Ed's best rig (in your opinion)

[geetarmikey]

Not seeing a shout out to the WACF album sound yet which I've always loved!

Later years I really liked the two new Roth tracks from the GH album in terms of another evolution of his sound.

 

[mentoneman]

I'm with ya' on this. Ed somehow got hooked up with Ross Hogarth for tracking (who really pushes Royer Ribbon mics) definitely made it feel like a castrated version of the sound ED was famous for. sad how things can change when, you use a "better mic".

dkot had some cool songs and playing but the tone was totally forgettable

vs early roth + fiery eddie hungry lions era w/landee and templeman at the helm = chef kiss

young EVH gave every song and solo such attitude and made you eager to hear what fascinating technical breakthrough he was going to reveal next.

when he started phoning in the same pentatonic licks over and over again, adding gimmicky use of wah wah (or stolen drill trick from paul gilbert!) to try to keep things interesting instead of innovative creativity, i checked out. that was around 5150 for me.

 

[matttornado]

Women & Children First is so raw. Love it!

 

[johnny q]

VH1 for me. Folks are still chasing that tone and obsessing over it almost 50 years later.

 

[raakaribul]

The Marshall and his first frankenstrat obv.

 

[JiMB]

Women & Children First is so raw. Love it!

Agreed!!!

 

[SLOgriff]

I recently watched some Van Halen live footage from 1995 & 1998. I believe those are the Peavey years. IMHO that’s some of Ed’s best playing and tones!

 

[glip22]

 

[Anje]

I will echo several previous posts by saying that, to me, the early DLR era raw energy and "simple" rig / Plexi Marshall based sound is unmatched and the foundation for the legend.
That being said, I can't help thinking "what if..." Ed had kept the old Marshall all along as the main amp tone? Could have sounded killer with the later added rack effects also IMHO (ask me how I know ).

 

[harddriver]

I will echo several previous posts by saying that, to me, the early DLR era raw energy and "simple" rig / Plexi Marshall based sound is unmatched and the foundation for the legend.
That being said, I can't help thinking "what if..." Ed had kept the old Marshall all along as the main amp tone? Could have sounded killer with the later added rack effects also IMHO (ask me how I know ).

He did really... 5150 was his old Marshall and Marshall's live with the H910's and H949's. In that 1995 interview I posted not long ago Ed stated he used the H910/949's to split his signal on 5150. One side is the dry Marshall the other side is the slightly detuned Marshall signal. Ossie shows a pic from the 79 tour live and the H910 is there on top of some amps live so that's 1979 with the Eventide. I've seen this pic but never noticed the H910 because it is usually cropped out.

 

[Anje]

Yes you're right, I meant / was thinking beyond 5150 for all other albums as well.
A good old Plexi in a wet/dry(/wet or not) kind of rig with a few old classic Lexicon / Roland / Eventide effects for the "wet" is a damn great thing to me.

 

[matttornado]

VH1 for me. Folks are still chasing that tone and obsessing over it almost 50 years later.

the tone Ed hated! LOL

 

[Klauth]

Do you think his last amp design was truly all him, or was there influence from fender or other entities?

 

[johnny q]

the tone Ed hated! LOL

Yes indeed. BUT, we all know Ed was full of shit most of the time!