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The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

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  • The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

    Many of us are always looking for the holy grail of pickups anyways here are the answers :

    Van halen's interview with jas Obrecht

    And how many are part of your act?

    See, what I do mainly is I use one a year. Like the first year, supporting the first album, I used the black-and-white-striped one. That was actually the original. It was not rear-loaded. It had a pickguard which I cut out myself, and it had an old Gibson P.A.F. The thing I always do to the pickups is I pot them. You dip them in paraffin wax, which cuts out the high, obnoxious feedback. It’s kind of a tricky thing, because if you leave it in there too long, the pickup melts [laughs].

    And you used a Gibson P.A.F. or a copy of one?

    A Gibson.

    Is that the guitar you had when I did the first [1978] Guitar Player story on you?

    Yeah.


    sources : http://jasobrecht.com/eddie-van-hale...979-interview/

    for the shark destroyer it was ibanez super 70's pickups

    Watch the official music video for "You Really Got Me" by Van Halen♫ Subscribe to Van Halen channel and ring the bell to turn on notifications: https://vh.ln...


    as you can see the bobins are black and it can't be mighty mites.


    That’s not the one that had the chain in it.

    You mean the – what do you call those things?

    You had one that you cut with a chainsaw . . .

    Yeah, yeah. That was originally an Ibanez Destroyer, and it was one of the original ones, which are actually as good or better than the original Gibsons, because they’re made out of korrina wood, which is real rare, hard-to-work-with wood. It’s real light wood, but real toney. Ibanez stopped making them out of that wood, probably because it’s too hard to work with. They started making them out of ash, and those are turkeys.



    So it is clear that what was in the frankenstrat during the songs using whammy bar was an overwound paf : aka the 78 model. Eddie said that this one was his ES-335 PAF in another interview.

    then eddie for VH2 during some time (record sessions) the bumblebee used a 70's version of dimarzio paf (8.29K ) which is very close to the 59 model (it is alnico 5), i red it in an old interview too.

    then with the floyd rose he changed for a dimarzio super disortion which he changed the magnet that's the fair warning and women and children first era.

    What kind of electronics went into that one?

    The pickup that’s on the picture is not really what I used. It’s like when we did the photo session for the album cover, I’d just finished painting it and slapping it together, and I just stuck some garbage pickup in there I wasn’t actually playing, just so it would look like a complete guitar. But I’ve tried a bunch of different pickups in there. I took the pickup out of the first one and put it in there, and it didn’t sound too good. So what I did is I took a DiMarzio pickup – I don’t really go for those, because they’re real distorted. See, I like a clean sound, but with sustain. I hate the fuzz-box, real raspy sound. I don’t particularly go for that.

    It’s old now.

    Yeah. DiMarzio pickups have real big magnets – that’s how they get their power – so what I did is I took a DiMarzio pickup and put the P.A.F. magnet in it and I rewound it, which took a long time.



    Now it is clear :

    78 model/ ibanez super 70's = VH1
    Dimarzio PAF from the 70's or if you want something close duncan 59 = VH2
    Dimarzio Super distortion from the 70's with an alnico 2 magnet bar or if you want something close custom custom or evh frankenstein = fair warning and women and children first
    1984 : The kramer 5150 had a JB (i saw an old interview of MJ of duncan's talking about that). The guys at ernie ball music man confirmed it when they repaired the broken headstock. Plus the kramer 84 model has a jb too.
    90's : air norton and tone zone.

    the pickup we see on the frankenstrat isn't the same that was used in 1978. It is a clone of the modified super distortion used by eddie in his bumblebee and this pickup was made by seymour duncan to make it look like a PAF. It is a 14k alnico 2 pickup aka : the same as the custom custom, IM1, Frankenstein duncan or evh pickup. The only differences are in the calibration of the magnet.
    Last edited by Pat_rocks_and_rolls; 04-05-2019, 07:54 PM.

  • #2
    Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.



    Well Dime was buried with the Bumble Bee so i guess we'll never know whats in there.
    Looks like a DiMarzio in this pic.



    I always heard the Black n White Frankie was a Gibson 335 PAF hand wound by Seymour Duncan himself but who knows really ?

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    • #3
      Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

      Originally posted by JMP/HBE View Post


      Well Dime was buried with the Bumble Bee so i guess we'll never know whats in there.
      Looks like a DiMarzio in this pic.



      I always heard the Black n White Frankie was a Gibson 335 PAF hand wound by Seymour Duncan himself but who knows really ?
      That's right the black and white was an ES-335 overwound paf. Then seymour rewound it but then eddie wasn't happy with the tone anymore. that was the 78 model.

