Strong hints that Van Halen 1 68 lead was just a slave amp and not the main amp.

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I have listened to the Zeke Clark Steve Rosen interview parts 1 and 2. Judging from his references this interview must have been from around 1986 since he references 5150 songs, Steinberger guitars as just being released.

Using your logic at the time of this interview 1985/86 Mr. Clark was an employee of Van Halen and would have been under an active NDA so he would not be spilling any secrets that weren't already out in the public lexicon from multiple interviews. He just talks about basic things in both of these videos with just enough vagueness that nothing definitive can be derived from these videos.

Yes, I believe it is stock/stockish and every clip posted in this thread including the VH1 room mics clips and early live tour clips support my conclusion as well as all my real world exprience standing in front my 68 Marshall amps and cabs.
 
harddriver said:
I have listened to the Zeke Clark Steve Rosen interview parts 1 and 2. Judging from his references this interview must have been from around 1986 since he references 5150 songs, Steinberger guitars as just being released.

Using your logic at the time of this interview 1985/86 Mr. Clark was an employee of Van Halen and would have been under an active NDA so he would not be spilling any secrets that weren't already out in the public lexicon from multiple interviews. He just talks about basic things in both of these videos with just enough vagueness that nothing definitive can be derived from these videos.

Yes, I believe it is stock/stockish and every clip posted in this thread including the VH1 room mics clips and early live tour clips support my conclusion as well as all my real world exprience standing in front my 68 Marshall amps and cabs.
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Perhaps that Zeke spilled out some of the beans but he didn't say what those mods were. He didn't speak about values or any component. Rudy Leiren did the same in the past interview he said there were mods and that there was also a bias mod but he didn't elaborate further.



that's my new josé build that I modded yesterday and it is based on the pictures of a David Lee Roth josé that was stored in his basement.

A

Thread 'Sharing José Arredondo Amps guts + one exclusive owned by David Lee Roth'

Hello guys,

i think people should share what they got from josé arrendondo and that perhaps one day we will get somes clue of what that pot in back of the amp during VH1 and VH2 could be. I know this has been discussed tons of times. But Sharing doesn't hurt and if someone can make good amps out of those pictures why not ?

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  • Amp_chaser
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Sry for the sloppy playing plus it's not in tune at all however it has the tonal caracteristics.

i believe it just lacks the Ot Transformer mod.

there is no eq except there is only reverb and delay. It just lacks the OT mod.
 
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Kapo_Polenton said:
Segeborn sounds a tad undergained but again, boss ge-10 and there it is
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He doesn't get the greatest tones out his amps in general IMO but he's great at making comparison videos. Yeah, his amps seem to lack gain to me. LOL
My Superlead and 2203 blow his amps away lol
 
SmashingAtom said:
No additional gain, this has no bearing on anything, why are you even posting it ?
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I told you enough things, but i think despite all the evidence people are just not ready to understand that :

- I'm not talking about exclusively about gain. There is more gain but not a lot. However disotortion is huge and it is asymetrical and it has blooming.
- Eddie probably used a live setup and a studio setup that were different. This is pretty common for many artists.
- According to Rudy Leiren the mods evolved they didn't stay the same.
- Dave Friedman said that Eddie didn't like the first album sound because it was too bright. But we also know that it was extremely unstable. They blew on average 2-3 Output transformers a week.
- This is proven by the VH2 studio picture where you can clearly see that the Output transformer and choke are not the same as stock one. Which means that the mod with the variac was already there before van halen 2.

stock 68 lead with the stock choke in red, also take a look at the output transformer pls :

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Ed's choke model :

n4i7hxeokphewnpbaere-1.webp

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See the choke and output transformer are not the same at all compared to a stock 68... Those were replaced and an output transformer that blows can also cause the need for a Choke to be changed...

another thing if i remember correctly according to neil zlozlower this pictures was staged. They came on purpose and purposedely trashed the place only for a photo shooting.

- Zeke clark wouldn't lie, same for josé, Rudy leiren and kevin dugan and they were all from the crew.

the pot on back was perhaps a voltacontrol mod. It just lets you control voltages. Was it on V1 or on another part of the amp who knows ? In josé amps you can see that he could use long wires to place the mods in a convenient place.

