Strong hints that Van Halen 1 68 lead was just a slave amp and not the main amp.

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harddriver said:
You have no idea how many people on here build amps do you??? Do you think you are the only one? There are some really great amp builders on this forum if you venture outside of your VH1 threads...........:rolleyes::dunno:
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I know there are lots. That's why i also make those threads perhaps they will discovers things thank to them. I don't know how many people knew about that single channel amp in ed's basement and that dave mentionned an amps which was josé's ed collaboration and it's also a single channel for ed's tone. So that makes the hybrid between jcm 800 and 1959 a legit way to experiment. I also posted the guts of an exclusive josé amp for people to test with. But after my personal tests it's not that one that will give ed's tone it will give something gainier and that could also be interesting to experiment with for other mods.

Honnestly if someone could make that amp i would just buy it and go on other advertures like making my own mods. But unfortunately i believe that except people from the vh crew and Dave Friedman and some people close to him no one knows what was really going on with that first album tone. And perhaps that Dave only knows some elements of that early vh mod but has still many interrogations about values and setups.
 
Nigel said:
Anyone that plays the "It's really his hands" card has likely never played a variac'd amp with underbiased tubes.

That is the first question: "Are you experienced?"

You do not get early Ed without this, you cannot understand the evolution of his sound without this.

You cannot understand him without playing pure nickel strings either. HALF of the icepick people bitch about is nickel plated steel strings.

Pure Nickel strings have a higher tension, allowing you to play lighter gauge for the same scale length and remove mud from the bottom end of the EQ, allowing for more exaggerated Bass settings like 10. This is how 8.5-40 on a 25.5" scale makes sense.

It's clear Ed's bottom had the hardness of a Fender TMB tonestack, which produces a smile "Loudness" EQ when dimed. Less so with a 50K mid pot, but still necessary to boost mids if you want the vocal, full bodied midrange.

Bandmaster theory makes a lot of sense, and if you've not played a modified '59 style TMB you won't understand. Zinky's OD circuit in the Tone Master and MOFO amps does this, mated with overbias and low screen resistors, somehwat like a 5150, which only sound right at high volume.

If you aren't slaving, the power amp gain and drive has to breathe, and that happens with low screen resistors. 5150's have 100 ohm, Zinky's have 470 Ohm. Old Marshalls had none, or lower than 1K values which were introduced to balance for inferior modern EL34 type offerings.

In other words, there are so many links in the chain to create ED tones that most non-obscessed (read: NOT real Disciples/Enthusiasts) will ignore and simplify causuistry (set of relationships) for cause, or one factor: "Hands."

Without the proper power amp mojo, it ain't what Ed was talking about. If you haven't felt it, go for it, because it's probably the most essential aspect of his idea of tone.
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Fender Xl150's pure nickel 9-40 strings has a certain feel and tone if you've played them.:2thumbsup: I used to be stocked up on them for my Franky, Fender only make 9-42's now.
 
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harddriver said:
Fender Xl150's pure nickel 9-40 strings has certain feel and tone if you've played them.:2thumbsup: I used to be stocked up on them for my Franky, Fender only make 9-42's now.
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Yeah i tried to buy those they don't do them anymore x)... However if i remember correctly there is stringjoy still making nickel strings with close thickness compared to ed's string gauges.

https://stringjoy.com/guitarstrings...-strings/broadways/classic-super-light-gauge/<

i never tried those i should give them a try.
 
Pyramid strings makes a Eddie Van Halen set of strings 9-40 pure nickel and they are very nice I use them as we speak I know fender stopped making the 9-40 set which I used all the time
 
The Fender XL150 9-40 pure nickel set was the string set Eddie used from the early days up until he was with Ernie Ball Musicman(his signature guitar).
 
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my current custom set
 
Mentoneman here’s Stringjoys Eddie Van Halen set which I’ve tried and they are good Stringjoy and Pyramid make a 9-40 pure nickel
 

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Lightning said:
Mentoneman here’s Stringjoys Eddie Van Halen set which I’ve tried and they are good Stringjoy and Pyramid make a 9-40 pure nickel
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noice!

i added a dash more meat on the high strings but it’s pretty close. the more important element to me is the sound and playability of the wound strings as the pick traverses those.
 
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