Michael Anthony Tone

#62
Smooth_bass88 said:
Yup, Pleasure Dome is awesome. Always loved that one. That groove is so tight. It's reminiscent of Zeppelin's Achillies last stand. For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge probably has the best bass tone/mix of all the VH albums. It's as if they said "ok, let's put Mikey's bass front and center". Andy Johns worked on the record along with Ted Templeman. Johns worked on a bunch of Zeppelin records as well- hence the very kick-ass sounding drums and bass.
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Unlike a lot of other hair metal and hair-adjacent bands of those days I've never had a problem hearing the bass in the mix with Van Halen.

I think Eddie deserved some criticism for the way he ran the band and treated Mike, but he never had a problem burying the bass in the mix the way some rock stars (cough Lars cough) did. I think those VH albums are very well-produced.
 
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#63
Bass-ball said:
It really does. I think Balance is one of their absolute best albums. Rewind back to college when the album came out, my roommate heard me listening to the instrumental track "Balluchitherium," and immediately ran out and bought the CD, without knowing anything about Van Halen (he came from prog). We totally bonded over that. I love it in songs like that when Eddie shows some control over his instrument, and isn't just going for the pyrotechnic "stunt" playing thing, and that song exemplifies his sense of bluesy control and discipline.

My absolute favorite VH track is actually a deep track, "Pleasure Dome," and Eddie has two solos in this song. Again, he shows pretty good control in the solos (starting around 4:15, I think). That second solo, around 6:15 is short, but it's one of my absolute favorites from Eddie. Also in this song Michael Anthony is ripping it up again, with his ability to do some pretty good right hand picking in perfect time with what I consider to be a fairly fast and tricky beat (not sure what Alex is doing with the snare on this song, but it doesn't sound like simple 4/4 time to me. Maybe it is, but it doesn't sound like it). Check out MA's bass fill around 4:48 - one of my favorites from him!

I'm one of the few out there who think VH did better songwriting once Dave left. I liked the "party vibe" that Dave brought, but I love, love, love the darker, "smarter," heavier Sammy albums. I'm not even really a rocker anymore (for bass, I play mostly smooth jazz and yacht rock - don't laugh!), but I'll happily spin the Van Hagar albums on occasion and love every note of it.
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The band with Sammy allowed them to expand beyond sleazy party rock. Some people might not like that expansion, but I sure did.
 
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#65
We can sit back and compare everyone to the star virtuosos, but in the real world of band assemblage, the ones like him are rare. You could look for years without finding someone who can sing and play exactly what every song needs... And do both solidly.
I've never been much of a fan of the band, but I certainly respect him.
To the OP: what others said-- start with some kind of P-Bass (Fender, Squier, Yamaha, etc.) and an Ampeg-sounding rig (amp or pedal...) and you'll be on your way.
 
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#66
I've always admired MA as a bass player. His main tone is not too difficult to obtain. Its his one off solo stuff where he gets hard to cop. I've been a Peavey user since I started playing bass. The blue VB-3 originally was a development amp which later became their flagship amplifier for the bass amp linup for awhile. It is a 300W all tube bass head with a SMPS with eight EL34s, three 12AX7s, and two 12AT7s, but weighed only 37lb with its footswitch.

Unfortunately when the amplifier was released there was a lot of disbelief that the amp would be reliable because it was such a new application of technology that had been around for a long time (its a modded computer PSU) but never implemented in this way. So Peavey went to MA and asked if he would help them develop it and endorse it. So we took it out on the 1st Chickenfoot tour. He said he was pretty surprised on how well it sounded. A little time later they asked him if he wanted to do a signature amp so they took the VB-3 and made changes in the preamp section only leaving the rest of the components the same and obviously put his chili pepper logos on it, and we got the VB-MA. The changes in the preamp has an additional fourth 12AX7 than the VB-3.

Unfortunately this was right around the time that Peavey was shutting down its US operations and only about 50 of these amps were ever made. All the VB amps were hand made in MS, including the more traditional but popular VB-2. Most went back to MA himself and the rest were sold to musician's friend and other dealers. It's got a unique blend channel with tone controls so that you can get that wild overdrive sound without losing bottom end definition and it's all tube.

I'm glad I found this thread because I don't think MA gets as much credit as he deserves. His tone for a lot of his work is straightforward, but as use of effects and in combination with a lot of tube overdrive that's where the magic sauce exists with his sound.




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#67
Well, it looks like Michael may now be playing Fender Amps...

It looked like he was plugged into a Fender Rumble 800 head at Sammy's Birthday Bash in Cabo last October (Peavey Headliner amps didn't look powered on), and yesterday on Howard Stern he had a rack with two of the Fender heads and what looked like a single 4 x 10 Fender cab.

Interesting...



 

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#68
videomagician said:
Well, it looks like Michael may now be playing Fender Amps...

It looked like he was plugged into a Fender Rumble 800 head at Sammy's Birthday Bash in Cabo last October (Peavey Headliner amps didn't look powered on), and yesterday on Howard Stern he had a rack with two of the Fender heads and what looked like a single 4 x 10 Fender cab.

Interesting...



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Last year I saw a video somewhere where he talks about using the Rumble 800 head instead of carrying his heavy tube amps. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT - Here it is, Mike and Dugie showing the Rumble 800: Michael Anthony on Instagram: "I’m coming for you Vegas!! . . . #madanthonybassman #thecircle #lasvegas #thestrat #readytorock"
 
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#70
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#71
Spirit of Ox said:
For his tone a PJ would work great and he even used a Stingray in the 90's. His tone is pretty balanced and not overlly bright or dark. Maybe a little tube like dirt would help as well. Unless you wanna tackle the ridiculous (meant to be) bass solo that he does, I wouldn't worry to much about effects.
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That's the thing that may have many searching down the effects rabbithole.. that drunken solo (was he really guzzling whiskey? Or just for effect but really guzzling tea?). Just listened to both VH1 and 2. MA has a very basic heavy bass tone and style. Sounds great with the Van Halens' guitar and drums.
 
#72
Isaac_James said:
What bass and strings are you using? Both of those are important parts of the equation. I know he played a Yamaha BB for a while and Schecter also has a signature model, both of those are PJ configurations. I imagine any PJ bass will at least get you in the ballpark. I'm certain he played roundwounds but whether they're stainless steel or nickel plated, I couldn't say.
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are the strings that important if you can't say what they are by listening?
 
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