IMG_6033.jpeg


i firmly belive that at this point even if eddie told you it was modded you wouldn't accept and belive it.

i also wonder how many of you listened to the isolated tracks of vh1 and tried to reproduce the tone with the studio gear ? Even with the studio rack gear you would need to do tons of EQ on a console to get that sound. Moreover it's not perfect at all when you look at jim gaustaad ik profiles they can't replicate a lot of songs from vh1 accurately. In a mix you wouldn't tell the difference but if you compare side by side the isolated tracks and the tone from ik you will see that there are still huge differences for the same chords played...
 
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Amp_chaser, I am popping in to affirm that I have a 68 100w Marshall and its the loudest amp I've ever heard, played. Its an increadible tone. I am an OG from the Metro Forum and your in the middle of two camps. Eds amp sounds like a stock unit. However, not on VHI. WACF , yes. So this is a hunt. I agree the Jose' has a sustain to it. But then again, a unit with the volume also has it.

Al was not a quiet drummer. So we are deceived into thinking he was during the Jamies Crying Tracks.

I have conclusive proof Donn Landee was the magician. Yet, we also have conclusive proof Jose' was. But ! we don not have conclusive proof of them in the same room. Thats the problem. Eruption is 100% Donn Proof. Yet we do NOT have 100% Jose' proof.

Sorry but thats where we stand.

Jose' mods have the ring and sustain like you point out on the chords. Even the Ossie amp does. But Volume cures all.

And the whole dealio screws us now, because the Jamies Crying Track does not sound loud and Al plays like a kitten.

HELP !!! SOLVE IT PLEASE Amp_Chaser !
 
BTW, the OT on VHII, is the same as a stock 68. I questioned it myself until I took a pic from the same angle. Identical. so thats that.
 
As a last ditch effort to finally settle this, the OP must kidnap Valérie Bertinelli and demand that Wolfgang divulge his Dad’s tone secrets as the ransom payment. I think this scheme might only be the forth or fifth stupidest thing in this thread so far
 
SmashingAtom said:
Amp_chaser, I am popping in to affirm that I have a 68 100w Marshall and its the loudest amp I've ever heard, played. Its an increadible tone. I am an OG from the Metro Forum and your in the middle of two camps. Eds amp sounds like a stock unit. However, not on VHI. WACF , yes. So this is a hunt. I agree the Jose' has a sustain to it. But then again, a unit with the volume also has it.

Al was not a quiet drummer. So we are deceived into thinking he was during the Jamies Crying Tracks.

I have conclusive proof Donn Landee was the magician. Yet, we also have conclusive proof Jose' was. But ! we don not have conclusive proof of them in the same room. Thats the problem. Eruption is 100% Donn Proof. Yet we do NOT have 100% Jose' proof.

Sorry but thats where we stand.

Jose' mods have the ring and sustain like you point out on the chords. Even the Ossie amp does. But Volume cures all.

And the whole dealio screws us now, because the Jamies Crying Track does not sound loud and Al plays like a kitten.

HELP !!! SOLVE IT PLEASE Amp_Chaser !
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I'm not saying it was fully modded but you see there is also a big difference between what Peggy from sunset sound says and what people believe the studio did. In my opinion the genius on donn landee was mainly to tame brightness and to add this huge reverb and the two eventide harmonizers (yeah there were 2 h910 units few people know that). i could be wrong too about what they did. Peggy the audio engineer assistant told to an interview with dwezil zappa that they were known to not alter the sound of original band a lot and that artists like them because it was very close of their tone in real life.

Then there is all of this :

Josés testimony in neil zlozlower biography :
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then you have the entire video with zeke clark that confirms what josé said in his testimony in neil zlozlower's book.

Affirming it was not modded despite all of this is like saying all those guys are liars. I admit it could not have been modded too however there is a lot of evidence it probably was. Even the pictures of the amp that dave showed us shows us a hacked amp with non stock components and solder blobs.

Now if you prefer saying it wasn't it's your choice i'd rather say i believe it was modded because there is a lot of evidence but i don't deny it could also have been stock.

