Ep. 93 - Rack Gear Show with Michael Nielsen and Michael Toren!

[@tone-talk]

Thanks to Michael Nielsen and Michael Toren for coming on the show! And for everyone who watches! Thanks!

[@hollywoodactress]

So good as just watched it and can’t believe I missed it live. I do have an MP1 and MC1 footswitch in storage. I need to get a nice rack effects to go with it one day 👍

[@shotgunrebels]

Great show. Looking forward to Gilby Clarke. You should hit up Tracii Guns. He’s a gear head and I think he’d totally do the show. He also has a new Kramer signature guitar out.

[@burninhell94]

I’mb

[@dzakifauzan9748]

​@@hollywoodactress2

[@humanactivated1017]

Man I’m. Kncerned fir these guys health after seeing this kind of liquor consumption . I have only seen this kind of liquor co symptom once in my life and they person isn’t alive anymore

[@chrisquinn9104]

Michael Nielson is so great. He’s all about empirical evidence, and a great player. He’s so modest, it took me a while to figure out how deep he is, because he’s so laid back

[@mikeoconnell7451]

I still have a Yamaha DG 100 212 with motorized pots. Love it. It came with Vintage 30’s

[@lousekoya1803]

Man this show was great ! Michael Toren is a heck of a guy !! He started laughing with a beautiful smile at 22.42 and never let go of that smile till the end ! That is 3 hours and 31 minutes non stop smiling ! Last time I smiled this long was at 20 years old on acid ! I even believe that Prozac would be rejected from his body ! You can clic anywhere you want pass 22.42 and you'll see this nice big friendly welcoming smile ! Great friend to have !! Cheers guys and Greetings from Québec !

[@DennisCameronMusic]

Michael Toren smiled for 4 hours straight. I guess I'd be smiling too if I had all that gear I suppose.

[@Quetzalcoatl999]

Haha I came to the comments to see if anyone else noticed

[@cc-wm9fs]

Lol

[@RobertBakerGuitar]

100% my favorite episode you guys have ever done

[@Rummy73]

Racked your brain?

[@tone-talk]

Thanks Robert!

[@Sperzel]

The one with Bob Bradshaw still takes the win for me, but this one was killer as well.

[@PMiller3425]

Same here, Learned a lot from this episode.

[@georgepelekoudis]

Thanks for the interview, Dave, Marc, Nielson, and Toren! Racks for days 😅 The PCM 41/42’s were probably my favourite. Hard to find them in good shape though. Have a good weekend guys! Stay safe :)

[@georgepelekoudis]

The explanation of grounding was simple but thorough...even after all these years, grounding is a confusing topic. Thanks David :)

[@MusicTherapyLaz]

Catching up on what I missed! Had to wait til I could actually sit down and watch this! I Love... Big Racks and I Cannot Lie! Great episode! My first piece of rack guitar gear was the Roland GP-100 preamp and effects precessor...I couldn't afford much back then and though it's one that goes unmentioned... it did the trick for the few guitar parts I wrote in our studio back in the day! They go for a little over $100 these days.. still haven't bought one even for the sake of nastalgia! 😲😎🎸

[@RoccoPezzin]

I think I've watched every episode and this was in the top 3 for sure! A gold mine of informations right here! Absolutely loved it!

[@danepaulstewart8464]

Dabbled with balanced power in the live room, and Marshall’s all stopped buzzing and you couldn’t even tell that they were ON! 👍👍

[@rontheguitarcollector]

By far, the conversation I didn’t know that I needed to hear, but blew me away.

[@DougThacker]

Awesome show guys! Please have them back. If you pay attention to Marc and Nielsen you can see them both trying not to look at each other because they would lose it!!! lol Hilarious

[@tone-talk]

Hahaha! Thanks for noticing! We were dying

[@WardyP]

Great episode guys and funny as hell. Cool era to be talking about and great to have been there. I miss my old Simul 295 powered rack into 2 4x12s. Great memories. Thanks once again 🤘🤘🤘

[@buzzsaw63]

Glad Dave kept everything on track, lots of experience so it was nice everyone wasn’t jumping from one topic to another.

[@QQIQ24170]

This was one of the best tone talks ...loved it!

