We might perhaps finally know Van Halen's humbuckers magnet type

My god, the obsession with EvH seems to be boundless. A few years ago we had someone who wanted to know the exact brand he used for his stripes, now half a book where it is discussed what length magnet the pickup is (not even what kind, just the length).
 
Well, actually, they found a way to "speculate" which magnet type was in his pickup.

Who even cares? (Especially since this is only speculation/theorizing).

Even if someone had the very same pickup that he actually had/played, they wouldn't sound like him anyway.
 
orpheo said:
My god, the obsession with EvH seems to be boundless. A few years ago we had someone who wanted to know the exact brand he used for his stripes, now half a book where it is discussed what length magnet the pickup is (not even what kind, just the length).
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
Too much obsession with EvH and the JB pup.

People...just get a good guitar, a good amp, and learn how to make good tones, and learn how to play. Just be yourselves and stop obsessing over sounding like someone else.

Where would we be if all of the great and unique sounding guitar players (EvH, Hendrix, Vai, Gilmour, Page, Clapton, Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc, etc, etc) just tried their whole lives to sound like someone else?!
 
GuitarDoc said:
Where would we be if all of the great and unique sounding guitar players (EvH, Hendrix, Vai, Gilmour, Page, Clapton, Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc, etc, etc) just tried their whole lives to sound like someone else?!
Click to expand...

Sounding like someone else is the basis of the entire guitar industry.
 
I'm going to disagree with you all. I honestly think that is a tone worth obsessing for.

I mean, not only is he one of the best players in history, maybe even the best. But The Brown Sound is like the most sought after tone... like... ever? And honestly, it's not hard to hear why.

What harm does it do trying to go for a tone like his? I agree with the quest for one's tone, but how boring would it be if we all just stuck for our one and only tone all the time? We're all tone nerds in this forum. Tweaking and tinkering is fun after all, no?

And I'm not even a Van Halen fan.
 
Last edited:
A bit of trivia never hurt anybody. A lot of unique tones were attempts at copping his tone or using it as an influence and becoming their own thing. So many models of amp and amp mods are inspired by his sound and been taken to places beyond his intentions.

One only needs to look at how many different heavy genres came from his signature amp. From grunge to the very heaviest modern metal. I would also argue that beyond education and trivia, if you’ve already copped the brown sound exactly for fun etc. you most probably don’t need the exact magnet he used and the influence on the sound will be imperceptible.
 
Yeah, it's fun chasing trivia that can never be proven or disproven. Makes for an endless chase. It's also well-covered territory. But it's probably unnecessary to go to that trivial level to replicate EVH's sound.

I was recording guitar in The Plant once many years ago and had a rare opportunity to play through Carlos Santana's former '68 Plexi half stack. The engineer plugged me in (wouldn't let me touch it) and let me wail for a bit. I had just bought a new Marshall, so I leaned in to look at the knobs on Carlos' to find out the settings. The engineer waved me off and said, "Don't bother looking at the settings. They aren't going to work on your equipment. Memorize the sound, and then you can figure out what knobs to turn on your rig to sound like that." That was a defining moment for me. That taught me all the trivia of how a sound was actually made doesn't really matter. Because you can find a way to make that same sound with different equipment - you just have to really know the sound you are chasing.
 
Y8O14WQ.jpg


:27:
 
orpheo said:
My god, the obsession with EvH seems to be boundless. A few years ago we had someone who wanted to know the exact brand he used for his stripes, now half a book where it is discussed what length magnet the pickup is (not even what kind, just the length).
Click to expand...

You don't understand to know the type of magnet we need to know it's lenght. As we now his es-335 was the origin of the magnet. Those es-335 which used 2.25 inch magnets were always alnico V.
 
misterwhizzy said:
No disrespect, but it's hard to take a pseudo-scientific blog entry that seriously when the author has trouble spelling "length."
Click to expand...

English isn't my native language i guess i should have paid attention to the grammar and spelling. Asides this i have a degree in history geography and archeology xd. And i like investigating guitar.
 
JOLLY said:
They wouldn't sound like him even if the played on his exact guitar and amp.
Click to expand...

There is a misconception with Van Halen, people think you will never sound like him because of eddie's fingers but that's not totally true. Remember when eddie came back with Roth and played those evh guitars and ampw ? He had a shitty tone litteraly... But he was still this amazing player... Neil Zlozlower who wrote a book and investigated eddie confirmed that josé (the original amp tech) admitted that Van Halen's amp was modded at least until Van Halen 2. :

https://1978guitarsandspecs.wordpres...-serial-12301/

https://1978guitarsandspecs.wordpress.com/2023/04/07/demystification-eds-tone-is-only-in-its-hands/
 
Last edited:
GuitarDoc said:
Totally agree.
Too much obsession with EvH and the JB pup.

People...just get a good guitar, a good amp, and learn how to make good tones, and learn how to play. Just be yourselves and stop obsessing over sounding like someone else.

Where would we be if all of the great and unique sounding guitar players (EvH, Hendrix, Vai, Gilmour, Page, Clapton, Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc, etc, etc) just tried their whole lives to sound like someone else?!
Click to expand...

Exactly what the blogger said in one of the blogposts tbh

"We may never know exactly, and it's time better spent practicing"

Something along those lines
 
Mincer said:
Sounding like someone else is the basis of the entire guitar industry.
Click to expand...

True! Even those guys did it too though, Clapton said he played a Les Paul because Freddie King was holding one on an album cover so he figured that was how to get that type of sound, then he wanted to play a Strat when he saw his dear friend Stevie Winwood playing one, and in his words, he idolized Steve. I'd venture a guess that the reason Eddie had that 335 in the first place was because his idol Clapton played one in Cream!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Chris EmCee
Will anything dethrone the '78?
Replies
19
Views
292
jeremy
jeremy
C
Topless photos
Replies
1
Views
109
Ashurbanipal
Ashurbanipal
P
The real pickups behind Van Halen 78 album tone's and others.
2 3
Replies
45
Views
11K
Bill Dennis
B
P
Van Halen's Tone : breaking the sound barrier
Replies
9
Views
2K
Pat_rocks_and_rolls
P
muttznmongrelz
FS/FT: Seymour Duncan Slash Neck & EVH Frankenstein Bridge Humbuckers
Replies
9
Views
2K
muttznmongrelz
muttznmongrelz
Back
Top