Randy Rhoads's Sound
Classical discipline dropped into heavy metal, in barely three years of recordings.
Layered Marshall crunch with classical phrasing and heavy chorus
The rig
The gear associated with the sound. Each item opens a live Reverb search — vintage examples where they exist, modern equivalents where they don't.
Guitars
- Karl Sandoval polka-dot Flying VFind on Reverb
- Jackson Concorde 'Rhoads V'Find on Reverb
- Gibson Les Paul Custom (cream)Find on Reverb
Amps
- Marshall 1959 Super Lead (modified)Find on Reverb
- MXR distortion into Marshall stacksFind on Reverb
Effects
- MXR Distortion+Find on Reverb
- MXR Stereo ChorusFind on Reverb
- MXR 10-band EQFind on Reverb
- Korg echoFind on Reverb
Pickups
- Gibson humbuckers; DiMarzio in the Sandoval VFind on Reverb
Why it sounds like that
Crazy Train
Bright, chorus-washed Marshall crunch with the mids intact so the pedal-point riff stays articulate.
Mr. Crowley
The solo tone is heavily layered and drenched in delay, giving the classical lines a cathedral scale.
Diary of a Madman
Clean nylon-influenced passages against full-gain sections in the same arrangement.
Similar sounds
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