Lynyrd Skynyrd in a box? Mace preamp.

[tbonesullivan]

I never really have understood the preamp topology of the MACE, or why when tubes were still plentiful, Marshall, Peavey, MusicMan, and others decided to go into solid state preamps with tube power sections.

Is the "combine" feature of the MACE supposed to be like jumpering a four input Marshall? 

[mrjamiam]

36 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

I never really have understood the preamp topology of the MACE, or why when tubes were still plentiful, Marshall, Peavey, MusicMan, and others decided to go into solid state preamps with tube power sections.

Is the "combine" feature of the MACE supposed to be like jumpering a four input Marshall? 

I'm no authority, and I was a tyke back in the days of these amps, but I sort of generally sort preamp distortion as "fizzy" and power amp distortion as "creamy".  Maybe the idea was to deliver a less- (or un-) distorted preamp signal to the overdriven power section?

[Biz Prof]

Being rural NC born and raised, I always found the "Southern Rock" label to be a bit misappropriated. Skynyrd (and its spin-offs), the Outlaws, Black Oak Arkansas, and to some degree, MTB all had some fundamental similarities.

Others labeled as "Southern Rock" sound to me like other genres.  ABB was more blues rock and jazz/jam band rock.  .38 Special was a straight rock band. Molly and Blackfoot were redneck hard rock. ARS was bluesy jazz rock. 

As for the Mace sound, I think it fit Skynyrd's later sound quite well. Lots of power tube overtones.

Edited August 17 by Biz Prof

[Kookaburra]

On 8/13/2026 at 6:12 PM, RobB said:

No pass here. I’ve cut audio feeds of CEOs who tried that bullshit. Lavalier mics are designed to be clipped on to clothing, 4-6”, from the neck.

Sign of an amateur. 

I must admit that I’ve no idea re the mic discussion.  SM 57s are still my vocabulary, which says a lot about where I’m at.

[scottcald]

On 8/15/2026 at 4:23 AM, Disturber said:

I'm waiting for the Youtube vid that compares the pedal to someones home made Quad Cortex or Fractal settings, stating that they can't hear any difference from their digital modeller and the pedal. "It sounds exactly like a pedal modelled after a tube amp, you can't hear any difference at all. And the Fractal is a few grams lighter. So much easier to carry to a gig." 

And then the following week, the video saying there's nothing like the pedal, then another week later, grifting one from somewhere and proclaiming it to BE sliced bread and actual sliced bread isn't even a contender. 

[scottcald]

On 8/11/2026 at 6:05 PM, RobB said:

Skynyrd's crew hated that Peavey gear. The tube amps blew up constantly, totally unroadworthy. The bass gear was solid, it's said.

The CS power amps were too.  Knew plenty of guys who had dropped them or they slid out of the back of a truck onto the road and still worked just fine, but with a bent rackmount ear.

[Biz Prof]

1 hour ago, scottcald said:

 but with a bent rackmount ear.

Many of us across the South thought those bent ears were factory features. Lol

[scottcald]

8 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

Many of us across the South thought those bent ears were factory features. Lol

Should've been a test on joining the band back then - Can you pick up a Peavey power amp?

[RobB]

11 minutes ago, scottcald said:

Should've been a test on joining the crew back then - Can you pick up a Peavey power amp?

FIFY. Laughable that any of those waif-ey junkies in the band could heft one of those. Maybe Ronnie (or Ed King), but, just sayin’…

Edited 19 hours ago by RobB

[LucSulla]

Lynyrd Skynyrd beat them to the punch on this one; they are already in a box, unless you want to make some tortured argument about Rickey Medlocke. 

[scottcald]

2 hours ago, RobB said:

FIFY. Laughable that any of those waif-ey junkies in the band could heft one of those. Maybe Ronnie (or Ed King), but, just sayin’…

I just meant in general in those days, not Skynyrd specific.  

"All right, you can play, now lift up that CS800 and put it in the back of the truck outside." 🤣

[RobB]

2 hours ago, scottcald said:

I just meant in general in those days, not Skynyrd specific.  

"All right, you can play, now lift up that CS800 and put it in the back of the truck outside." 🤣

Oh. That’s different. One need only to view the 1977 day on the green show. Those tens of thousands of rigatoni-armed skinnies could barely lift a bong to their faces, much less an 85 pound power amp into the back of a truck

Edited 14 hours ago by RobB

[Steve Haynie]

9 hours ago, LucSulla said:

Lynyrd Skynyrd beat them to the punch on this one; they are already in a box, unless you want to make some tortured argument about Rickey Medlocke. 

The tortured argument is brought up by Rickey Medlocke himself over and over.  He recorded with Skynyrd before they had an album deal.  

Artimus Pyle was on the albums and played the shows.  His band has Barry Lee Harwood who was hanging out with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1968 onward, and he was the male vocalist and songwriter in the Rossington-Collins Band.  

Whose band is more original?  

[specialk]

4 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Whose band is more original?  

Ooh my head hurts. Thanks, Haynie… 

[LucSulla]

5 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

The tortured argument is brought up by Rickey Medlocke himself over and over.  He recorded with Skynyrd before they had an album deal.  

On drums.

Could you imagine Tracii Guns going on tour as Guns 'n' Roses (aside from the fact it can't legally happen)?

To the degree there is anything "original", I'd have to go with Pyle. 

But in all honesty, that band died with the folks who unfortunately died in McComb, MS, as far as I'm concerned. I don't blame the survivors and company for going out there and making a living. Building a brand is hard, and asking them to just never do any of that music again is silly. I ain't mad them for taking what was obviously on the table. But as to why the audience buys it all these years later, I guess nostalgia is a helluva drug. 

[RobB]

5 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

His band has Barry Lee Harwood who was hanging out with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1968 onward, and he was the male vocalist and songwriter in the Rossington-Collins Band. 

I dig those two R/C Band LPs. Great songs and Dale Krantz is a great rock singer.

[velorush]

The problem we the (West TN) rednecks had with R/C was the concert was marketed to us as absolutely the second coming of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The concert announcement (summer of 1980) was the R/C Band would be playing the North Hall Auditorium (Memphis) - that's what the announcement said, but 100% of the music being played in the ad was L/S - and by that, I mean there was not a single note of an R/C Band song in the ad. So, 4,000 rednecks show up expecting Lynyrd Skynyrd (and the LS catalog), but what they got was R/C and (perish the thought) a woman lead singer. 😲

"There must be some mistake! The opening song must be some sort of ruse." Then there was the second song. And a third. "Wait? Where's the LS?"

As the concert went on the crowd became more and more agitated and started yelling out names of Skynyrd songs and then Rossington got in a fight with some people on the front row (but continued to play quite adeptly). After the complete set the place went dark and a spot popped up on a single mic stand with a Van Zant hat on top and they played an instrumental version of Freebird as an encore. Angry as the crowd was, they absolutely killed it and everyone knew it. 

In retrospect, R/S was a killer band, however, the crowd felt duped that night. After reading all the commentary about how the band was trying to distance itself from LS, I lay all the perceived bait-and-switch on the promoter. It was just a bad situation all around.