Marshall amp mods for van halen 1 sound

[rockstah]

so nuke this sounds good but you think its Edwards sound? the way i hear it is a little squishy on top actually probably more with the guitar used.

anyway, i don't know, i have spent much time tweaking and modifying Marshall circuits and it does take a certain amount of having the right amp and yes you have to have technique to convey the sound but to me they go hand in hand. you have to admit that in the extreme Edward would not sound like himself playing through a fender twin and my girlfriend who cant play guitar would sound like crap through his rig on van halen 1.
With all due respect, hey go hand in hand.
Mark

 

[Username2]

Fair enough, I was just pointing out that the "brown sound" does not have to come from a Marshall although my preferred amp for this sound is my JMP50. The point is look how close even a Fender with a few mods can get. My other Marshall's can do it also so I have to contribute this more to playing style than the amp itself. Truth be told I think we would find there was nothing really special about Ed's early amps, a few mods in the tone stack yes, his finished tone yes, but again I still insist it is more technique then amp. 70/30.

I never have met Eddie and if I did I sure wouldn't talk about the early sound of VH, I could throw out a few comments about it and his reaction to that would tell me all I need to know.

 

[Jonathan Wilder]

Quite honestly I think most players get more satisfaction out of talking about all the supposed cork sniffing theories behind EVH's first album tone than they would if they actually had that tone available to them.

 

[Username2]

Quite honestly I think most players get more satisfaction out of talking about all the supposed cork sniffing theories behind EVH's first album tone than they would if they actually had that tone available to them.

Agreed, it does make for better chatter. Perhaps more brown sound groupies should invest in guitar lessons before they tweak a perfectly good amp.

 

[rockstah]

Again with all due respect and of conversation I don’t think you are going to get a marshall sound out of a boogie or soldano or even a fender especially if know what the sound is in the first place of a marshall circuit. It’s all about gain stage and structure is these formentioned amps that lend themselves to their sound/voice and marshalls they are not. I do agree with a good marshall you can get as close as you can but as well there is something to be said for Edwards tone otherwise we would hear it in live clips from other players like we did with Ed’s live bootlegs that we hear.
There is something unique there one would have to admit, weather he is driving it hard with an eq or something its elusive to many still at this point.

I do agree that there are many that just like to talk about it just to talk about it. For me it has been actually about learning the circuit enough to understand how to get that sound. It’s still a quest as I feel I have gotten as close as I have heard from anyone else, I’m still searching. As well I realize its how you play that sound once you have it and I do agree some wouldn’t know it if it were under their fingers. Its not a sound for everyone. Even Edward moved on from it.

eh i'm just rambling on here
Mark

 

[Username2]

I don’t think you are going to get a marshall sound out of a boogie or soldano or even a fender especially if know what the sound is in the first place of a marshall circuit. It’s all about gain stage and structure is these formentioned amps that lend themselves to their sound/voice and marshalls they are not.

I will agree and drink to that. It's just my opinion and experience that the brown sound is more technique than amp. Can we then agree that the sound was cool back in the day but trying to sound like 1978 Eddie isn't very fresh anymore. Like you said even Ed moved on from that and while that is legendary tone it still doesn't get any better than a cranked Plexi.

 

[rockstah]

(raises glass)
i don't know,.... what about having that sound and THEN doing your own thing with it?
Mark

 

[rockstah]

nuke, a little while ago i modded an amp for the brown sound. this is the clip i sent him showing him what his new amp will do- http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9046768

he then said "great! will it do heavy stuff?"
i recorded this clip for him.
same amp - http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9047216

Mark

 

[Jonathan Wilder]

(raises glass)
i don't know,.... what about having that sound and THEN doing your own thing with it?
Mark

How would you be "doing your own thing" with someone else's tone? About the only "thing" that would ever come of that would be just writing songs that you wrote that sound like Eddie Van Halen played them.

