Gainfreak
New member
Taken from the metro Board form a guy who cliams to have known Eddie back in the day and pretty spot on to what Mark Cameron has been saying for years
Introduction:
In those days, power attenuators such as Marshall's Powerbrake or Thd's hotplate were not around yet.
Marshall amps didn't feature an effects loop yet either.
With cranked Marshall plexi's and superleads the main concern was volume: either you'd become deaf or you would blow nice 20-25 watts Celestion Greenback speakers.
Running time-based effects in front of a dimed Marshall wouldn't always sound good, it would add more noise to an already "hissing" amp.
First came the variac: lowering the input voltage by 20 volts would bring the amp's volume down.
With the variac, the amp would feel spongier and the character of the power tubes' distortion would be altered in a very musical way.
Then came "slaving" .
Now you had a line-level effects loop between the 2 amps (after the load ).
The first amp would act as the preamp (the distortion box), and the second amp would act as the power amp stage.
Now you could get great power tube distortion from amp 1 and use amp 2 to set the volume to a reasonable level.
Now you had an effects loop, and gone were the hearing loss and/or blown speakers !
The guitars :
Ed used 3 guitars for that first world tour and album.
I covered this topic in many previous posts so I'll run through it quickly.
Frankie: hard ash body, vintage fender tremolo bridge, brass nut, maple neck with maple cap fingerboard, original Gibson alnico II PAF pu rewounded by Seymour Duncan (prior to the recording of VH1).
Painted by Ed with bycicle paint.
Its neck pocket was not properly cut, the neck was slightly slanted downwards and the high E string was almost off the edge of the fingerboard behond the 12th fret.
It was not a nice job, rather a piece of s..t guitar but Ed made it sound soooo good.
Sharkie: believed to be made of korina wood (but apparently the body was ash and the neck was made of maple), unpainted and uncut for the recording of vh1.
Original Ibanez nickel covered pu was used for the recording of vh1.
Ed took a piece out of the body and painted it prior to going on tour (I think it was Wayne Charvel who did the paint job, but I 'm not sure).
He kept the original pu on it for a short while, then replaced it with a black Hotrodded PAF made for him by Seymour Duncan.
Ed widened the grooves of the bridge to match the string spacing of Frankie.
He put a brass nut on it as well (prior to the recording of Vh1).
Later in the tour, Sharkie was replaced by a white Gibson Les Paul Custom.
At first, Ed put the original Ibanez nickel covered bridge pu taken from Sharkie in the Les Paul. Later he put another Seymour Duncan hotrodded PAF in it (cream colored).
Keep in mind the band saw very little money at the time.
The tubes:
Power tubes were fat bottle Sylvania (later Philips) 6CA7's.
These tubes sound closer to 6L6's than EL34's.
We had cases of these, Ed would burn them really fast.
They were not matched sets, nobody cared.
If one blew, it was randomly replaced.
On his main plexi and its backup (a wonderful 50 watter), the internal bias knob was dimed (yes you read right).
He blew OT on those 2 plexis on many occasions.
We had many spares on hand as well.
He used several brands of 12AX7's preamp tubes.
These were individualy selected for low noise, sound and microphonics.
That's all I know and remember about preamp tubes.
the main PLEXI and its backup:
Ed owned several plexiglas 68-69 Marshalls, 3 of wich were 50 watters,
The wooden plexi was a 100 watter, and so was his main plexi.
His main one was the only one with just one filter cap on top of the chassis, all the others had more than 1 cap on top.
The main plexi and all the 50 watters featured laydown power transformers.
I assume the main one was the earliest model because it only featured one filter capacitor on top of the chassis.
George, is this correct ?
Man, that backup 50 watt plexi sounded sooo good, but Ed favored 100 watters.
We had a dozen Marshalls (plexis and superleads) on tour in 1978.
All of them were the 4 inputs non master volume type.
The metal pannel ones sounded great too, but they were mainly used for slaving(amp 2).
The load-line level box:
Jose Arredondo built a few prototypes for Ed.
The one used by Ed on the 1978 world tour featured 2 inputs, a volume knob, and 3 line level outputs.
That volume knob was used to control the overall stage volume of the rig.
The 2 inputs were fed with the speakers outputs of the main plexi and the 50 watt smallbox plexi.
Both were loaded, but the amp not in use was kept on standby (he didn't use both simultaneously).
So, there were 3 line level cables tapped from the resistive load feeding the top left inputs of 3 Marshall superleads.
The volume on those amps was set at 9'o clock for a clean sound with just a tad of grit.
Ed mainly used 3 stacks, but only the bottom cabs were wired.
It must be said that Ed was really concerned about protecting his hearing from loud stage volumes (in 1984 things got really insane soundwise).
For bigger venues, he'd need up to ten amps-ten bottom cabs, so the extra needed heads were daisy-chained with the first 3.
The overall volume of the rig was set with an adjustable pot located right next to 3 tapped lines out of the resistive load.
