Randy Rhoads
PHOTO VIA JACKSON GUITARS
In his relatively short stint as guitarist
for the newly-solo Ozzy Osbourne,
Randy Rhoads positively transformed
heavy metal guitar, injecting a
powerful dose of neo-classical
harmony and technique into a genre
formerly dominated by pentatonic
and blues scales. Despite only playing
with Ozzy for a few years before his
untimely death in an airplane crash at
25, Rhoads’s influence still resonates
today anywhere that shredding
happens, and he is consistently cited
among players and fans as one of the
greatest metal guitarists of all time.
Despite this widespread admiration,
his signature guitar tone, which is as
distinctive as his playing, is a frequent
source of controversy. On recordings,
such as the iconic “Crazy Train,” it
sounds almost as if he recorded his
guitar parts via telephone. It’s all
midrange all the time, with no bass
to speak of, and dark, muffled high
end. One might assume that he used
unusual gear to sculpt such a unique
tone, but his rig was pretty standard,
consisting of a Les Paul, his signature
Jackson guitars, Marshall Super Lead
heads matched to Altec-loaded 4x12
cabs, and a handful of common pedals,
with the MXR Distortion+ being the
only one he used with any regularity.
The
immediately
recognizable
Randy Rhoads tone is the result of a
player with a strong vision using the
fundamental tools at hand to make
the sound in his head a reality.
ToneReport.com
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