! Awesome video and awesome job on the recreation. I love these videos. To get to see what you get to play with and how much you know about music and recording is years and years beyond me. Your effort for things like this, It’s fascinating. Gj bruh
Great Tone, also I like how you balance the film volume between playing and talking i hate having to go back and forth with the volume bar. Very professional, and great tones!
It's pretty good, but to my ears it sounds like the original tone has a lot more highs (almost hm2 sounding) and tighter bottom end. It also sounds to me like jerry's playing alternate picking during the palm mutes so the pick attack is way messier than yours. But great video regardless!
Totally agree. I listened to the isolated guitar track and it's definitely alternate picked, although I never would've thought that based on how tight it sounds in the mix.
I went to Lollapalooza 93 at the Milan Dragway in Michigan. All I knew about Alice in Chains was Man in the Box at that time. When they came out, they ABSOLUTELY SLAYED. It was one of the best shows of my life. So incredible.
OH MY GOD YES. I LOOOOVE ALICE IN CHAINS!!!! Jerry is the man that inspired me to pick up guitar! Unfortunately I do not have the money to be able to recreate his tone well enough. I'm just a teen. But music is my love and I hope that I can get to the level of having my dream instruments and all that!
Awesome! Dirt, my favorite album of all times! Jerry is one of my biggest influences when it comes to my own music making. You really did a great job there Fluff! You definitely succeeded in getting both that crispy and fat guitar sound from the album! I love Jerry’s guitar tone and I actually think that it’s improved in a great way for every album they are releasing! Thanks and take care! 👊🏼😎
Playing for 25 years and I still can't tell what you all talk about when you say far, bright, dark, etc. I understands mids, top and bottom obviously, but all the other tone language I just can't hear it. I buy pedals, amps, effects units and I always do the same fuzz, delay, and reverb combo I have used since I was a teenager. I rock my own tone no matter if I'm playing Mick Mars riffs, Jerry Cantrell, or my own shit. I wish I could do the tone thing though but can't grasp it for whatever reason.
undertakerrick dude same! Only I can’t tell the lows mids and highs also. I jus know how to play quite a bit of songs and usually just play along with the song but I never understood all the technical shit but wish I did too cuz I wana learn how to use audio interfaces and all that shit to be able to record myself playing with good sound not jus coming thru an iPhone
undertakerrick it’s all jive talk with those computers plug-ins etc. how could a copy be better than the original? It can’t. It’s all about guitars, Amps, pedals, and maybe a rack. Keep it real.
You really don't know what a bright tone is? Think a about a Fender Strat's bridge single coil plugged in any fender old amp, that is the definition of brightness lol
When people say “bright” and “dark” often are referring to the upper midrange. This usually defines the voicing of different amps. A way you could play around with this is by seeing how the presence knob on your amp interacts with the midrange. An example of dark would be something like a Marshall preamp where as a Fender is going to have a brighter sound. Hope this helps.
Syny Soul what makes you say that , have you listened to the guiars , bass lines , solos etc. i personally really like the end of hung on a hook when they are harmonizing
@Syny Soul eh I disagree brotha! Of course Layne was an amazing singer and without him it isn't the same. But you have to admit that AIC did make a pretty good comeback after Laynes death. Not many bands can say that. But I totally get where you're coming from
I'm just now watching this a day late. Hats off to you the reproduction is as good as your going to get with out all the innuendos involved "Original studio gear etc." great job I'm impressed!
Fantastic job in recreating such a fabulous and iconic tone (from a classic album). Quad-tracked . . . Wow. Who would have thought. Definitely makes sense to explain such a thick sound.
Jerry now uses Motor City afwayu and 2nd degree black belt, in the G&l’s I think he uses the afwayu and the Gibson customs 2nd degree black belt. I use them both in my guitars and they are an upgrade from the JB.
