Mike Soldano talks about EVH's Marshall

[paulyc]

I'm taking what he said at face value...that the best sound he gets is sitting around at home with that Bandmaster cranked on 10, that's how it appears in the Jas Orbject interview in Guitar Player...

 

[paulyc]

.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm taking what he said at face value...that the best sound he gets is sitting around at home with that Bandmaster cranked on 10, that's how it appears in the Jas Orbject interview in Guitar Player...

Taking what Ed says in interviews at face value rarely leads to the actual facts...

Steve

 

[paulyc]

You're right about that ! But I still think that Bandmaster is on there.

 

[Rdodson]

I was only half-joking. I think Eugenia was a pretty tough cookie.

 

[paulyc]

I remember reading about him painting the guitars in the house and she'd be yelling at him to do it outside because of the fumes stinking up the house, and he says " It's raining mom...", too funny. Sounds like my mom when I was a kid building models in the basement.

 

[charvelstrat81]

I would also point out that Ed stated that the BEST tone he ever got was sitting around his house with the white Fender Bandmaster cranked on 10 plugged into ONLY the extension speaker jack, bypassing the main speaker jack, which causes fuzzed out mayhem at low volume levels, which makes me wonder if the Fender is blended with the Marshall on the first record...the Marshall would give it the balls and power and the Fender would give the fizzy/fuzzy stuff, then add in that EMT plate reverb being super bright and there you go... If the Bandmaster was his favorite tone, I'm sure it was at the studio for VHI, and Eddie being an experimental kind of guy would probably pipe up and say mic this up and blend it in...

Very possible and i am with you i have suspected that for years
if you slaved a old bandmaster(they way he used it to fuzz out) into a plexi it would get a VH I type gain and tone. All he had to do is use a load box into the marshall input from the fenders
speaker out. Not saying this is definite BUT is a possibility.
Maybe thats why no record since has sounded like VH I and despite what many say i have not heard a live tone get that same tone either.
His old early 78 tone was him using that same marshall head until it and some other gear got misplaced by Pan am coming back from japan.
Then he used all new marshalls,laneys,music mans.
Point is when i listen to live stuff from late 77,early 78 when that marshall was still be used i dont hear VH I gain.

 

[anomaly]

I don't doubt that it's stock either. It sounds like a Marshall on the verge of collapse. It's dimed out with a variac holding the voltage back so the tone is saggy and less linear sounding, and then a bunch of reverb thrown on top to wet it up.

 

[Anonymous]

You're right about that ! But I still think that Bandmaster is on there.

I seriously doubt it. He used it as a practice amp at low volume. The tone on the first album is all (relatively) stock Marshall Super Lead with the Variac and Echoplex IMO (some odd values and other minor changes here and there). If you listen to the isolated tracks there just isn't that much gain... I won't argue this as it is my opinion and this argument has been done to DEATH here and everywhere else...

Steve

 

[Chubtone]

I seriously doubt it. He used it as a practice amp at low volume. The tone on the first album is all (relatively) stock Marshall Super Lead with the Variac and Echoplex IMO (some odd values and other minor changes here and there). If you listen to the isolated tracks there just isn't that much gain... I won't argue this as it is my opinion and this argument has been done to DEATH here and everywhere else...

Steve

I disagree with every point you just made just for the sake of keeping this thread alive!

 

[Anonymous]

I seriously doubt it. He used it as a practice amp at low volume. The tone on the first album is all (relatively) stock Marshall Super Lead with the Variac and Echoplex IMO (some odd values and other minor changes here and there). If you listen to the isolated tracks there just isn't that much gain... I won't argue this as it is my opinion and this argument has been done to DEATH here and everywhere else...

Steve

I disagree with every point you just made just for the sake of keeping this thread alive!

Well, as I said, I won't argue with you.

Steve

 

[paulyc]

I would also point out that Ed stated that the BEST tone he ever got was sitting around his house with the white Fender Bandmaster cranked on 10 plugged into ONLY the extension speaker jack, bypassing the main speaker jack, which causes fuzzed out mayhem at low volume levels, which makes me wonder if the Fender is blended with the Marshall on the first record...the Marshall would give it the balls and power and the Fender would give the fizzy/fuzzy stuff, then add in that EMT plate reverb being super bright and there you go... If the Bandmaster was his favorite tone, I'm sure it was at the studio for VHI, and Eddie being an experimental kind of guy would probably pipe up and say mic this up and blend it in...

