People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

[Barron1]

Many people are after the early Van Halen tone. So they get on a never ending quest of buying different pickups to get it. There are some aftermarket pickups out there that get close. But people forget two little things when they install it:

1) Angle the humbucker like Van Halen did. I know some people say it really doesn't matter how the strings are lined up. I disagree. How the poles line up or don't line up with the strings does make a difference, not a huge difference. BUT my ears do detect a slight difference. Find a photo of how his strings and poles line up and copy it.

2) No tone pots. Having no tone pots does sound different from when you load the pickup with a tone pot. Without tone pots the pickup sounds louder and brighter. Early VH connected his pickups to one volume knob. That's it. Disconnect those TONE pots or throw them away.


These are just two little tweaks that will get you closer the that early Van Halen tone.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Many people are after the early Van Halen tone. So they get on a never ending quest of buying different pickups to get it. There are some aftermarket pickups out there that get close. But people forget two little things when they install it:

1) Angle the humbucker like Van Halen did. I know some people say it really doesn't matter how the strings are lined up. I disagree. How the poles line up or don't line up with the strings does make a difference, not a huge difference. BUT my ears do detect a slight difference. Find a photo of how his strings and poles line up and copy it.

2) No tone pots. Having no tone pots does sound different from when you load the pickup with a tone pot. Without tone pots the pickup sounds louder and brighter. Early VH connected his pickups to one volume knob. That's it. Disconnect those TONE pots or throw them away.


These are just two little tweaks that will get you closer the that early Van Halen tone.

I agree and want to add that you dont have to spend a fortune to get a satisfactory EVH tone here is a guy who is using a $300 guitar loaded with a $120 EVH pickup and a $99 marshall and it sounds pretty damn EVH for that little bit of money IMHO,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InBuSE_LFOw

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Do they make a bigger difference than the relic marks on the quarter?

I agree and want to add that you dont have to spend a fortune to get a satisfactory EVH tone here is a guy who is using a $300 guitar loaded with a $120 EVH pickup and a $99 marshall and it sounds pretty damn EVH for that little bit of money IMHO,

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Do they make a bigger difference than the relic marks on the quarter?

no that 1971 quarter is the real secret:9:

 

[Despair]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Which EVH tone? The whammy lead one, or the rest of the time? Two different guitars on VH1&2.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Which EVH tone? The whammy lead one, or the rest of the time? Two different guitars on VH1&2.

Either way, to paraphrase some magazine I read years ago, dude had the most massive tone that's ever rocked this Earth.

 

[Aceman]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

#1 That they are NOT Eddie Van Halen

#2 Number one.

 

[aleclee]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Also, what we hear on the album is not necessarily what they heard in the room. Donn Landee did a fair bit with it after the sound waves hit the mic.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

#1 That they are NOT Eddie Van Halen

#2 Number one.

this guy is not eddie van halen
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=503988&songID=7164257&showPlayer=true
:smokin:

 

[IanBallard]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Which EVH tone? The whammy lead one, or the rest of the time? Two different guitars on VH1&2.

I think he only used the Shark for "You Really Got Me", "Runnin'..." and maybe some backing rhythm tracks on a few others on the first record. As far as I can tell, it was mostly the Frankie. The pickups, however, are a different story. I would bet anything that he was using something hotter and ceramic on the first record. The bass is tighter and the tone is "harder", whereas the 2nd record, the tone is more spread out, softer and "PAFish".

My take is that the amp was the key and the guitar and pickups were a secondary concern. The use of a 10-band EQ and good studio compressor was also important.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

this guy is not eddie van halen
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=503988&songID=7164257&showPlayer=true
:smokin:

That's pretty sweet. Curt Mitchell gets a pretty good EVH tone too.

 

[Barron1]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Which EVH tone? The whammy lead one, or the rest of the time? Two different guitars on VH1&2.

Most people chase the VH1 tone. And I'm not talking about the Ibanez

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Also, what we hear on the album is not necessarily what they heard in the room. Donn Landee did a fair bit with it after the sound waves hit the mic.

This is the "raw" VH tone from VH I when he played the B/W strat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K0LAE-Fel8

as you can hear for yourself it is a kind of buzzy
and here is the raw track when he played the ibanez shark destroyer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3E_m7IhSfY

 

[IanBallard]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

This is the "raw" VH tone from VH I when he played the B/W strat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K0LAE-Fel8

as you can hear for yourself it is a kind of buzzy

His old tone was like a Taoist paradox: Smooth yet rough... bright yet dark...

I think the cool thing about this whole interest in his tone, helps prove the point that expensive gear is not necessary to get awesome rock and blues tones. You have to know what you want and make the gear you can afford get as close as possible. It also helps to have Ted Templeman and Donn Landee.

However, I'll say that his BEST tones in my opinion were from his EBMM guitar through an SLO-100. Not cheap gear by any stretch. But I also think his playing was peaking in the late 80's, early 90's.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

His old tone was like a Taoist paradox: Smooth yet rough... bright yet dark...

I think the cool thing about this whole interest in his tone, helps prove the point that expensive gear is not necessary to get awesome rock and blues tones. You have to know what you want and make the gear you can afford get as close as possible. It also helps to have Ted Templeman and Donn Landee.

However, I'll say that his BEST tones in my opinion were from his EBMM guitar through an SLO-100. Not cheap gear by any stretch. But I also think his playing was peaking in the late 80's, early 90's.

i also liked his tone here,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzq17F-b9AU

 

[Jay 77]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Thank you for this thread. There just aren't enough VH ones around these days. </sarcasm>

 

[Barron1]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

His old tone was like a Taoist paradox: Smooth yet rough... bright yet dark...

I think the cool thing about this whole interest in his tone, helps prove the point that expensive gear is not necessary to get awesome rock and blues tones. You have to know what you want and make the gear you can afford get as close as possible. It also helps to have Ted Templeman and Donn Landee.

However, I'll say that his BEST tones in my opinion were from his EBMM guitar through an SLO-100. Not cheap gear by any stretch. But I also think his playing was peaking in the late 80's, early 90's.

That's whats so funny, I see people buying thousand dollar Les Pauls and Superstrats, scratching their heads why they don't sound anything like Van Halen. Yet he got his tone from a factory second scrap body and neck all costing less than $200.

 

[cthroatgtr]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

People always underestimate the importance of that EMT plate reverb used on the early albums as well. The player, the guitar wood, neck wood, p/u, amp, volume, mic, reverb, compression and the mixer and tape as well. Fact is you can probably replicate the tone (not the playing) with any number of combinations.

 

[Barron1]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Thank you for this thread. There just aren't enough VH ones around these days. </sarcasm>

You're welcome. </sarcasm> :barf:

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: People forget two things when chasing the early Van Halen tone.

Thank you for this thread. There just aren't enough VH ones around these days. </sarcasm>

Ah one more wont hurt none!:9::laugh2: