Was EVH using his old trusty Marshall still in 1985?

Sure looks like a Marshall sitting there to me
It was just a joke.

Q2t1sMi.jpg
 
Man, 7 pages on he said/ she said Marshall talk ?? Guys, EVH would have sounded killer through a Bugera 1960. Cranked, some effects, what does it matter slight boost from EQ, circuit or other. Let's do Slash's 36 or 39 and debate which was rehearsal and which was on the album. The Levi / Caswell who did what, and what the mod actually was. That should get us to 14 pages.
 
I don't check Rig Talk for a bit and suddenly it is 2007 Metropoulos Forum.

I'll read this thread and see if there is anything that needs clearing up. I worked for the band for a bit in the 90s, and anything John Suhr, Mike Soldano, and Reinhold Bogner say is right. Same with Dave Friedman. Those guys were all trusted back in the day.
 
I don't check Rig Talk for a bit and suddenly it is 2007 Metropoulos Forum.

I'll read this thread and see if there is anything that needs clearing up. I worked for the band for a bit in the 90s, and anything John Suhr, Mike Soldano, and Reinhold Bogner say is right. Same with Dave Friedman. Those guys were all trusted back in the day.

I don't want to believe you and refuse to because i have seen a grainy old photo that looked like there was a 1/4 cable running to something from something. Even though it was probably a shoe lace, I STILL think it is the missing link!!! Let's go Rig Talk, bring me another 30 pages and let's get heated!
 
I'm mildly serious. I dont hate his tone, but I don't get the worship for his tone.

For the matter, I also don't get all the hate for RRhoads' tone either.


The “worship” of his tone comes from his incredible playing. We as humans get “tricked” I guess you could say. Many of your favorite tones, are really just phenomenal riffs/songs, that’s literally it. Couple that with a player who picks the right amp for their style and “plays to the amp” so to speak, and there ya go: your Brain perceives that as great “tone”. I picked up a phrase from a buddy of mine, “tone riffs”. Back in the day, nightrage’s record sweet vengeance was all the rage, and it is arguably the best mix (to me) that ever came out of nordstroms studio. If you listen to the track “ the tremor”, towards the end is an absolutely killer break down. THAT is a tone riff I would call it. That riff just plays to the amp (5150 and engl savage I believe), and it sounds great from all the sums of the playing and that amp together. Point is, dime was the king of stuff like that for sure. But really, many of our favorite tones are really just great riffs/playing, and the brain cant really differentiate between the two and which part of that is making it sound “good” to you.
 
Couple that with a player who picks the right amp for their style and “plays to the amp” so to speak, and there ya go: your Brain perceives that as great “tone”. I picked up a phrase from a buddy of mine, “tone riffs”. Back in the day, nightrage’s record sweet vengeance was all the rage, and it is arguably the best mix (to me) that ever came out of nordstroms studio. If you listen to the track “ the tremor”, towards the end is an absolutely killer break down. THAT is a tone riff I would call it. That riff just plays to the amp (5150 and engl savage I believe), and it sounds great from all the sums of the playing and that amp together.

This is so true. The player "playing to the amp" is alot of what makes those "tone riffs" so memorable.

The intro riff and post chorus to "world of lies" by at the gates is another example I would toss out - it seems incongruous with their aggressive, baroque style, being so "normal," and "rock and roll."

But it fits the mechanistic sound of that hm2/metal zone thing so, so well.



Another example that comes to mind is "sails of Charon" by the scorpions.

That nosey, middly Marshall tone probably sounds obnoxious on it's own - but in the context of the song it is sinuous, and snakes around that groove perfectly.



The more experienced I get recording heavy guitars, the more I notice this synergy effect in the great tones everyone seems to love.
 
But really, many of our favorite tones are really just great riffs/playing, and the brain cant really differentiate between the two and which part of that is making it sound “good” to you.

So many people still haven't grasped this concept. You can continuously drop thousands on new booteek and flavor-of-the-month gear, but if your riffs, technique and phrasing are trash, you'll always sound like trash :LOL:

It's always extra embarassing to pull up to a show to see a band setup with thousands of dollars worth of high end gear, only to have their actual music be absolute shit
 
Man, 7 pages on he said/ she said Marshall talk ?? Guys, EVH would have sounded killer through a Bugera 1960. Cranked, some effects, what does it matter slight boost from EQ, circuit or other. Let's do Slash's 36 or 39 and debate which was rehearsal and which was on the album. The Levi / Caswell who did what, and what the mod actually was. That should get us to 14 pages.
Are you against Fun? are you a murderer of fun? at this point that's all the thread is....FUN!
 