Very possible and i am with you i have suspected that for years
if you slaved a old bandmaster(they way he used it to fuzz out) into a plexi it would get a VH I type gain and tone. All he had to do is use a load box into the marshall input from the fenders
speaker out. Not saying this is definite BUT is a possibility.
Maybe thats why no record since has sounded like VH I and despite what many say i have not heard a live tone get that same tone either.
His old early 78 tone was him using that same marshall head until it and some other gear got misplaced by Pan am coming back from japan.
Then he used all new marshalls,laneys,music mans.
Point is when i listen to live stuff from late 77,early 78 when that marshall was still be used i dont hear VH I gain.

No slaving...just the Bandmaster along side the Marshall

 

[paulyc]

The Variac doesn't do anything except make it quieter...especially the way he ran it at 89 or 90 volts with the bias cranked up, it would sound stock just quieter...no gain boost or sagginess to it, and the Echoplex just doesn't generate that level of gain...why are all his later amps high gain if he doesn't like high gain ? I'll NEVER believe there wasn't gain boosting or Bandmaster shit going on on the first record, but he backed away from it pretty quickly, 'cuz VHII don't sound like that...

 

[CP5150]

[attachment=0]image.jpg[/attachmentWas the amp modded? His tech from the 1984 tour thinks so. Three way toggle!?! What? Not sure if it's readable. First column 7th paragraph. Rudy says that. "It had the three-way toggle switch assembly and has been modified." He's talking about the number one main "magic" Marshall. Is he lying? Maybe. Ed didn't like people copying his style/tapping, guitar, or sound I'm sure. Maybe Ed instructed him to lie. He certainly seems truthful about the rest of Ed's gear.

MXR Micro Amo pedal. I assumed it was a boost for solos. Maybe he used it more than we think.

WACF sounds a lot like VH I. Everyboy Wants Some! Those intro chords are very fizzy. Crisp too. My point? I think his tone was similar for all the first records. Mic placement and recording techniques make the difference. Plus he was changing pickups back then too. VH I is more fizzy yes. Speakers? Some secret clipping from the console? A Boss Overdrive pedal? The Fender head blended somehow? Maybe. The Fender I don't see happening. Ed by all accounts a shy sweet guy(at the time!) telling Ted hey, I really like my bedroom rig. Can we use that? These guys were a little intimated by Ted. Ed built a studio to do what he wanted away from Ted. However I can totally see Ted saying hey Ed. Put this pedal in front of your amp. All your heroes use one. And bam. There is the fizzy extra gain. Then Out on tour Ed goes this thing sucks and throws it away.

I don't think so though. I think EQ and studio magic are the difference in VH I and VH II.

 

[Gainfreak]

The Variac doesn't do anything except make it quieter...especially the way he ran it at 89 or 90 volts with the bias cranked up, it would sound stock just quieter...no gain boost or sagginess to it, and the Echoplex just doesn't generate that level of gain...why are all his later amps high gain if he doesn't like high gain ? I'll NEVER believe there wasn't gain boosting or Bandmaster shit going on on the first record, but he backed away from it pretty quickly, 'cuz VHII don't sound like that...

First off.. Wassup everyone. I haven't been on this forum in ages because I left due to the horseshit that was going on and I'm only here now because I bought something in the classifieds and saw this! With that said, Those who know me, should already know that I love the whole VH debates, so I figured that I would chime in. This will more then likely be my one and only time on here, so you can take this information or leave it, but I'll offer it up anyway and be done with it.

The problem with the EVH debate is that if you tell a lie for so long, it becomes the truth. I have been hipped to exactly what was done to get that tone and you can take what I'm saying of leave it. I don't really care and will more then luikely be met with all sorts of interesting comments lol.

As a person who once thought the same way you did I can now tell you with 100% conviction that you are WRONG. DEAD wrong. You can get that amount of gain out of a plexi and a variac provided that it has the right spec. If you play a stock plexi that has your typical values that became mainstream and slap a variac on it, it will be cool and distort more but not like EVH distortion, but if you use a Plexi that had the VH values , or close to it, dime it or close to dime it and slap a variac on it and use it through low wattage speakers you will be surprised by what you hear.
The reason why VH1 doesn't sound like VH II and vice versa besides the obvious is because VH 1 has a mix of 2 speakers. VHII does not. I have heard the unjaped original and there is a definite mix og 2 speakers which makes VH1 gainier sounding and rattier (sp? )

