Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

[pittbull]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I dont have the means to post a clip,Eds pickups now are in the 14k or higher range(Why would Ed design pickups hotter then a normal paf,answer, because he has always liked hotter pickups),i dont believe at all that Ed used a stock paf for any of the early recordings,i do hear on van halen 1 dimarzio super distortion,i also believe that Eds rewound paf is hotter then a normal paf like the custom custom,Ed did use a duncan JB for sometime,i just dont believe the stock paf thing at all,as for Rockstah he is using the dimarzio super distortion(for early van halen tones) as we speak,he likes it much better then the paf style pickups, he also explained to me that the dimarzio super distortion is alot closer to the van halen 1 sound.Like i said many times before you can not believe any early interviews of Ed talking about his equipment and how he achieved his sound.If you want to listen to paf style sound listen to early AC/DC and jimmy page and there are many others,just a example.I forgot to add,go to the plexi palace site go under the signature tone section and Vholoic posted a jamies crying post using his 5150 combo amp(High gain amp),that clip is the van halen 1 sound,that sould tell you that Eds plexi was not stock and something was pushing the front end,no stock plexi cranked would have that type of gain,VHoloic clip is spot on....

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I've only heard of the H&H poweramps being used later for live use, possible even Hagar period. Can't quite remember.

But some good results on Metro particularly by Ralle have been achieved and some great tones by him using a slaved setup.

I'm fairly certain he used a slave setup on the first record, which he didn't on the second record. http://www.legendarytones.com/brownsound.html Not to say these guys are 100% right about everything, especially their description of his guitars, but the effects and amp layout sounds like most of what I've read about. Plexis have no effects loop and sending flangers and things through a cranked Plexi sounds like ass, so they used the power amp as a clean slave to put the effects through. I thought this was common knowledge.

And yes, they dabbled in the concept for a while until Ed decided to get a Soldano.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Honestly, I think you could achieve a VH1 tone with a CC. Like I said, EQ's can do a lot and the pickup of a guitar is really a built in, natural EQ anyway. So being armed with one, means you can dial in whatever you want.

But I'm far from married to the tone in VH1 anyway. It's scratchy and "overproduced" sounding to me. VH2 is much more natural and I frankly don't think "The brown sound" got any browner than that. After he switched to a Floyd in the studio, I think his tone became too growly and didn't have that HOWL to it. "Outta Love Again" is a great example and the solo on "You're No Good" as well.

I think the SD custom wind is genius. Seems like you can stick any magnet in it and it rocks! I'd bet you could experiment with some mag swaps and get a host VH type tones. I also agree with whoever said Ed prefers high-output pickups. Seems like he used Gibson PAF's when he preferred to keep his Marshall in check, gain-wise, but in later years, particularly when he switched to Soldano and his own 6V6 powered amps. The 6V6 tubes have more headroom and really need hotter pickups to get the right howl and growl out of it. I'm starting to think he did use a JB on his 5150 guitar, the more I hear clips of the JB. The solo from the song 5150, at the very end, where you can clearly hear the pick squeak, had a VERY characteristic tone of the JB.

 

[pittbull]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Eds effects went staight into the front of his plexi(early tone-van halen 1)it was,guitar,mxr flanger,mxr phase 90,ep3 echoplex,(overdrive-distortion unit, that is what was told to me by Jose Arrendondo) also a univox echo unit and then into the front of the plexi,into 4x12 marshall cab loaded with 25 watt celestion greenback speakers.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Would the seymour duncan custom custom sh11 be bright enough for the van halen 1 sound(first album sound-van halen 1)

The trick is that it needs a tremolo block guitar to remove some of the bass.

It has treble but it is well hidden under the bass and middle when coming in with a fixed bridge guitar.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

The trick is that it needs a tremolo block guitar to remove some of the bass.

It has treble but it is well hidden under the bass and middle when coming in with a fixed bridge guitar.

+1, the CC is perfect for filling out a thiner sounding strat or shred stick with a floyd rose

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Eds effects went staight into the front of his plexi(early tone-van halen 1)it was,guitar,mxr flanger,mxr phase 90,ep3 echoplex,(overdrive-distortion unit, that is what was told to me by Jose Arrendondo) also a univox echo unit and then into the front of the plexi,into 4x12 marshall cab loaded with 25 watt celestion greenback speakers.

Sorry don't buy it. Those effects would sound like crap through a cranked plexi. On the second record, I fairly certain they added effects after the session to keep the signal chain as pure as possible. Ed hated the trebly tone of the first record.

If you were "told things" by Jose, that's great but it's pure hearsay as far as I'm concerned.

NOBODY knows except Ed, Ted and Donn Landee but nobody with press access to these guys asked the deep gear questions, if they remember at all.

 

[pittbull]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Ianballard,if this was hearsay i wouldnt be posting it,thats how rumours start, Ed did run his effects in front of his plexi,jose didnt have to tell me that,the only thing he explained to me was about the overdrive-distortion unit,there is a old studio shot of the band(van halen) recording Van halen II and you can plainly see that also Ed did talk about how he ran his effects,up until fair warning when he started to use a switching system from flagg switching and in 1986 when hager joined the band Ed had bob bradshaw make Ed a switching system.As for Chris caruna and uOpt,like i said the custom custom is working out perfect for me,Thanks......

 

[ErikH]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

[Desert]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I can see it now:

All political, religious, and Van Halen early days gear topics are banned.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I can see it now:

All political, religious, and Van Halen early days gear topics are banned.

bloody good idea, that

 

[uOpt]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

I don't think you can throw this right in with politics.

There's less lying in politics.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

ya I just love seeing how a new "VH myths" thread just taked off.....

on the other hand, I dont buy the whole "distortion unit" on VH1 story either.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Since i was not at the recording of VH1 i cant say what ed really used or did and neither can anyone else that i have talked to. HE MAY HAVE used SOMETHING to slam the front of his plexi but i dont think it was a hot pup. I am sticking to believing he did use a P.A.F and used something to overdrive the marshall. **** blackmore used a old tape recorder before his marshall to get it to distort! Lol

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Since i was not at the recording of VH1 i cant say what ed really used or did and neither can anyone else that i have talked to. HE MAY HAVE used SOMETHING to slam the front of his plexi but i dont think it was a hot pup. I am sticking to believing he did use a P.A.F and used something to overdrive the marshall. **** blackmore used a old tape recorder before his marshall to get it to distort! Lol

Oh i definitely think he used something (not a hot pup) to slam his plexi's front end for a hotter signal, but i dont think that something was a distortion box.

I agree with you in that he did use a PAF and that he was using "something" to kick his plexi into another level

 

[SemenOV]

Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen

Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen

It did make it into the Top 6 distortion pickups list from Total Guitar which included 3 Bareknuckles, the EMG81 and another Seymour Duncan.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen

It did make it into the Top 6 distortion pickups list from Total Guitar which included 3 Bareknuckles, the EMG81 and another Seymour Duncan.

which pickup did? the '78 or the custom custom?

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

There is ONE pup that will do every era of van halen the BLUES PATB-3! The evh tone sleeper pup. Can u say take me to Brownsville? Lol
I was wondering though when he or she gets ed's tone exact then what? Play in A tribute band? Think u are the old evh? Is there a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow??? Lol

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

There is ONE pup that will do every era of van halen the BLUES PATB-3! The evh tone sleeper pup. Can u say take me to Brownsville? Lol
I was wondering though when he or she gets ed's tone exact then what? Play in A tribute band? Think u are the old evh? Is there a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow??? Lol

I guess its just the satisfaction of knowing (or thinking) that you got the tone. Or you get to point at everyone else and laugh and say "look what I can sound like" :1:

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Seymour duncan custom custom Van halen sound

Since i was not at the recording of VH1 i cant say what ed really used or did and neither can anyone else that i have talked to. HE MAY HAVE used SOMETHING to slam the front of his plexi but i dont think it was a hot pup. I am sticking to believing he did use a P.A.F and used something to overdrive the marshall. **** blackmore used a old tape recorder before his marshall to get it to distort! Lol

Definitely. He had an active EQ and probably gave it a good full boost for the mids, etc to pump those preamp tubes up. Not much is said about which PRE-amp tubes he used either. There were new higher gain 12AX7's coming out in the 70's and may have replaced the Mullards or whatever was stock.

There is a certain feel to a PAF that a Super Distortion or even the CC can't really produce. I had a Super D hard-mounted in my Strat and it wasn't at all "Van Halen" to me... more like Randy Rhodes. But I've also had a '59 and currently a CC in it and I can tell you they are much closer to pre- and -post Floyd tones in a Marshall voiced amp. You can fake it with EQ maybe a sparkly compressor, but I have to agree that it was something in the PAF category. The "78", if he used it at all, would have been the album recorded in '78, which was VH2. Who knows?

Maybe instead of banning it, just put a sticky thread at the top, "OFFICIAL VAN HALEN TONE ARGUMENT THREAD" or something.