Best pickups for early VH tones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TrueTone500
  • Start date Start date
Listen to Rockstah on youtube and judge for yourself --He did VH better than most and used a new SD Dimarzio
 
I had a hamer korina V. It was so hard to find a pickup that would work with it. Peter Florence Voodoo 59's sounded good in it
 
The closest I have heard is with a super distortion. Listen to rockstahs and Pete thorns clips using one.
 
It's mostly the right amp spec. A lot of what folks have said here....Duncan Custom, old Dimarzio Super Distortion with square legs, MM 1300. But if your amp is right, the pickup is just icing.
 
chasintonez":1i76766n said:
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. 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!
Click to expand...

The duncan CUSTOM is what seymour wound for eddie in late 70's when he took his gibson PAF to get rewound,eddie was using a mighty mite super d clone and wanted a more refined/more PAF version
The custom is basically a PAF on roids and has a very similar spec to the Dimarzio super distortion but cleans up a lot better and has a more open tone.
eddie almost sued seymour for selling this as "the Van Halen pickup" in guitar player magazine.
the pic to the left is before eddie called him about suing him and the pic to the right is after :lol: :LOL:
SDVHPickupAd.jpg

all the info is right here,
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=38069
 
Interesting.. never tried a custom.. or have I? I have played the custom custom (too flubby in the low end for me as I mentioned 2 years ago in this thread) and I have played the ceramic SH-5 but i found that too sterile for me. Is that the custom? Or are we talking about the custom which is the other custom in overly confusing custom range from SD.
 
Kapo_Polenton":18xpgipd said:
Interesting.. never tried a custom.. or have I? I have played the custom custom (too flubby in the low end for me as I mentioned 2 years ago in this thread) and I have played the ceramic SH-5 but i found that too sterile for me. Is that the custom? Or are we talking about the custom which is the other custom in overly confusing custom range from SD.
Click to expand...


Custom - SH5 - Ceramic
Custom 5 - SH14 - Alnico 5
Custom Custom - SH11 - Alnico 2


All the same pickup otherwise.
 
Holy necrobump batman!

I have a Custom Custom TB11 and I get no flub on it. :dunno:

TrueTone - I thought you were not interested in EVH type gain :confused:

Yes, Duncan's customer service is teh awesome.
 
311splawndude":3iv6zmgm said:
TrueTone - I thought you were not interested in EVH type gain :confused:
Click to expand...

I love Ed's early tones, but I don't play like that. Ed sounds great - I sound like shit! :lol: :LOL:
 
TrueTone500":2sw2rep0 said:
Does anyone know what pickups are best for replicating Edward's early tones? I'm a huge fan of Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pickups which are Alnico II design. I have a USA Hamer Korina Standard, but I'm not sure if the Dr. Vintage pickups are the way to go in that guitar?

Screenshot2012-12-14at75642PM_zps13a7ad3d.png
Click to expand...


My comment has nothing to do with VH, I just wanted to say I love the Wolfetone Dr. Vintage pup also. I got a Les Paul that came with one in the bridge and I LOVE it!! Easily one of the best pups I have played. I also really love the Duncan Super v (lynch sig. pup), and the Suhr ssh+ I believe it is called. I also really liked the pickups that came on the Peavey Wolfgangs.
 
I have a VH Frankenstein pickup in my Charvel and it definitely has a lot of the older VH type tones in it.
 
There are many pu's that will get your there but according to what he actually had in his guitar
it was a custom on the first record then the duncan 78 for VH II. after this when he put a floyd rose on he started using a pu now being sold as the frankenstein pu and that is very similar to the custom-custom(alnico II).
I like the duncan custom and the mighty mite 1400 for his early tone.
later tone i use the frankenstein pu.
 
The Arcane brownbucker is a great pickup period! it does a lot more than VH.
Arcane is coming up fast, guys like lynch,phil x are endorsing and using rob timmons pu's.
His work is outstanding.
 
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