An overly loud line level signal would make the 3 amps distort, so the pot was adjusted for no distortion, but it was damn loud anyway.
The main plexi and its backup smallbox plexi were dimed (all 6 knobs on 10) and variac'ed (set for 90 volts).
The settings on the amps:
The loaded plexis acting as distortion boxes (preamps) were dimed all the way on that tour.
The plexis and superleads used for slaving had both volumes set at 9 o'clock, but the inputs were not jumpered.
Ed said that the normal volume (last knob to the right) adds warmth to the sound.
Only the top left input was used.
Using the bright channel for slaving would really offset the overly bassy flubbiness from the dimed plexi, and it would smooth things out.
On the superleads (metal pannel), the preamp knobs were basically set as followed, but with some slight changes depending on the amp:
presence: off
bass: 10
middle: off
treble: off
Live, plexi's were seldom used for slaving (amp2), but the preamp settings were not the same as the superleads because they sounded darker and cleaner than the superleads.
The amp used for slaving on the first album was the wooden plexi often seen in many of the pics uploaded on this forum.
The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album.
The pedalboard and effects chain:
Ed used this crappy plywood pedalboard for his effects pedals.
The 2 Maestro Echoplexes were sitting next to the amps on ED's side of the stage, but their footswitches were located next to the plywood board.
The Univox was shelved in a real WWII bomb standing to the right of Ed's cabs.
It was just unbelievable you know, those were really the good 'ol days.
On the board, Ed's guitar would hit the MXR Flanger, then the MXR Phase 90.
From the ouput of the phase 90, a long cable would then reach the 2 echoplexes (wired in series).
After the echoplexes, another long cable would go back to the stage pedalboard to the input of BOX 1, then out to the input of BOX 2.
Yet another long cable would connect the ouput of BOX 2 to a "Y"-type splitter , and then hit the top left inputs of the main plexi and its smallbox backup.
BOX 1 and 2 were loopers for the MXR 6bandEQ 's Ed was using to boost his signal prior to hitting the plexi.
Most of the time, Box2 was not used, but from time to time he would have a second MXR EQ on his board.
The MXR EQ's were replaced by The Boss EQ's in the summer after the japanese leg of the tour.
Btw, Ed was not using a wireless yet in 1978.
The MXR pedals were stock script logo pedals.
In the early 80's, Ed had them overlooked by Jose to reduce unwanted noise (shielding and replacing cheap components with better ones).
The main plexi and his backup were loaded and the line level signal was fed to the univox before it was slaved to the superleads and out to the cabs.
One last note: The magic lies in Ed's hands, not in his rig.
And the rest is history.
Introduction:
In those days, power attenuators such as Marshall's Powerbrake or Thd's hotplate were not around yet.
Marshall amps didn't feature an effects loop yet either.
With cranked Marshall plexi's and superleads the main concern was volume: either you'd become deaf or you would blow nice 20-25 watts Celestion Greenback speakers.
Running time-based effects in front of a dimed Marshall wouldn't always sound good, it would add more noise to an already "hissing" amp.
First came the variac: lowering the input voltage by 20 volts would bring the amp's volume down.
With the variac, the amp would feel spongier and the character of the power tubes' distortion would be altered in a very musical way.
Then came "slaving" .
Now you had a line-level effects loop between the 2 amps (after the load ).
The first amp would act as the preamp (the distortion box), and the second amp would act as the power amp stage.
Now you could get great power tube distortion from amp 1 and use amp 2 to set the volume to a reasonable level.
Now you had an effects loop, and gone were the hearing loss and/or blown speakers !
The guitars :
Ed used 3 guitars for that first world tour and album.
I covered this topic in many previous posts so I'll run through it quickly.
Frankie: hard ash body, vintage fender tremolo bridge, brass nut, maple neck with maple cap fingerboard, original Gibson alnico II PAF pu rewounded by Seymour Duncan (prior to the recording of VH1).
Painted by Ed with bycicle paint.
Its neck pocket was not properly cut, the neck was slightly slanted downwards and the high E string was almost off the edge of the fingerboard behond the 12th fret.
It was not a nice job, rather a piece of s..t guitar but Ed made it sound soooo good.
Sharkie: believed to be made of korina wood (but apparently the body was ash and the neck was made of maple), unpainted and uncut for the recording of vh1.
Original Ibanez nickel covered pu was used for the recording of vh1.
Ed took a piece out of the body and painted it prior to going on tour (I think it was Wayne Charvel who did the paint job, but I 'm not sure).
He kept the original pu on it for a short while, then replaced it with a black Hotrodded PAF made for him by Seymour Duncan.
Ed widened the grooves of the bridge to match the string spacing of Frankie.
He put a brass nut on it as well (prior to the recording of Vh1).
Later in the tour, Sharkie was replaced by a white Gibson Les Paul Custom.
At first, Ed put the original Ibanez nickel covered bridge pu taken from Sharkie in the Les Paul. Later he put another Seymour Duncan hotrodded PAF in it (cream colored).
