Randy Rhoads

[JimmyMoorby]

Of course it depends on other gear but generally which pickups are recommended for the late great Randy Rhoads?

Cheers
Jim

[m t soule]

In my rg550 I use a holy Diver in the bridge.
It nails it.

[Alex]

With "other gear" I'm sure you mean the yellow MXR distortion plus into a slightly crunchy amp.  For me that pedal already imprints 75% of his sound on any setup.

For pickups I think the vintage ones should work. Randy's pickups at least on his Les Paul, which Gibson reissued some while ago, were really weak Alnico III models. I think the Mule would be the starting point, or anything clear. All the "old shredders" seem to have fairly clear sounds with not nearly as much compression as modern metal.
The Black Dog I have is a bit too fat/big sounding. I got surprising good lead sounds out of the Miracle Man though, but the only Rhoads song I can play is "Crazy Train" and my chops aren't anywhere close to Rhandy's level.

[nkay]

His recorded material is probably all Dimarzio Super Distortion. The Cold Sweat is closest.

[FELINEGUITARS]

The first album was recorded with 2 or 3 guitars
+1 to the Super Distortion into a Marshall (Randy's Marshalls had the factory done 1-wire mod that cascaded a couple of valve stages  for greater gain)

His 1974 Gibson White LP custom  - pickups were low output Alnico3 probably about 8k /7.3k neck
These were a later version of the Patent number pickup/ T-Top
Wire would have beenAWG42 - most likely Polysoland the magnets were alnico 3 (A3 has no cobalt in it which was in short supply in the 1970s)
closest will be Riff Raff

His Karl Sandoval Polka Dot V
This had Dimarzio Super distortion in the bridge and Dimarzio PAF in neck
Closest would be Cold Sweat or ceramic Nailbomb or maybe even a Painkiller, although Aftermath may work in a bright guitar and a mule or Riff Raff neck

3rd guitar may have been a strat - Randy used to use his guitar tech's strat as a backup and for recording in the Quiet Riot Days

[m t soule]

Oh I never expected the cold sweat!
My assumptions were a super d and a holy d were pretty close along with a Seymour d jb.

Tho I am really happy with my HD for my early ozz stuff I am looking to swap out a MM in another guitar.

Thanks guys

T

[Dave Sloven]

I've seen the Rebel Yell recommended for Rhoads several times on here.

[gwEm]

He had his Plexi modified to cascade the two channels.

Various sources say he did or didn't use this mod in the end, but theres plenty of youtube clips of this so you can judge for yourself.

Its really easy to do yourself.

[JimmyMoorby]

Interesting responses.  Cheers guys

[Kiichi]

I too would have said RY in general. It has that clear scream. Crazy Train for example screams RY to me. Put it in a LP and through a Marshall...heaven.

[m t soule]

I decided I would do a a swift vid test of the holy Diver so you can rule it in or out as you wish. Normally I put it through my boss ds -1x but I decided to keep this interference free with just guitar and amp.
 I put the vids in my instagram link below in my signature.

Hope this helps!

T

[nkay]

Oh I never expected the cold sweat!
My assumptions were a super d and a holy d were pretty close along with a Seymour d jb.

Tho I am really happy with my HD for my early ozz stuff I am looking to swap out a MM in another guitar.

Thanks guys

T

I have both the CS and HD. The Cold Sweat is closest in sound to the Dimarzio Super Distortion because of the ceramic magnet. The Holydiver is closer to the JB, but it does have Super Distortion-like qualities as well (in the low mids).

Cold Sweat is early 80's, Holydiver is mid-late 80's :)

[Slartibartfarst42]

I believe Tim used to play in an Ozzy tribute band and for the Randy Rhoads stuff he used Mules so that would have to be a good place to start. The other option to me would certainly be the Cold Sweat. Although much hotter as a pickup, it's still surprisingly open sounding and seems to hit a nice compromise between vintage and modern. I've always liked the Super Distortion and I liked the Cold Sweat too, though the Cold Sweat always seemed quite a bit brighter than the Super Distortion to me.

[ericsabbath]

I wouldn't say the cold sweat sounds anything like Randy
the thing about the cold sweat is that its mid scoop  results in a quite specific sort of tone, more in the Nuno and Ty Tabor ballpark
the lead tone is very sharp,  focused and retains lots of articulation
the super distortion is BLOATED with mids and compression, so it's a different character

the mules works for his les paul tones indeed
for the sandoval tones, I'd get something like the holy diver or even a painkiller
perhaps a c-bomb would work in a bright and middy guitar

the diver works pretty well for jake e. lee stuff

[Dave Sloven]

I wouldn't say the cold sweat sounds anything like Randy
the thing about the cold sweat is that its mid scoop  results in a quite specific sort of tone, more in the Nuno and Ty Tabor ballpark
the lead tone is very sharp,  focused and retains lots of articulation
the super distortion is BLOATED with mids and compression, so it's a different character

the mules works for his les paul tones indeed
for the sandoval tones, I'd get something like the holy diver or even a painkiller
perhaps a c-bomb would work in a bright and middy guitar

the diver works pretty well for jake e. lee stuff

I can get a pretty good Crazy Train out of my Cold Sweat BUT it is in an SG that is bright and middy.  In a Les Paul I doubt it.

In an SG I think CS is good for this.  In other mahogany guitars I would prefer the Rebel Yell.