Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

IMO Fair Warning is the best brown sound tone. However, I don't chase that tone so other than suggesting a PAF through a dimed Plexi, I have no input on copping that sound.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I've been digging on VHIII lately and I'm going to get tomatoes chucked at me, but it's become my favorite tone overall. He gets that nice "bamp" spanky tone, very little distortion and where there is, you can still hear the guitar. I think this was the tone he was going after since he was young, but there wasn't gear/guitars available that could achieve it. I think the tone we all love and adore from the early days is the best Ed could do with the relatively limited gear in those days. If you were time traveler and sent Ed a 5150 amp and a Wolfgang guitar in 1978, I'm certain he would have gladly used them instead.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

One thing that people always overlook are the strings that Ed used. He used pure nickle 9-40. It makes a much bigger difference than most people seem to realize.

AMEN brother! and i want to add that not only does the nickle alloy make a tone difference but evh had stated he only used beat to hell pure nickle strings in the studio. he hated new fresh strings in the studio but live he had to use new ones for obvious reasons...

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

his EBMM sig guitar. The pickups are basically almost a Tone Zone in the bridge and maybe a Norton in the neck. That said, I also think a Custom Custom will get you close to the Hagar-era stuff. I also lik the Air Zone (bridge) and Air Norton (neck) for the Hagar-era stuff. The Fred works for the early stuff, IMHO...

my favorite "official EVH pup"
Of the pups he actually used the bridge ebmm dimarzio is it for me, that pup does every era of VH depending on which amp is used with it. I also love the duncan JB which he used in the 5150 kramer. That fred u mentioned is a sleeper pup for his earliest tones as well. There are soooo many Pups that will get u there just use the one that sounds and feels right to u....

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I don't think we'll ever know exactly what was in his pre-EBMM guitars. The Kramer is as big of a mystery as the Frankie in most respects. It definitely was a Seymour Duncan pickup, but I'm not so sure it was a JB.

 

[Desert]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I've been digging on VHIII lately and I'm going to get tomatoes chucked at me, but it's become my favorite tone overall. He gets that nice "bamp" spanky tone, very little distortion and where there is, you can still hear the guitar. I think this was the tone he was going after since he was young, but there wasn't gear/guitars available that could achieve it. I think the tone we all love and adore from the early days is the best Ed could do with the relatively limited gear in those days. If you were time traveler and sent Ed a 5150 amp and a Wolfgang guitar in 1978, I'm certain he would have gladly used them instead.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

Haha! I know that when artists try to change people don't like it. The crowd always wants the old stuff and what they are used to. The artist, however, is never satisfied.

I had a dude call me to play some tracks for his record and we used to be in a band around 10 years ago. He liked what I played, but was disappointed that I don't sound like I did 10 years ago... better drums and, in my opinion, better feel and technique. Even though I like myself better now, you aren't going to convince everyone else it's good. I can relate...

I'm sure the next record will be somewhere in the vicinity of VHIII and from what he's said about new stuff, "it's not exactly 'bang your head against the wall' kind of stuff" and he may be using a hard-tail for things. But tone-wise, the howly midrange of his Fender Wolf should be an interesting pairing with his "plexi" crunch channel on the 5150III, so maybe some odes to the old sound will be there.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I don't think we'll ever know exactly what was in his pre-EBMM guitars. The Kramer is as big of a mystery as the Frankie in most respects. It definitely was a Seymour Duncan pickup, but I'm not so sure it was a JB.

yeah i know what you mean. According to a former kramer employee who posts over at the metro amp forum it was the jb BUT he says kramer got duncan to underwind them?

 

[Desert]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

Haha! I know that when artists try to change people don't like it. The crowd always wants the old stuff and what they are used to. The artist, however, is never satisfied.

I had a dude call me to play some tracks for his record and we used to be in a band around 10 years ago. He liked what I played, but was disappointed that I don't sound like I did 10 years ago... better drums and, in my opinion, better feel and technique. Even though I like myself better now, you aren't going to convince everyone else it's good. I can relate...

I'm sure the next record will be somewhere in the vicinity of VHIII and from what he's said about new stuff, "it's not exactly 'bang your head against the wall' kind of stuff" and he may be using a hard-tail for things. But tone-wise, the howly midrange of his Fender Wolf should be an interesting pairing with his "plexi" crunch channel on the 5150III, so maybe some odes to the old sound will be there.

hehe, yup.

We hate admitting that we're basically conditioned from what we first hear of musicians.

It must drive R & D completely crazy when trying to come with something new, and everyone wants one of about three guitars and four amps, all of which came out 40 or 50 years ago.

 

[NecroPolo]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

My fav VH tone is the VH100R:

Okay, back to Ed... Unlawful is pretty much to my liking, I just love those high-gain-amps-slapped-in-two-with-chorus things.

 

[51501984]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I've been digging on VHIII lately and I'm going to get tomatoes chucked at me, but it's become my favorite tone overall. He gets that nice "bamp" spanky tone, very little distortion and where there is, you can still hear the guitar. I think this was the tone he was going after since he was young, but there wasn't gear/guitars available that could achieve it. I think the tone we all love and adore from the early days is the best Ed could do with the relatively limited gear in those days. If you were time traveler and sent Ed a 5150 amp and a Wolfgang guitar in 1978, I'm certain he would have gladly used them instead.

Great tone on VHIII but try as I might I could not get into that CD

 

[51501984]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

I'm sure the next record will be somewhere in the vicinity of VHIII and from what he's said about new stuff, "it's not exactly 'bang your head against the wall' kind of stuff" and he may be using a hard-tail for things. But tone-wise, the howly midrange of his Fender Wolf should be an interesting pairing with his "plexi" crunch channel on the 5150III, so maybe some odes to the old sound will be there.

What new record? I`ve heard all the rumors and I hope you`re right and I`m wrong but I`ll believe it when I`m listening to it. Fave VH tone is VH2 by the way.

 

[IanBallard]

Re: Your favorite VH tone, and what pickups you feel achieve it best?

What new record? I`ve heard all the rumors and I hope you`re right and I`m wrong but I`ll believe it when I`m listening to it. Fave VH tone is VH2 by the way.

Well, allegedly they are working on a record. Hell, they could just recycle VHIII and put new lyrics and vocals and most VH "fans" would never know it because they didn't listen to the other one because of the singer. Having Dave in, makes it automatically great to "fans" who are essentially Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, who can't get over 1982...

Yeah, as far as the "early" VH tone, I like the second one the most. Ed didn't like the power amp after because it muddied the tone to his ear, so they just recorded him raw through the Marshall and added effects in the post-mix.