Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

ok maybe Ed's orignal may have had an A5 mag.....but why then does the '78 model have an A2 then? I dont think that seymour would make an secret "eddie" pickup and put a different magnet in it
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Christopher Caruana said:
ok maybe Ed's orignal may have had an A5 mag.....but why then does the '78 model have an A2 then? I dont think that seymour would make an secret "eddie" pickup and put a different magnet in it
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the Duncan custom shop version(IM-1) of the EVH frankenstein pup has a aged 5 instead of a II. Maybe the 78 started out with a 5? Ed's early tone is kinda edgey and bright for a II? Quite a few boutique makers are using a 5 in thier early evh toned models.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Ed Hunter said:
the Duncan custom shop version(IM-1) of the EVH frankenstein pup has a aged 5 instead of a II. Maybe the 78 started out with a 5? Ed's early tone is kinda edgey and bright for a II? Quite a few boutique makers are using a 5 in thier early evh toned models.
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ya i have noticed a lot of other brand "EVH" pickups having an A5 mag in them. But if at the time when seymour re-wound Ed's pickup or what ever he did for him back in the late 70's, "if" the frankie pickup had an A5 mag when seymour looked at it in '78, why then does the CS '78 model have an A2 in it instead of an A5?
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

pittbull said:
I have tried the 78,59,PG,all good pickups but they dont have the output or the edge-aggressiveness for van halen 1,the custom custom would have the output though.When people say that the custom custom sounds like later van halen to me the 78,59,PG would be in that catagory not the custom custom. van halens later sound is way less aggressive,the custom custom is high output,to me van halen 1 is very aggressive and a low output pickup would not come close.
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because... Ed used an old Boss EQ to boost the output and also he used the Echoplex as a preamp boost also. Not to mention that his Plexi had had a few alterations. It was definetly not a stock plexi.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Eds plexi had a master volume added after they recorded van halen 1,I had many conversions with jose arrendondo(Did all of Eds amp work-mods in the 70s and 80s)jose explained to me that during the recording of van halen 1 there were no mods performed on Eds plexi but a overdrive-distortion unit was used,jose explained to me the he(jose)was not sure what type of unit(overdrive-distortion)it was,could have been something homemade by rudy leiran(Eds first tech),if you look at some of the early photos of van halen 78 japen tour photos were you see Eds effects on the floor there are two unit-boxes with the #1 on the box and a #2,one looks like a electro harmonix big muff and the other a old marshall fuzz unit,besides Eds usual effects,phase 90,flanger, ep3-echoplex and the univox echo unit.The box #1 and box #2 were never seen again since then,Ed used the boss ge10 eq and then the mxr 6band eq for the size of the room(venue they were playing)they were playing not for gain,also for guitar changes,the eq unit will not add the type of gain-distortion that Ed achieved on van halen 1,i have also tried those units.
 
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Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I haven't tried to get Eddie's exact tone, but of all the Duncan and DiMarzio pickups I've ever tried, the Custom Custom got me closest to the EVH tone. It was very obvious.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Seems like there was a pretty badass VH clip someone posted a while back, I'm too lazy to look for it, lol
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

But according to that thread, he was using a Duncan '78 model.

I still think that the VHII had a warmer more "A2" tone, whereas the first record could have been an A5 pickup. There is definitely a difference.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

pittbull said:
Eds plexi had a master volume added after they recorded van halen 1,I had many conversions with jose arrendondo(Did all of Eds amp work-mods in the 70s and 80s)jose explained to me that during the recording of van halen 1 there were no mods performed on Eds plexi but a overdrive-distortion unit was used,jose explained to me the he(jose)was not sure what type of unit(overdrive-distortion)it was,could have been something homemade by rudy leiran(Eds first tech),if you look at some of the early photos of van halen 78 japen tour photos were you see Eds effects on the floor there are two unit-boxes with the #1 on the box and a #2,one looks like a electro harmonix big muff and the other a old marshall fuzz unit,besides Eds usual effects,phase 90,flanger, ep3-echoplex and the univox echo unit.The box #1 and box #2 were never seen again since then,Ed used the boss ge10 eq and then the mxr 6band eq for the size of the room(venue they were playing)they were playing not for gain,also for guitar changes,the eq unit will not add the type of gain-distortion that Ed achieved on van halen 1,i have also tried those units.
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Gonna have to disagree with a lot of that.
Especially the use of a distortion box.

Also the amp Ed used was seemingly acquired from the club days and was owned by one of the clubs they would play regularly. The name escapes me right now though. It is believed the amp had underwent modifications prior to Ed owning it, mainly for volume levels. It had a white knob added on the back.

I have seen people who mod their plexis and metros get a VH tone and there are no distortion boxes.

The EQ does give a gain boost and so does the EP.

I have also seen instances where a plexi has been slaved into another plexi (power section connected only) and it the sound down.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

RAZMATZ,thats what Jose Arrendondo explained to me about Eds amp(Jose was Eds main amp guy in the 70s-80s) and using a distortion unit for van halen 1,the knob in the back of Eds plexi was the master volune that Jose Arrendondo added to Eds plexi,so how can you disagree with it,Ed bought the plexi from the pasadena civic.As for Vholoic the running with the devil clip and jamies crying clip was done with a 5150 combo amp.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Desert said:
I found it, it was in the clips section (whodathunk?)

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=187163
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i have heard guys at the metroamp evh forum get even closer than that with a stock duncan 59. Go there and check out the clips by ROCKSTAH and VHoholic and BFM5150. I dont know why the OP of this thread is lookin into a Duncan CC for a VH1 tone when those guys get the VH1 tone with a plexi and a STOCK duncan 59? The search is over. there is no "secret ingredient" left but to go to sunset studio and dime a 100W Plexi with a strat loaded with a old original p.af alnico 5 pup. IF u are lookin to get closer than that then u mine as well go back in time and borrow all of ed's gear. oh yeah dont forget to borrow his hands as well! lol
 
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Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

The 59,78,pg i have tried(all good pickups) like i said in this thread some were,the 59 doesnt have enough output,go back and listen to van halen 1,to me it sounds more then a paf,thats for sure,as for the metro amp i have posted many times there under a different post name,the guys on that site get close to the van halen II thru 1984 album, not van halen 1,i think alot of people take Eddie serious from his early interviews(70s-80s)and believe alot of his BS when it comes down to his equipment and how he achieved his van halen 1 sound and they still think thats how he achieved it.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Ianballard,Ive seen that,John Suhr didnt see Ed magic plexi until the 90s,Eds plexi probably went though many changes,that is more of the people believeing more of the BS about Eds plexi,Eds plexi in the late 70s had a master volume put in by Jose Arrendondo thats a fact,so for john suhr and the rest of the amp builders that seen Eds plexi in the 90s saying that its a stock plexi are Bsing people or they seen that amp after the master volume was pulled out,in the 90s guitar player magazine had a centerfold poster of Eds plexi showing the front and back of that amp and it shows where the master volume hole was and a screw was put in to seal the hole where the master volume was,Eds very secretive when it comes down to his equipment thats why i use my ears when it comes to Eds tone and just from experiance and player( over 35 years of playing).
 
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Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

MV or no MV all i know from being the owner of a old original and a new RI plexi is that unless u dime these there is no way to get the screamin sustain that ed got like the F Chord at the very end of atomic punk.
 
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Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

IanBallard said:
But according to that thread, he was using a Duncan '78 model.

I still think that the VHII had a warmer more "A2" tone, whereas the first record could have been an A5 pickup. There is definitely a difference.
Click to expand...

Ah, yeah, it may have been an A5.
 
Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Ed Hunter said:
i have heard guys at the metroamp evh forum get even closer than that with a stock duncan 59. Go there and check out the clips by ROCKSTAH and VHoholic and BFM5150. I dont know why the OP of this thread is lookin into a Duncan CC for a VH1 tone when those guys get the VH1 tone with a plexi and a STOCK duncan 59? The search is over. there is no "secret ingredient" left but to go to sunset studio and dime a 100W Plexi with a strat loaded with a old original p.af alnico 5 pup. IF u are lookin to get closer than that then u mine as well go back in time and borrow all of ed's gear. oh yeah dont forget to borrow his hands as well! lol
Click to expand...

I will have to check that out.
 
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