Mr. Crowley
A fast, melodic lead of legato runs and alternate picking.
What is the Mr. Crowley guitar tone?
The Mr. Crowley guitar tone is a fast, melodic lead of legato runs and alternate picking, heard on Ozzy Osbourne's 1980s heavy metal recording. It is a distorted solo tone, and Ozzy Osbourne reportedly tracked it with Randy Rhoads' Blizzard of Ozz rig, which Guitar World, going by Fin Costello's photos of the sessions, describes as a stock, rented mid-1970s Marshall 1959 Super Lead MKII driving two 4x12s with Altec speakers, set only slightly into overdrive, with most of the distortion and a strong midrange boost coming from an MXR Distortion+ and an MXR ten-band EQ on a pedalboard built by Pete Holmes, since the white Marshall he later used had not yet arrived; MusicRadar says most of the album was recorded with his polka-dot Sandoval V or a Gibson Les Paul through a 100-watt Marshall stack, and neither source says which guitar is on this song; once a solo was written, Rhoads double- or triple-tracked it by playing it the same way each time, and Guitar World has his solos triple-tracked, one in the centre and two panned left and right at lower levels; engineer Max Norman called him the best guy at overdubbing solos he had ever seen; the song was built on Rhoads' chord structure, opens with a keyboard part by Don Airey and is about the occultist Aleister Crowley; the band recorded at Ridge Farm in Surrey in 1980, and the album came out in the UK on 12 September 1980. The bite in this kind of heavy metal comes from a boost or drive pedal pushing a loud amp, so the tone is thick but never smooth, with the mids left in.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Mr. Crowley amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 7.5, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut.
- Gain 7.5
- Bass 6
- Middle 7
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 1
- Signal chain
- MXR Distortion+ (album rig) → MXR 10-band EQ, mids up (album rig) → Marshall on the edge of breakup
- The control that matters most
- The pedal and the mids. On the album Rhoads got most of his distortion and a big midrange boost from a Distortion+ and a graphic EQ into a Marshall set only slightly into overdrive, so use a drive pedal into a fairly clean amp with the mids well up, and for the record's width play the solo two or three times and pan the copies.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. A first plan starts with 7 days free, $0 today.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the Mr. Crowley tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did Ozzy Osbourne use on Mr. Crowley?
Randy Rhoads' Blizzard of Ozz rig, which Guitar World, going by Fin Costello's photos of the sessions, describes as a stock, rented mid-1970s Marshall 1959 Super Lead MKII driving two 4x12s with Altec speakers, set only slightly into overdrive, with most of the distortion and a strong midrange boost coming from an MXR Distortion+ and an MXR ten-band EQ on a pedalboard built by Pete Holmes, since the white Marshall he later used had not yet arrived; MusicRadar says most of the album was recorded with his polka-dot Sandoval V or a Gibson Les Paul through a 100-watt Marshall stack, and neither source says which guitar is on this song; once a solo was written, Rhoads double- or triple-tracked it by playing it the same way each time, and Guitar World has his solos triple-tracked, one in the centre and two panned left and right at lower levels; engineer Max Norman called him the best guy at overdubbing solos he had ever seen; the song was built on Rhoads' chord structure, opens with a keyboard part by Don Airey and is about the occultist Aleister Crowley; the band recorded at Ridge Farm in Surrey in 1980, and the album came out in the UK on 12 September 1980.
Sources: Guitar World: the secrets behind Randy Rhoads' tone on Crazy Train, MusicRadar: the story of Randy Rhoads and Blizzard of Ozz, Wikipedia: Mr. Crowley, Wikipedia: Blizzard of Ozz
Tonelify's tone matcher reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Mr. Crowley tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of Mr. Crowley
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
Mr. Crowley tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Mr. Crowley?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 7.5, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 1, with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same fast, melodic lead of legato runs and alternate picking from different positions.
What amp did Randy Rhoads use on Mr. Crowley?
Amp: Rented Marshall 1959 Super Lead MKII, Altec 4x12s (album rig). Guitar: Not placed on this song (a polka-dot V or a Les Paul on most of the album). Sources: Guitar World, MusicRadar and Wikipedia.
What were Randy Rhoads' amp settings on Mr. Crowley?
None of the sources cited on this page gives Randy Rhoads' full amp settings on Mr. Crowley. The numbers here are a starting point for that kind of part, not the settings from the session, and Tonelify rewrites them for the amp and guitar you own.
How do you get Randy Rhoads' tone on Mr. Crowley?
The pedal and the mids. On the album Rhoads got most of his distortion and a big midrange boost from a Distortion+ and a graphic EQ into a Marshall set only slightly into overdrive, so use a drive pedal into a fairly clean amp with the mids well up, and for the record's width play the solo two or three times and pan the copies. Play it with the neck pickup for body, bridge if the lead needs to cut.
Can you get the Mr. Crowley tone without the original gear?
Yes. The parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order, and those translate to other equipment. Tonelify's adaptation step works them out for the amp and guitar you own.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
A match for your own gear takes a plan, and a first plan starts with 7 days free with nothing charged that day: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
