Best pickups for early VH tones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TrueTone500
  • Start date Start date
Did you try wolfetones marshallheads?

VHS in a box.

Pair it with a Marshall plexi add reverb and be happy.

It will have more beef than the dr.v and still have air and slice!
 
TrueTone500":dteo2m9m said:
Would removing the covers result in a more defined attack?
Click to expand...
It certainly could...worth trying out since its an easy "operation".
I've never heard anybody get closer than Mark (RIP) did with an old Super Distortion. I think most of Ed's iconic tones (VH1) were done with hotter pickups and not the PAF-ish types listed here (which would be better for his later tones like 1984).
 
My vote would be super distortion.. I have the custom custom in a bright strat and it has dulled it too much. Gret highs but the lows are too loose and lack definition.
 
How to sound more like early EVH.....Practice.
but FWIW I have to agree with the consensus that the plain Jane Dimarzio SD is "the" VH1 Pickup esp for that guitar.
 
I agree on the Mark Abrahamian comment. His Mod 5 clips were the closest I've ever heard to Ed's tones from a tube amplifier. Mark was an incredible player - but we have a some great players around here also. sah5150 sent me a couple of clips of his VH work. He's a monster player no doubt. Nails Ed's licks to the T!

I heard that Seymour Duncan had custom wound a humbucker for Edward, but I don't know if that was prior to the VH I release? If yes, then is the Strat seen on the first album cover that particular custom-wound SD? Is the '78 Custom a clone of that pickup?
 
Rockstah Mod 5,THE best for early Van halen period.(Mod done by Mark-RIP not others)
 
There are LOTS of pickups that will get you in the ballpark...pretty much any warmish PAF-style pickup. I normally like an Alnico 2 wrapped to about 8k-8.5k. I think the amp is the most important ingredient. A lot of VH comes from the fingers as well.
Good luck!
 
A PAF from a 60's 335 with a broken coil should do it.... :D
 
I'd say there are a lot of pickup-related threads coming back from the dead around here lately.....

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Just installed an Arcane Bownbucker and it is the closest I have personally come across. I currently have a BKP VHII set, the bridge was too articulate/bright for me (been thinking about pairing a VHII bridge with a Jazz neck to cure my sloppiness lol) in the same way my (early make) Motor City 2nd Degree bridge was. This one is very similar TO A POINT. It is articulate but the top isn't AS cutting and some warm grit surrounds the rest of the EQ...some extra winds? I love it.
As far as A2 VH pickups.. I loved the Motor City Blissterbucker. The Duncan Custom Custom is very similar but, in my opinion, too smooth. The Blissterbucker had a nice dry grit? to the coolness of the A2 tone.
Never tried Marshallheads though.
 
I have used a Duncan Custom from way back. I had a guitar built for me by Performance guitars back in '87 (Yes I am an old dog:-))

Back then, before there was endless choices of pickups like there is now, I called Seymour and actually got to talk with Seymour himself. I of course was an Eddie freak back then and was having Performance building me a guitar (basic super strat) to do the Eddie stuff.

Seymour told me to put a Duncan Custom in it. Now...this was in '87. While there are many more options available now, back then it was Seymour's answer to Ed's tone.

It is a bit hotter than the standard PAF, but I was able to get pretty good tone out of it for VH. It is a bit more brash due to the ceramic mags, but it has more top end bite and clarity than the Custom Custom. I have a Custom Custom as well in an Alder hot rodded strat and to me it seems more like a "Stone in Love" lead type of tone more so than the Eddie Tone. Ed's early tone almost has a twangy clear top end without a lot of gain. It is like more power than saturation and gain.

I can still pull good Ed tone with that Custom with the right amp tweaks!
 
rupe":x0er5g6v said:
TrueTone500":x0er5g6v said:
Would removing the covers result in a more defined attack?
Click to expand...
It certainly could...worth trying out since its an easy "operation".
I've never heard anybody get closer than Mark (RIP) did with an old Super Distortion. I think most of Ed's iconic tones (VH1) were done with hotter pickups and not the PAF-ish types listed here (which would be better for his later tones like 1984).
Click to expand...

Rockstah could sound like VH with an Iphone app. So unless I heard a mere mortal do it with them, I wouldn't hang my hat on it. lol
 
Mark(Rockstah)used a new Dimarzio Super Distortion he didnt use old(vintage )ones.
 
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