Romeo's gear on Divine Wings

Aug 21, 2006
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Hi all,
can someone tell me what kind of stuff did Michael play on this record?
On this one he had the most devastating and punchy guitar sound of all records IMHO (Odyssey being pretty cool as well, whereas Twilight was a tad weak I thought).

Now as for the guitars, I'm pretty sure they were ESPs M-II Deluxe as usual packed with EMGs (configuration? 81-81? 81-85?).
Now the amps, here is where I have a little trouble... definitely not the Line6 Vetta heads Mike is endorsing at the moment. My guess is that the sounds come from a Rectifier head, or maybe a Triaxis. As for effects and things, I have no clue. Anyone? Thanx much.
 
When he used EMGs it was always dual 81s. No 85. Thats all I know about the divine gear but yes definatly not a line 6 for the amp.
 
Doesn't he use active pickups anymore? On Odyssey especially on the tighter rhythm parts it seems like he is playing an active guitar (to my ears at least).
Very violent, tight and "in your face", the way I like him. I know Mike is using Caparison and Fender Stratocasters also, but those wouldn't sound that way in a zillion years (they're very good for other things... but you can also shred with a regular Strat, as Yngwie and guys like George Bellas show).

So any clues as of what he used on Divine? Amps I mean. Bye dudes! :headbang:
 
Mike uses, as far as I know, passive pick ups.. DiMarzio XN2 in the bridge and ToneZone in the neck position.
I read an article a couple of years back, and if I recall it correctly, he did use a mesa head and a TriAxis (that one´s for sure)
 
One of the guys who got to ask Mike a gear question got him on one piece of equipment that he used, the Rockman Sustaintor thru the power section of JCM800 amp. I can hear some of the rockman tone on some of the solos
 
So he switched to passive DiMarzio humbuckers.
Hmm, would be cool if Mike himself could put a definite word on this question... Well he rocks anyway. :kickass:
 
Oh cool thank ya that's a bunch of useful info on his gear!
But right here Mike is not telling the whole part of the story:

~Question:
Which pickups are you actually using on your guitars?
~MJR:
DiMarzio X2N ( bridge ) and ToneZone ( neck ). I've been using that configuration forever - I know exactly how they react and how my amps work with them.

Nope Mike!!! On the Guitar Chapter video you CLEARLY used EMGs there are the close-ups to show, don't f***ing lie to us Mikey! :mad: :p :p
 
Shred Holocaust said:
Oh cool thank ya that's a bunch of useful info on his gear!
But right here Mike is not telling the whole part of the story:

~Question:
Which pickups are you actually using on your guitars?
~MJR:
DiMarzio X2N ( bridge ) and ToneZone ( neck ). I've been using that configuration forever - I know exactly how they react and how my amps work with them.

Nope Mike!!! On the Guitar Chapter video you CLEARLY used EMGs there are the close-ups to show, don't f***ing lie to us Mikey! :mad: :p :p

Yeah, he did use an EMG loaded guitar on that video... But in every interview, gear talk etc. he always mentioned that he only owned two ESP´s and none of them are purple.. I think it´s a guitar he used for that video only.
 
See maybe he has an endorsement with DiMarzio so they want him to say he uses their stuff and what not but he actually plays whatever he likes...
 
Hm back to your post Nocturnal, look at what I found around check this out:

fotosymphony%20x.jpg


Mike playing live somewhere.
A purple ESP (no doubt) but the PUs are clearly not actives, so I dunno what to think at this point... :rolleyes:
 
Ok here is the deal. He used emg 81 s until twilight... album then he switched to dimarzios. By saying I used dimarzios forever he meant twilight-present.
What i am curious is did he use an od pedal of any kind when he used rockman with jcm or running the rockman as a preamp to jcm 800 gave enough OD
 
I think he used it kind of a mini-preamp/OD/booster-like in front of the JCM800.
A little bit like Yngwie does it with his DOD250 in front of the Marshall '72 50 Watt heads. Sure some post EQ's for shaping the bottom end and midrange, and compression of some kind. But the sound should have come from the JCM 800 essentially.
 
MJR:

"For the solo CD and first 2 SymX CDs - the only amps I had, at that time, were a Marshall JCM800, Fender M-80, a Mesa/Boogie recording pre-amp. By the third CD ( Divine Wings ), I had bought the Tri-Axis and for some of the solos, I used a Rockman Compressor/Sustainer as a preamp ( in front of the Marshall...if I remember correctly ) - but only on that CD -"
 
Hehehe.. I was the one that asked Mikey the question in the first place. I still think he should have answered "B. Goat sacrifices to pudding covered midgets" as to how he got his Rockman-esque tone. :)

Later,
Jeffro