Homepage Forums Discussion Popular Topics Randy Rhoads pedal board

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #19865
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Does anyone out there know where I might find the wiring schematics for Randy’s effects pedal board?

Viewing 2 reply threads
  • Author
    Replies
    • #79934
      Anonymous
      Guest

      Hi guys, i met the tech for Randy years ago, he modded the mxr in the identical fashion the later Boss sd1 was known to be modded with which is asymmetrical clipping diodes, every ozzy guitar player had to allow the sound guys for ozzy to test their cabs, installing Altecs or EVs depending on the house system to blend in better., or you would not hear ozzy with guitars that loud.

      Randy’s best tone was from the PAFs in his Les Paul, Ozzy loved it, he wanted to record the live Sabbath record at the same time Black Sabbath was releasing one with DIO cause Randy was very cunning with his Les Paul and played the best Sabbath covers…in fact Black Sabbath had toured with Van Hallen and where blown away watching Eddie using a les paul live, they performed paranoid with him once.

      All of Randy’s pedals where modded with asymmetrical clipping diodes before the switch, they where glued into the rack using resin, the asymmetrical clipping alike Marshalls made these pedals the earliest mods to marshall amps, today High Gain Jose, Friedman, etc ect have released pedals with preamps in them in addition to Marshall modded plexis, which are expensive as they are all done by hand.

      We ordered a plexi from aliexpress and where blown away at how the chinese cloned it, the one i have here sounds amazing., even says marshall on it, $400! lol i had two offers in person up to $3000, they did not care it was a clone from China, Friedman is a clone, etc the sound is what everyone loves about them

    • #96445
      Anonymous
      Guest

      I dont, but if you find it please let me know, i’ve been looking for awhile too

      • #102282
        Anonymous
        Guest

        Okay this is a tricky one. Randy’s pedal board was made in 1979-80 just after he joined with Ozzy. It was made by a British effects Guru called Peter Cornish who also did work for Kirt Hammet of Metallica and loads of other professional people. The pedal board is easy to construct if you are any good with ameteur electronis as it is simply all the MXR range of pedals (Distortion +, compressoe, stero chours, flanger and the 10 band EQ) in addition to these Randy also utilised a Dunlop Wah-wah pedal and a Roland Volume pedal together with either a CopyCat echo (the analogue tape-one) or a Korg Space Echo (very old tape-one. Once you have the pedals you need to build a custom housing placing the Wah on the right and volume on the left, with the control pots set in the top. Use a ‘pedal mate’ or similar for the DC voltage supply and away you go. Randy’s also had the on-off switches mounted in the front. One slight snag with this method is that Pete Cornish replaced some of the components in the pedals with others and then excased all the pedal in epoxy resin so the changes could not be duplicated. However, even just running the pedals through with standard patch-leads you can get an authenitc ‘Tribute’ tone. you will need to set the amplifer up correctly and only a valve amplifier (class-A like a Marshall Superlead) will really nail the tone. In addition the amplifier itself was run flat out (or all controls wide open) so something like a Marhsall Power Breaker is a good idea if you wanna keep your hearing intact. Also use a guitar with passive humbuckers such as a Les Paul or something with Seymour Duncan pickups. For reference Randy used Seymour Duncan SH-5 and Jazz SH-2 in the neck position. Hope this helps slightly and enjoy…..

        • #110084
          Anonymous
          Guest

          Almost forgot…Randy used Altec speakers in his 4×12 for a brighter sound. The amplifiers he used were a 1979 Anniversary JMP Marshall Superlead (silver one on the After Hours) and a standard Black 1970’s JMP Marshall Superlead, both at 100W rating. Note neither of these amplifiers have mater-volume so a Marshall Power Breaker or similar is advised. Max Norman has also indicated that Randy used a ‘step-down’ transformer to run the amps at 98 volts which would mean that more gain was in the pre-amplifier and was used for the amazing saturation sound on Crazy Train (the first albumn version). I beleieve the Seymour Duncans were in the Jackson Sharfin’s with standard Gibson PAF’s (yes original Patent Applied For’s – very very expensive now, I used the T-top gibsons which are almost the same) in the Les Paul with a Dimarzion PAF pro (neck) and Distorition in the Polka Dot Vee. If anyone knows how he got the ‘sweep’ in the last chorus of ‘I Don’t Know’ id be happy to hear, i think he had a switch to reverse the position of the Wah from the start of the effects chain to the end of the chain, but cant see it anywhere on a photo I have of his original board. Very confused!!!!

    • #97364
      Anonymous
      Guest

      : Does anyone out there know where I might find the wiring schematics for Randy’s effects pedal board? guitargeek.com

Viewing 2 reply threads
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.