Ossie ahsen number one amp sounds way way closer than any sl68 out there and you don't need eq to make it sound like the records. Moreover it has a variation of the variac mod on the output transformer that zeke clark mentions and that's what makes it sound so good.
 
thegame said:
As a last ditch effort to finally settle this, the OP must kidnap Valérie Bertinelli and demand that Wolfgang divulge his Dad’s tone secrets as the ransom payment. I think this scheme might only be the forth or fifth stupidest thing in this thread so far
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i'm not this kind of person and that's not my style at all haha.
 
SmashingAtom said:
Amp_chaser, I am popping in to affirm that I have a 68 100w Marshall and its the loudest amp I've ever heard, played. Its an increadible tone. I am an OG from the Metro Forum and your in the middle of two camps. Eds amp sounds like a stock unit. However, not on VHI. WACF , yes. So this is a hunt. I agree the Jose' has a sustain to it. But then again, a unit with the volume also has it.
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So what was your username on the Metro amp forum? It's always good to see anyone OG from the EVH forum from back in the day. :2thumbsup::rock: I still talk to BMF5150 and RGalpin from time to time....those were fun times with everyone trying all the urban legends outand posting their results. I was on there from 2005 until about 2010-12 when I dropped off.
 
Amp_chaser said:
I'm not saying it was fully modded but you see there is also a big difference between what Peggy from sunset sound says and what people believe the studio did. In my opinion the genius on donn landee was mainly to tame brightness and to add this huge reverb and the two eventide harmonizers (yeah there were 2 h910 units few people know that). i could be wrong too about what they did. Peggy the audio engineer assistant told to an interview with dwezil zappa that they were known to not alter the sound of original band a lot and that artists like them because it was very close of their tone in real life.

Then there is all of this :

Josés testimony in neil zlozlower biography :
View attachment 410567

View attachment 410568
View attachment 410569View attachment 410573

then you have the entire video with zeke clark that confirms what josé said in his testimony in neil zlozlower's book.

Affirming it was not modded despite all of this is like saying all those guys are liars. I admit it could not have been modded too however there is a lot of evidence it probably was. Even the pictures of the amp that dave showed us shows us a hacked amp with non stock components and solder blobs.

Now if you prefer saying it wasn't it's your choice i'd rather say i believe it was modded because there is a lot of evidence but i don't deny it could also have been stock.

Ossie ahsen number one amp sounds way way closer than any sl68 out there and you don't need eq to make it sound like the records. Moreover it has a variation of the variac mod on the output transformer that zeke clark mentions and that's what makes it sound so good.
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Vai’s amps were never sold to Sykes. He still has them.
 
harddriver said:
So what was your username on the Metro amp forum? It's always good to see anyone OG from the EVH forum from back in the day. :2thumbsup::rock: I still talk to BMF5150 and RGalpin from time to time....those were fun times with everyone trying all the urban legends outand posting their results. I was on there from 2005 until about 2010-12 when I dropped off.
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Do you know what were Ralle's specs ?
I discovered this forum in 2014 (at this time, Dave Friedman already revealed the stock plexi thing) and apparently Ralle's specs were among the very favourite of the forum during first years.
 
Cless357 said:
Do you know what were Ralle's specs ?
I discovered this forum in 2014 (at this time, Dave Friedman already revealed the stock plexi thing) and apparently Ralle's specs were among the very favourite of the forum during first years.
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Ralle tried everything including cascades but his original two gain stage specs were the best and even he went back to them, I looked through my saved layouts for his original specs and I don't have it, just his cascaded versions.

If I remember correctly his original Ralle specs were pretty much a stock 68 like the Friedman specs and then he ran .1uf cap on the PI coupling caps and he would try different NFB values like 27K, 47K and 100K on the different feeback taps, like the standard plexi NFB tap on the 8 ohm for a cleaner more headroom tone versus the 4 ohm tap. 47K on the 8ohm tap is a bit cleaner and Jose liked the 100K NFB on the 4 ohm tap like the later superlead amps had which is less clean and rattier. IMHO pick what you like.

PM me if you want the Ralle cascade layouts.
 
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I guess I don't have the patience to go down the EVH rabbit hole.... whew! After all these years, it just makes me want to scream...

What is the expectation with all this discussion? What are you going to do once you make all these discoveries? Are you going to play your ass off? I hope so....

I gave up the quest 20+ years ago. I'm focused on playing better while I can... Perhaps, it's time better served?
 
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