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Meshuggah Ibanez LACS RG8 / M8M / M80M tonal comparison w/ Fortin Satan

10K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  Wookieslayer 
#1 ·
I'll post this here first ;)

During my latest visit to Meshuggah's studio, we decided to make a comparison vid showing the basic tonal differences between their trusty workhorse LACS RG8, the M8M signature, and the prototype of the upcoming new M80M signature model. The results are surprisingly similar, which demonstrates that despite the slightly different woods and bolt-neck construction involved with the new, lower priced M80M, the results were very consistent, no matter what settings we tried. It really represents a truly solid, workhorse Mesh sig using the same basic style, scale and Lundgren M8 pickup at an affordable price ratio. Good move Ibanez!

These guitars were tested through Mike Fortin's amazing and appropriately-named Satan head into an older JCM800 cab, which was dialed-in personally by Fredrik Thordendal just before the shoot to approximate their signature tone as close as possible.

I don't like to take myself too seriously, so we left in some goofing around and an unintended visit from my dog Niko too :) Please bear in mind the point was to showcase the tonal consistency between the 3 guitars and particularly the new M80M - not my lame playing, so easy on me guys. I'm a professional tech, not a player ;)

 
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#13 ·
You saw that old Atrox clip? :lol: Aw thanks man. I was heavily into thrash back in the 80's right from the get-go, and probably my fave bands were Exodus, Forbidden, Anthrax, and of course, Slayer. Coincidentally, there's an offhand chance I may be joining a Slayer trib back in Toronto. Oh my poor aching right arm...my 20's are welllll behind me now :lol:

You should hear him play acoustic.
well, um, thank you too Morten :) There was about a three year period from about 93-96 where I never even touched a solid body, and just eat, lived and breathed Hedges and Don Ross, and practically slept with my '72 D-28. I was a complete solo fingerstyle junkie, and Hedges just completely changed my outlook on the instrument, and how to approach it. Really though, I'm a hack, but I love playing it. It's the Yin to my metal Yang.

The Randall Satan has more gain and a more compressed sound than both the original Fortin Satan and Fredriks Satan. It's set to be a little more "main stream" than the fortin ones. This is a decision Mike and I took for the production model. Nevertheless it sounds just as awesome and killer as any of Mike Fortins design. Just warmer and more gain.

I know I'm biased in this question but since I've been part of the sound designing it felt natural to answer this question. Then again Allen might have another opinion. ;)
Not a chance my good man, you know these amps faaar better than I. Your description though, is pretty spot-on. I was sorry I didn't get a chance to see you when I was there, but I heard you were (understandably) having family time, so I wasn't going to bother you as I know you're a super busy guy. :agreed:

thanks for the comparison allen. I made faces like that when I first played my m8m. actually, I think it's supposed to happen. people I've shown it to make faces without even playing it. :yesway:
In all honesty, I'm completely too familiar in painful detail of all their guitars, that playing them is pretty routine, although indeed they are fantastic instruments, particularly the LACS's. My reaction was actually about that ridiculously good, hand-wired Satan of Fred's. The *** cannot truly capture the chewy mids, clarity and gut-churning tightness of it...to me, it kinda sounded like a cross between the best Orange Rockerverb crossed with the clarity and gain of a Pitbull UL. Just. Fucking. Awesome. One day...

I dont know if i would have have a reason for a guitar this massive, but your video shows they are all consistent. I did get the chance to check out the M8M at NAMM earlier this year. Top notch construction and quality for $3k, but the $6k price point was way too much.
Despite working on so many of them, 8 strings aren't my main choice of instrument either (6er's plz), but it's cool to have one for that type of thing. And if I'm going to have only one 8, it's one of these sigs.

Cheers for the GAS, dude :lol:
That was the main point, heh heh. ;)
 
#5 ·
I've been waiting for this comparison. Thanks a lot for posting this! I will definitely be getting the M80M as soon as it hits Thomann.

Since you got all the satans piled up there already: how does the Randall model hold up to the original? I could live with the cheap ass 'china' look of the Randall compared to the Fortins as long as it sounds as good :lol:
 
#6 ·
The Randall Satan has more gain and a more compressed sound than both the original Fortin Satan and Fredriks Satan. It's set to be a little more "main stream" than the fortin ones. This is a decision Mike and I took for the production model. Nevertheless it sounds just as awesome and killer as any of Mike Fortins design. Just warmer and more gain.

I know I'm biased in this question but since I've been part of the sound designing it felt natural to answer this question. Then again Allen might have another opinion. ;)
 
#23 ·
Yeah, that makes sense. I never thought about most of their guitars also having it, I'm so used to seeing the single bucker single volume setup.

I wonder what I'll replace it with if I get one... Tone knobs aren't my thing. It would probably have to be a series/parallell switch.
 
#27 ·
Nice job, eh. :metal: I wouldn't mind checking out the M80M for fun. Though I'm in the same boat as Shannon, I usually just default to playing Meshuggah riffs on my RG8 so I'll think I'll stick with the $400 guitar if that's all I'm gonna do. :D Wouldn't mind the longer scale, though. With my 6'5" wingspan, the 29.4" scale would probably feel pretty comfortable. :yesway:
 
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