[@PetParadiseVB]

You guys cost me more money in gear than any other show lol... and I love it! Thank you for doing this.

[@TechMetalRules]

This is one of the greatest podcast episodes I've ever listened to. Cheers!

[@Gorbyrev]

12 year old Balvenie is a worthy dram. Was sharing one earlier this week. Cheers!

[@Henryamps]

Great episode!! Glad to see the Boss SE50 get a mention, it was the first “pro” gear I could afford along with a Marshall JMP-1 (into a 900 FX return for power). CAE 3+ and 2150 was the dream!!

[@peevee605]

Christmas came early with this episode, thank you so much dudes. Love you getting into the details and nitty gritty of gear and tones. If I remember correctly, John Sykes started using the Eventide 949 for the Whitesnake 1987 album with +9 and -9 pitch on it and two Mesa heads. Bob Rock had to come in and dial in his tone. And Dann Huff got a call to play the 8th notes in the 3rd verse of Here I Go Again because Sykes would not play the part without his live rig. Huff nailed it in one take.

[@JRP3music]

Eq pedal: Empress ParaEQ is a great pedal. I use it in my fx loop of my Mesa Nomad 100. Global EQ in my series converted fx loop. It makes my Amp easier to tweak guitars to the amp and sculpt the sound of the Amp. The Mesa JP2C gave me the idea.

[@steveg219]

I’m home recovering from ankle surgery, these ridiculously long episodes about gear are perfect!

[@markinthemix6055]

You guys are destroying the value of my Alesis Qudroverb 😂🤣

[@WyattWillis88]

Damn seriously one of my favorite episodes guys! This is the very definition of this show!!

[@shorerocks]

Apart from the J.E.Lee episode, this is the best I've seen so far. And I've seen most of them.

[@JRP3music]

I used a Roctron Replifex and Intellifex together. The Replifex delay max was 1,000 milliseconds. I used the Intellifex to get longer delays. I also had the Multivalve (tube) version of Replifex. I had a 2nd Intellifex. I bypassed the Intellifex most of the time and used it as aux fx the Replifex didn't have.

[@burresseffects]

Sorry for derailing all the rack talk for a bit. Thanks so much for answering my question!

[@KanlydNorge]

The Mesa Bass ting is because the tone stack is all the way in front. (Pre gain). So like all Blackface style fenders the tone controls are like gain pots for different frequencies. The trick to get a good Boogie tone is turn the bass down when you turn volume/lead drive up. Turn the mids and treble up and use the graphics to take out mids and boost low end. The Boogie amps give you a really compressed high-gain that feels easy to play.

[@markward2436]

dave is so history based love it. my mp1 lexicon has taken till now 15 years later and i finally know how to program it.hint don't stop reading the manual every few years as its constant home work

[@christianutter5383]

2:04:26 Toren: "Omg, this is going to be a three hour show". Narrator: "Little did he know"

[@justinespinosa7878]

Definitely too 3 show so far! Hilarious and super informative! Love the “Mike’s “ show!

[@kellecetraro4807]

You got to love Torens perma smirk, it's infectious 🙃🤘

[@kellecetraro4807]

Thanks Mark. Apologies for the trouble. It was the Best Tone Talk yet!!!

[@RagdollOC]

I'm glad Dave gave a thumbs up to the RV 2000! I've had one for years and am thinking about selling it. Now, I might actually get some better money for it! :)

[@MitchGift]

For noise you have to use a Rocktron Hush unit. Hush 2C. Bradshaw switchers had a wonderful Hush unit built in with and incremental digital threshold that was assignable. Also I would use nylon sleeves and washers around the rack bolts with rubber spacers between components.

[@JRP3music]

I miss using my rack gear. I still have it. I stopped using it when I stopped using my ADA MP-1. I planned to get Synergy 2. Then rebuild my rack. I have 2 sets of Intellifex, 1 Replifex, and 1 Multi-Valve. I mostly use my tube heads and pedals now. I liked how the Rocktrons complemented each other. Replifex had pedal style fx. The Intellifex had more delays, Reverbs, etc.