 

[rockstah]

Joe Bonamassa uses Eric johnsons tone pretty good. stevie ray uses hendrix's tone pretty good... etc etc. i could go on and on... so and so uses the strat tone pretty good.. i think you are going to the extreme in the aspect of original tone. if billy gibbons played angus' rig he would sound like billy gibbons... on and on and on i could go.
we are talking tools of the trade, its up to player to evoke their voice after that. but having the correct length screw driver makes a difference.
Mark

 

[Username2]

nuke, a little while ago i modded an amp for the brown sound. this is the clip i sent him showing him what his new amp will do- SoundClick artist: rockstah plexi tweaks and mods - page with MP3 music downloads

he then said "great! will it do heavy stuff?"
i recorded this clip for him.
same amp - SoundClick artist: rockstah plexi tweaks and mods - page with MP3 music downloads

Mark

I took a look at your amps last night, they sound very good. I also have a mod up JMP50 (Granger M50 plexi) I pair with a 1960BX as one of my amps I use in the studio. I like the values of your tone stack. Did you add another tube to the gain stage or are there still only three?

My main tone in the Studio however comes from a 2466 and it a very early Trower tone, its mine but very Trower like.

 

[rockstah]

Thanks!
only three gain stages in my Mod5 spec. no added tubes. i do plexi spec with only two as well.
Mark

 

[indeedido]

I gotta agree with Mark, we all take a tone and build upon it regardless if we admit to it or not. I'd like to have Ed's old tone and do my thing with it. Heck, Yngwie is a huge Blackmore fan and even uses a black strat for inspiration and used some majors in the day and of course the 50 watters but he sounds nothing like Blackmore because he is doing his own thing on top of it. The core mid/hairy/gainy/grind that EVH had is cool and I would like to have it to twist up with my own riffs.

Same goes for most classic Marshall tones. Even Edward tried to cop Clapton/Cream yet wound up sounding like himself because he was doing his own thing.

 

[indeedido]

nuke, a little while ago i modded an amp for the brown sound. this is the clip i sent him showing him what his new amp will do- SoundClick artist: rockstah plexi tweaks and mods - page with MP3 music downloads

he then said "great! will it do heavy stuff?"
i recorded this clip for him.
same amp - SoundClick artist: rockstah plexi tweaks and mods - page with MP3 music downloads

Mark

Mark, that second clip is what I'm talking about. Not playing an EVH riff, yet it still has that underlying tone/grind to it. Very cool!

 

[rockstah]

Thanks a lot!

 

[chuckharmonjr]

Mark thats one wicked sounding amp dude. Very well done.

 

[rockstah]

Mark thats one wicked sounding amp dude. Very well done.

Hey man, i appreciate that, thank you!

Mark

 

[peterplexi]

Rochkstahamps.com
But I'll bet you that a powerscaled YJM 100 will get you really close. Especially with a four pack of 20 watt heritage greenbacks!..Just sayin...

 

[RiverRatt]

Was Donn Landee on hand for or was any studio genius there at the Pasadena Center for the Nightmare Before Halloween boot?

The Nightmare Before Halloween

Here's a yummy sample....Sample


I have very mixed feelings about the "It's in his hands" argument...I think the rub comes from the POV of the person making the statement. From my POV there's absolutely nothing special going on with his hands in the first 10 seconds of FLYT from Nightmare and it's precisely those 10 seconds that owns me. I consider that his base tone and its THAT tone that I'm chasing. I could care less (at least at this point ) for his lead tone and in fact I find myself getting frustrated when I run across a sound clip claiming to nail early EVH tone and the entire damn clip is a solo....pointless, to me.

But at this stage I'm willing to concede that of the last 5% of completely coping him, 90% is his hands.

I'll post some pic's later about the PB mod.

I just checked this out - this is some hot shit! Thanks for cluing me in!

 

[rockstah]

Rochkstahamps.com
But I'll bet you that a powerscaled YJM 100 will get you really close. Especially with a four pack of 20 watt heritage greenbacks!..Just sayin...

Maybe.