Neal Schon's soaring lead tone?

  • I absolutely love Neal's tone in this video. It sounds like he has a big open natural sounding reverb along with some delay and it sounds very wide and open. Question for the Kemper veterans: Which reverb and delay combination would work best to get that sound in the intro in this video? Thanks!

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Rik


    Kemper toaster >Kemper remote> 2 x Alto TS310 powered speakers Furman M-8XAR

  • This might help, as it's his rig rundown from that same year. It appears he's using an Axe-FX. I didn't watch the whole thing, but it might give you some hints.


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • I still didn't quite get the use of the dry signal Blackstar skipping through a lengthy video. He does get an almost over saturated sound in the clip about 24.20 and it sounds more modeller than amp.


    He probably gets through a lot of cling film on tour too!

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • This might help, as it's his rig rundown from that same year. It appears he's using an Axe-FX. I didn't watch the whole thing, but it might give you some hints.


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Yes he uses the Ax for only effects. He uses different amps all the time. Changes them often. I've seen him live and his solo fx are beautiful. The sound is big, very spacey and ethereal.

    Rik


    Kemper toaster >Kemper remote> 2 x Alto TS310 powered speakers Furman M-8XAR

  • I don’t know the answer but I saw a Rick Beato video the other night where he was discussing a time when he had dinner with Journey’s keyboard player and asked what Neil had used to record the solo on Don’t Stop Believing. Apparently it was a Roland Cube ? Some folk can obviously get a great sound out of anything ?

    He talks about it being a modified Blackface Deluxe in the video. The seventies were a difficult time to remember details:-)

    Karl


    Kemper Rack OS 9.0.5 - Mac OS X 12.6.7

  • He talks about it being a modified Blackface Deluxe in the video. The seventies were a difficult time to remember details:-)

    Just like Alice Cooper said to a young journalist during an interview once when asked about the seventies : If you had been there in the seventies you wouldn't remember anything either!:D

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • What a monster player and that tone! I am sure you have but if not listen to this:


    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.


    As far as I can tell I think back in the day he used the iconic lexicon reverbs. That's all I know, I guess with Kemper you must use a delay with around 500 ms and two-three repeats and a trebly reverb (after the delay) with a small predelay time.

  • rik777 I'm just having the same issue. Did you made any progress regarding your search?


    Thanks

    Since my post I've been using the Legacy reverb with pre delay set at 100ms and dual delay one set at 600 the other at 400. The reverb is key. The Formant reverb is also nice.

    Rik


    Kemper toaster >Kemper remote> 2 x Alto TS310 powered speakers Furman M-8XAR

  • I have understood he used a Peavey MACE for infinity and Evolution. I recently picked one up for cheap (But not light that thing was like a 5150 Combo!) If you look at some old vids you can see the Peavey gear.

    In the mid 80's The other guitarist in my band at the time had one and although I thought he had a really great sound, we demanded he play a Marshall (Just for cool factor, Peaveys were NOT cool then at all and of course you had to have the look then.) He was so resistant to change we found him a modded model1987 Marshall, bought it for him,took it out of his pay and made him shelve the Peavey. (Since then I always wish I would have kept it for myself as that thing is worth way more than the $350.00 dollars we paid for it!) Anyway...YEARS later & a month ago when I bought my own MACE , I was surprised how good it was even though it had a (gasp) solid state front end. In some ways it beat up on some of my old Marshalls and had great "feel". I felt bad about making my guitarist ditch his. (But I believe he still has it)

    As different as you would think they would be, Skynrd as well as early Journey sounds were easily available.I bought that amp to flip it as it needed some work and I knew someone that wanted one bad but after playing it I had to keep it!

    It has a softer, very fat but not flubbly touch kinda like a Marshall four holer that is boosted with a overdrive. They are often called "Mississippi Marshalls" and It is easy to see why. But I believe the fact of the solid state pre turns people off (which makes no sense to me as people love Klons, Tubescreamers, OCD, Timmys and guess what? Their drive is coming from SOLID STATE. It's not the 80's anymore and now I just use my ears and it just plain sounds good.

    I'm not recommending anyone look for one as they weigh a TON and have 150 watts from SIX 6L6 tubes to take care of. (Although mine came with some OLD RCA's in it that work fine!)

    I haven't looked for profiles because of the small demand for this amp I wonder if it has been profiled much with the pregain up. I've seen a couple clean while I was looking for other things, (The clean on the MACE is KILLER but I haven't heard a profile yet that represented it well.) Perhaps when I get mine back it will give me a reason to do a profile of my own. IMO Early Neil tones could have very well been produced by this amp as to my ears it can nail them.

  • I played a Mace for over 10 years, and often felt ostracized, by the Marshall crowd. Great tone

    Awesome. A testimony to "sticking to your guns" (or can't afford another amp lol). As I had wrote, Last month when I acquired mine I felt guilty for demanding and understood the guitarist's resistances. In some ways it reminds me of the Mbritt profiles in the way that it is big,fat smooth and juicy but stil has a good amount of bite. .38 special guitarist Jeff Carlisi used to hang around at the Skynrd jam space and likely impressed, played one too.

    I can dial .38 special lead tones right in with mine easy. And I HATE to say it being a Marshall lover, in some ways the MACE would beat up a Marshall where the Marshall you had to get it roaring , the MACE had that pre. and that's what Hartley had in mind. And he delivered. I know they made a DUECE, but I wish they made a 50watter of that amp. 150 watts was made for the Grand Ole Opry size stages for huge headroom and that amp has headroom X10.

    I figured I would get crap about bringing a MACE up in the era of Friedmans etc. It truly is a underrated amp.

  • . They are often called "Mississippi Marshalls" and It is easy to see why. But I believe the fact of the solid state pre turns people off (which makes no sense to me as people love Klons, Tubescreamers, OCD, Timmys and guess what? Their drive is coming from SOLID STATE.

    Not only that but I believe the JC800, JCM900, Jubilee etc all use solid state diode clipping and nobody seemed to mind ?