[@ttestates1]

I had 2 Yamaha D1500s in my rack. They're awesome 👌

[@toadjam12000]

I need one. :-)

[@jjshouseofjams522]

Man what a show that was. re watching to make sure i didnt miss a second . Thanks Tone Talk - Michael N - Michael T . Intellifix on the way.

[@racrboy]

I play live quite often with my wet/dry/wet stereo rig. This is kind a funny story. We were playing a festival and the sound guy is a "typical" sound guy. Kind of a stroke but I'm used to dealing with "sound guys". Long story short he brings up a 57 to mic my rig. I nicely asked him if I can get 3 channels to properly mix my w/d/w rig. I'm like I don't even need your mics, I can use my Sennheisers etc. He was extremely short w/ me and said all it get is 1 mic. (in that case I'll just mix it down on one of my cabs). So I start to do my sound check. He comes walking back up to stage. All of a sudden, he did a 180 total change in his attitude. Was asking me about what I have going etc. Ended up bringing me 3 channels to mix. I did a bit of an extended sound check. (showing off a bit and more importantly trying to get the phase right) He was blown away, said he's never seen anything like that etc...LOL. So we did that show. A couple of weeks later, my band (the same band) opened up for Survivor at another festival. Same sound company and that dude was there helping the sound company. (He wasn't running the board this time). He comes running up to me and we started to BSing. He's all tripping out because Frankie Sullivan (guitar player for Survivor) is running a similar w/d/w stereo rig (Bob Bradshaw CAE did his rig). He's like, I've been doing sound for years and all of a sudden I get 2 sick sounding rigs in a month. It was classic and a fun little story to tell.

[@tone-talk]

Thanks for the story!

[@JRP3music]

I loved my Boss SE-50 delays. Used the pitch detune on kick drum. My favorite application was the 5 parallel delays. It is a bit noisy.

[@JRP3music]

My Rocktron Replifex and Intellifex units were awesome together. I miss rack gear all together it was a cleaner setup and less cable. Eventually, I will revive my rack gear with Synergy gear.

[@JRP3music]

I took my MosValve apart to clean the pots. The fan has a cable that can be removed. Not sure if it could be bypassed. Curious what the green pots inside adjust. Love that MosValve. I regret not buying the ProValve long ago. Same with the stereo tube reverb.

[@MrKenward777]

Did Nielsen finish that whole bottle of tequila ? 😂 a true champion ! Great show guys this was a really fun episode! thank you!

[@regortex3364]

Water

[@KelsterVonShredster]

This is great! I'm on amp #121 and thought I had a problem until I saw this video so thanks for that.

[@Zedd5]

This ist far BEST EPISODE EVER!!!!! entertaining and lot of knowlege about rackgear, Thx guys!!!!!

[@TheLexluthier]

Great episode! Glad to hear some of the rack gear I own is actually cool, LOL!

[@MikeySwe]

So scared of the GAS this episode is going to cause...

[@johngonzalez7967]

My Reverb watch list just tripled

[@RagdollOC]

This was a great episode. Lot's of info. Love this show!

[@JRP3music]

I enjoy the long sessions, listening along with my new job. I can listen but, not watch while working.

[@bobjoe7508]

@1:55:07 Yes, Steve Lukather used both of them around 1985, but I'm not sure how much he used the tri stereo. Pretty much all the studio sessions records I've heard with him sound like the 1210 entirely. The tri stereo was definitely the Landau thing.

[@JRP3music]

I used an ADA MP-1 with a Real Tube II preamp. The Real Tube II had a stereo fx loop. The ADA MP-1 was used in a Boss NS-2 at a lower volume. The Real Tube II was always on clean. The ADA was the main tone shaping. I used 2 with the combination of Rocktron FX Replifex and Intellifex together. Still have that rig.

[@humanactivated1017]

I thought the ADA unit was shitty without sonic maximizer . And barely on par with sonic maximizer . It sounded flat

[@JRP3music]

@@humanactivated1017 eq does the same treatment. I used a special process.

[@JRP3music]

I used my ADA MP-1 with a Boss NS-2. I ran the out of the Boss NS-2 into a Tubeworks Realtube II preamp on clean. The ADA was lowered output. The EQ of the RealTube II shaped the ADA abit, I also used parametric eq in my Rocktron Replifex. My Poweramp was a Tubeworks MosValve. I got great tone. Never used the BBE. No need for it. Everything has to do with how you apply the use of the gear.

