"Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

[Ed Hunter]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Be sure to make a post about the YJM. I'm very interested in reading some reviews on that one. Maybe include some sound clips, please?

cool will do asap

[pittbull]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Another thing to think about is look at the pickups that Ed designed,the pickups in the Ernie Ball Musicman guitar which were Dimarzio,high output,the Peavey Wolfgang guitar,high output pickups,the fender EVH Wolfgang guitar,pickups high output.I take the low output pickup thing with a grain of salt like the 78 pickup.If you listen to Van halen 1 it sounds more aggressive then any of his work,there is no way a low output pickup was used for Van halen 1.Ed likes gain and high output pickups.

[Ed Hunter]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Another thing to think about is look at the pickups that Ed designed,the pickups in the Ernie Ball Musicman guitar which were Dimarzio,high output,the Peavey Wolfgang guitar,high output pickups,the fender EVH Wolfgang guitar,pickups high output.I take the low output pickup thing with a grain of salt like the 78 pickup.If you listen to Van halen 1 it sounds more aggressive then any of his work,there is no way a low output pickup was used for Van halen 1.Ed likes gain and high output pickups.

I love those ebmm dimarzio's! i bought a used axis for $700 a few weeks ago and i love it to death!

[Jakek5150]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Another thing to think about is look at the pickups that Ed designed,the pickups in the Ernie Ball Musicman guitar which were Dimarzio,high output,the Peavey Wolfgang guitar,high output pickups,the fender EVH Wolfgang guitar,pickups high output.I take the low output pickup thing with a grain of salt like the 78 pickup.If you listen to Van halen 1 it sounds more aggressive then any of his work,there is no way a low output pickup was used for Van halen 1.Ed likes gain and high output pickups.

To me, I've always thought WACF and Fair Warning were the most "aggressive" sounding albums guitar-wise. i.e.- Loss of Control, Romeo Delight, Mean Street, Unchained, Sinner's Swing. IDK if it's the phaser or what, but VH1 never really came sounding as that aggressive to me. High gain? Yes.

[Jakek5150]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Woodytone.com said Dave Friedman restored Eddie's holy grail and he used it on the new album for some songs (and the EVH 5150iii on the others).

[Ed Hunter]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

To me, I've always thought WACF and Fair Warning were the most "aggressive" sounding albums guitar-wise. i.e.- Loss of Control, Romeo Delight, Mean Street, Unchained, Sinner's Swing. IDK if it's the phaser or what, but VH1 never really came sounding as that aggressive to me. High gain? Yes.

I think WACF has a good PAF tone to it.like the intro to "fools" .
hey bro how do you like that JB/59set in you charvel so cal?

[Jakek5150]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

I think WACF has a good PAF tone to it.like the intro to "fools" .
hey bro how do you like that JB/59set in you charvel so cal?

It's so sweet. I never wanted a dead-on VH tone, but I wanted to be in that ballpark and find my own sound from there. Along with the Blackstar, this setup sounds great. I'm so glad I found this forum and you guys were able to help me out with picking a good set. I think if anything I'll just put in a couple of Greenbacks in my cab, but when I crank up the volume, I am in love and rip into Hot for Teacher.

[Ed Hunter]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

It's so sweet. I never wanted a dead-on VH tone, but I wanted to be in that ballpark and find my own sound from there. Along with the Blackstar, this setup sounds great. I'm so glad I found this forum and you guys were able to help me out with picking a good set. I think if anything I'll just put in a couple of Greenbacks in my cab, but when I crank up the volume, I am in love and rip into Hot for Teacher.

the PG does a mean WACF tone

[Jakek5150]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

the PG does a mean WACF tone

When I get another Charvel, the PG is going straight into the bridge.

[IanBallard]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Another thing to think about is look at the pickups that Ed designed,the pickups in the Ernie Ball Musicman guitar which were Dimarzio,high output,the Peavey Wolfgang guitar,high output pickups,the fender EVH Wolfgang guitar,pickups high output.I take the low output pickup thing with a grain of salt like the 78 pickup.If you listen to Van halen 1 it sounds more aggressive then any of his work,there is no way a low output pickup was used for Van halen 1.Ed likes gain and high output pickups.

HighER output, but not like JB kind of high output. He likes the tone to be smooth and clear, even under gain, with a nice clean sound when the volume is rolled down. The Dimarzio EBMM's were "dual resonance" attempts to approximate his Kramer (Duncan CUstom wound) tones with a neck to match the bridge. The EBMM pickups have their roots in the Kramer pups, which also are basically the same as the Frankie pup that ended up in it (officially form the source, at Seymour Duncan). The Peaveys were a different animal but if you watch his demo from the '96 NAMM vids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbr9bKFZlnM the cleans are pretty nice for ceramics, as are the new Wofgang pups.

The new Wolf required dozens of revisions to satisfy what he wanted. Enough power to drive the amp and get screaming harmonics but still can be rolled off and get nice cleans. Hard to do, but it's possible. I think the only thing he grew tired of, was the lack of gain from Plexis and the lack of screaming harmonics from PAF's. So, I think he new guitars have the embodiment of PAF qualities with the scream of something like a JB.

[IanBallard]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Woodytone.com said Dave Friedman restored Eddie's holy grail and he used it on the new album for some songs (and the EVH 5150iii on the others).

Friedman did restore both the "Holy Grail" and his #2 1959 head (the one with no covering on it), but who knows if he used them. I mean, he's said he still plays his original Frankie from time to time, but let's face it, that thing hardly holds a candle to his Wolfs. But the channel 2 on his new amps was designed to sound similar to his "Holy Grail", plus Eddie' complained in the past about the problems and hiss from Plexis. The 5150III is a much quieter, more reliable amp and still gets that kind of tone. We'll see...

[Jakek5150]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Friedman did restore both the "Holy Grail" and his #2 1959 head (the one with no covering on it), but who knows if he used them. I mean, he's said he still plays his original Frankie from time to time, but let's face it, that thing hardly holds a candle to his Wolfs. But the channel 2 on his new amps was designed to sound similar to his "Holy Grail", plus Eddie' complained in the past about the problems and hiss from Plexis. The 5150III is a much quieter, more reliable amp and still gets that kind of tone. We'll see...

Oh yeah, I agree. That channel 2 sounds like the original Plexi and then some. That EVH 5150iii is pretty much the only other head I would ever really want and I'm hoping to be first in line for the 50watt.

[Ayrton]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Dave Friedman also tweaked Ed's EVH III head.

[IanBallard]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Dave Friedman also tweaked Ed's EVH III head.

If you watch the demo clip from '96 that linked to, somebody asks him if the guitar and amp that are in production, are the same as he uses... and he dodges the question and just tells the guy to come try them out. Well.... duh, obviously Eddie tweaks everything he has and it's doubtful he uses a Mexican-made amp bone stock. I definitely believe his amps and guitars are custom and not exactly what are sold in stores. He was first in line to buy the "Floyd Rose Titanium" at Ed Roman's NAMM booth a couple years back and I would not be surprised at all, if he was sporting some Zephyr pups in a couple of his guitars. Rust never sleeps.

[pittbull]

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Ian Ballard you said that the pickups in the peavey wolfgang were ceramic,their not they are alnico V.Also when Ed was designing the Ernie Ball EVH guitar, Dimarzio had the contract to make the pickups, the pickup that dimarzio used as a referance which was in the original frankie at that time(89-90) was a duncan JB.That was explained to me by Steve Blutcher at Dimarzio.