The guitar sound on Appetite for Destruction

[OmarBradley]

General notes on guitar tone and recording:

The tone you are hearing on UYI and AFD are not the same tones you would hear standing in the same room that Slash's amp was in. They may be similar, but mixed and mastered tracks are only a very small slice of the tones that a guitar/amp produce. There are numerous variables which influence tone in the chain of events occurring between Slash's amp/guitar, and your ears. Pedal effects, guitar pick-ups, etc. are the normally thought of ones, but there is more to it. The recording equipment itself can alter tone: the mixing board, cables used, (especially) microphones used, any post-effects, attenuators, mic placement, and especially mastering. Hell, even the shape and content of the room can affect tone... you add up all of these little variables, and it becomes really tough to make what the listener hears on the CD into the same as what comes out of the amp. I'm not saying you can't dislike someone's tone on a record, but understand that what you're hearing may not be exactly what was coming out of that amp.

And tbh, if you hear Slash's AFP lead tracks solo'd (as in the other instruments silenced), his tone sounds different than it does with the band behind him, context matters, a lot.

[foghat43]

General notes on guitar tone and recording:

The tone you are hearing on UYI and AFD are not the same tones you would hear standing in the same room that Slash's amp was in. They may be similar, but mixed and mastered tracks are only a very small slice of the tones that a guitar/amp produce. There are numerous variables which influence tone in the chain of events occurring between Slash's amp/guitar, and your ears. Pedal effects, guitar pick-ups, etc. are the normally thought of ones, but there is more to it. The recording equipment itself can alter tone: the mixing board, cables used, (especially) microphones used, any post-effects, attenuators, mic placement, and especially mastering. Hell, even the shape and content of the room can affect tone... you add up all of these little variables, and it becomes really tough to make what the listener hears on the CD into the same as what comes out of the amp. I'm not saying you can't dislike someone's tone on a record, but understand that what you're hearing may not be exactly what was coming out of that amp.

And tbh, if you hear Slash's AFP lead tracks solo'd (as in the other instruments silenced), his tone sounds different than it does with the band behind him, context matters, a lot.

Good info Omar...thank you! I think that's probably why AFD is one of my favorite albums of all time...those particular five guys in that specific context, in that one place and time, with that one rented "modified" amp created a masterpiece of a hard rock album. And as good as Lies and the UYI albums were they were just never able to capture that same chemistry or sound that they created on AFD. So if you want that mean, badass tone of AFD....well, AFD is really the only place to get it.

[DieselDaisy]

Question from a non-musician about achieving/replicating a certain guitar sound, for example the AFD sound/tone which is the topic being discussed... Not being a musician, I obviously don't really understand all the different aspects that go into producing a particular sound. I get that different styles/brands of guitars with different woods, setups, strings, pickups, etc. played through different amps and with various effects and production techniques can achieve a wide variety of different sounds. But what I don't get is why when the desired tone/sound of a guitar is achieved on an album why is it sometimes so elusive and hard to replicate that same sound on subsequent albums? For example, if Slash had desired to replicate the AFD sound/tone on the UYI albums wouldn't it have been fairly easy to do if he simply used the same guitar/amp setup (or at least one very similar)/effects/production techniques, etc. Like I said...I'm not a musician...but I do know what my ears like...and to me the sound/tone of the guitars on AFD is vastly superior to what I hear on the UYI albums. Imagine what "You Could Be Mine" and some of those other tracks would have sounded like with that mean AFD tone...was Slash intentionally trying to move in a different direction with his sound/tone or was he just not able to replicate that AFD tone?

As I said, it was a 'modified' amp he was using from SIR. Every guitarist wanted this amp on the cheese rock circuit. It sounded, wonderful. Instruments and amps are like that; sometimes you just get one which sounds wonderful. But, as I said, this one had been modified. Slash's rental had expired so Slash tried to pull a fast one by faking a theft but SIR were not buying any of it and reclaimed the amp from GN'R's rehearsal space whenthe band was absent (probably off doing drugs).

So sadly he did not have this amp for UYI!

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

It went, ehh, missing. Nobody knows where it is.

It is a bit technical but, here, these are the articles you need to read...

http://www.slashsworld.com/equipment/amps/the-appetite-amp-story/

[gunsNbones]

imo, in the first place, what make a guitar line good or not are the chords or the notes.

appetite would not have the success it had with bad arrangements, even with the same sound.

[ZoSoRose]

The Guns N' Roses is strong in this one

The Guns N' Roses will be with you, always

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

I don't know much about this story, but I doubt that Slash knew how the amp was modified. Even if he had taken a look under the hood of it, I still don't think he would have known enough about the technicalities of amp building to learn what exactly was unique in that amp.

