Michael Schenker

[Tone Slinger]

Yep. Frank Zappa also used one to great effect. Schenker said he wasnt happy with it (pignose). I think Ron Nevison (producer) may have wanted Schenker to use the pignose, since it was SO easily moved to different areas to achieve different recorded sounds. The "Lights Out" album had a slight 'Boston" type sound/vibe to it imo. A very 'Produced' type album.

Although the tracks on 'Lights Out' are my fave's, I like the TONE on 'Obsession' the best. That album, imo, has one of the best lead tones I've ever heard. Michael went back to Marshall on that one .

[Emplexador]

The first MSG album with Gary Barden, Simon Phillips, Mo Foster and Don Airey. The CD remaster from 2009 is nice. I played the shit out of that album. 1980 was a good year!

[Tone Slinger]

Man, I thought Cozy Powell was on that one, oops. Still, great drumming on 'Lost Horizons' ! To me, Schenker pushed that 'Star Gazer' type vibe a bit further on that track. Such TONE on the 'Cry For The Nations' solo ! I love that 'vowelly eq' type effect he gets when he switches pu's during certain solo's. It just grabs you.

[Talpa]

Schenker used a wha on the Scorpions 'Lonesome Crow' album ('71,'72 ?) He also used it on EVERY UFO album, though not very much until 'Lights Out'.

He used it once on Phenomonen, once or twice on Force It ('cocked' on the solo in 'Love Lost Love') he used it once on 'No Heavy Petting' (again, cocked on 'Reasons Love'). On Lights Out, he used a pignose amp. He had the wha on at least half of the solo's. On Obsession, he went back to the 50 watt Marshall, and only used the wha in maybe 3 spots, like the intro melody to 'I aint No Baby', along with the 'Looking Out For #1(reprise)' and the solo in 'Born To Lose'.

MSG ('80-'83) saw Michael, imo, getting his worst tones. It was very nasal, and lost a bit of high end crunch. He really did, at that point, use a wha on almost every song.

I started liking Michaels tone again by the late 80's/early 90's. It sounded like he went back to the greenback speakers, and was using a new Marshall (for that period to now, it is a 50 watt channel switching 800 seies Marshall).

spent the afternoon in studio running thru various tonal permutations of the Love Lost Love solo...been a UFO fan from the beginning, alot of Texan slingers always dug MS so familiar turf...

playing thru the correct gear i'm convinced the solo is wah full down not cocked - tonally comparable to the Whole Lotta Love solo. any "cocked" EQ shaping is in the amp/guitar knobs i'm just about sold on it.

maybe MS has said otherwise, but on this solo if u have everything dialed in it's wah on, but full down. the melody heads are neck....of course ymmv & just talking about this solo specifically..give another critical listen let me know what y'all think

along with the Mother Mary solo, my personal top two MS solos...pure natural talent. the MM flurry 2nd solo was way ahead of it's time back then

Jim

[Tone Slinger]

I agree, the 'Love Lost Love' solo was probably with the wha closed or very close to being. Your right about the 'Whole Lotta Love' comparison.

As a young teen, I remember reading various articles concerning Schenkers tone. Many of the writers/interviewers in those '80 to '88 era mags got ALOT of people 'mislead', myself included. They said that he ALWAYS had the wha on to get that midrange. Fact is, is that in UFO, he really DIDNT use the wha much. I might have missed a song or two, concerning my above highlighted post, but I think that shows about how often Schenker 'filtered' a wha back then.

By his second solo album, he was using that damn wha for almost EVERY solo. I didnt care for that. The Marshall tops, as well as the speakers in his cabs, had also changed a bit, adversley affecting the tone.

I think of Schenker's best tones as being with UFO. A early '70's 50 watt head and 25 watt celestions.

On that gig in '77 where Chapman filled in (the 'whistle' or something ?) they played 'Doctor Doctor'. Chapman had that firebird. You can see the amp backline. The camera guy got a foward moving angle starting from BEHIND the amps. You can tell that the head Chapman was plugged into was a 'full' sized 50 watter, not a small box. The letters 'UFO' were painted on it.

When Michael suddenly 'vanished' without a trace, he didnt take any of his gear (well maybe a guitar), so Chapman simply plugged into his gear for that short period where Michael went on 'Holiday'' with his woman.

That sound was THE sound. I think Michael last used that top on 'Obsession'. The tour for that record has Michael getting a slightly different tone, with pics showing new jmp 4 hole heads.

[Talpa]

tks man for the great details. they were aces & had the best hard rock melodicist i've heard.

u seen this one from '77 ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YojOTrjQ9WM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tone Slinger]

Yep, I LOVE that performance ! They (UFO) were at their peak around that time imo. Phil Mogg was actually 'Workin' It' on that track, along with the "Too Hot To Handle" from that same show. I dare say he had more than a drink of 'coke' (snort) at that gig .

