Jump to content

Most popular guitar gear in the 80's?


genesis3

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 110
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by tlbonehead View Post
Ovation was already very popular in the 70s.
Yup, some very big names were using Ovations in the '70s, but it was in the '80s that Ovations were being used by a ton of no-names. That's popularity.
Everytime I turned on MTV and saw a hair band try to show that they are sensitive young men, I saw an Ovation.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

Quote Originally Posted by tlbonehead

View Post

Ovation was already very popular in the 70s.

 

Yup, some very big names were using Ovations in the '70s, but it was in the '80s that Ovations were being used by a ton of no-names. That's popularity. Everytime I turned on MTV and saw a hair band try to show that they are sensitive young men, I saw an Ovation.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

This idea that hair metal or other such atrocities were the only form of music being played is full of {censored}. A lot of us were into the punk or new wave, folk, country, or other such forms back in the 80s and paid little or no attention to all the glitz and glitter being spread around MTV...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Quote Originally Posted by Flatspotter View Post
I still have a PortaStudio lying around somewhere...
Working with those PortaStudios taught me a lot about the recording, mixing and production processes. I honestly think that I am a better digital engineer because of having to work within the limitations of a 4 track cassette for many years. Levels had to be perfect; tone had to be perfectly flat in order to get a decent mix. Reverb and compression was about all you could add to the track using the sends/returns without muddying up the mix. It was a lot of fun to see just how much fidelity you could squeeze out of a very limited but well designed unit. I still use mine to record vocals and guitar parts from time to time (using all four inputs at once) before dumping them into Pro Tools. I just acquired a Tascam reel to reel 348 from our university. The heads need to be relapped or replaced, but it works! Now, if someone could just carry it up to my studio for me...

1212918162_001.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Big, heavy 2 x12 solid state amps were the order of the day. Randall made some cool gear like this Commander II. I still have mine:

$T2eC16F,!y8E9s2fjFN3BQ(onbT)JQ~~60_58.J

And these were everywhere:

jc120%20-0dd4c937814620cb60db6ffdb1b9396

Small practice amps like this sounded like total shit but looked cool at the time:

22421831_1.jpg

But Marshall made a very cool sounding Lead 12 that kicked total ass:

christmas2006018-2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I do miss that about the 80s about having to drive around to buy used equipment and hitting up the mom and pop stores and pawn shops. It was also the start of catalog ordering gear through different places and this preceded the internet and Ebay, but almost the same concept. I remmeber buying a BC Rich Warlock through East Coast Music Mall over the phone, and a few guitars through Victor Litz Music via mail order or phone order, and I forget where I bought my first ART Mach II and ART SGX2000 from, but all were pre internet and pre Ebay. So looking back I even had GAS before the internet and pretty much had the same buying habits then only not as much as now post internet. Damn the internet!

Quote Originally Posted by BryanMichael View Post
People really have to understand that gear was expensive back then. I think I got one mail order catalog near the end of the 80's, something like PME or something that isn't around anymore, but you usually went to a local mom and pop or medium sized store and paid what amounted to 10%-20% off of list price IF something was on SALE! Now, GC, Musicians Friend, AMS, etc... all offer gear at about 50% or more off of list price. So, you didn't stock up on a bunch of stuff- imagine that. For comparison, A TS-9 lists at $169...you would be paying about 152.00 plus tax for it. A Fender American standard lists at what, $1300? You would be paying $1105 plus tax. That was the way things were, and that was IF your local stores carried Fender or Ibanez or whatever you were looking for.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yeah, there's always gonna be someone that says, "Wait a second! I was playing a Fender in the 80's in my country band!". Blah blah blah, you were the minority, get over it. There is no doubt that both Fender and Gibson got the {censored} kicked out of them for several years. Fender has SRV to thank for keeping them from going the way of the dodo, Gibson has Slash to thank. Without those 2, they might have been gone. Hell, even Jeff Beck was playing a Charvel in the 80's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Had to be....

250pxamplifier5.jpg


pop' date=' rock...seems everbody used it a time or two....these are sheer guesses by the way, I have no way of knowing they actually used any of the Rockman devices in the videos below, but it sure sounds like it!





No Rockman on that according to Terry Manning, who engineered the album. That's supposedly Dean guitars into a Legend amp. Probably no Frank Beard or Dusty Hill on there either, as Manning claims most of Eliminator is just him and Billy Gibbons instrument wise, with the drums being a combo of Oberheim DMX drum machine and samples "flown in" by a sampling digital delay.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...