Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

[Artie]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

^^ Yeah, in essence, which brings up the point I wanted to make: it's more about the amp, imo. I don't know why people obsess about the pup; Ed's own tone is slightly different with every album, and he used a bunch of gear in the studio...

I just "discovered" Pete Thorn a few months ago. Been eatin' up his videos ever since. He's fun, and informative, to listen to.

It's also about the chewy midrange and bright edge that the pickup provides.

I am not pokin' fun at your characterizations, but could you elaborate on "chewy" midrange. (Smiley face not withstanding.)

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

I just "discovered" Pete Thorn a few months ago. Been eatin' up his videos ever since. He's fun, and informative, to listen to.

I have a love/hate thing with Pete Thorn. I love him because he can make a fart in a cardboard box sound fantastic. I hate him because he's spurred some gear purchases when I wasn't really flush with cash (I really should hate myself for being stupid, but... LOL).

I am not pokin' fun at your characterizations, but could you elaborate on "chewy" midrange. (Smiley face not withstanding.)

Well, a present lower-mid midrange that's not too focused on one spike in the frequency range and thus "hard" sounding. Also, imagine you're chewing a good steak... How does that sound inside your head? I know it's a really weird way to describe it, but...

ZenMindBeginner really shows off the chewiness of the midrange in his '78 video. In fact, this may be my mind playing tricks on me, but I think I kinda copped the whole "chewy mids" term off ZMB.

As you can hear in ZMB's video, the it's a very midrangey tone but it still has a very present treble that's not spikey and icepicky.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Look like there's true what they say: "There's no horse that's so dead that it can't be beaten some more".

Disclaimer: no horse was harmed in making this comment; I can confirm they've been already dead for a while now!

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Look like there's true what they say: "There's no horse that's so dead that it can't be beaten some more".

Disclaimer: no horse was harmed in making this comment; I can confirm they've been already dead for a while now!

Well, this particular horse still had some life in it since nobody had a single thread about aftermarket pickups designed and marketed for The Brown Sound, just scattered reports here and there in other threads, and mostly arguments about what EVH himself actually used. In fact, if EVH actually used it, that's the opposite of what this thread is about. LOL

 

[LLL]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Look like there's true what they say: "There's no horse that's so dead that it can't be beaten some more".

Disclaimer: no horse was harmed in making this comment; I can confirm they've been already dead for a while now!

Hey, if people want to talk about Edward, the Brown Sound or what flavor of g**d**n lollipops Don Landee/Ted Templemann like, they can.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

OK, let's keep it civil, boys.

Sent from my Moto X 2014 using Tapatalk

 

[Demanic]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

I think that the Alternative 8 has "chewy" midrange, just down shifted a bit.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

I wonder if Zhangliun has any clips of his Brownbucker he could post.

Got a clean one at the site but that's not what you're looking for. Just commissioned a better one, stay tuned (a quarter step down)...

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

My IM1 sounds Panama enough that I don't miss my 160 bucks.

 

[dotsdad]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Run them from a good axe into a good front end, and any of these could give a good "brown sound": Alternative 8, UOA5 JB, JB, Distortion, "Dokken" JB, Custom 5, Custom/59, Custom. I think it's really in how you wind up eq.ing it. And what you're pushing it through.

Not to hijack the thread, but what is a Dokken JB?

:hijacked:

 

[51501984]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Not to hijack the thread, but what is a Dokken JB?

:hijacked:

Possibly he meant to the Super V or Dokken Bucker

 

[dominus]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Now, I know I've seen a bunch of guys here use the GFS VEH, but how many have used them for getting THAT tone?

Not me, but I've seen plenty of YouTube videos where people get that tone just fine.

 

[Aasinsilta]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

I'd think the Perpetual Burn is another pickup that could be thrown into the ring of pickups for the brown sound. Obviously marketed as Jason Becker's pickup, but it can pump out brown tone and mimics the dynamics of EVH's tone.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Dude was asking what the Brown Sound is...

These are iso'd guitar tracks from the original albums; I picked 5 good examples of the Brown Sound
so you can hear the guitar by itself and/or so you can compare your own to the real thing. The first
4 tracks are from the first album.

ATBL

FYLT

RWTD

YRGM

U


(I won't keep these up forever...)

There are other parts, but I would say the variac is the most important item for getting this tone and may
just be the explanation for the term "brown sound" (voltage dying - brown out).

Listening to those tracks just reinforces the idea that Van Halen really understood that the guitar and bass are complimentary instruments, each playing a connected part. Some of the guitar sounds a little funny without the bass. And something I never noticed until hearing the isolated part on Feel Your Love Tonight: the pick rakes at 1:35 and 2:25, meaning he recorded this on a guitar with at ToM, most likely the Destroyer.

