Van Halen D.O.A. isolated guitar
- Thread starter hammered
- Start date
harddriver
Well-known member
Again the glaring observation with isolating all these VH tracks shows that Ed was really using PLEXI amounts of gain in these recordings and just strangling the ever living shit of that maple neck......................
It's amazing how gainy the amp sounds when sitting in the complete mix..................WOW!
Sure sounds like a PAF to me, as I am not hearing a huge mid bump from a 14-16K pickup.......
Just listen to how clanky, twangy and squeally that plexi is...........Oh how glorious it is..............that aint no Bogner XTC multi gain stage monster.................
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Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
I agree with you about plexi amounts of gain . Especially starting on VH2 . But VH1 was way more distortion than a usual plexi. It’s weird because I don’t think of vh1 as Ed’s tone . I think of vh2 to 1984 as Ed’s trie old school tone . But vh1 was definitely different than the 79to84 tone which I find all consistent in a way
Again the glaring observation with isolating all these VH tracks shows that Ed was really using PLEXI amounts of gain in these recordings and just strangling to ever living shit of that maple neck......................
It's amazing how gainy the amp sounds when sitting in the complete mix..................WOW!
Sure sounds like a PAF to me, as I am not hearing a huge mid bump from a 14-16K pickup.......
Just listen to how clanky, twangy and squeally that plexi is...........Oh how glorious it is..............that aint no Bogner XTC multi gain stage monster.................
PurityS.L.G
Well-known member
I’m with you 100% on this. I was always on the VH2 wagon when it came to pinnacle Ed tones. I realize VH1 changed the game but the growl and roar to me is so much more prominent on VH2. To this day everytime I hear the opening riffs to DOA and Beautiful girls it gets my blood pumping.
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
I honestly like the tone on fair warning best though . But I’m with you
Racerxrated
Well-known member
I used to think Ed's amp had to be modded. It may still have been; but when you play a NMV Marshall, turned way up through JBLs you get way more 'hair' if you will in the high end, and that seems like extra gain...play the same amp with a different cab and that extra hair/gain is gone.
VHII was greenbacks, no JBLs IMO and that's the difference in tones.
PurityS.L.G
Well-known member
I buy into this. I just recently bought some D120’s (1 OG, 1 reconed) and I can’t believe how much closer you get to that EVH tone. It’s probably the most overlooked aspect of his signal chain. Everyone else is busy overly obsessing with the actual amp.
I’m sure a lot of you have already seen this video but this is 1 good example.
Racerxrated
Well-known member
Exactly! I had a pair of JBL D123s, which are 15-20w speakers but are in the same vein of the 120s(Finally have a pair of D120Fs now) and when you load the JBLs with 2 GBs, even a regular old 2204 gets that tone. I couldn't believe how close it was, without a real deal 68 Plexi and EVHs hands.
NorCal_Val
Well-known member
Not gain-y by today’s standards. But, what a great tone.
Arch Stanton
Dollar Store Satriani
The really good ones were ripped from the "Guitar Hero" video game.
The ones that sound crap are being ripped with AI.
Arch Stanton
Dollar Store Satriani
angelspade
Well-known member
For me the the best guitar recorded tones are always pretty BRIGHT in the upper mids and top...Even more aparerant when isolated. This is no exception.
Arch Stanton
Dollar Store Satriani
James Brown (Peavey amp builder) said he would watch Ed setup to record, get the amp and mic/cab where he wanted it, then go into the control room and use the studio EQ to pull out all the mids.
Dave Friedman -- "Yeah, he hates mids."
angelspade
Well-known member
Maybe so...But lots of mids end up on his recordings.
hammered
Well-known member
That would’ve been the Carnel Knowledge/Balance era when James Brown was involved and I’ve seen a shot of Ed’s settings and the mids were scooped on his 5150. I think he used to crank the mids back in the Marshall days , sure sounds like it