HIs Marshall signature amp does kinda get in the ballpark. So do many other boutique hot rodded Marshall type amps though.

[TeeJay410]

Yeah, the fact that slash and izzy's rhythm guitars rarely did the exact same thing and had different tones produced a unique sound particularly in that era where typically the rhythm was the exact same guitar part simply doubled, one for each ear.

To further expound upon myself, whenever I record, no matter who I'm recording with, it blows their mind that I want a guitar with a different tone in each ear doing slightly different things. The double tracked rhythm guitar playing the same thing with the same tone is just that ingrained, but it's part of what made appetite so great.

To date, no producer has ever let me do it exactly like that. I don't have enough pull or care enough to argue over it hahaha

[Rovim]

Izzy is GN'R. Totally agree with that article - the dual guitars on AFD is actually about 80% of the reason why I loved the band in the first place.

One other thing about the guitar sound on Appetite. Slash's sound has never sounded the same since. He lost that amp and he has never been able to recapture that sublime sound.

At least it happened once, with the best material the band ever released imo, in a time Slash was fuckin' hungry and every note he played was full of inspiration. I'd pick Appetite to be the album with that perfect Slash sound if I had to pick just one. It's a damn fuckin' shame though.

Back on topic - Slash's tone on AFD (and not to forget Izzy's contrasting tone) is perfect. It doesn't even sound like a guitar. More like some perfectly fine-tuned hard rock machine. All of the little snarls, squeals, whines and stuff that he gets out of it without bearing into wank territory is astounding. I've never heard harmonics sound so good.

Out of likes, but great post man. Beautifully said.

[DieselDaisy]

imo, in the first place, what make a guitar line good or not are the chords or the notes.

appetite would not have the success it had with bad arrangements, even with the same sound.

There have been plenty of 'good' albums, ruined by their production though. Just ask Metallica.

[Rovim]

Question from a non-musician about achieving/replicating a certain guitar sound, for example the AFD sound/tone which is the topic being discussed... Not being a musician, I obviously don't really understand all the different aspects that go into producing a particular sound. I get that different styles/brands of guitars with different woods, setups, strings, pickups, etc. played through different amps and with various effects and production techniques can achieve a wide variety of different sounds. But what I don't get is why when the desired tone/sound of a guitar is achieved on an album why is it sometimes so elusive and hard to replicate that same sound on subsequent albums? For example, if Slash had desired to replicate the AFD sound/tone on the UYI albums wouldn't it have been fairly easy to do if he simply used the same guitar/amp setup (or at least one very similar)/effects/production techniques, etc. Like I said...I'm not a musician...but I do know what my ears like...and to me the sound/tone of the guitars on AFD is vastly superior to what I hear on the UYI albums. Imagine what "You Could Be Mine" and some of those other tracks would have sounded like with that mean AFD tone...was Slash intentionally trying to move in a different direction with his sound/tone or was he just not able to replicate that AFD tone?

As I said, it was a 'modified' amp he was using from SIR. Every guitarist wanted this amp on the cheese rock circuit. It sounded, wonderful. Instruments and amps are like that; sometimes you just get one which sounds wonderful. But, as I said, this one had been modified. Slash's rental had expired so Slash tried to pull a fast one by faking a theft but SIR were not buying any of it and reclaimed the amp from GN'R's rehearsal space whenthe band was absent (probably off doing drugs).

So sadly he did not have this amp for UYI!

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

It went, ehh, missing. Nobody knows where it is.

It is a bit technical but, here, these are the articles you need to read...

http://www.slashsworld.com/equipment/amps/the-appetite-amp-story/

Shit man,,, I mean, fuck! those articles were so fun to read. Thanks a lot for posting these. Great.

I guess the story had kinda of a happy ending since years later, the AFD 100 was released. Maybe not quite as good as the real Appetite amp, but it's one of the best Marshall amps in years imo, and comes very close to Slash's Appetite sound.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Rovim

[auad]

Question from a non-musician about achieving/replicating a certain guitar sound, for example the AFD sound/tone which is the topic being discussed... Not being a musician, I obviously don't really understand all the different aspects that go into producing a particular sound. I get that different styles/brands of guitars with different woods, setups, strings, pickups, etc. played through different amps and with various effects and production techniques can achieve a wide variety of different sounds. But what I don't get is why when the desired tone/sound of a guitar is achieved on an album why is it sometimes so elusive and hard to replicate that same sound on subsequent albums? For example, if Slash had desired to replicate the AFD sound/tone on the UYI albums wouldn't it have been fairly easy to do if he simply used the same guitar/amp setup (or at least one very similar)/effects/production techniques, etc. Like I said...I'm not a musician...but I do know what my ears like...and to me the sound/tone of the guitars on AFD is vastly superior to what I hear on the UYI albums. Imagine what "You Could Be Mine" and some of those other tracks would have sounded like with that mean AFD tone...was Slash intentionally trying to move in a different direction with his sound/tone or was he just not able to replicate that AFD tone?

As I said, it was a 'modified' amp he was using from SIR. Every guitarist wanted this amp on the cheese rock circuit. It sounded, wonderful. Instruments and amps are like that; sometimes you just get one which sounds wonderful. But, as I said, this one had been modified. Slash's rental had expired so Slash tried to pull a fast one by faking a theft but SIR were not buying any of it and reclaimed the amp from GN'R's rehearsal space whenthe band was absent (probably off doing drugs).

So sadly he did not have this amp for UYI!

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

It went, ehh, missing. Nobody knows where it is.

It is a bit technical but, here, these are the articles you need to read...

http://www.slashsworld.com/equipment/amps/the-appetite-amp-story/

Shit man,,, I mean, fuck! those articles were so fun to read. Thanks a lot for posting these. Great.

I guess the story had kinda of a happy ending since Slash, years later, the AFD 100 was released. Maybe not quite as good as the real Appetite amp, but it's one of the best Marshall amps in years imo, and comes very close to Slash's Apettite sound.

you're welcome bro!

[wasted]

I feel like the guitars on AFD are too glossy, I prefer the sound on UYI. But the drums, rythmn and bass seem really in a groove with the guitars. Slashs transitions/dynamics are all smooth.

[Rovim]

Question from a non-musician about achieving/replicating a certain guitar sound, for example the AFD sound/tone which is the topic being discussed... Not being a musician, I obviously don't really understand all the different aspects that go into producing a particular sound. I get that different styles/brands of guitars with different woods, setups, strings, pickups, etc. played through different amps and with various effects and production techniques can achieve a wide variety of different sounds. But what I don't get is why when the desired tone/sound of a guitar is achieved on an album why is it sometimes so elusive and hard to replicate that same sound on subsequent albums? For example, if Slash had desired to replicate the AFD sound/tone on the UYI albums wouldn't it have been fairly easy to do if he simply used the same guitar/amp setup (or at least one very similar)/effects/production techniques, etc. Like I said...I'm not a musician...but I do know what my ears like...and to me the sound/tone of the guitars on AFD is vastly superior to what I hear on the UYI albums. Imagine what "You Could Be Mine" and some of those other tracks would have sounded like with that mean AFD tone...was Slash intentionally trying to move in a different direction with his sound/tone or was he just not able to replicate that AFD tone?

As I said, it was a 'modified' amp he was using from SIR. Every guitarist wanted this amp on the cheese rock circuit. It sounded, wonderful. Instruments and amps are like that; sometimes you just get one which sounds wonderful. But, as I said, this one had been modified. Slash's rental had expired so Slash tried to pull a fast one by faking a theft but SIR were not buying any of it and reclaimed the amp from GN'R's rehearsal space whenthe band was absent (probably off doing drugs).

So sadly he did not have this amp for UYI!

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

It went, ehh, missing. Nobody knows where it is.

It is a bit technical but, here, these are the articles you need to read...

http://www.slashsworld.com/equipment/amps/the-appetite-amp-story/

Shit man,,, I mean, fuck! those articles were so fun to read. Thanks a lot for posting these. Great.

I guess the story had kinda of a happy ending since Slash, years later, the AFD 100 was released. Maybe not quite as good as the real Appetite amp, but it's one of the best Marshall amps in years imo, and comes very close to Slash's Apettite sound.

you're welcome bro!

Shut up.

[moreblack]

It's a great sounding album. No frills, very little effects. Very much against the grain of what every other guitarist was doing at the time. This after all, was the era where a lot of people were using pointy Jackson/Kramer/Ibanez with EMGs and drowning them in reverb/chorus/delay/flange/phasers.

[wasted]

It sounds like early Zepp or ACDC production. But it sounded raw as fuck compared to my Hysteria tape. But then I got some Hanoi Rocks and SexPistols and realised its still kind of over produced.

Edited August 5, 2014 by wasted

[Georgy Zhukov]

Aren't there videos of Slash and Izzy mutli-tracks? I would love to hear one for SCOM, Rocket Queen and Nightrain.

It is sad that most people don't give any credit to Izzy. They think Slash does all the work. Izzy's presence is felt through AFD, I feel much of it is ,lost on UYI

Edited August 5, 2014 by Georgy Zhukov

[Rovim]

Aren't there videos of Slash and Izzy mutli-tracks? I would love to hear one for SCOM, Rocket Queen and Nightrain.

