AFIII Dave Murray/Iron Maiden Flight Of The Icarus with preset

Mutha Goose

Mutha Goose

Inspired

I will be filling in for an Iron Maiden cover band this weekend, playing the Dave Murray parts. He was probably one of my biggest influences growing up. I wanted to try to build a preset using the same signal chain he uses. Every step of his chain is the complete opposite of how I create tones, LOL! But in the end, I think this sounds pretty Dave Murray, so I had to share it.

Dave uses a 10-band EQ in front of his amp. Going from an old photo, I tried to match his curve. I fed this into a JMPre-1 OD2 Bass Shift. The input boost is on with a Mid-Boost adding even more mids. Dave has used a few different rigs, but this pre-amp created some of his most iconic tones IMO.

Live, he plugs his JMP into the effects return of a DSL. So, I changed all of the parameters in the Power Amp, PWR Tubes + CF, and the Power Supply pages to the DSL settings (with some adjustments). Wow! What a great difference this made!

Lastly, Dave mics his cabs near the surrounds, often using a 57 and a 121. To mimic this, I used 2 OwnHammer IRs from the Heavy Hitters Collection (OH 412 MAR V30 57-09 and OH 412 MES V30 121-09). Obviously, these are not including in the preset. The key is to use very dark IRs. Preferably V30s mic'ed near the surrounds with a 57 and a 121. It is helpful to adjust Proximity and Smoothing to fine tune the response.

Other notes about my preset template:
  • Output 1 goes to an FRFR (Vu pedal on FC1 Pedal 3)
  • Output 2 goes to FOH (no Vu pedal)
  • Output 4 goes to a real cab thru a Matrix power amp (Vu pedal on FC1 Pedal 3).
  • Input/Output 3: is a pass thru for samples (mix Vu Pedal 2
The GEQ on Output 4 is to match my live cab (4x12 Legacy) to the IRs.
The lead boost comes from a filter whose gain is tied to FC 1 Pedal 2
https://axechange.fractalaudio.com/detail.php?preset=10235
 

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Love this, I'll have to give that patch a run through, thanks for sharing!

I was one of the folks at Long Beach Arena during their Live After Death Tour 1985. My wife (at the time LOL!) and my unborn son were there. Fast forward to 2012, my son and I were watching Maiden at the Irvine Meadows amphitheater, he's a huge Maiden fan. That acorn certainly did not fall far from the oak.
 
So stoked about this preset! I’ve been a Maiden fan since the Dianno days and had the pleasure of seeing them in Pittsburgh at a small theatre opening for Judas Priest on their first tour of the US. I’ve seen them multiple times since then. They are an amazing act both recorded and live.
 
Nice! And sounds really good. Nice job, man.

I've been a Maiden fan since the early-80's. Just saw them last year in Chicago with my buddies from high school. The band sounded as good in 2022 as I remember them ever sounding.

Up the Irons!
 
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