Iced Earth / Jon Schaffer's sound

[Alex EShadow]

Ok, so for those interested in the Iced Earth tone (i love it to death), here's some nice information I dug up on the web today:

First of all, as you can see, Jon uses Marshall 1960B cabinets with G12-T75s. Redwirez are probably the way to go, but the stock 4x12 75W should be able to get you close as well. Guitars are and have always been Gibson Les Pauls with stock pickups from the 80s. Yes, he played BC Rich guitars live during the years he was recovering from a back surgery.

4.) I still have a few BC Rich guitars but my main guitars have always been Gibson Les Pauls and Explorers, any Gibson really. The only record I ever used BC's on was Alive in Athens, they just never felt right as a studio instrument for my particular style. There's nothing like the slammin' tight and warm tone of a Les Paul. There is talk now of me doing some video's that will show people my technique. We'll see how that develops. Thanks for your compliments, I'm happy you enjoy the music.

- http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2 ... post=61429

According to this thread in HRI, Larry built him a custom preamp so he can tour without carrying heavy amp heads with him, and just slave his Larry pre into a rented or venue-owned Marshall.
http://www.hugeracksinc.com/forum/viewt ... 1&start=15

Jon uses the British Hod Rod channel in the Larry DINO 939, which probably would translate nicely to the Soldano X99 or the CAE 3+ LD in the AxeFX. I still have a lot of experimenting to do on this aspect, but since we're going for a "British Hot Rod" sound, those are the ones that come to mind.

Last but not least, Larry describes the Punch control as what would probably be a frequency-selectable low pass before the gain stage. The Bite control, according to his description is a boost in the 3-5khz range, not sure if it's pre or post distortion, but it seems pre-dist from Larry's response in HRI.

I'll try to create my own Iced Earth Rhythm patch. I hope this post inspires some of you to give it a try as well, so we can share experiences and come as close as possible without the actual Larry amp model in the Axe =)

Best,

Alex

 

[Tom]

[quote="Alex EShadow"Guitars are and have always been Gibson Les Pauls with stock pickups from the 80s.[/quote]

Are you sure? Tim Mills, who was in the band for around a year, said that Jon had used Bare Knuckle pickups for a while, and that baritones were even used at some points. At least I think that's what he said. I suppose he may have been talking about himself or just not specified who was using them. I don't remember. Jon also has his own signature Ice Buckers now, though I guess I have no idea whether or not he actually uses them.

 

[Alex EShadow]

Well yeah, for the past 2 records and also Sons of Liberty he has been using the Ice Bucker, but every interview before that he states he is into Gibson guitars and does not change the pickups.