It is sad that most people don't give any credit to Izzy. They think Slash does all the work. Izzy's presence is felt through AFD, I feel much of it is ,lost on UYI

Most Gn'R fans give Izzy plenty of credit. Axl and Izzy were the only consistently good songwriters.

[Georgy Zhukov]

Aren't there videos of Slash and Izzy mutli-tracks? I would love to hear one for SCOM, Rocket Queen and Nightrain.

It is sad that most people don't give any credit to Izzy. They think Slash does all the work. Izzy's presence is felt through AFD, I feel much of it is ,lost on UYI

Most Gn'R fans give Izzy plenty of credit. Axl and Izzy were the only consistently good songwriters.

That's great, but to anyone who's a casual fan...ah fuck it. Gn'R fans know better.

[gunsNbones]

imo, in the first place, what make a guitar line good or not are the chords or the notes.

appetite would not have the success it had with bad arrangements, even with the same sound.

There have been plenty of 'good' albums, ruined by their production though. Just ask Metallica.

that's true. when the sound is 'weird', I don't even listen ! like St Anger, what happens with the drums ? is it a problem of hardware, production, sound recording, ... ? it made me laugh

I was just pointing out that sometimes, some bands are just looking for a great sound, whatever they are playing !

this leads to techno music, that is shit imo!

but even in techno, some songs are listenable (david ghetta, stavinsky)

[Gibbo]

Locomotive is the worst one for me. I genuinely think that song is lowered from what could be a 9 to about a 7 because of Slash's abysmal rhythm tone/playing.

Sounds killer too me

[Rovim]

Slash is shit as a rhythm player. Illusions suffered from that greatly.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Rovim

[Free Bird]

Locomotive is the worst one for me. I genuinely think that song is lowered from what could be a 9 to about a 7 because of Slash's abysmal rhythm tone/playing.

Sounds killer too me

Fucking fade out. I could listen for ours to the outro

[auad]

Question from a non-musician about achieving/replicating a certain guitar sound, for example the AFD sound/tone which is the topic being discussed... Not being a musician, I obviously don't really understand all the different aspects that go into producing a particular sound. I get that different styles/brands of guitars with different woods, setups, strings, pickups, etc. played through different amps and with various effects and production techniques can achieve a wide variety of different sounds. But what I don't get is why when the desired tone/sound of a guitar is achieved on an album why is it sometimes so elusive and hard to replicate that same sound on subsequent albums? For example, if Slash had desired to replicate the AFD sound/tone on the UYI albums wouldn't it have been fairly easy to do if he simply used the same guitar/amp setup (or at least one very similar)/effects/production techniques, etc. Like I said...I'm not a musician...but I do know what my ears like...and to me the sound/tone of the guitars on AFD is vastly superior to what I hear on the UYI albums. Imagine what "You Could Be Mine" and some of those other tracks would have sounded like with that mean AFD tone...was Slash intentionally trying to move in a different direction with his sound/tone or was he just not able to replicate that AFD tone?

As I said, it was a 'modified' amp he was using from SIR. Every guitarist wanted this amp on the cheese rock circuit. It sounded, wonderful. Instruments and amps are like that; sometimes you just get one which sounds wonderful. But, as I said, this one had been modified. Slash's rental had expired so Slash tried to pull a fast one by faking a theft but SIR were not buying any of it and reclaimed the amp from GN'R's rehearsal space whenthe band was absent (probably off doing drugs).

So sadly he did not have this amp for UYI!

Seems like he probably made enough $ off of AFD to go back and purchase that same amp or have another one "modified" to the same specs?

But, yeah...I get what you are saying...

Do we know if any other well-known guitarists used that same amp on other albums...would be interesting to hear.

It went, ehh, missing. Nobody knows where it is.

It is a bit technical but, here, these are the articles you need to read...

http://www.slashsworld.com/equipment/amps/the-appetite-amp-story/

Shit man,,, I mean, fuck! those articles were so fun to read. Thanks a lot for posting these. Great.

I guess the story had kinda of a happy ending since Slash, years later, the AFD 100 was released. Maybe not quite as good as the real Appetite amp, but it's one of the best Marshall amps in years imo, and comes very close to Slash's Apettite sound.

you're welcome bro!

Shut up.

?

[moreblack]

Don't Damn Me, that is some fine rhythm playing. I don't know why people would rag on Locomotive, Izzy would never be able to play that rhythm consistently, he doesn't have the right hand for it.

[Rovim]

Don't Damn Me, that is some fine rhythm playing. I don't know why people would rag on Locomotive, Izzy would never be able to play that rhythm consistently, he doesn't have the right hand for it.

But just because Izzy is not good enough technically, doesn't mean Slash is a good rhythm player. And I honestly dislike Slash's rhythm playing on Locomotive. It's cool in Don't Damn Me, I'll give you that.