[@JockeLundgrenTV]

Awesome show! GREAT energy with two guests. More of that. Thanks for the entertainment! 🤙🏻

[@danepaulstewart8464]

I had a star-ground at Off World Studios. At 120db of playback, you couldn’t even tell if the speakers were on! 😎👍👍

[@theirritatedirishman5440]

DG 1000 Yamaha. For solid state the Yamaha sounded and felt good. I’m also into the HH with the SP77. I’m a tube guy all the way but that HH was killer!

[@larslevinberget9558]

Transistor power amps ... seemed to be a few that worked with guitars, the H&H V800, Carvin FET900, Peavey DECA 724, Marshall Valvestate 80/80 ...also Crown Microtech, some Yamaha, Crest or Carver...

[@danepaulstewart8464]

The PCM 42 was precise, regenerated gorgeously, and created VERY serious modulation effects. As well as being high enough quality to use it to move important tracks around. A serious tool. The SRV 20000 Reverb is a classic because it’s dark and full with a dense algorithm that gave rich reverb. Highly sought after. I have one. Hit me up.

[@LeonTodd]

OMFG this one went deep. LOVE it

[@tacoconch7678]

A wild Australian is spotted in the distance.

[@SolarWarden88]

Loved it, so deep! lol. Leon, you should link-up one of these sessions on your channel! Get the talk going about more Rackgasms ;p

[@topstringtv1299]

Nice too hear Dave saying good things about the JMP 1. I’ve been using one of these on and off since the mid 90s and they often get a bad rap for not been 100% valve ( tube).

[@kjetilalexandersaltnes8643]

If these men were sober they PROBABLY should talk 4 hours about the Custom Audio Electronic's 3+SE preamp.. Used by Landau, Lukather, and many many more...

[@vincemendoza28]

I remember all of this very well. Cheers guys. Great show.

[@JJDPROMEDIAPRODUCTION]

The Free The Tone Pedals are great ( Tri Chorus, Delay and Verb)..

[@Chimeskinkade]

Great episode !!!!!! learned some stuff with a big dose of laughter !!!!

[@Yupppi]

Another cool thing that this Tone--Talk sparked: Juha Torvinen from a, you could say super popular, rock band Eppu Normaali, a Ruokangas guitars artist, played with Budda amplifiers and they sounded amazing. His tone was saturated Telecaster clean or very smoothly and mildly overdriven sound with crazy punch. Would've never connected that sound to David Friedman if it didn't come up in this Tone-Talk that he designed the preamp for their amps. Huge hats off for that sound. Songs like Rakastavaiset or Rakkaus on KuuMaa have one of my favourite guitar tones. Great, great amps.

[@GonzaCordovez]

Great!....Thanks!...now i'm planning my rack...Dammit Guys!!!

[@adamr8878]

@2:38:04 lmfao I am dying here. Marc slurring his ass off. I am literally laughing so hard with tears rolling down my face. Another great show guys, thanks for the laughs and the info.

[@tone-talk]

That’s awesome! Glad you enjoyed it!!!

[@jeffbenson6102]

I've got a Mesa Quad Pre and a Formula Pre, I sold my Mesa 50/50 but still kept a Butler 50/50 which seems pretty good. You guys are having a great chat.

[@JRP3music]

The ADA MP-1 and Marshall Dual mono block with EL34s sounded perfect together. I used a MosValve with the ADA MP-1. I borrowed the Marshall dual mono block for 1 track on my first CD. It sounded perfect. I should of bought it. I later got a Marshall 9005. Sounded close.

[@humanactivated1017]

Have to disagree , I had several racks in 80sand 90s including the quad preamp with mesa el 34 power amps jmp1 ( decent ) and ADA MP1 . The MP1 was shit without a Sonic maximizer . And even with sonic maximizer it didn’t have the dynamic and warmth as the Marshalls or boogie . I sold it right away I was so disappointed

[@JRP3music]

It all has to do with how you apply it

[@JRP3music]

I knew somebody who had an ADA MP-1 and a dual monol block and they couldn't get a good sound out of it

[@JRP3music]

In a nutshell 2 people can have the identical same stuff and get different results

[@somebodyelseuk]

Had a JMP1 for a couple of months in the early 90s...POS. Traded in for a Triaxis. Still going nearly 30 years later. Never had any noise issues, by the way, and other than valves, is still on original parts, even the internal battery.