The Dirt album was the soundtrack of my teens!!! I even named one of my kids after Layne Staley. You hit it on the head to my ears, and Jerry's tone is difficult to get right. You can find ALOT of terrible attempts. I'd like to see you do Billy Corrigan "Siamese Dream" tone🤘😎🤘🎵🎼🔥🤞
Dave Jerden interview about Dirt album, 1977: "What are some of the techniques that you use to record guitars?" On the first Alice in Chains record, Facelift. Jerry Cantrell and I had several amps, and were trying to find sounds on each one. I said, “Lets combine them.” Usually when you combine amps you end up with nothing but mud. But I came across the idea of using different amps for different frequency ranges. That could mean ,for example, using a Vox AC30 closed back for the low end, a Marshall or Bogner Ecstasy or a Mesa Boogie for the midrange, and then using something like a Bogner Fish preamp or Soldano preamp for the top end- something thast I could get a real hard bite from on top. I record those on separate tracks. They all go down at the same time, and then sometimes I double that. "So the first set of three is one performance…….." One performance. My Engineer Brian Carlstrom and I have been making our own active splitter boxes to help deal with hums, buzzes, and all that. The cable comes out of the guitar and the box splits the signal to the three amps. But I just did an album in the Bahamas last year at Terry Mannings studio (who is also a great engineer) and Terry invented an active splitter box with one in and six outs. It has ground lift switches to take care of grounding problems and it works like magic. "And the whole point of having the box is so the pickups aren’t loaded down making the guitar sound different." Exactly. Even the length of the guitar cable can kill the tone. When we’re doing basic tracks, the guitar and bass players are in the control room with the amp heads, and this makes the leads shorter. Keeping the guitar leads short is important because long leads can really take down the high end. "Do you have particular mics that you use for the three amp set-up?" The mainstay for me has been the Shure SM57. We always keep relatively new ones around and we front and back mic open back cabinets with them. I also use AKG C12’s for pulling out the room sound a little bit, or Neumann U47’s or U49’s are great mics for the room. But I don’t tale a $10,000 mic and put it right on a Marshall cabinet. A 57 will get the sound for me. "How much of the mix is there between the close and distant mics?" Probably 20 percent room as opposed to the close mic, and those mics go down to the same track. "When using the multiple amp technique, do the amps go into separate areas or into one room?" There’s two set-ups that I use: one is for basic tracks and the other is for overdubs. When I am doing the basic track, I am not sire if it is going to be a keeper, so I will isolate the guitar and bass amps from the drum room. But, when I actually do guitar overdubs, we pull all of the guitar cabinets ( the heads always stay in the control room) out in the main room and then I have the option of using room mics on them too. "When you mic the front and back of an open back amp, are you generally using a 57 in front and a 57 in back?" It can be a 57 or sometimes I use 421’s. Sometimes it’s a 57 in front and a 421 in back. It varies. The rest of the article : -About the tracking. All guitars and bass were recorded through 24 channels of Summit Tube pres (assembled by Rupert Neve himself), and Summit Tube compressors with a ratio of 4:1 knocking back 6 db. Cut flat to tape. (the SSL was used only for monitoring at this stage. Eqing was done at mixdown) All DI's and mics are compressed together. -The SM57 (for guitars) is placed at a 45 degree angle. Dave says at this position the mic acts like a cardoid and doesn't collapse the capsule when placed in front of a Marshall at 120db. Gives him a certain sound that he likes. (When using the rear mics, make sure to flip the phase.) -He also discussed the eqing of his three amp technique at mixdown. This is where the SSL board eq was used to fine tune the bandwidth of the three amps. It was: bass: amp, low pass only 300 Hz; mid amp: 300 Hz - 4K cut; high amp: 4k- 8k cut.
The "Bogner" jerry talks about is actually Bogner modified jcm800 combo put into a head, its called the "snorkler" amp its kindof a cool story. Those were the days when Bogner was still just doing mods before he started making his own amps. Its the same amp that he used on Facelift. it has that really midrangy nasal tone. I was hoping the JJ would have that sound. but really the JJ just sounds like all the other Friedmans to my ears (i've played a few JJs)
Solid tones! Pretty dead on with the amps used, even plugins. A friend of mine has a Mesa 3 channel dual rectifier, & i've got a signature font peavey 5150 (the OG, not the II/+). We had gotten pretty close with double tracking those amps using the 5150 for the midrange, the Mesa for the low end. We compared using the amp plugins he had (most were 5150 clones so we chose the best one that was closer to my real amp), we toyed with a soldano slo100 as the top end clarity & while it worked when it was only 3 amps (5150, dual rect, slo100) it got lost/sounded too shrill when we double tracked. So we went for a jcm800 instead more of a crunch top end rather than a full on gain monster. The gain factor was taken care of more by the 5150's fizziness, & the Dual rects smoother low end rumble. All played with a 24.75" scale jaguar with a single JB bridge pickup. Godly tone, & we got pretty close - not dead on, but close enough were we had fun recreating Cantrell's tone.
I heard a little rumor from someone who was studio personnel on Dirt that Jerry used a matchless amp for cleans AND distortion depending on the song. (He didn’t want anyone to know because he didn’t want to be copied during the era.)
Awesome vid Fluff, no derogatory comments here. I can get really close with my Bogner, Friedman, Splawn, and KSR Orthos. Lots of reverb on that track but you don’t really hear it too much on the studio version. Really enjoy your stuff!
Great video man. Must have taken you a while. Iv’e was on the hunt for this tone a few years back. And the trick is that one of the speakers was recorded from behind the cabinet. With the back of the cabinet open. That gave is that rich low end. And the rectifier was a modded pre-production model. So you won’t get the same sound out of a modern rectifier. Anyways sweet vid and keep em coming!
It’s interesting to compare the live tone vs the studio tone. You were spot on with the grungy setting. It’s very tool yet more alternative brighter sound. it’s interesting to see if they change it live though. . I’d say some if not most match it as well as they can but if your adding studio FX you can’t match it perfect live. Interesting topic
I can really appreciate the work you put into this quest to find that tone, awesome job breaking this down very interesting for sure you are good at this.
