Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

[IanBallard]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Eddie didn't wind his own pickups. Yes, he's an inventor and has dozens of patents and stuff... yet he built his own guitars, but he couldn't wire up a three-way switch, so I call BS on that. He had Seymour re-wind his PAF to 9k and then Seymour tried to sell it. Heck, maybe Eddie was drunk and agreed to something with Seymour, sobered up and read the ad and was like, "Oh crap!" and then, still pissed, passed it off as his own work and gave Seymour no credit. However, he had him re-wind the Frankie pup again, then make the pickups for his Kramer and possibly more. He also went to Seymour and MJ first for the new Wolfgang pups. Obviously he's over it.

There's another interview where he says he used TWO MARSHALLS, one with the variac cranked UP and the bias cranked and the other with the variac down. It could have been daisy chained... He also said in that same interview that Ted "doesn't do much EQ'ing" implying a minimum of studio tricks. He also said his Phase 90 "doesn't real phase, it just boosts the treble for solos".

[WhooHoo]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Eddie didn't wind his own pickups.

There's another interview where he says he used TWO MARSHALLS, one with the variac cranked UP and the bias cranked and the other with the variac down. It could have been daisy chained... He also said in that same interview that Ted "doesn't do much EQ'ing" implying a minimum of studio tricks. He also said his Phase 90 "doesn't real phase, it just boosts the treble for solos".

The rewinding pickup quote is from 1979, after he met Seymour in late 1977 (and don't forget Ed was mainly unknown at this time in late 1977) so maybe Ed did have a go at rewinding AFTER he met Seymour because I could imagine Ed wanting to know how Seymour rewound pickups and Ed probably hung around Seymours place watching things.

The 2 Marshall quote is from a 1979 interview and Ed is only talking about his LIVE setup in relation to the 2 Marshalls and not the studio and Ed's LIVE amp rig in 1979 changed to a new amp switching system built in part by Flag systems.

It's very easy to get Ed's quotes out of context and not synced to a timeline so everything gets messed up and it comes out as what some see as Lies and BS.

I'm not saying Ed might not extend the truth sometimes but his quotes make more sense if they are taken in context and the timeline is taken into account.

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Eddie didn't wind his own pickups. Yes, he's an inventor and has dozens of patents and stuff... yet he built his own guitars, but he couldn't wire up a three-way switch, so I call BS on that. He had Seymour re-wind his PAF to 9k and then Seymour tried to sell it. Heck, maybe Eddie was drunk and agreed to something with Seymour, sobered up and read the ad and was like, "Oh crap!" and then, still pissed, passed it off as his own work and gave Seymour no credit. However, he had him re-wind the Frankie pup again, then make the pickups for his Kramer and possibly more. He also went to Seymour and MJ first for the new Wolfgang pups. Obviously he's over it.

There's another interview where he says he used TWO MARSHALLS, one with the variac cranked UP and the bias cranked and the other with the variac down. It could have been daisy chained... He also said in that same interview that Ted "doesn't do much EQ'ing" implying a minimum of studio tricks. He also said his Phase 90 "doesn't real phase, it just boosts the treble for solos".

Even if he didnt rewind his pickup, I bet you he tried to. and then after messing a whole bunch of them up he took his ES335's PAF to seymour.

It makes me sad to think about how many broken PAF's Ed threw away cuz he messed them up

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

is it even possible to have a variac cranked up on an amp? wouldnt you blow a tranny or something if you jacked up the volts and cranked the amp up?

[WhooHoo]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Ed isn't a amp tech so his explanations are not that great.

What Ed seems to be saying below is that for the 1979 LIVE amp rig, that the variacs have basically been built into the amps by using mains dropping resistors.
There doesn't seem to be any variacs used in the LIVE Japan 1979 amp photos but there are variacs used in the older LIVE Japan 1978 amp photos and Ed changed to a newer switching amp rig for 1979 and it looks like he had the variacs built into a lot of the amps and also started using a wireless system.
Whatever it really is, it's about Ed's LIVE 1979 amp rig only.

The LIVE switching amp system he's talking about was designed by Rudy (his guitar tech) and Flag Systems.

Later on around 1985, Ed moved to a LIVE Bob Bradshaw amp switching/slaving system.

Ed mentions in other interviews upping the variac voltage to 140 volts in the STUDIO and the amps output blew but that was probably just an experiment as Ed ran the variac for voltage dropping at around 90 volts.

Ed just uses his number one Marshall in the STUDIO and doesn't use his LIVE rig in the STUDIO, they are different things.


The Best Of Guitar Player (December 29, 1979)

EVH: Well, in the studio I use my old Marshall, which gets a slightly different sound. Live I use new Marshalls, but I do little tricks to them too.

GP: Like overdriving them with a Variac?

