How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

Eddie Van Halen had said that the Brown Sound was originally used to explain his brother's snare drum sound, like hitting a log or piece of wood. Eddie used to describe his guitar sound.
 
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Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

I always thought it came from the voltage "sag" of his amp. Like when the power company can't keep up with the load, but doesn't go out completely. They call it a "Brown-out".
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

ArtieToo said:
I always thought it came from the voltage "sag" of his amp. Like when the power company can't keep up with the load, but doesn't go out completely. They call it a "Brown-out".
Click to expand...

This is the true answer.

Al
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

I think Al is correct.

I'm pretty sure that the first time I ever heard of the expression was reading Eddie's first interview in Guitar Player back around 1978.

Bill
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

Pretty sure Artie is correct. When Eddie was still using his #1 plexi, a big part of the sound was running a variac set at 92V to literally brown out the amp. Since he was paranoid about his tone being stolen, he used to tell people that he turned the variac up instead.

Interesting trivia when Line 6 created their 'Variac Plexi' model, they set the variac at 140V, so the model does a great 'plexi about to explode' sound, but really doesn't sound anything like early Van Halen.
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

dystrust said:
Pretty sure Artie is correct. When Eddie was still using his #1 plexi, a big part of the sound was running a variac set at 92V to literally brown out the amp. Since he was paranoid about his tone being stolen, he used to tell people that he turned the variac up instead.

Interesting trivia when Line 6 created their 'Variac Plexi' model, they set the variac at 140V, so the model does a great 'plexi about to explode' sound, but really doesn't sound anything like early Van Halen.
Click to expand...
Unless they were lying, too. Zenmindbeginner gets a pretty damn good early EVH tone using his POD X3 Live. I've downloaded his presets onto my X3 Live and the tone is pretty close.
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

This isn't the only "brown" reference in the case of Van Halen, there was also the famous (reported) clause in the rider of their contracts that called for "bowls of M'n'M's, with all of the brown ones removed". So I guess that from this we are too take, from the Van Halen case, that:
Brown Sound: Good
Brown Taste: Bad

Al
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

I seem to remember Eddie used to describe Alex's snare drum as a woody, brown tone. And then adapted the term for him guitar sounds because he said he liked a warm, loud, browned-out sound.
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

dystrust said:
Pretty sure Artie is correct. When Eddie was still using his #1 plexi, a big part of the sound was running a variac set at 92V to literally brown out the amp. Since he was paranoid about his tone being stolen, he used to tell people that he turned the variac up instead.
Click to expand...

It was a Marshall designed for Europe to run at 220 volts. Eddie was probably approached by someone who knew what they were talking about and convinced him that the amp would sound better by lowering the voltage a bit. A step up transformer would still be getting 125 volts from the wall and would need to have a Variac hooked up to lower the voltage to a consistent and more healthy level for the tubes. The ones designed for the UK were 240/250 and wouldn't need a Variac to get the proper voltage with a step up transformer.

dystrust said:
Interesting trivia when Line 6 created their 'Variac Plexi' model, they set the variac at 140V, so the model does a great 'plexi about to explode' sound, but really doesn't sound anything like early Van Halen.
Click to expand...

EVH used a metal panel JMP not a Plexi. The various speculation and weird interview snippets where people attributed most of his sound to the use of a Variac are false. Eddie "claimed" he used a Variac because the amp was just too loud for the smaller clubs they played in the beginning. You can see guys like JD Simo using a Variac to get just the right voltage line level that allows his NOS tubes to retain longer lives. This is the proper use of a Variac on a Marshall head... I see no reason to believe that Eddie used it in any other way.

GilmourD said:
Unless they were lying, too. Zenmindbeginner gets a pretty damn good early EVH tone using his POD X3 Live. I've downloaded his presets onto my X3 Live and the tone is pretty close.
Click to expand...

Thank you kind sir.
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

Just for the record, my info probably came from this forum. So . . . take it with a grain of hops. ;)
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

The brown sound also now refers to old metal sound. ..from so old that the Metal is now rusty and turning brown...Rust Metal...Brown Sound.
Of course it wasn't old and rusty when it was invented and Eddie called it brown sound then.
 
Re: How did EVH's "Brown Sound" get its name?

It came from the color of the banned M&M's.
 
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