EVH pickup rabbit hole

rm5153 said:
I think the problem nowadays is with gear and technology that allows us to play quiet and since many of us are bedroom/basement rockers that play quiet most of the time and the 7-8k pickups just do not sound "hot" enough when playing quiet.
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Yep. Even with high gain the 10k screamin demon lacks meat without a full tilt boogie
power section cooking and speakers being pushed. Kind of want for a JB in those quiet times.
 
Nigel said:
Yep. Even with high gain the 10k screamin demon lacks meat without a full tilt boogie
power section cooking and speakers being pushed. Kind of want for a JB in those quiet times.
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With that said the Demon is a great pickup if matched with proper guitar, works badass with LPs.
 
SpiderWars said:
It depends on the amp. I recently built a '69-ish Superlead and it sounds really good variac'd and everything dimed with no boost. It's not tight on the low E (neither was Eddie's early tone) but it's not a big fart either. And the amp comes across as bright instead of woofy/woolly. But yeah, the EQ just takes it to that next level.

I've noticed that if I have the Treble dimed I need to crank the Bass and if I have the Bass way up I need to crank the Treble. I can def see why Eddie may have liked that. As soon as I reduce any of the knobs it sounds like something is missing.
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True, I did mess around with my Bugera 1960 ( I know laughable but it does a pretty good job!) and although I can't crank the treble due to that weird crashing distortion that Dave Friedman talked about in some amps, if I take everything to 10 (treb to 8) it does come alive. When i dial it back, something does feel missing. But the EQ for my rig anyway def tightens that low E and A strings. It is nice and full to solo on though.

As for tone in the fingers, I agree but people around ere get very VERY angry at that statement so watch it guys!
 
Zado said:
With that said the Demon is a great pickup if matched with proper guitar, works badass with LPs.
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As big a mystery to me besides Ed's rig is what pickup Lynch has ever kept in his guitar for more than 1 month. Another guy who proves the fingers because he sounds identical regardless of guitar, pedals, pickup, or amp really. FINGERS!HANDS!
 
If tone is "in your fingers" then cut off your fingers & try to plug them into an amplifier & see what that sounds like.
 
You either enjoy the rabbit hole or your don't with this vid. I enjoyed it as much as Ossei Ahsen's pickup shootout. I think it depends on what iteration of EVH tone you are looking for that influences what pickup in this shootout sound EVH for any one person.

There are some telltale nuances of most of those pickups that fall into each and every iteration of Ed's tone. To a certain extent tone in which your playing style and touch plays a factor but most definitely certain pickups do affect the tone in very certain ways.

On most of the songs on VH1 there is an almost fuzz quality to the single fretted notes. Whereas VHII is warmer and less fuzz/ratty on those fretted notes. The fuzz/ratty fretted notes returned on WACF.

There are two pickups that provide that fuzz/ratty effect the most correctly, you can plainly hear it Pete's and Ossie's videos if you listen closely. Of course not every ears will concur with each others conclusions and that's to be expected.
 
harddriver said:
There are two pickups that provide that fuzz/ratty effect the most correctly, you can plainly hear it Pete's and Ossie's videos if you listen closely. Of course not every ears will concur with each others conclusions and that's to be expected.
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Are you referring to the Dimarzio SD and the similar Mighty Mite?
 
Samhain said:
If tone is "in your fingers" then cut off your fingers & try to plug them into an amplifier & see what that sounds like.
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Lol that makes no sense. But let me play on a POD from the early 2000's and I won't sound too different. That's what hands means. Time and time again...because attack, fretting, vibrato, phrasing are as part of tone as are the components drifting in an amp, tube voltages, filtering, and transistors in pedals.
 
There was no early VH without the gear being right though. Can’t have the left hand without the right.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Lol that makes no sense. But let me play on a POD from the early 2000's and I won't sound too different. That's what hands means. Time and time again...because attack, fretting, vibrato, phrasing are as part of tone as are the components drifting in an amp, tube voltages, filtering, and transistors in pedals.
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That's all true but when that is mentioned in the context of a gear discussion you know that's not what people are refering to when they talk about tone.

EVH thru a clean Fender would not sound the same at all...but it (obviously) would still sound like EVH (because it is EVH).
 
I asked Pete about the amp settings. He said the only changes were done were to get the tones between VH I and some of the later stuff. There were no changes between the pickups -- all the same amp settings.
 
SpiderWars said:
That's all true but when that is mentioned in the context of a gear discussion you know that's not what people are refering to when they talk about tone.

EVH thru a clean Fender would not sound the same at all...but it (obviously) would still sound like EVH (because it is EVH).
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Yeah I know. I guess it stokes the fires here because it keeps coming up but I honestly think we all know this and are just being difficult for shits n giggles all the time.
 
I can just imagine some young prodigy that can play EVH (or whoever) perfectly but is playing it thru a Twin Reverb on 1 and thinking; "They said tone is in fingers but I must suck because this sounds nothing like Van Halen. I have no tone in my fingers." :LOL:
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Lol that makes no sense. But let me play on a POD from the early 2000's and I won't sound too different. That's what hands means. Time and time again...because attack, fretting, vibrato, phrasing are as part of tone as are the components drifting in an amp, tube voltages, filtering, and transistors in pedals.
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Talent/skill/technique are in the hands. "Tone" is in everything else.
 
IIRC, Ed used the Ibanez Destroyer on most VHI, or at least the songs with no whammy bar. The photos of the VHII sessions had him with the original Frankie before he sprayed it red. Those were different pickups. And the photos from the WACF sessions had him with a lemonburst Les Paul.
 
Zado said:
With that said the Demon is a great pickup if matched with proper guitar, works badass with LPs.
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My SD came out of a Brian Moore i2, which is a lightweight and ergonomic LP type made in Korea. Thought it was a JB for years, and wondered why it lacked gain! LOL

Like JB's, I flip it so the screw coil is closer to the neck and put a 333K resistor from the hot lead to ground to get the total load to about 142K or so. Both of those pickups (SD & JB) need the 250K pots treatment to not icepick, at least in my guitars.
 
Nigel said:
My SD came out of a Brian Moore i2, which is a lightweight and ergonomic LP type made in Korea. Thought it was a JB for years, and wondered why it lacked gain! LOL

Like JB's, I flip it so the screw coil is closer to the neck and put a 333K resistor from the hot lead to ground to get the total load to about 142K or so. Both of those pickups (SD & JB) need the 250K pots treatment to not icepick, at least in my guitars.
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Doesn't a tone knob help with that ice pick just by virtue of the fact that it is there not even rolled off? I've been fine with JB's that way but the no tone knob and 250K vol pot seems to be the sauce for those charvels and they do sound right. The workaround is the JB2 which is the best pickup hack (or custom shop if you want to pay) ever. That combo is the holy grail, I love it and every time i pick up the guitar with it, it's instant love. Highs are amazing, harmonics bust out all over the place, tight.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Doesn't a tone knob help with that ice pick just by virtue of the fact that it is there not even rolled off? I've been fine with JB's that way but the no tone knob and 250K vol pot seems to be the sauce for those charvels and they do sound right. The workaround is the JB2 which is the best pickup hack (or custom shop if you want to pay) ever. That combo is the holy grail, I love it and every time i pick up the guitar with it, it's instant love. Highs are amazing, harmonics bust out all over the place, tight.
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I’ve got a A2 mag laying around, lots of folks love that mod. Prolly get away with the higher resistance/lower load 250k total with an A2 as you suggest. 500k vol + 500k tone = 250k, add 333k = 142k which is close to 125k which is like 250k vol + 250k tone.
 
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