[@kingfisher7960]

I started playing with a Rocktron Chameleon 2 and i had ZERO IDEA HOW TO USE at 15 years old back in 1990! I only played the presets because I didnt have the right foot controller. It was a nightmare. Now I own a couple 1x12 Katana 100s and I love them. I would like a Friedman Dirty Shirly but that will be a bucket list item. I went modern because, well its time for me. I had a Mesa Dual Rec from 1996 but sold it because of multiple tube bias issues. I wont own a tube amp at this point but I will admit they sound best when working right. I am a Friedman fan because of this. Although that Wampler Bravado is nice too!

[@larslevinberget9558]

How many direct recording preamps in 1990? I guess the ART power plant was used as an alternative to the Rockman stuff that were dated by then, for tracking dummy guitar tracks in the studio before setting up mics and cabinets. The Zoom 9001? Marshall and Mesa had recording outputs that sucked, only way was the big secret, the Groove Tubes Guitar studio tube recording preamp ... please make a video on that one!

[@PotemkinBUMP225]

Dave said he did not like the boogie triaxis. I but I used on for about 20 years and one of the things that it did very well was using the green clean channel and running the gain at about 6-7. It would still sound clean but when you hit if with a pedal it was amazing. I used a full drive II with the comp cut on. That was an amazing tone. I use a Suhr pt 100 today and while I love that amp, I can’t get that particular tone that was so good. The triaxis was amazing for the time. When it comes to the subject of this video I wish someone like strymon would come out with a rack version of their time line, big sky, mobius in a rack version. I really like the rack if it’s quality vs the pedal on the floor.

[@Widdy5150]

This is probably my 7th time watching this episode!!! I personally don't have any rack gear (Helix user) but find the subject fascinating & you guys are awesome 👏 😎

[@AUdioHipster]

A Guitar player toured back in the 80s. He wanted me to have this VHT classic EL 34 power amp, and this one has the round transformer, and I know ithe newer reissues had the large square transformer. I'm not sure how much difference that made on the sound, but I think the round transformers were more expensive. Just an awesome amp. I'm just shame it don't get used more.

[@Angellus502]

I wanted to add to the knowledge base.. PPL in Chat asked what modern preamps to buy, and Michael Toren said he did not like the Engl E530. The E530 is "precision engineered by ze Germans" very tight, good metal tone, but not lose enough for old school rock IMHO,.. it has Lots of I/O ( stereo fx loop ), lots of mid shift, its kinda a 4 channel pre in 1 RU, but its tight and modern sounding. The other new Pre I have is the AMT SS-20, its a lot more lose, rock, will get high gain and kinda tight, has a 3 way switch for a pre eq on the gain channels. 3 channel... I think its real good, as is the AMT SS11a Pedal Pre... Its everything i hoped the JMP1 would be + more, but never did as i could never get a JMP1 to sound good when I tried one ( but im more an old school 80's/90's Peavey gain tone kinda guy ). Having had much love for rack year through the past 20 years of it falling out of favor I'm gonna try to get in touch with Leon Todd ( were both in OZ ) and lend him some gear so he show you guys more rack gear to check out :)

[@57Techboy]

Sony DPS R7 D7 and M7 and an all in one unit DPS V77 R for reverb D for Delay M for Modulation. The R 7 plate delay is one of the best plates out there

[@Henryamps]

Re: Lexicon user interface, as a former studio lackey, we’d have to document every parameter of the 480L (both sides) and PCM 70 for any given mix... couldn’t rely on saving presets in case mix was brought to diff studio. Talk about sheer AGONY!!!

[@aristocaster]

Yamaha DG amps are still absolutely great modelling amps, and they were one of the first, and the motorised pots are still working after 25 years. i still have DG 80-210combo. only problem i bought combo, and i normally have just heads, and that combo is too bulky, should make a head out of it, but still wonderful amp.

