EVH tone pups

[junk notes]

Both guys are known for exaggeration, but only Ed was known for outright misdirection.

ha! but did apologized though somewhere in the Smithsonian vid lol.
Here he talks about ruining many guitars and pickups!

 

[ricksdisconnected]

ha! but did apologized though somewhere in the Smithsonian vid lol.
Here he talks about ruining many guitars and pickups!

the man even made it in the Smith. whats that tell the nay sayers?

 

[StrummerJoe]

ha! but did apologized though somewhere in the Smithsonian vid lol.
Here he talks about ruining many guitars and pickups!

A lot og guys fried their amps by turning the voltage up on a variac they hooked up because Ed said that's what he did.

Guitar Player magazine had to print a waring in their next issue telling people "Don't do what Ed said!"

Ed did later say he felt bad for it, and he should have. I can understand guarding your secrets, but damn...not everyone could afford a repair bill or replacement.

 

[ricksdisconnected]

A lot og guys fried their amps by turning the voltage up on a variac they hooked up because Ed said that's what he did.

Guitar Player magazine had to print a waring in their next issue telling people "Don't do what Ed said!"

Ed did later say he felt bad for it, and he should have. I can understand guarding your secrets, but damn...not everyone could afford a repair bill or replacement.

yeah he got some major heat over that "melting tubes" bs didnt he.

 

[El Gringo]

Al Estrada is da bomb , a total phenom on the fretboard -wow !!!!!!!!!!

 

[kysrsoze]

Someone earlier

I don't really understand the concept of that "one magic component" that will do the Brown Sound. Run any of these pickups across a Line 6 Spider on the Insane setting, and see how "brown" it sounds.

Not trying to be negative, but I would think that any decent hot humbucker of maybe 13K or better, combined with the right amp and effects, would get you there.

Take a decent tube Marshall
Add the right OD/Distortion box
Add a big helping of plate reverb
A touch of delay
A touch of phasing on some things
Dial in a nice, even EQ

You're there.

He's exactly right. I have guitars with the GFS VEH, Wolfgang, EVH Frankenstein and other pickups in them. The pickup and guitar make SOME difference, but leaving fingers out of the equation, maybe 20%. It's much more the amp and pedals, and how you dial them in. One critical thing is pedal order and the putting everything in front of the amp, including delay - no effects loop. This video got me way closer to early VH than any pickup swap ever did:

 

[PowerTube44]

Someone earlier


He's exactly right. I have guitars with the GFS VEH, Wolfgang, EVH Frankenstein and other pickups in them. The pickup and guitar make SOME difference, but leaving fingers out of the equation, maybe 20%. It's much more the amp and pedals, and how you dial them in. One critical thing is pedal order and the putting everything in front of the amp, including delay - no effects loop. This video got me way closer to early VH than any pickup swap ever did:

Wow. Great point. Eddie's Plexi didn't have an effects loop, so all effects would have had to have been run inline between the guitar and amp (except for studio post-processing).

 

[tallcoolone]

Something low output. Original Frankenstein has a pick from an old 336 hollow body. Brandon Wound 59 clone sounds good.

This. I believe the output of the HB on that guitar was VERY low

 

[jeffb]

Jim Gaustad just posted this one up.

He's got the Greco (Destroyer) on point.

 

[mrjones2004x]

For reference I have a Japanese Evh special with the USA Wolfgang pickups and I can’t get it to sound like vh1 through my 2501

I had a Evh Frankenstein pickup years back that was close

 

[johnny q]

The OP asked about VH1 tones. I know there are all sorts of theories about what he used and loads of boutique choices. However, I swear the Duncan Custom SH-5 (Ceramic Magnet) absolutely nails the VH1 lead tone. It's probably no coincidence that this was the pickup Seymour marketed in the late 70s as the "Van Halen" pickup. Do a google search, the ad from Guitar Player magazine is online.

For VHII, the hotter wound Alnico 2 pickups will get you there.

 

[cccc]

Anybody try the Jalen "Fair Warning" pickup ?

 

[PowerTube44]

You know what cracks me up about a lot of these pickup comparison demos? When the two or more pickups being compared are in radically different guitars.

"Today, I'll be comparing the Duncan Distortion to the DiMarzio Distortion. The Duncan is installed in my 1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom, and the DiMarzio is installed in my Squier Bullet with Maple fretboard."

 

[Moony]

You know what cracks me up about a lot of these pickup comparison demos? When the two or more pickups being compared are in radically different guitars.

You're not alone.
It drives me nuts too.
And I always think that people who do these demos just don't understand, that the same pickup installed in different guitars will not sound exactly the same.
I mean a HSS Strat will not sound like a Les Paul just if you put a Burstbucker or something like that in the bridge position.

 

[jeffb]

You know what cracks me up about a lot of these pickup comparison demos? When the two or more pickups being compared are in radically different guitars.

"Today, I'll be comparing the Duncan Distortion to the DiMarzio Distortion. The Duncan is installed in my 1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom, and the DiMarzio is installed in my Squier Bullet with Maple fretboard."

I immediately click off any "head to head" when it's two different guitars, speakers, cabs, whatever.

Apples to apples, or don't bother.

Even 2 Les Pauls can sound drastically different.

 

[Moony]

Even 2 Les Pauls can sound drastically different.

I'm fine with comparison videos about different guitars player into the same amp, same cab, same speaker - just to showcase the guitars.

But everyone should know that there are tolerances, you can pick out 5 strats from the exact same model range built at the same time acording to the S/N - and they still can sound different.

At least you have good shops in the US like Sweetwater, they take pictures of every single guitar and also weight them - I wish shops here in Germany would do that. If you buy a guitar at Thomann or Music Store online here in Germany you'll get a "lucky bag".

 

[cccc]

I'm fine with comparison videos about different guitars player into the same amp, same cab, same speaker - just to showcase the guitars.

But everyone should know that there are tolerances, you can pick out 5 strats from the exact same model range built at the same time acording to the S/N - and they still can sound different.

At least you have good shops in the US like Sweetwater, they take pictures of every single guitar and also weight them - I wish shops here in Germany would do that. If you buy a guitar at Thomann or Music Store online here in Germany you'll get a "lucky bag".

Images of the guitar are only good for picking out sunburst or different wood grain finishes not much help for solid colors and noting the weight is a good thing but no image is going to tell you the subtle differences in sound.

 

[cccc]

You know what cracks me up about a lot of these pickup comparison demos? When the two or more pickups being compared are in radically different guitars.

"Today, I'll be comparing the Duncan Distortion to the DiMarzio Distortion. The Duncan is installed in my 1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom, and the DiMarzio is installed in my Squier Bullet with Maple fretboard."

What I hate is when they play distortion pickups clean .

 

[PowerTube44]

What I hate is when they play distortion pickups clean .

I don't mind that, actually. I like to know if a pickup is also capable of doing clean without being too fuzzy.

 

[Moony]

but no image is going to tell you the subtle differences in sound.

I know that and haven't said that a picture will tell you how the guitar sounds lol.

But as you've said there are different wood grains and colors, so that's nice to see.
In some rare cases even the back of the necks can turn me off if I see a branch hole in the maple or something like that.

In terms of weight I have my preferred range for different kinds of guitars and in general I like the lighter ones.