Pickups for early VH sound

Pickups for early VH sound

  • Total voters
    95
T

tucor

New member
Yes another VH pickup thread. Before I start:

1. I've used the search
2. I know you need Ed's chops to play like him
3. Amp, effects, mixing, all affect the tone - got it
4. Develop your own sound - thanks
5. PU's are a small part of the equation
6. Anything other comments not related to pickups I may have missed

Please, if you are not interested just ignore this thread.
Looking for VHI/VHII sound. They will be going into a single pickup superstrat with alder body and maple neck.
 
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Re: Pickups for early VH sound

The 78' would be my first choise, as it's actually designed for van halen himself as far as I know.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

If you select other please describe the alternative you are referring to. Thanks.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

i'm somewhat partial to a pearly gates, but i've never had one in a strat so i couldn't tell you for sure. in an explorer style body though, i'd definitely go PG. the pickup doesn't really matter as much for VH though, it's mostly the amp/speaker/recording process that made him sound so huge, along with having magic hands.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

Wasn't the original pickup an A2 from a ES-335? I'd be inclined to try a Gibson Burstbucker 2. That may be the closest thing to what Ed used back then.

As for Duncans, I've gotten closest to what I consider a good early VH tone using an Alnico 5 Custom 5/59 hybrid. And many of the guys who've done the most authentic VH clips used a regular 59B. One of these days, I might put an A2 mag in my hybrid, and see how I like that.....it makes it closer to a 78.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

The '78 would be my choice. I have a Custom Shop EVH Alnico II that has a reading on the multimeter in the high 8 range getting close to 9. It sounds very close.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

I have a CC hard-mounted into my alder Strat and it's DANG close with an EL-34 powered amp, but maybe a little too hot.

If you really want THAT sound from a pickup, the obvious choice would be to shell-out $160 for the Duncan '78, granted you have the thicker-toned regular Strat bridge. To that THAT sound (minus all the other factors, or assuming you have them in your favor) you have to have a 6-hole traditional Strat trem, or a PAF-type will be a bit thin with Floyd (you didn't indicate) Ed switched to a hotter wound pickup (an early CC?) when he put the Floyd on, around Diver Down.

It really depends on how much you want to spend. The CC gets you pretty darn close and you can score a used one on eBay for about $50 like I did.
 
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Re: Pickups for early VH sound

I have the 78' in an Ash Strat and it really nails the VH 1 Strat sounds well!
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

Thunder said:
I have the 78' in an Ash Strat and it really nails the VH 1 Strat sounds well!
Click to expand...

i think as far as the guitar wood/pickup combo, that really is the way to go if you're going to try and cop the sound. the aggressive highs and lows of ash, along with the 78's wind, but the fatness/smoothness of the a2 magnet really rounds out the whole vibe.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

I voted '78. I almost suggested the Pearly Gates (which is what I have in my strat), but it has a bit too much low mids for the EVH sound. The '78 is gonna have that same aggressive nature as the Pearly Gates, but clearer with less aggressive low mids.

But if I had to pick a regular production model, the PG would be my suggestion.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

Re: the sound on the first Van Halen, it would appear he used Mighty Mites on the Frankenstein. The paint makeover and 335 gibson pkup was added after the album was recorded. I don't know the exact specs of that humbucker, but I imagine it was rewound, and possibly a new magnet, while the Destroyer had A8' s. But if you don't care about the diffs btween vh1 and vh2, let me assure you if you get to try the EVH Frankenstein, that is the best way to gp. Before that was the screamin demon and the 78. For the price, it has the clarity of every note while making the distortion TIGHT, and your palm mutes not just chunky but three dimensional, wooden, ... I played the intro to Aint T Love on a 5w solidstate but it had the presence and brilliance of a 50w Marshall stack. So accept no substitutes. But that may be out of yr price range, so for half that, I'd suggest hybrids. Btw, the Frank is good for other styles, more so if you have chops, or pick lightly.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

Khriss Bliss said:
Re: the sound on the first Van Halen, it would appear he used Mighty Mites on the Frankenstein. The paint makeover and 335 gibson pkup was added after the album was recorded. I don't know the exact specs of that humbucker, but I imagine it was rewound, and possibly a new magnet, while the Destroyer had A8' s. But if you don't care about the diffs btween vh1 and vh2, let me assure you if you get to try the EVH Frankenstein, that is the best way to gp. Before that was the screamin demon and the 78. For the price, it has the clarity of every note while making the distortion TIGHT, and your palm mutes not just chunky but three dimensional, wooden, ... I played the intro to Aint T Love on a 5w solidstate but it had the presence and brilliance of a 50w Marshall stack. So accept no substitutes. But that may be out of yr price range, so for half that, I'd suggest hybrids. Btw, the Frank is good for other styles, more so if you have chops, or pick lightly.
Click to expand...

From all the interviews I've read and heard, he put the 335 pickup in Frankie when he built it.... this was probably '75 or so. By the time they were recording the demo, the Gibson pup was rewound and repaired *apparently* by Seymour, which is what is what the "78" is based on. Mighty Mites may have been used here and there because Ed was constantly tinkering.

Again, this is why I think the pickups are less important than the guitars and the amp he used, not to mention the setup.

It's also important to note that (at least on VH1), he ran his Plexi through an H&H power amp (so he could run effects post-Marshall) and had EQ's before and after the Plexi. He "frown" curved his guitar into the amp and "smile" curved that signal into the power amp. Take that for what you will, but that is apparently testimony from people in the studio who were there. So the EQ of guitars may have been changed to get THAT SOUND from all his various guitars.

On Metro Amps' website, theres a video link to a guy playing "Unchained" with a Les Paul through their Plexi Super Lead replica with the "virtual variac" feature. It sounds AMAZINGLY close. Right there, stock Gibson Burst Buckers getting a very close VH tone.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

IanBallard said:
It's also important to note that (at least on VH1), he ran his Plexi through an H&H power amp (so he could run effects post-Marshall) and had EQ's before and after the Plexi. He "frown" curved his guitar into the amp and "smile" curved that signal into the power amp. Take that for what you will, but that is apparently testimony from people in the studio who were there. So the EQ of guitars may have been changed to get THAT SOUND from all his various guitars.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree, I strongly believe that he ran his effects between the guitar and amp on the first album, and several after it. The only "after" effect would be the plate reverb, on the right side. An Echoplex simply doesn't sound like that unless it's run before the amp. Atomic Punk, Ain't Talkin', Runnin', etc. Same with the MXR stuff.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

I voted for the DiMarzio Fred. I owned one and had it in an OLP EBMM Axis copy. I was surprised at how close it got to that early VH tone.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

I am going to say a 59 without spending the Custom Shop moneys.
 
Re: Pickups for early VH sound

Desert said:
I have to disagree, I strongly believe that he ran his effects between the guitar and amp on the first album, and several after it. The only "after" effect would be the plate reverb, on the right side. An Echoplex simply doesn't sound like that unless it's run before the amp. Atomic Punk, Ain't Talkin', Runnin', etc. Same with the MXR stuff.
Click to expand...

He ran an EQ and the Echo before. That is pretty much clear and documented... but if you run phasers before a dimed Marshall, it would sound like poo. That's why he used the power amp, so he could run effects between the dirty amp and the clean power amp, otherwise why would he run the power amp? Obviously, those old amps did not have effects loops, so the power amp acted as a clean channel to add the effects over the guitar sound.

VHII didn't. It was just the Marshall and Donn Landee added the effects afterwards and most records after that were just combinations of the first two records' techniques.

This is from Ed's words and Ted's interviews in the late 70's, early 80's.
 
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