Ultimate Rhoads

The other night I was watching RR subject videos on YouTube & I came across a brilliant video from Sweetwater where Nick Bowcott & Paul Gilbert talk of their favourite RR riffs, things about Randy etc.

The video is here for those who are interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMTpzJ7iQy0

The 1 thing that really caught my surprise, Nick mentions he saw a soundcheck back in the day & the band performed the song Diary of A Madman from start to finish - as an instrumental piece. This is now the 3rd time over the years I've heard that the band played DOAM in its entirety during soundcheck.

My $10, 000 question is - were soundchecks recorded via soundboard like several performances were? As it would be f*#king awesome to hear DOAM played in a live situation by Randy / the band - even if it's an instrumental piece. Next Q would be - where / how do you track the recordings down - if they were done?

You would need to check from what year they are talking about as i'm sure Diary was actually played live after Randy died. Don't quote me on this but i'm sure it's been mentioned on here before. Maybe when Joe Holmes was in the band or an early gig with Zakk. I cannot remember when, but it has been played live as a track. It's very rare to hear any sound checks being recorded as they never really played full songs. Plus a lot of the time it's line checks from the crew. I have heard that crew members would be asked to record the band for a fee. The FOH sound guy would always have a tape deck linked up to the desk for playing intros and music in between band change overs. So it was an easy task to pop a tape in and record the gig. That is how so many sound board live shows have came to the torrent sites over the years.
You cannot get a better sound check then the Live Texas gig from Randy and it's a video not an audio. One of the better pieces of footage we have.

Yes, you're right Guitaridol; Joe Holmes played Diary Of A Madman live. I have an interview from about 1995(?) maybe a Guitar For Practising Musician-magazine. Not sure if Zakk played it live. But maybe they did, very likely too.

There's also a video on You Tube of Ozzy playing it live in concert in 2002. this is the link. https://youtu.be/fxaA4qxulpA If it dosent work ...You Tube Diary of a madman song live it comes up. The poster person is Ozzy rare Osbourne .

no reason to record soundchecks back in the day. Guitar Idol is correct. Would be great to hear as a fan but it probably didn't happen. You'll see people record videos of bands soundchecking nowadays and we have the video of Randy soundchecking in Texas but that's just bits and pieces and no songs.

I'm pretty sure I saw Joe Holmes play Diary with Ozzy at Ozzfest. Ozzfest 2000 I believe. If not, I know Ive seen them play it live on youtube.

That's the interview where Paul talks about Randy's live tone during the summer of 1981. Paul is also trying to find out how Randy got that glassy and somewhat of a chorus tone during that time. Chuck Wiesner was the sound engineer but sadly he died a few years go, he is likely the only one that would remember. Whatever the effect was, it wasn't coming from his pedalboard.

Montreal and Providence RI are really good examples of that tone. In the Montreal show you can hear a few spots where the sound engineer fades the effect in and out. I remember one being immediately right before the spotlight solo starts, then immediately after the spotlight solo ends the effect fades back in during the first couple chords of the Suicide Solution riff. Another time during the Montreal show is during the Revelation heavy part in the latter half of the song.

Go on You Tube and search the tribute band Railz...the guitarist has Randys 'glassy, chorus live tone' .

When I seen Ozzy at the Aragon brawlroom in 1996 with joe Holmes they played it. That was awesome. It was the first time Ozzy played at the Aragon since Randy on the blizzard tour.

Shockwave wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 2:06 pm That's the interview where Paul talks about Randy's live tone during the summer of 1981. Paul is also trying to find out how Randy got that glassy and somewhat of a chorus tone during that time. Chuck Wiesner was the sound engineer but sadly he died a few years go, he is likely the only one that would remember. Whatever the effect was, it wasn't coming from his pedalboard.

Montreal and Providence RI are really good examples of that tone. In the Montreal show you can hear a few spots where the sound engineer fades the effect in and out. I remember one being immediately right before the spotlight solo starts, then immediately after the spotlight solo ends the effect fades back in during the first couple chords of the Suicide Solution riff. Another time during the Montreal show is during the Revelation heavy part in the latter half of the song.

Part of the "glassyiness" besides from the chorus is from the Altecs. They add a glassiness and "ghosting" to the notes. You HAVE to use those speakers to get the tone right with the rest of the rig!

equinox wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 11:30 am

Shockwave wrote: ↑Fri May 19, 2023 2:06 pm That's the interview where Paul talks about Randy's live tone during the summer of 1981. Paul is also trying to find out how Randy got that glassy and somewhat of a chorus tone during that time. Chuck Wiesner was the sound engineer but sadly he died a few years go, he is likely the only one that would remember. Whatever the effect was, it wasn't coming from his pedalboard.

Montreal and Providence RI are really good examples of that tone. In the Montreal show you can hear a few spots where the sound engineer fades the effect in and out. I remember one being immediately right before the spotlight solo starts, then immediately after the spotlight solo ends the effect fades back in during the first couple chords of the Suicide Solution riff. Another time during the Montreal show is during the Revelation heavy part in the latter half of the song.

Part of the "glassyiness" besides from the chorus is from the Altecs. They add a glassiness and "ghosting" to the notes. You HAVE to use those speakers to get the tone right with the rest of the rig!

Yep, I know of his Altecs and their benefits. The tone I am talking about is not originating from his speakers, it's some sort of modulation effect, its a night and day difference dry vs wet tone.

That tone does not exist in any form prior to June 1981 on all of the bootlegs, pro-recorded shows, or the albums. In addition to the above sections I stated where the engineer turns off the effect, you can also hear in the Montreal show that the sound engineer effect is off during the intro chords of Iron Man, Randy has the same tone as Cleveland/Tribute show, and its a completely different chorded sound from the rest of the Montreal show. So Randy has this dry tone at the beginning of Iron Man, and then immediately on the first chord when the verse starts, he clicks on his chorus pedal, you can hear the the dramatic change in tone (and volume increase) here between between his on-board chorus pedal and whatever external modulation is being used for rest of the show.

I have the MXR 3 knob chorus and it's a very cold/metallic sounding chorus compared to most others, and it sounds exactly like it does in Iron Man during the Montreal show, the rest of the show, nope. I am starting to wonder if the sound engineer was using a Boss CE-2 as the effect, in combination with something else possibly. Randy was using a Boss SD-1 during a couple shows (Including Cleveland/Tribute) because the MXR wasn't working. He might have tried all the Boss pedals and liked the CE-2 as he started using that modulated tone through the sound engineer within a few weeks of him using the Boss SD-1. I also have a CE-2 and will mess around with different ways to implement it to see if it creates a similar sound.

Yeah, don't know and maybe a rack effect, but from everything I've read, there was a LOT more processing going on from the PA guy(s) as the guys evolved and developed from Blizzard thru Diary. Who knows what rack effects the PA guy(s) had and at different venues, but yes, they were applying Chorus.....maybe because his pedalboard was having so many issues from being dropped and touring around the world and getting pretty beat up?!??

In Rudy's book he said they rehearsed every song on Diary Of A Madman when at pre production for the Diary tour. This was at Shepperton studios starting november 22, and they were there for a week while ozzy was not there. The plan was when ozzy came back he could pick what new songs they would do for the Diary tour besides Flying High and believer that they were already doing. Someone must have recorded them rehearsing. Seems like Rudy, Tommy, or Don would have a tape of this or someone..? lol That would be pretty cool to hear.

I wouldn't doubt that there is an instrumental recording somewhere of pre "Diary" tour rehearsals so the band could see what worked and what didn't musically. My guess is that Tommy would be the person that might have anything matching that description. That way, Ozzy would have a musical frame of reference to figure out what songs he wanted to add from the set off of the 2nd album. There may also be, perhaps, a rehearsal tape of Ozzy singing (or trying to sing) over those songs upon his return. If I recall, they only added "Over the Mountain" at the beginning of the show, because that was the only song Ozzy COULD sing, and only at the beginning of the set - so he could hit the higher notes then that he wouldn't be able to at the end of a show.

I wish we could eloborate on this subject!!! I cannot think of anything valuable to add, at the moment, but this is one of those subjects that keep you intrigued

Actually, Tommy Aldridge mentioned having boxfuls (?) of soundboard tapes, then it could be possible that even some soundchecks were recorded. For some bands it was common procedure to record the soundboard tape of the show. Heck, Venom apparently recorded most of their rehearsals