The “worship” of his tone comes from his incredible playing. We as humans get “tricked” I guess you could say. Many of your favorite tones, are really just phenomenal riffs/songs, that’s literally it. Couple that with a player who picks the right amp for their style and “plays to the amp” so to speak, and there ya go: your Brain perceives that as great “tone”. I picked up a phrase from a buddy of mine, “tone riffs”. Back in the day, nightrage’s record sweet vengeance was all the rage, and it is arguably the best mix (to me) that ever came out of nordstroms studio. If you listen to the track “ the tremor”, towards the end is an absolutely killer break down. THAT is a tone riff I would call it. That riff just plays to the amp (5150 and engl savage I believe), and it sounds great from all the sums of the playing and that amp together. Point is, dime was the king of stuff like that for sure. But really, many of our favorite tones are really just great riffs/playing, and the brain cant really differentiate between the two and which part of that is making it sound “good” to you.

Excellent post. Then you add the board and production to it as the icing on the cake.
Are you against Fun? are you a murderer of fun? at this point that's all the thread is....FUN!

LOL good point.. i do love fun. I have also been reading through the thread. I just can't NOT read.
 
Excellent post. Then you add the board and production to it as the icing on the cake.


LOL good point.. i do love fun. I have also been reading through the thread. I just can't NOT read.
ME TOO! I'm at work and i have a fairly high pressure job, so it's good for a laugh & keeps me from yelling at co-workers for not doing what they are supposed to.
 
So many people still haven't grasped this concept. You can continuously drop thousands on new booteek and flavor-of-the-month gear, but if your riffs, technique and phrasing are trash, you'll always sound like trash :LOL:

It's always extra embarassing to pull up to a show to see a band setup with thousands of dollars worth of high end gear, only to have their actual music be absolute shit
I'm completely trash. 100%. i'm a dumpster, a cum dumpster....FUCK! I Mean a dumpster Fire. Never mind, carry on.
 
So many people still haven't grasped this concept. You can continuously drop thousands on new booteek and flavor-of-the-month gear, but if your riffs, technique and phrasing are trash, you'll always sound like trash :LOL:

It's always extra embarassing to pull up to a show to see a band setup with thousands of dollars worth of high end gear, only to have their actual music be absolute shit

That's totally true, but the inverse is true as well.

The only thing as embarrassing as the "good gear, bad band" is a band that would have been good if they didn't sound like complete dogshit because the guitarist is using a mark II spyder half stack on insane mode with the mids completely scooped, the bass player is playing through a squier frontman 15 from the guitar center christmas combo pack, and the drummer has a completely out of tune Sears catalogue set with cymbals that sound like a machining mill grudge-fucking aluminum with a broken flute.

It doesn't fucking matter how good the sound guy is, or if they're playing the set of their life, because as soon as the white noise of that spyder on insane mode hits the crowd, everyones going to go for a smoke break.

I've watched it happen from the mixing desk, the green room, and the crowd.
 
The Marshall was stock. Lots of efforts to fiddle with it but 12301 was stock (a couple of different component values as has been mentioned). Get an old 12000 Metro with the variac switch and put a Boss eq and a Bell Epoch in front and you are there. Bonus points if you find one with the loop and stick a Talisman in that. It really doesn't even have to be a Boss eq specifically you just need something similar. Greenbacks are a must. This isn't complicated.

Eddie got to where he liked more gain and thought the Marshall was too loud, too hissy, and too hard to play consistently.
 
I had my first JMP by 1982, i never have wanted Ed's amp or guitars but love his music & playing skill.
To be honest EVH tone is some of the easiest to achieve with just a few of the right tools.
I find the hysteria about the whole thing kind of ridiculous.
 
Eddie's tone was awesome. It might be easy to achieve something that should be good enough (cranked 1959 with hot pickups and something pushing the front end), but achieving it use to require absolutely crushing volume or convoluted set ups.

I think only fairly recently with good, cheap load boxes and all-in-one reamping devices has it actually become "easy" to get there without ripping your own face off. Attenuators just didn't seem to get there, only helping drop the volume from OMG I'm Gonna Die Here to OMG This Is Still Too Loud before the attenuator really mucked with the tone.
 
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