[@dan_perry]

Killer show! A lot of DigiTech and Rocktron shout outs from Dave...didn't see that one coming. Regardless, he is correct.

[@danepaulstewart8464]

You must tour EVERYWHERE now! There’s no excuse. Come to Chicago - we still have tons of those studios surviving!

[@carlwagoner77]

Once again, great show guys, thanks 👍🏻👍🏻

[@drcustomblades2984]

I plugged in to the jerry cantrell signature friedman and it was incredible!! I love friedman amps!!

[@markinthemix6055]

I laughed out loud so many times. 🤣😂

[@azzazelo]

"how do we go forward from here" really means I'm an addict and I need something to get higher on lol. I feel you man ....

[@zombiemosher1139]

Another fantastic episode, love rack effects. This one was right up there with the Bradshaw episode. Great work.

[@dyonight]

This episode is amazing

[@Rolf_D]

Great Show, I just bought an Alesis Quadraverb 2 for 150€ on ebay kleinanzeigen. I am living in Germany.

[@markinthemix6055]

I would have loved to hear Rocktron Prophecy discussion.

[@TyRobertsmedia]

@ 2:04:18 finally get to my MP1 and Dave says, "we'll get to that..." then Michael say - "OMG it's gonna be a three hour show!" - Well GENTS it's at almost 4!!!! LOL

[@AlanScottBand]

This was great. Wished the Marshall JMP-1 came up. Kittyhawk quattro, Bogner Triple Giant, I wish Toren had shed light on what appears to be Mako 4 channel -and whether Steve Luthaker actually ever used the Rocktron Pro GAP or just appeared in the ads...lol. Harry Kolbe Guitar Preamp?...on and on...lol

[@danielconrad764]

JMP-1 came up just after 3 hour mark.

[@Burkhimself]

This was greatness

[@MrAletube]

yes,Luke 89/90 was THE sound,especially with the robot Valley arts,when he went MM and then Rivera it was all gone,imho.

[@BenBreard]

@Michael Toren: I'm almost afraid to ask but ...................... .................can we see your guitar collection? LOL

[@MitchGift]

Hughes and Ketner had a 2 rack space tube pentode/ triode power amp that was pretty good, and I think Hafler had a decent rack mounted amplifier. Also Rocktron has a good budget rack mounted solid state amp, the Velocity.

[@Angellus502]

Missed the first 3/4 Live :( Dave Mentioned the Peavey 50/50 power amp sounded great. I've always thought it sounded great and chimey on clean's but been thinking of getting something with 6L6 or 34's for a bit more balls on high gain rock / 90's metal. Any thoughts???

[@hellonblades]

Michael Toren, is hands down, the Pre-amp King!

[@pv6505]

The MP-2 was an MP-1 on steroids (I regret giving mine up 10 years ago thinking the new digital stuff would suit my needs). It had 10 voicings, compressor, noise gate, standard tone controls and 8 or 9 band graphic eq... almost like they looked at what Digitech was releasing and tried to compete. It still had all the ADA nuances and whatnot but I want it back.

[@chrisquinn9104]

Almost 4 hours on rack gear!!!!

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

Anybody ever tried the Chandler Tube Driver Preamp with the boost and contour knobs,I really dig what Mr BK Butler built solid engineering ❤️

[@regortex3364]

I owned one, it’s not like the pedal, I didn’t bond with it.

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

@@regortex3364 ok cool,that's a personal preference,I have the pedal too and I tend to gravitate towards the rack unit somehow,just my personal taste.btw I have the 5 knob td pedal 🙂with extra bias knob

[@regortex3364]

@@vikramjitbanerjeetuki - yeah it’s totally subjective. I’ve had most of the Tube Driver products, only one I liked and kept is the og Tube Driver pedal.

[@ThedangdiggityKeough]

Michael is a smart guy and a toneaholic aswell as being a very good recording engineer

[@kingfisher7960]

That Mesa Mark 4 and up preamp was something special to behold.... Thats what the TriAxis was based off of. The Mark 3 actually. Sometime around 87 or 88. Lol and a Macintosh tube amp will run you about 15 to 25k depending on how much credit you have.