"Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

I'll bet neither Ted Templeman nor Donn Landee could draw you an exact signal chain map either.

FWIW, I inquired to the Custom Shop about the Kramer 5150 pup and MJ told me that the IM1 WAS the same pickup in the Kramer guitars, as we already know it's the same wind as the "Frankenstein" with different wire and an aged A5. She could have been mistaken but I specified "Kramer 5150" and she said "IM1".

So... even if you hate the early Van Hagar tone, you can't blame the pickups. ;)
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

IanBallard said:
FWIW, I inquired to the Custom Shop about the Kramer 5150 pup and MJ told me that the IM1 WAS the same pickup in the Kramer guitars, as we already know it's the same wind as the "Frankenstein" with different wire and an aged A5. She could have been mistaken but I specified "Kramer 5150" and she said "IM1".

So... even if you hate the early Van Hagar tone, you can't blame the pickups. ;)
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yeah she told me this as well and that he used the 78 for the earliest stuff
i never owned the 78 but with ed's exact gear and the ted and don sunset studios factor, that could be the pu on the 1st record. we dont know what eddie had in the signal chain exactly. I heard jolly use a duncan jazz to play metal so anything is possible. my PG will do real heavy s**t and it is not a hot pu through a plexi. but really this thread is just about the sh5 custom and like i said many times already that pup will do the 1st record tone no prob even though it was not wound for EVH
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

I dont believe the BS that MJ tells people that Ed used the 78 for the first album.(More BS marketing from seymour Duncan). First of all Van halen 1 was recorded in 77 and released in 78 Ed didnt have seymour do any pickup work for him in that time frame it was afterwards.
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

pittbull said:
I dont believe the BS that MJ tells people that Ed used the 78 for the first album.(More BS marketing from seymour Duncan). First of all Van halen 1 was recorded in 77 and released in 78 Ed didnt have seymour do any pickup work for him in that time frame it was afterwards.
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Dude we dont know that for sure? no of us were there back then.
seymour knew wayne and did winds for Mighty mite,wayne sold mighty mite pu's which is how ed knew of them and eddie hung out at waynes shop and blah blah blah. how do we know if ed didnt have seymour do rewinds for him back then? i mean really this speculation is getting F**kin rediculous! if you didnt grow up hanging with all these guys and were not there then you dont know for sure. Btw you wont make many friends around here calling MJ a BS'er.
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

What im saying is Ed probably used a higher output pickup, more output then the so-called 78 pickup for the recording of Van halen 1.I do believe it was a ceramic pickup like the Mighty Mite,Dimarzio Super Distortion or a Gibson pickup that was wound very hot.I also know about Seymour working for Wayne and Wayne showed Ed how to pot pickups.As for MJ how would she know,she wasnt around back then.Im not concerd about making friends here thats for sure im speaking my mind,there is alot of marketing BS.
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

pittbull said:
What im saying is Ed probably used a higher output pickup, more output then the so-called 78 pickup for the recording of Van halen 1.I do believe it was a ceramic pickup like the Mighty Mite,Dimarzio Super Distortion or a Gibson pickup that was wound very hot.I also know about Seymour working for Wayne and Wayne showed Ed how to pot pickups.
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from all the pics of the early days he used what appeared to be mighty mite screamers which were dimarzio SD clones. funny how larry d didnt'get his panties in a bunch over that like he did with the double cream issue?i
anyway all i am saying is that none of us really know what was done to those mighty mites(that seymour wound at that time). did VH use a stock one? one that was rewound by seymour to 78 spec's? was it a MM with a different magnet? lots of ???
we know that eddie used the super d in the b/y charvel but again what was done to that DSD? many have said that if you put a A2 into a DSD it is essentially a duncan CC??? I dont know i never tried it? back to VH1 and just VH1 LOL! i honestly dont know what he used but yes it does sound like a hotter wind than the 78? Sounds very aggressive and ceramic to my ears,not very overwound PAF at all
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Ed H,its true that its hard to pinpoint certain things but to me Van halen 1 does sound like a ceramic type pickup.
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

pittbull said:
Ed H,its true that its hard to pinpoint certain things but to me Van halen 1 does sound like a ceramic type pickup.
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Yeah when you listen to the shows right before the 1st record was done and the record itself of course then listen to the shows after the record was done and the B/W charvel was finished with its new paint scheme and all maple neck those shows have a different tone,and the only change he made according to all the available info is the pu? he went to a lower output rewound PAF. have you ever tried the super d set away from the strings?
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

One thing that convinced me about the possibility of him using a hotter ceramic is the recording of eruption. after the A chord those notes are too tight and compressed to be a PAF type. unless he used a A8 or a ceramic in the PAF?
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

No I havent,I do believe that the pickup was close to the strings.Here is another question,when did the Gibson dirty fingers pickup come out.
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

I just found out that the Gibson Dirty Fingers pickup came out in the 80s,so Ed couldnt have used it for Van halen 1.
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

pittbull said:
No I havent,I do believe that the pickup was close to the strings.Here is another question,when did the Gibson dirty fingers pickup come out.
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Yeah the string keep chirpin against the polepiece so he had to have
whatever pu pretty close, the dirty fingers was out in the
early 80's according to gibson.
oh how i admire those guys that put in a tone zone and call it a day! LOL!
 
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Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

We're not even sure he used THAT amp on the first record. Some have said, since Sunset has loads of amps available, he could have used a 50w which would have resulted in a more gainy sound at the same cranked volume. With the same guitar, he could have switched to his 100w amp on the second records and get that more smoothed out, almost AC/DC quality on the second record and WaCF. He may have also gone back to (or pulled tubes on his Holy Grail) on Fair Warning to get the heavier, more growly sound we hear there. Who knows?

Besides, the original WIND is documented, but the actual magnet may have changed. Remember Seymour didn't originally use an A5 for his JB, so perhaps Ed's pickup had an A5 for the first record or something with a tighter, heavier bass response. Maybe it was a Mighty Mite ceramic. But Eddie will still tell you to this day, it was "A Gibson PAF", so whatever....
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Ed Hunter said:
One thing that convinced me about the possibility of him using a hotter ceramic is the recording of eruption. after the A chord those notes are too tight and compressed to be a PAF type. unless he used a A8 or a ceramic in the PAF?
Click to expand...

There's also the use of 6CA7 tubes, which are closer to a 6L6 tone than a typical EL34.
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

Well I believe it was one of these 3 things,Mighty Mite Screamer pickup,Dimarzio Super Distortion or a Gibson PAF that was wound very hot by Ed.
 
Re: "Seymour Duncan Special Van halen pickup 1979"

I also for got to Ed earlier,amp wise that Van halen 1 sounds like a 50 watt vs. a 100 watt.A 50 watt is going to break up quicker then a 100 watt.Van halen II definitly sounds like a 100 watt.
 
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