EVH: Yeah. I don't even use fuses in my amps. See, I use a combination of two different amps. They're both Marshalls, but one of them is actually lower powered, and the other one is boosted. I use 'em together. One of them has this giant capacitor - I don't know what they're used for, but it sucks off ten volts. It doesn't really change the sound, but whatever I use, I use to the max. I just turn it all the way up. And a standard on-the-market amp won't last that long doing that. So I put this capacitor in there, which lowers it down to about 100. You know, a Marshall is under-rated. They're actually like 150 watts, even though they say they're a 100-watt amp. So I lower it about 10 volts, and it lasts a little longer. I still have to retube them once a week.

GP: Do you lose many of them during shows?

EVH: Uh, yeah. But I have so many of them. I use between twelve and fifteen.

GP: How many are switched on?

EVH: Usually six at a time. Depends on the size of the place I'm playing. I mean, I can actually play so loud onstage that you won't hear anything else. But I don't really like to do that. I like to get a balanced sound. Actually, they're all on, and I have this footswitch where if one blows out, I just kick the switch and it changes to another one. It's like a bypass switch. When you click it, the other amp comes in. It's simple, you know. It's all basement stuff. I mean, everything we do, we do ourselves in the basement.

[IanBallard]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Even if he didnt rewind his pickup, I bet you he tried to. and then after messing a whole bunch of them up he took his ES335's PAF to seymour.

It makes me sad to think about how many broken PAF's Ed threw away cuz he messed them up

He's a collector and a hoarder. He still owns Frankie, the Shark, the 5150 (which he resurrected with a Charvel neck for the 2004 Sammy tour), his #1 EBMM, probably his favorite Peavey too and he has a wall where he hangs all the usable necks he's had over the years. He's probably got a bunch of broken and messed up pickups in a drawer somewhere.

He probably did try to rewind some pickups, but highly doubt we ever heard those on a record.

[IanBallard]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Plexis are some of the loudest amps I've ever heard when cranked up. EL34's actually have a much hotter output than 6L6 types with the same voltage, so he's right that an SLP is more like 150 watts. Bugera lists their 1960 SLP clone as 150 watts which is more honest than rating it at 100.

That interview is confusing. He says he uses "his old Marshall" in the studio, implying only one. Jas asks him if he overdrives the amp with a variac... doesn't specify if he's talking about live or in the studio then Ed says he uses two... one hot, one not. Then he says he uses "six at a time" live. So, can you see why I'm confused?

I still think he used (and still does) more than one amp in the studio to get different sounds or get thicker sounds. When he used the harmonizer, probably he stopped using multiple amps at a time, but he always hated overdubs and wanted to get the biggest sound possible.

I think, considering how thick and somewhat furry "I'm the One" and some of the other VH1 tracks sounded, it's POSSIBLE he used two amps at a time. One run very hot and the other more conservative for clarity. Or maybe he switched amps for solos...who knows really?

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

wouldnt you blow a tranny or something if you jacked

I see what you did there.

[WhooHoo]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Ed has used multiple amps in the studio but the RWTD raw tracks from the studio masters are just 2 mics that seem to be on the same speaker cone but in different positions which really indicates just one amp for VH1.

One mic track is pretty obviously a mic positioned up close and on the centre of the speaker cone and this mic track is in your face bright and crackly and this sounds loud and bright.

The other mic track is pretty obviously a mic that is positioned more on the outside of the speaker cone and probably angled as well and this mic track sounds more distant and darker and is lower in volume because of the position of the mic.

The two mic tracks were mixed together and there is also reverb and probably compression and EQ as well.

btw here are some more EVH quotes

ODs, Variac and Marshalls
“I’ve never used an overdrive box. That’s what made me use a Variac when I used to use the Marshall. I’d lower the voltage to about 89 or 90 V, instead of 110, because that seemed like the sweet spot to me. The Variac makes the amp overdrive, but at a lower volume. It would make the amp a lot quieter and I’d get the exact same tone.

“The only way I can use a Marshall is with everything turned all the way up. But for a Marshall, when you turn everything all the way up, it’s flat. So you’re not adding anything, you’re just taking it out, when you touch any of the controls.”

“Those old Marshalls are all so different and you won’t find two that sound the same.”

Original 5150 Amp
“Tonally, the 5150 is a whole dfferent ballgame compared to a Marshall. We added an extra preamp tube because I wanted more sustain but without a massive amount of distortion on top of it, and [Peavey amp designer] James Brown figured out a way to do it.

“For recording, I use three 5150 heads through three cabinets and I have them all mic’d a little bit different. So when you go to mix you would have three sounds to combine: one setup clean, one’s kind of medium and one’s full over the top. When you’re mixing, you’re bringing in and out the balance between the three.”

Strings and Setup
“With my guitars, the most important part is the setup – the guitar is a piece of wood and metal, and that’s it.

“My guitars are set up with regular Peavey 9-42 gauge strings. I lower the strings to the point of buzz and then back it off just a hair. Why make it hard to play? Tone comes from your fingers and how you play, not how high the strings are off the fingerboard.”

Style and Tone, and the Nuge Story
“The main thing people have to understand is that even if you use the same gear as me, set up in exactly the same way, you’re just not going to sound like me. As I’ve always said, how you sound is more about how you play than what you play.

“Years ago, we were opening for Ted Nugent at the Capitol Center in Largo, Maryland. I’m play my original Frankie and my 100w Marshall. I used a long speaker cable instead of a long guitar cable and I had my amp right by my feet at the edge of the stage. I was going through my MXR Flanger into my Phaser, then into the Echoplex and finally into the head.

“We’re doing soundcheck, and Ted, who’s a pretty funny guy, shows up. He comes up and goes, ‘Hey, where’s the little magic black box you got? How are you getting that sound?’ I handed him my guitar he played, and it sounds like Ted.

“If he expected to pick up my guitar and sound like me, I’m sorry. If anybody out there thinks that if they buy my guitar and my amp and then they’ll sound like me, you’re wrong. It just doesn’t work that way.”

[51501984]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

It's raining pretty good in the Bay Area at the moment.

[devastone]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Plexis are some of the loudest amps I've ever heard when cranked up. EL34's actually have a much hotter output than 6L6 types with the same voltage, so he's right that an SLP is more like 150 watts. Bugera lists their 1960 SLP clone as 150 watts which is more honest than rating it at 100.

Malarky 100 watts is 100 watts whether it comes from EL34's or 6l6's or transistors. Heres the difference the 100 watt rating on the Marshall is a RMS rating taken at 1% THD. Not positive about their clone but in the past Bugera has used peak ratings not RMS. Now alot of the time people are pushing valve amps past 1% THD. Its possible to push a marshall to 5% THD and if i remember right at that percentage its putting out 160 watts. Due to the even order harmonics added it only sounds better and better. By contrast solid state amps dont sound nearly as loud cause the odd order harmonic distortion they give isnt very pleasant to the ears so people dont push them past 1% THD.

[IanBallard]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Malarky 100 watts is 100 watts whether it comes from EL34's or 6l6's or transistors. Heres the difference the 100 watt rating on the Marshall is a RMS rating taken at 1% THD. Not positive about their clone but in the past Bugera has used peak ratings not RMS. Now alot of the time people are pushing valve amps past 1% THD. Its possible to push a marshall to 5% THD and if i remember right at that percentage its putting out 160 watts. Due to the even order harmonics added it only sounds better and better. By contrast solid state amps dont sound nearly as loud cause the odd order harmonic distortion they give isnt very pleasant to the ears so people dont push them past 1% THD.

They use NOMINAL ratings and the trannies used in those old amps were crappola and were often replaced with higher rated ones for dudes that ran them hot as hell.

http://www.tone-lizard.com/Marshall_Myths.htm

"I have never measured a 2XEL34 Marshall that put out less than 60+ watts RMS before clipping (and who plays a Marshall clean?). Many Traynor amplifiers get 90 watts RMS from two EL34's. A good 4XEL34 amplifier can easily squeeze out closer to 150 watts RMS!"

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

They use NOMINAL ratings and the trannies used in those old amps were crappola and were often replaced with higher rated ones for dudes that ran them hot as hell.

http://www.tone-lizard.com/Marshall_Myths.htm

"I have never measured a 2XEL34 Marshall that put out less than 60+ watts RMS before clipping (and who plays a Marshall clean?). Many Traynor amplifiers get 90 watts RMS from two EL34's. A good 4XEL34 amplifier can easily squeeze out closer to 150 watts RMS!"

and that doesnt change that 100 watts is still 100 watts no matter the source. 100 watts from EL34's isnt quieter than 100watts from 6l6's Now if a given circuit can put out more than its rated for then its not really 100 watts now is it?


Explain how is it that bugera is getting 150 watts from 4 EL34's? Every 150 watt valve amp ive seen has had 6 valves. EL34's are rated at what per tube? The highest ive seen is 32 watts and that was pushing the snot out of them. So the output tranny is magically making the extra wattage appear? Something doesnt add up.


*Edit* LOL a little digging around and I find http://www.behringerdownload.de/1960...P0671_M_EN.pdf It even says in their specs that the 150 watts is peak! power.

[IanBallard]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

"Ed must be laughing his ass off if he is reading all this stuff. You should hear him play through his line 6! Also how many of you play with a thin pick?
Damn I wish I had a good digital camera back then." --John Suhr