      For the bumblebee it began with a dimarzio paf for the record sessions of vh2 then when he added the floyd rose he changed for a dimarzio distortion and used it live.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

        You know there wasn't a whole hell of alot of music gear in 78' like there is now.
        I graduated in 79' playing about 6 years and there was just Gibson, Fender, Marshall and a handful of pedals really.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

          The pickup on the 1st album (which was released on February 10, 1978) in the B&W strat was an SH-5 Custom (or PAF rewound hotter w/ ceramic a la SH-5 Custom).

          Here's my pre-1983 SH-5 Custom in action (with backing), through a true-to-circuit EP3 preamp, then my modded-to-'68 plexi (50W) specs Marshall (into DAW etc):





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          Ed *****ed about this SD advert (and it was pulled) in a '79 interview with Jas Obrecht.

          Now, going back to the February 10, 1978 date - a lot of people claim the SD '78 (formerly known as the "Evenly Voiced Harmonics") pickup is the one.

          This is incorrect, as the album was recorded August 30 – September 1977.
          Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen_(album)

          ...aside the fact that the 1st album tone has zero evidence of an A2 magnet; on the contrary, it reeks of ceramic sizzle.
          Last edited by LLL; 04-05-2019, 08:48 PM.

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          • #6
            Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.



            SH-5/TB-5 is my favorite Duncan, Has been for a long time way before i knew about the EVH connection.

            I got a HSS pickguard coming and going to drop a TB-5 in my Strat.
            It has a Dirty Harry Custom P-90 in it but just not cutting it.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

              The real "holy grail" with that tone is the post-production done by Ted & Don.

              If you listen to the dry tracks (I have a couple snippets of the real RWTD) tapped right off the mic (SM57), it's a good, but nondescript Marshall tone.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                Originally posted by Pat_rocks_and_rolls View Post
                the pickup we see on the frankenstrat isn't the same that was used in 1978. It is a clone of the modified super distortion used by eddie in his bumblebee and this pickup was made by seymour duncan to make it look like a PAF. It is a 14k alnico 2 pickup aka : the same as the custom custom, IM1, Frankenstein duncan or evh pickup. The only differences are in the calibration of the magnet.
                I don’t believe the last 2 statements are true.

                But are you LLL logging in as another person again so he can post more VH clips?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                  Originally posted by beaubrummels View Post
                  I don’t believe the last 2 statements are true.

                  But are you LLL logging in as another person again so he can post more VH clips?
                  I know - who would dare post VH clips on a guitar forum (of all things)?

                  Have you considered moving to a forum where nobody plays the guitar? Probably more your speed.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                    The issue isn’t the amount of guitar playing. It’s the beating of a 40-year old dead horse.

                    I suppose I could go to a forum where most of the members are the same person, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that persons fun. http://guitaramped.com/forum/
                    Last edited by beaubrummels; 04-06-2019, 12:00 AM.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                      Originally posted by LLL View Post
                      The real "holy grail" with that tone is the post-production done by Ted & Don.

                      If you listen to the dry tracks (I have a couple snippets of the real RWTD) tapped right off the mic (SM57), it's a good, but nondescript Marshall tone.
                      I would love to get into that if you can PM that or just want to share with everyone. People don't like this EVH stuff and say it's beating a dead horse, but to me it's like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are recording and we can all try to figure out if the keys are made of boor tusk or ivory, what woods the original piano's are made of, and what the strings consisted of to try and recreate the tones that launched the maestro's muse!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                        Originally posted by beaubrummels View Post
                        The issue isn’t the amount of guitar playing. It’s the beating of a 40-year old dead horse.

                        I suppose I could go to a forum where most of the members are the same person, but I wouldn’t want to spoil that persons fun. http://guitaramped.com/forum/
                        And yet, there's plenty of other topics here to occupy your time, but you choose to cry in this one because you incorrectly assume that those
                        who enjoy talking about Ed's tone give a crap about your dislike of the subject or your weak attempt to try and control what people discuss on
                        this forum.

                        Sounds to me like sour grapes on your behalf.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                          Originally posted by Zheddar View Post
                          I would love to get into that if you can PM that or just want to share with everyone. People don't like this EVH stuff and say it's beating a dead horse, but to me it's like Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are recording and we can all try to figure out if the keys are made of boor tusk or ivory, what woods the original piano's are made of, and what the strings consisted of to try and recreate the tones that launched the maestro's muse!
                          I'll post those dry clips of Ed shortly... very interesting.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                            Originally posted by LLL View Post
                            I'll post those dry clips of Ed shortly... very interesting.
                            I’m interested in hearing them again too. I was discussing this with a friend the other day and couldn’t find these clips (you posted them a while back.) I wanted him to hear what type of magic a studio can have in what we hear for the final product.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.

                              His tone on Balance is better.
                              “I can play the hell out of a riff. The rest of it’s all bulls**t anyway,” Gary Holt

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