Keep in mind the band saw very little money at the time.
The tubes:
Power tubes were fat bottle Sylvania (later Philips) 6CA7's.
These tubes sound closer to 6L6's than EL34's.
We had cases of these, Ed would burn them really fast.
They were not matched sets, nobody cared.
If one blew, it was randomly replaced.
On his main plexi and its backup (a wonderful 50 watter), the internal bias knob was dimed (yes you read right).
He blew OT on those 2 plexis on many occasions.
We had many spares on hand as well.
He used several brands of 12AX7's preamp tubes.
These were individualy selected for low noise, sound and microphonics.
That's all I know and remember about preamp tubes.
the main PLEXI and its backup:
Ed owned several plexiglas 68-69 Marshalls, 3 of wich were 50 watters,
The wooden plexi was a 100 watter, and so was his main plexi.
His main one was the only one with just one filter cap on top of the chassis, all the others had more than 1 cap on top.
The main plexi and all the 50 watters featured laydown power transformers.
I assume the main one was the earliest model because it only featured one filter capacitor on top of the chassis.
George, is this correct ?
Man, that backup 50 watt plexi sounded sooo good, but Ed favored 100 watters.
We had a dozen Marshalls (plexis and superleads) on tour in 1978.
All of them were the 4 inputs non master volume type.
The metal pannel ones sounded great too, but they were mainly used for slaving(amp 2).
The load-line level box:
Jose Arredondo built a few prototypes for Ed.
The one used by Ed on the 1978 world tour featured 2 inputs, a volume knob, and 3 line level outputs.
That volume knob was used to control the overall stage volume of the rig.
The 2 inputs were fed with the speakers outputs of the main plexi and the 50 watt smallbox plexi.
Both were loaded, but the amp not in use was kept on standby (he didn't use both simultaneously).
So, there were 3 line level cables tapped from the resistive load feeding the top left inputs of 3 Marshall superleads.
The volume on those amps was set at 9'o clock for a clean sound with just a tad of grit.
Ed mainly used 3 stacks, but only the bottom cabs were wired.
It must be said that Ed was really concerned about protecting his hearing from loud stage volumes (in 1984 things got really insane soundwise).
For bigger venues, he'd need up to ten amps-ten bottom cabs, so the extra needed heads were daisy-chained with the first 3.
The overall volume of the rig was set with an adjustable pot located right next to 3 tapped lines out of the resistive load.
An overly loud line level signal would make the 3 amps distort, so the pot was adjusted for no distortion, but it was damn loud anyway.
The main plexi and its backup smallbox plexi were dimed (all 6 knobs on 10) and variac'ed (set for 90 volts).
The settings on the amps:
The loaded plexis acting as distortion boxes (preamps) were dimed all the way on that tour.
The plexis and superleads used for slaving had both volumes set at 9 o'clock, but the inputs were not jumpered.
Ed said that the normal volume (last knob to the right) adds warmth to the sound.
Only the top left input was used.
Using the bright channel for slaving would really offset the overly bassy flubbiness from the dimed plexi, and it would smooth things out.
On the superleads (metal pannel), the preamp knobs were basically set as followed, but with some slight changes depending on the amp:
presence: off
bass: 10
middle: off
treble: off
Live, plexi's were seldom used for slaving (amp2), but the preamp settings were not the same as the superleads because they sounded darker and cleaner than the superleads.
The amp used for slaving on the first album was the wooden plexi often seen in many of the pics uploaded on this forum.
The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album.
The pedalboard and effects chain:
Ed used this crappy plywood pedalboard for his effects pedals.
The 2 Maestro Echoplexes were sitting next to the amps on ED's side of the stage, but their footswitches were located next to the plywood board.
The Univox was shelved in a real WWII bomb standing to the right of Ed's cabs.
It was just unbelievable you know, those were really the good 'ol days.
On the board, Ed's guitar would hit the MXR Flanger, then the MXR Phase 90.
From the ouput of the phase 90, a long cable would then reach the 2 echoplexes (wired in series).
After the echoplexes, another long cable would go back to the stage pedalboard to the input of BOX 1, then out to the input of BOX 2.
Yet another long cable would connect the ouput of BOX 2 to a "Y"-type splitter , and then hit the top left inputs of the main plexi and its smallbox backup.
BOX 1 and 2 were loopers for the MXR 6bandEQ 's Ed was using to boost his signal prior to hitting the plexi.
Most of the time, Box2 was not used, but from time to time he would have a second MXR EQ on his board.
The MXR EQ's were replaced by The Boss EQ's in the summer after the japanese leg of the tour.
Btw, Ed was not using a wireless yet in 1978.
The MXR pedals were stock script logo pedals.
In the early 80's, Ed had them overlooked by Jose to reduce unwanted noise (shielding and replacing cheap components with better ones).
The main plexi and his backup were loaded and the line level signal was fed to the univox before it was slaved to the superleads and out to the cabs.
One last note: The magic lies in Ed's hands, not in his rig.
And the rest is history.