Stryper/Mass

[mule#1]

I was just listening to some old Stryper and a band called MASS that was produced by Michael Sweet of Stryper. Does anybody know which Boogies either band They used back in the day? Mass had some killer Boogie tone. If you never heard MASS them check this out http://www.retrospectrecords.com/products/mass_vitn.html

I love that tone! I'm thinking a 50+ or a MK IIC+

 

[Neptical]

I was a fan of that tone way back in the days my friend. Killer, killer tone!

I'm not sure on the Mass material, but Stryper was notorious for using the IIC+ with a Furman Parametric EQ (PQ3) slamming the front of the amp. That's what gave them that signature sound.

All the Best,
~Nep~

 

[scottywompas]

I used to dig the Stryper tone. Not really my thing any more but I'd bet IIC or maybe a MKIII.

Scott

 

[mule#1]

I was a fan of that tone way back in the days my friend. Killer, killer tone!~/quote]

I,m not so much into that exact tone anymore either but it was awesome! I can tell I'd be able to tweak it into a mode tone I'd like now. I'm more into a Warren Haynes type tone now myself. That tone was just so in your face. I thought I read what Stryper was using years ago and thought somebody might remember! The MASS stuff has to be the same rig with less snarl!

 

[Neptical]

Yeah, its definitely not what I would be going for today for tone.. :lol: ...but, it's still cool to go back and listen to that old school Boogie sound. You can find some interviews of Oz Fox talking about his IIC+ that RCS gave him many moons ago. Cool stuff! 8)

All the Best,
~Nep~

 

[JD]

http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65424&start=0

 

[mule#1]

http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=65424&start=0

Good Thread and was exactly what I was looking for! I am surprised to see that they were using MK II's but they were not the C+. Anyway very informative.

 

[BENNY]

great so all i need to do is figure out what a "bump" is.... :lol:

if you can't find a furman would MXR work ?

 

[little-b]

Thats one of the killer boogie tones for back then!...I dont know of all the specifics, but Ive seen them live back in the day, using mk IIIs,quad preamps, strategy 400 poweramps, all the way to seeing them last year and Michael only was using a mk v- oz was using a line 6 board---that was a head scratcher for us gearheads there that night, as michaels tone was just crushing, vrs oz's...

 

[mule#1]

Thats one of the killer boogie tones for back then!...I dont know of all the specifics, but Ive seen them live back in the day, using mk IIIs,quad preamps, strategy 400 poweramps, all the way to seeing them last year and Michael only was using a mk v- oz was using a line 6 board---that was a head scratcher for us gearheads there that night, as michaels tone was just crushing, vrs oz's...

That is pretty strange. I know a guy that play's out regularly here. He has a IIC+, a quad pre-amp with a strategy 400 and he only takes out a POD. Maybe they are worried about theft but for Stryper that would be less likely. Give us the Tone! How did the MK V sound? Was it the classic tone?

 

[KillDivision]

Thats one of the killer boogie tones for back then!...I dont know of all the specifics, but Ive seen them live back in the day, using mk IIIs,quad preamps, strategy 400 poweramps, all the way to seeing them last year and Michael only was using a mk v- oz was using a line 6 board---that was a head scratcher for us gearheads there that night, as michaels tone was just crushing, vrs oz's...

That is pretty strange. I know a guy that play's out regularly here. He has a IIC+, a quad pre-amp with a strategy 400 and he only takes out a POD. Maybe they are worried about theft but for Stryper that would be less likely. Give us the Tone! How did the MK V sound? Was it the classic tone?

I was at the concert this year in Tivoli, Utrecht.
Micheal played his Mark V and Oz some board and a JCM800. You could see the JCM800 wasn't plugged into the front, so the story of Oz playing his Line6 board into the return of the Marshall could be treu.

I'm very into guitarsound (and sound in general) and noticed the difference between Micheal and Oz. Micheal has that typical old palmute-Stryper sound while Oz has a fuzzy marshall sound. The Mark V was ubertight. You could see Micheal was playing his Carvin Vee straight into the front of the Mark V.


There is a good quality video of the whole show on several torrent sites. search for Stryper and Tivoli.

Meanwhile there are pieces of that video on youtube with with less quality sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tij_GLZKXgA

 

[little-b]

The tone from Michaels rig this year, when I saw them anyways, was fairly aggressive, and tight, with a lot of focus...It was classic boogie, but with a bit of 'new metal" sound thrown in for good measure...I went up after the show was done, roadies were real cool w/ me hangin out; I saw the cable runs and everything...Oz had a line 6 board on for sure--just dont know what he used it all for.....Waaaaaay back in the day, on the against the law tour, I was gigging in a christain metal band, and we got to hang with all the guys before the show, and after..I got some cool pics of that night..anyways, there were 40 4x12 cabs, stacked 3 high that night the whole way from stage left to right...they were all real, but only some were used obviously...they were both using quad preamps with furman para,and 2 racks of strategy 400 power amps...not sure how it was all running though...all I remember is that it was insanely loud that night...good show anyways.

 

[mule#1]

I checked out that video. I think the MK V is too compressed, or he is running it to tight. If people complain about the MK IV they definitely would not like the V. It took a lot of time to figure out my IV. At least its close to the old tone but I think they should go back to the quads!

 

[GoneFission]

Interesting that this comes up. The guy who sold me my Quad in '94 told me, probably after cash changed hands since it didn't mean anything to me, that the pre had been owned by one of the guys in Stryper. He name dropped which one by I couldn't remember which for sure. IIRC, the inspection markings inside pointed to about a 1990 build. There's an Oz Fox interview I googled that said he still had his from 1987. So unless Sweet got his later or this was a backup, smells of bologna. No MIDI Abacus, old type FU-2 foot switch. (Props to the smartass who named the switch.)

Only possibly distinctive mark that I can find (without any match) is a strip of some sort of tape under one of the standard outs that says "to power" or some such.

 

[mule#1]

Nice! How do you like it?

 

[GoneFission]

Nice! How do you like it?

I go through phases with it and have ever since I got it. Kind of on it now. Generally, I'm a vintage-y amp and stomp box kinda guy, so it must say something that it keeps drawing me back in.

The reverb is the nicest spring unit I've used for guitar, but of course I play mostly dry these days.