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

[Kapo_Polenton]

Yes, those early live recordings are so great and show where the "sound" mainly came from = Ed's playing and the overall band synergy/energy.
Gotta give credits to Mike & Alex too, those bass & drums are a major part of what we hear in the end as the instrumental mix. Not the same "magic" without them IMHO.

At the same time, as great & innovative Ed's was, he wasn't the "only one" to get such big sound from some "old Marshall based" rig back then; I can help but always think of the early ZZ Top especially. Listen to some early / mid 70's live recordings, Billy's (& Dusty!) sound is as awesome IMHO; and the attitude & energy is very similar, they were fantastic back then.
I bet they were a major influence to the VH guys (as they have been to a lot of the later 70's / 80's hard rock US scene).

Just a random example:

Wow, that old ZZ rips ! Great tone you are right. A lot of that comes from volume. Schenker was also getting gainier tones with his JMP's cranked. But the main ingredient was also really strong hands and great vibrato which Ed also had.

 

[Wetordry]

When I first heard VH I thought the tone had a few similarities to the solo section in this song from a few yrs earlier. 1/2 strat 1/2 LP maybe. Produced by Randy Bachman.

 

[Anje]

Wow, that old ZZ rips ! Great tone you are right. A lot of that comes from volume. Schenker was also getting gainier tones with his JMP's cranked. But the main ingredient was also really strong hands and great vibrato which Ed also had.

Fully agree, volume is one of the key elements & the common ground to most of those classic "tones".

I wish we would have as much crazy threads searching for the "truth" being those "Rio Grande modded Marshall" rigs Billy (& Dusty) were playing back then; now THAT would be something

 

[SmashingAtom]

Hey @harddriver, hint : I sent Rob Galpin a phaser when his got stolen at a Gig, he was so sad. AmpChaser you are doing what Mark/Rockstah & Michael R/T Audette have done. Fitting the amp to your sound in your head. Just happens to be VH1. Just separate the Actual Amp Sound From the Actual Studio Treatment, because they are two different things. In other words what you hear out of the Celestions are not what you hear out of the Studio Monitors. The Studio Monitors have the sum of at least 7 different signals, before you get into mic bleed from the room. You have to listen to the RAW track. You have a choice, a SM-56 tigh mic or the collection of room mics. Thats it. Your not going to hear an 'In THE ROOM' sound like we would jamming at home or at practice. The tight mic will be impossible to reproduce, you hear it record to record on Eds own work.

I really like Michael R/T's sum of his playing and his take on the amp tone. That said, Jim Gaustad did a bang up job too, he shows you in his home studio demo's that its a tone that stacks up. Let me give you another example. Eddie Lenz and Jason Tong from Headfirst Amps do great work and play well, even throw in Dan Gower. They still sound like themselves playing through so many different amps and mods. Lynch too, how many differrnet rigs, you can pick him out in five notes or one sustained note like John Sykes.

That being said, you'll get there. Everybody is chasing tones, its just cool to see people working on amps and asking questions ! Keep at It

 

[harddriver]

Hey @harddriver, hint : I sent Rob Galpin a phaser when his got stolen at a Gig, he was so sad. AmpChaser you are doing what Mark/Rockstah & Michael R/T Audette have done. Fitting the amp to your sound in your head. Just happens to be VH1. Just separate the Actual Amp Sound From the Actual Studio Treatment, because they are two different things. In other words what you hear out of the Celestions are not what you hear out of the Studio Monitors. The Studio Monitors have the sum of at least 7 different signals, before you get into mic bleed from the room. You have to listen to the RAW track. You have a choice, a SM-56 tigh mic or the collection of room mics. Thats it. Your not going to hear an 'In THE ROOM' sound like we would jamming at home or at practice. The tight mic will be impossible to reproduce, you hear it record to record on Eds own work.

I don't remember the phase 90 thing. I pretty much dropped off of there by late 2008-2010 except for a few posts so there are some people that got on there around the time I dropped off. There were only a couple guys I kinda remember that were from Cali.

Here's Al Estrada's STOCK Marshall Superlead slaved into a JCM800 2204. I think he said into the return of the effects loop.

 

[mentoneman]

Yes, those early live recordings are so great and show where the "sound" mainly came from = Ed's playing and the overall band synergy/energy.
Gotta give credits to Mike & Alex too, those bass & drums are a major part of what we hear in the end as the instrumental mix. Not the same "magic" without them IMHO.

At the same time, as great & innovative Ed's was, he wasn't the "only one" to get such big sound from some "old Marshall based" rig back then; I can help but always think of the early ZZ Top especially. Listen to some early / mid 70's live recordings, Billy's (& Dusty!) sound is as awesome IMHO; and the attitude & energy is very similar, they were fantastic back then.
I bet they were a major influence to the VH guys (as they have been to a lot of the later 70's / 80's hard rock US scene).

Just a random example:

nice example!! vh did killer zz/aerosmith/james gang covers. i always trip out at how guys like vh and hendrix had their uniquely distinct style and tone together at such a relatively early age. they must have been totally obsessed with the guitar.

 

[Anje]

Fully agree!
When natural talent/abilities come together with years of rentless total dedication towards developing and refining one's skills & craft.
I'm a strong believer in the fact there is no "spontaneous genius"; only fortunate synergy between one's potential, passion and hard work.