To me, this is the same amp tone that Schenker got up to and including the 'Obsession' album. I think different production and different green back cabs along with tubes (probably Siemans) gave 'slight' variences.

'Lights Out' cracked the US top 20 in '77. Chrysylis undershipped the album, and couldnt meet demand, or UFO would have broke out even bigger. Schenker going 'MIA' didnt help at that point either.

I am gonna build a early '70's spec 50 watter next !

[Tone Slinger]

Another cool little tidbit, concerning UFO, is that on 'Force It' Robin Trower's lead vocalist and co- songwriting partner, JAMES DEWAR (RIP), sang some vocal harmonies with Phil Mogg. Both bands were Chrysilys records acts. Dewar is most obvious on the "Love Lost Love" track. I love his counterpoint to Moggs vocal. Great stuff !

[Tone Slinger]

Does anyone know of any Scorpions Bootlegs from the '79 Germany/France tour ? Michael was playing with them for alot of those shows (though I hear he 'missed' a few due to drinking, which Matthias Jabs would have filled in) .

I think it would be cool to hear Michael playing some Uli Roth solo's.

[Tone Slinger]

For what it's worth, I thought I'd once again shed some light on Michael Schenkers , supposed, wha wha use.

Alot of mis-information has been circulating for yrs concerning Michael use of the wha, stemming from his own mouth, down to magazine writers (Wolf Marshall being a main culprit).

Here's the truth,

Michael actually didnt use the wha much at all with UFO ! This was the era that made him famous, and is still the era that people arrive at when searching for his best tone.

In a '80 Guitar interview, Schenker said that he used the wha some on the UFO stuff. He also said that he used it for MOST of the solo's on the 'Strangers In The Night' album. This is just not the case, and you can 'HEAR' that it is not.

Schenker used the Wha on ONLY these tracks off of 'Strangers', The solo in ' This Kids' (which wasnt live at all) 'Lights Out' and the LAST part in the 'Rock Bottom' extended solo, after the real fast solo part. Thats it !

The remasterd 'Strangers' has bonus tracks, Schenker used it on the bonus track of 'Hot'n'Ready'.

'Lights Out' was a pignose amp, and Schenker used the wha ALOT, like 'Just Another Suicide', 'Lights Out' and 'Electric Phase'.


Michael said in this '80 interview that he didnt like the pignose and for 'Obsession' went back to a Marshall.

The wha was used only on the intro melody in 'I aint No Baby', 'Lookin' Out For #1 reprise' and 'Born To Lose'.



The live '77 video boots with Schenker, show a small marshall logo full sized 50 watt top (pre Rocker switch), the boot of the '77 'Lights Out' at the ROUNDHOUSE has him using the wha on the middle solo only. 'Let It Roll' is without the wha, as is 'Too Hot To Handle'. This is very close to the tone Schenker was to get on the next studio album ('Obsession').

By the TOUR for 'Obsession', Michael was shown to be using new Marshall tops (Larger Marshall logo, rocker switches). Although I love the tone on this album, I prefer the tone he was getting from the 'Lights Out' tour in '77 up to and including 'Obsession'.

Funny thing is is that when Michael turned up MISSING for the first leg of the '77 USA tour for 'Lights Out', Paul Chapman was using his amps. You can see that at the 'Old Grey Whistle Test' that the 50 watt top had UFO stenciled on it. There is a Camera angle starting from the back of the amps and you can see the two EL-34's. The band was playing 'Doctor Doctor'.

By the second MSG album though, Schenker did start using the wha on most every track. That combined with the ever changing Marshall 1987 circuit in his amps and possible speaker changes (He used 25 watters in UFO, not sure about MSG) combined to degredate his tone imo.

[darkbluemurder]

Strangers in the Night was a very influential album for me and I still love it today. Absolutely great stuff.

[Tone Slinger]

What do you think of 'Obsession' ?

[yngwie308]

Try playing a 1958 Goldtop Les Paul through a Pignose, I had no choice, then get back to me!
yngwie308

[darkbluemurder]

I listened to the Strangers in the Night album the last two days and noticed how clear Michael's tone actually is - not high gain at all. It also has surprisingly little bass - it's almost all mids and treble but with warmth and cut at the same time. And the wha is not all over the place compared to the MSG live recordings - I remember it being used only on "Lights Out", "This Kids" and maybe "Too Hot to Handle". EDIT: "Too Hot to Handle" does not have a wha on it.

Speaking of solos as songs within songs - my favorite examples would be "Natural Thing", "Only You Can Rock Me", "Love to Love" and "I'm a Loser".

I can hear both Randy Rhoads and Slash having listened to Michael - both cite him as an influence.

Cheers Stephan

[darkbluemurder]

What do you think of 'Obsession' ?

I think it's a good album though I feel it pales to "Strangers in the Night".

Cheers Stephan