Eq tips for 80's hard rock tone

dupere11497

dupere11497

Experienced
I'm really into THAT 80's shred modded Marshall kind of tone! Think of Mark Day as a reference. Creating presets for this kind of tone, I tend to use a PEQ after the amp with great results using those settings:
3 db shelving boost around 1.5k
1.5 db boost with mid Q around 1.2k
2 db cut around 325Htz, mid Q.
I use the cab filter also to lowpass around 6k and highpass around 100htz

This reciepe almost always work with any Marshall amp model. My favorites are the Brit Pre and Friedmans. It's weird because reading about post eq tricks on guitar, guys are often cutting the 1k-2k area while it seems to me to cut better in a mix when boosting those frequencies!

So what are your thoughts or tricks for your 80's glory tone?
 
Do you have a block you can post for this?
I'm trying these but they don't sound good so I must be doing something wrong.
 
On top of being very harsh on the ears (babies cry in that relative frequency range iirc...), those frequencies are generally cut because your drum shells and vocals are cutting through the mix in that band. Boosting them is only gonna make your guitar tone mask over the rest of your band (though on leads this might not be so bad, rhythms though? Different story). I have no clue how to circumvent that to get the results you want but that's generally why they are cut in post. Maybe try a different cab? If I had to pick a cab for that typical 80s tone I'd go for a marshall with cl80s
 
These kind of corrections do not have the right bandwith to implant a typical 80's signature sound. A larger bandwith means that you iron out a too bassy IR or audio system.
80's is about guitars with Floyd Rose trems, soloing a bit too long and with too much of gain and unnatural mushy chorus coloured reverbs.... and Celestion loaded 4x12 cabs, V30 or what?
 
When I think 80s Rock I'm thinking Guns N Roses, Cinderella, Ratt, EVH, Bon Jovi, etc.

To my ears, the best of the 80s hard rock tone still sounds relevant today, didn't have lots of chorus, and has less gain than most current players use.

I find that the Plexi 50 Hi and a greenback cab gets you 90% there. TS OD in front when you want a bit more gain. I occasionally throw a phase 90 in front and a bit of delay and/or reverb after.

I mostly use the OH 212 Marshall Multi Speaker pack with either the SB M75, H75, Lynchback, or OH Green depending on the amp. With the Plexi I use the OH Green.

I don't use post eQ, selecting the right IR takes care of that. On the Plexi you barely have to touch the tone controls either.
 
I find that if use the right amp and the right IR all I need to do is tweak the bass and treble shelving (in the cab block) to get all the 80s tone I need.
 
I love a lot of the 80s sounds too, many were drenched with delay and reverb. Guitar tones were thin, especially from players that shredded and added fills for every verse. If you are the only guitar player you can get away with making things a little fatter, at least while playing rhythm.

I listened to some isolated guitar tracks from popular songs a while back , and most sounded pretty rough on their own.
 
dupere11497 said:
It's weird because reading about post eq tricks on guitar, guys are often cutting the 1k-2k area while it seems to me to cut better in a mix when boosting those frequencies!
Click to expand...

I use a PEQ in front of the amp and boost 1K. So sometimes I need to do a corresponding cut post amp at the same frequency.

The end result is more amp grind around 1K without sounding too harsh.

A 7db 1K boost in front of a Marshall sounds really good to me.
 
Cool topic. So many of those sounds were heavily processed in production. There is not a single 80's tone to me, but a bunch. The production style of the time was a bit of a signature though. Deep reverb, layering of guitars (which sort of gives a big chorus effect on it's own). Overall, the sounds were just really wet.
I love Warren D Martini's tone, and Brad Gilis and Neal Schon at the top of my list, along with John Sykes and Vivian Campbell. There are a few amps that do it for me. The Soldano was one of my favorite "80's" amp tones, along with the JMP-1 and various tweaked out Plexis. I like to push the 1-2K range just a little too. I do it in the amp block. I also like using a ts-808 out front to get the mids cutting. Basic stuff. As others have said, the IR is the key.
 
If memory serves (and sadly, at my age it doesn't always!), the 80's sound was all about the 'V'. That is, the graphic EQ was almost always set to a 'V' like pattern, emphasizing the low/high freq's, and dipping the midrange. Then guitar players that realized their solos were effectively 'vocals' began to crank in more midrange, and less bass, yielding a voice that pierced through the other guitars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom