Marshall amp mods for van halen 1 sound

[MrDowntown]

I have just recently fallen into the Forums (here), and thought it was cool as hell...one of the first posts I saw was from RockStah...RIP. Of course the post was about two years old

Does anyone know, did he take his knowledge for his mod5 with him?

 

[Thiez]

Nope the mod 5 is known on the metroamp forum. Schematics are on there, but the forum is out....

The rockstah mod is more like a JCM800 then a plexi. But it captures that van halen sound really good.

 

[Tone Slinger]

Yep, The Mod5 spec is basically a 2203/2204 spec with a Lar/Mar PPIMV. On certain models (like 1984 to 1989 Jcm 800 2204's) Mark (rip) would lower the preamp voltage by adding resistance to the lone 10k on those models (only the 50 watters of that era were affected). Basically he would add another 10k there (right past the nfb resisor) resulting in 20k. The 100 watters were fine with the 10k/8.2k. This made the sound less hard and brittle to some extent. Also, the Mod5,depending on what the amp being modded needed,had a v2 cathode bypass cap (sometimes) or .1uf PI couplers (sometimes). These are variables that need to be tried by the individual, concerning thier exact preference. This is the BEST way to get your tone (by oneself) instead of letting others ears do it for you
If anyone is interested in a layoutof the Mod5, I can try and put one up.

 

[MrDowntown]

Yep, The Mod5 spec is basically a 2203/2204 spec with a Lar/Mar PPIMV. On certain models (like 1984 to 1989 Jcm 800 2204's) Mark (rip) would lower the preamp voltage by adding resistance to the lone 10k on those models (only the 50 watters of that era were affected). Basically he would add another 10k there (right past the nfb resisor) resulting in 20k. The 100 watters were fine with the 10k/8.2k. This made the sound less hard and brittle to some extent. Also, the Mod5,depending on what the amp being modded needed,had a v2 cathode bypass cap (sometimes) or .1uf PI couplers (sometimes). These are variables that need to be tried by the individual, concerning thier exact preference. This is the BEST way to get your tone (by oneself) instead of letting others ears do it for you
If anyone is interested in a layoutof the Mod5, I can try and put one up.

 

[pittbull]

Ive talk to some people who own Marks(RIP)modded Marshalls and they swear that Marks work(mods 5) sounds different then others performing the Mod5.

 

[Thiez]

I also have the schematic of marks MOD, made by larry from the metroamp forum. It basicly is a 2203/2204 indeed with a PPIMV. The rest are just some little cap changes and a 220K resistor in front of the normal MV.

Every mod mark did was slightly different i think. He just shaped the mods to every amp he got in front of him till it sounded right to his ears.

 

[Tone Slinger]

Exactly

 

[FutureProf88]

Read this article. About 1/3 of the way down there are some links to legendary tones.com. Beneath that is pure gold from someone who saw the rig.

Eddie Van Halen's rig and Tone techniques

 

[66 galaxie]

Yep, The Mod5 spec is basically a 2203/2204 spec with a Lar/Mar PPIMV. On certain models (like 1984 to 1989 Jcm 800 2204's) Mark (rip) would lower the preamp voltage by adding resistance to the lone 10k on those models (only the 50 watters of that era were affected). Basically he would add another 10k there (right past the nfb resisor) resulting in 20k. The 100 watters were fine with the 10k/8.2k. This made the sound less hard and brittle to some extent. Also, the Mod5,depending on what the amp being modded needed,had a v2 cathode bypass cap (sometimes) or .1uf PI couplers (sometimes). These are variables that need to be tried by the individual, concerning thier exact preference. This is the BEST way to get your tone (by oneself) instead of letting others ears do it for you
If anyone is interested in a layoutof the Mod5, I can try and put one up.

I would be interested.

 

[Rocktane]

Read this article. About 1/3 of the way down there are some links to legendary tones.com. Beneath that is pure gold from someone who saw the rig.

Eddie Van Halen's rig and Tone techniques

That's a cool read, thanks for posting.

 

[SonVolt]

Speaking of, who's the fat Asian chick?

 

[damienbeale]

That's a cool read, thanks for posting.

It's also in part, full of crap...

>The reason why the load resistor is set higher than the selected impedance of the amp selector is because a 100 watt Marshall head at full volume into a resistive load set to the same impedance as the head will put out way over 100 watts, try 160-180 watts. This is because the amp will go into class B mode.

 

[MrDowntown]

Speaking of, who's the fat Asian chick?

Lmao!

Off subject, and at risk of hijacking this thread....I hope the Asian chick "moves on" and they (van halens) hire back the best damn (high) tenor bassist in the world!

 

[Tone Slinger]

I agree.......he's only 'Van Halen' by name

 

[Rocktane]

It's also in part, full of crap...

Very true, but he did correct himself later on.

 

[Thiez]

Allright people, cause the schematic was allready on the metroamp forum (which is now unavalible) i will post the schematics here.
All credits, honor and respect to Mark for the rockstah mod 5. Please use the schematic only for private homemade amps and not for commercial designes.

https://db.tt/vp3YdfHq

 

[damienbeale]

Metro is back up, btw.

 

[Tone Slinger]

Yep, the Metro Amp 'Van Halen amp mods' thread has all that is needed for a Mod5 build. There are gut shots and all. A 2203 or 2204 layout with Lar/Mar ppimv is actually all that is needed though. The two metro clone amps (a '69 and a '68 12xxx) that are there, via the gut shots, are examples of how this mod wasnt always a 'cookie cutter' mod. It was tailored to each amp. On the PCB jmp and jcm amps though, Mark basically didnt deviate much one from another. SDM's '2203/ppimv' or 2204/ppimv' layouts are all thats needed. Obviously a 1959 or 1987's inputs/v1 has to be wired to 2203/2204 spec.

 

[damienbeale]

And for those that don't want to follow the Mod 5/cascaded route, and preferred Marks earlier tones, there is the epic "Calling Rockstah" thread over there somewhere, started by a guy called vkAxeman or something like that, who wanted help getting his 1959 HW up to scratch for 12,000 series tones. Long read, but a very detailed change process.

 

[Thiez]

Metro is back up, btw.

Good to hear that! For me it was still down yesterday but now it's working again.