Van Halen - Diver Down Tone

[Guitar G]

Replaced guitars on Where Have All The Good Times Gone off of Diver Down. Tones from my Axe FX.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Care to share your settings ?

 

[Guitar G]

Sure. I'll post them here later today.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Sure. I'll post them here later today.

I'd be interested to see that.

I've used lots of modelers over the years (both software and hardware) chasing this tone.

Curious to see what you came up with, as far as the presets

 

[Guitar G]

It's definitely a unique sound. You don't realize just hw brittle it is until you try and recreate it. A lot of his older stuff is like that on the records. Guessing there was some magic dust being applied to the tracks after being recorded.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Guessing there was some magic dust being applied to the tracks after being recorded.

Pultec EPQ-1A

 

[Guitar G]

You sir are a genius. Downloaded a clone VST of the Pultec and within minutes I have gotten closer to the DD tone than ever before. Used my tracks from that video and dropped all DAW EQ for the guitars and replaced with the Pultec. Done. Sounds much more authentic. That high end shrill-ness is there.

Looking at my preset in the Axe - the only thing I did in there was related to the Cab Preamp. You have an Axe FX? Want the preset?

 

[Dave M]

Are you guys using the Pultec (or its VST) on individual track(s), or on a guitar buss?

 

[Guitar G]

For my test (not in the video) I only ran the VST on the guitar track

 

[psychodave]

Sound cool.

It looks like you have a buffer in the signal?

 

[Guitar G]

CAE MC406 buffer - yes. Only used to send a hotter signal to a DI box when tracking a DI. Not used here.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Are you guys using the Pultec (or its VST) on individual track(s), or on a guitar buss?

On the guitar track..

I'm using the Waves plugins for the EQP-1 and the MEQ-5

Here are my baseline VH settings.

ymmv

 

[Arch Stanton]

You have an Axe FX? Want the preset?

I do not, but I understand the presets and would just be curious to see how you're setting the device to get your tones.

Was into the modeler thing quite a while back.

These days I use a tube amp primarily.

 

[Guitar G]

I used the stock preset The Brown Sound with no tweaks to the amp settings. No drive pedals. The preset does have the Jose mod switch activated. Here's a view of the amp controls:

Here's a view of the Cab Preamp that I did activate and modify. The cab is a stock IR "4x12 MAR PR-M20B FULL (OH).

 

[Dave M]

On the guitar track..

I'm using the Waves plugins for the EQP-1 and the MEQ-5

Here are my baseline VH settings.

ymmv

Thanks!

 

[Arch Stanton]

Thanks!

Here's a screenshot of Jim Gaustad's "Fair Warning" settings.

He's using a different brand of plugin.