So, I guess the question is, who makes a good Ibanez Super 70 pickup? Those could be added to the list. My understanding is that they're basically spec'd and wound like a Duncan '59 but they have an A8 in them (please, somebody correct me if I'm wrong).

Got a clean one at the site but that's not what you're looking for. Just commissioned a better one, stay tuned (a quarter step down)...

I'd love to hear this.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

I guess nobody has done the Arcane Brownbucker yet??? The Brownbucker is a recreation of the humbucker that came in the first Super Strat's, from what I understand Ed did use one of those? It's a strange pickup, wound quite "cool" @ 8.7k & it has mismatched coils which make it sound kind of "Straty" without the hum. It's got the midrange of a EVH pup & personally I think it does a great job of doing the Brown Sound thing but it's also very versatile! If you scoop the mids out & add some pretty heavy gain you can get a awesome Thrash Metal sound from it & on the other end of the spectrum run through a good tube amp you can do the whole Vol. swell for Bluesy O.D. then turn your knob down a touch to clean it up? I'm not sure it's the best Brown Sound pup he never used but it's certainly one of my favorites!!! The only real problem I've found with them is consistency, being all hand wound by one guy on a vintage winding machine they're like fingerprints, no 2 sound quite the same, although they all sound good!!!

 

[LLL]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Listening to those tracks just reinforces the idea that Van Halen really understood that the guitar and bass are complimentary instruments, each playing a connected part. Some of the guitar sounds a little funny without the bass. And something I never noticed until hearing the isolated part on Feel Your Love Tonight: the pick rakes at 1:35 and 2:25, meaning he recorded this on a guitar with at ToM, most likely the Destroyer.

Yeah and especially the 1st album, you can hear how bright and super crunchy/crispy his tone is. It all reinforces the fact that in a song, many times the guitars are EQ'd different than what you hear off the speaker cabinet. They may even be EQ'd to sound very thin. But all this is done to make the guitar sit in the mix perfectly. In the 1st album case, sounds like they shaved some low end to make room for Michael Anthony.

FWIW, I have 2 snippets (clips of 2 speakers or 2 mics; not sure) of RWTD pre-console (e.g. the tone before the Templemann/Landee treatment)... it's nothing special and really attests to the genius of Ted and Donn.

So, I guess the question is, who makes a good Ibanez Super 70 pickup?

Dunno. :dunno:

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Here's a guy who makes a Super 70 type pup: http://smitspickups.com/product/ultra-7t-humbucker-le/

I too have read, on here I think, that putting an A8 in a '59 gets in the ballpark.

It's also about the chewy midrange and bright edge that the pickup provides.

Yes, the fat crunch is from the amp, but everything in the chain plays a part, from the basic guitar construction all the war out to the speaker cones. Listen to 5150 and OU812 where he's using the same amp but using basswood and poplar Kramers with hotter pickups and Steinbergers with EMGs rather than his older Ash and mahogany guitars with cooler pickups. Same amp, different core tone.

My intent with this thread is to concentrate on the pickup part of the equation, specifically the aftermarket pickups designed with EVH's early tones as the goal (as opposed to those Ed actually used or pickups that happen to provide that tone by accident). I figure there have been tons of threads about his effects, amps, speakers, strings, etc., so why not? LOL

So, in the interest of discussing pups, what about the new DiM PAF Master? A4, 7.7k. It comes in the new Paul Gilbert Premium Ibanez, which has a vintage trem and an ash body... Seems like a nice guitar, has the big square heel like old RGs too.

I just "discovered" Pete Thorn a few months ago. Been eatin' up his videos ever since. He's fun, and informative, to listen to.

Yes, he makes some of the nicest demos. Pretty choice gear too - like his Suhr SL amps and Gil Yaron Bone guitar.

 

[GilmourD]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Added the Smits Ultra 7T to the list above thanks to Ashurbanipal.

Is Smits the only one that makes a Super 70 type pickup?

Anybody here actually ever stick an A8 in a '59?

 

[xntrick]

Re: Pickups made for The Brown Sound? (*NOT* EVH history)

Dude was asking what the Brown Sound is...

These are iso'd guitar tracks from the original albums; I picked 5 good examples of the Brown Sound
so you can hear the guitar by itself and/or so you can compare your own to the real thing. The first
4 tracks are from the first album.

ATBL

FYLT

RWTD

YRGM

U


(I won't keep these up forever...)

There are other parts, but I would say the variac is the most important item for getting this tone and may
just be the explanation for the term "brown sound" (voltage dying - brown out).

thanks for posting these, very cool to hear. In the Smithsonian interview, Eddie said he only used the variac to control the volume and the setting would vary based on the size of the club and any complaints about the volume. He got the best tone when the amp was cranked to the max.

 

[LLL]

For the record, back in 2015 when I posted, I was doing the BK VHII pickup.

I have since settled on (and permanently so) the Duncan SH-5 Custom for the 1st album strat pickup.