Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

[JeffB]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

I think it's silly to assume that no one should discuss Edward tone anymore... after all, he did influence an entire generation of guitarists. So much so that many of them sacrificed their poor vintage plexis by adding another preamp tube... among other unpardonable sins.

Anyhoo, I wanted to comment on this particular thread... I took the SH-5 challenge; even got a really old one.

And yes, this is the pickup that had the ad in Guitar Player stating it was the "Van Halen model"... which pissed Ed off because he never gave permission.

So of course I had to try it.

It isn't it. Great pup, but it ain't the one; way too hot.

You haven't been around here long enough These EVH threads have been stupid forum drama for the 12 years or more I have been here.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

I also can't understand the madness with the VH1 album tone. I like Ed's tone on the 5150 album a lot more. After Hangar's "Hello baby!" the guitar tone which kicks in is godly!

See, I think 1984 is where his tone started getting lost. 5150 and OU812 were his tonal low points. He lost that fat, loose raunchiness.

 

[jorge5150]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

See, I think 1984 is where his tone started getting lost. 5150 and OU812 were his tonal low points. He lost that fat, loose raunchiness.

Maybe in the studio but not live. In the Live without a net (1986) and Live in Tokyo (1989) videos he still had the fat tone.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

See, I think 1984 is where his tone started getting lost. 5150 and OU812 were his tonal low points. He lost that fat, loose raunchiness.

I think it was still there for 1984 and I can dig where you're coming from, but I definitely thought 5150 and OU812 were thinner. Carnal and Balance were clearly bigger tones...how much was his actual tone and how much was studio production, I can't say... and that can apply to the prior albums as well.

Maybe in the studio but not live. In the Live without a net (1986) and Live in Tokyo (1989) videos he still had the fat tone.

that's why tone/sound is a subjective thing....as I'm not hearing that when I think of Live Without A Net.

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

Ah that could be it. I don't like fatter tones in general. The 5150 with a bit more gain could be a super metal tone for me. Reminds me kind of like Priest's live tone before 5 years or so. Great metal tone.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

See, I think 1984 is where his tone started getting lost. 5150 and OU812 were his tonal low points. He lost that fat, loose raunchiness.

"Panama" on 1984 is probably the last VH studio track that I hear and think, "Holy **** -- that sound!"

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

I think it was still there for 1984 and I can dig where you're coming from, but I definitely thought 5150 and OU812 were thinner. Carnal and Balance were clearly bigger tones...how much was his actual tone and how much was studio production, I can't say... and that can apply to the prior albums as well.





that's why tone/sound is a subjective thing....as I'm not hearing that when I think of Live Without A Net.

Well, 1984 was the first album in 5150 Studio. The guitar is less midrangey and cleaner. I almost wonder if the Variac setting was changed from the usual 92VAC to something higher or not used at all.

With F.U.C.K. Eddie started using the wet-dry-wet setup, running his amp into a slave load (which he almost always did before, but now he was using Palmer speaker simulators) but now he had the center cab/channel without Harmonizer and the left and right with it. It was a bit more subtle on balance but still the same idea.

LWAN was a big more raw and less Harmonizer.

I always liked his early tones because they were simple and raw. He got not-so-subtle with the Harmonizer starting with 1984 and even heavier after that.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD MAXX using Tapatalk

 

[McHale]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

See, I think 1984 is where his tone started getting lost. 5150 and OU812 were his tonal low points. He lost that fat, loose raunchiness.

I think his 1984 tone is his best. I think it's MUCH better than his VH1 tone. And I didn't like his tone in the Hagar days (I liked it less and less as each album came out) and it wasn't until Me Wise Magic that I started to like it again and it came back around full circle on ADKOT and I like it again. With Hagar, it was WAY too processed and chorus-y. And I have another guitar buddy who HATES Van Halen's tone EXCEPT for the later Hagar stuff. Each to his own. So if you're tone chasing Eddie, he has a bunch of different tones to choose from.

 

[pittbull]

I had a conversation about this topic with MJ last week the article that was in Guitar Player magazine 1979 about the Seymour Duncan Custom pickup was really a custom wind pickup that Seymour did for Eddie in 78. The 1979 article which said Duncan Custom(Van Halen) was the custom wind that Seymour did for Eddie in 78 NOT the Duncan Custom SH-5 the article was miss leading,when Eddie seen the article he called Seymour about it and Eddie wasn’t happy at all he didn’t want Seymour to sell the pickup because it was Eddie’s recipe to Seymour what he wanted in that PAF pickup so Seymour removes the Van Halen name on the next Seymour Duncan article in the next Guitar Player magazine about the pickups Seymour offers.This was also told to MJ by Seymour. The Seymour Duncan 78 IS the pickup.

 

[Mincer]

I had a conversation about this topic with MJ last week the article that was in Guitar Player magazine 1979 about the Seymour Duncan Custom pickup was really a custom wind pickup that Seymour did for Eddie in 78. The 1979 article which said Duncan Custom(Van Halen) was the custom wind that Seymour did for Eddie in 78 NOT the Duncan Custom SH-5 the article was miss leading,when Eddie seen the article he called Seymour about it and Eddie wasn’t happy at all he didn’t want Seymour to sell the pickup because it was Eddie’s recipe to Seymour what he wanted in that PAF pickup so Seymour removes the Van Halen name on the next Seymour Duncan article in the next Guitar Player magazine about the pickups Seymour offers.This was also told to MJ by Seymour.

Interesting. This information will clear things up a bit.

 

[Securb]

.

 

[pittbull]

If your not interested don’t get involved

 

[Securb]

If your not interested don’t get involved

It's just a joke. Let's not get serious.

 

[pittbull]

What’s a joke?? I don’t get involved in topics I’m not interested in.

 

[Butch Snyder]

I had a conversation about this topic with MJ last week the article that was in Guitar Player magazine 1979 about the Seymour Duncan Custom pickup was really a custom wind pickup that Seymour did for Eddie in 78. The 1979 article which said Duncan Custom(Van Halen) was the custom wind that Seymour did for Eddie in 78 NOT the Duncan Custom SH-5 the article was miss leading,when Eddie seen the article he called Seymour about it and Eddie wasn’t happy at all he didn’t want Seymour to sell the pickup because it was Eddie’s recipe to Seymour what he wanted in that PAF pickup so Seymour removes the Van Halen name on the next Seymour Duncan article in the next Guitar Player magazine about the pickups Seymour offers.This was also told to MJ by Seymour. The Seymour Duncan 78 IS the pickup.

After 10 years, this zombie thread is resurrected by the OP and the argument continues....

 

[pittbull]

What argument ?? there was a lot of misleading topics about Eddie’s gear

 

[Butch Snyder]

What argument ?? there was a lot of misleading topics about Eddie’s gear

What arguments? This entire thread was riddled with disagreements and arguing about the subject. Then after 10 years of silence, it was brought back. If I were an admin, I would have locked it a long time ago.

 

[pittbull]

What ???I just found new legit info from Seymour Duncan

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Duncan Custom SH-5 Special Van halen pickup

And Seymour told you all of this, or this is something you pulled out of your ass? My guess would be the latter.

Point taken, if this subject matter is important to you, I should treat it with more sensitivity, 10-year gap between posts or not. This forum is about sharing knowledge. That's why we are here, right?