If you don't want to take my word on it, here is a clip. Mike Fortin built me a Marshall with a specific spec and a built in variac. The variac was built in to save me the hassle and it works just like a variac would. There is no horseshit going on, I plugged straight into the amp on a side that only has 2 gain stages and when I cranked it and brought the volume down with the variac, this is what I got . (added verb and delay post)The fucking amp goes from real clean to mean as you dump the variac and the harmonics explode right off of the guitar. If I had never gotten to experience this, id still think that there was a gain mod but the truth is that this is very close to a stock plexi spec.
I don't claim to have nailed "THE TONE" but when playing this amp, it removed a lot of pre conceived notions I had about the infamous brown sound.
The truth is, Yes mo fo's.. you can get that much gain out of 2 gain stages if you have the right ingredients. You guys can continue to believe what you want, and that's ok, but I'm good with what I have learned!

You will notice that the Variac adds the hair and the illusive extra zing or warp that you only here EVH get. I've heard many VH clips and they miss that extra cackyness or fizz on the notes.

Hope all is well with everyone and Happy Holidays to all/

Cheers!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYr-CITKD5s

 

[evhfan]

So this entire industry that has sprung up in the wake of EVH's Magic "Modded" Marshall is all bullshit? All these guys modding Marshalls (Suhr/Splawn/Friedman...the list is endless)...there was no modded Marshall?

I don't think so...

 

[Gainfreak]

So this entire industry that has sprung up in the wake of EVH's Magic "Modded" Marshall is all bullshit? All these guys modding Marshalls (Suhr/Splawn/Friedman...the list is endless)...there was no modded Marshall?

I don't think so...

Well this is a Grey area. I'm sure that Jose Modded Eddies other Marshalls to have the same spec as his #1.

You have to take into consideration that Marshall used the parts that they had. When they ran out, they would use substitutes. I'm sure that when Eddies amp was built, they subbed a few parts and that's what you get. Throw a variac on a particular spec'ed marshall and you get that sound. Throw a variac on your standard Plexi spec and you get something else. You can continue to think whatever you want and I don't mean that in a nasty way.
This is the problem we have with all of this shit. It's peoples belief system. Even if EVH came into this thread and told you the `100% truth, people will still think he is full of shit because the damage has been done.
I'm going back off into hibernation. Cheers everyone!

 

[JackBootedThug]

So this entire industry that has sprung up in the wake of EVH's Magic "Modded" Marshall is all bullshit? All these guys modding Marshalls (Suhr/Splawn/Friedman...the list is endless)...there was no modded Marshall?

I don't think so...

Well this is a Grey area. I'm sure that Jose Modded Eddies other Marshalls to have the same spec as his #1.

You have to take into consideration that Marshall used the parts that they had. When they ran out, they would use substitutes. I'm sure that when Eddies amp was built, they subbed a few parts and that's what you get. Throw a variac on a particular spec'ed marshall and you get that sound. Throw a variac on your standard Plexi spec and you get something else. You can continue to think whatever you want and I don't mean that in a nasty way.
This is the problem we have with all of this shit. It's peoples belief system. Even if EVH came into this thread and told you the `100% truth, people will still think he is full of shit because the damage has been done.
I'm going back off into hibernation. Cheers everyone!

i thought he used a camaron?

 

[Gainfreak]

So this entire industry that has sprung up in the wake of EVH's Magic "Modded" Marshall is all bullshit? All these guys modding Marshalls (Suhr/Splawn/Friedman...the list is endless)...there was no modded Marshall?

I don't think so...

Well this is a Grey area. I'm sure that Jose Modded Eddies other Marshalls to have the same spec as his #1.

You have to take into consideration that Marshall used the parts that they had. When they ran out, they would use substitutes. I'm sure that when Eddies amp was built, they subbed a few parts and that's what you get. Throw a variac on a particular spec'ed marshall and you get that sound. Throw a variac on your standard Plexi spec and you get something else. You can continue to think whatever you want and I don't mean that in a nasty way.
This is the problem we have with all of this shit. It's peoples belief system. Even if EVH came into this thread and told you the `100% truth, people will still think he is full of shit because the damage has been done.
I'm going back off into hibernation. Cheers everyone!

i thought he used a camaron?

Doesn't everyone? Pfffffft

 

[JackBootedThug]

So this entire industry that has sprung up in the wake of EVH's Magic "Modded" Marshall is all bullshit? All these guys modding Marshalls (Suhr/Splawn/Friedman...the list is endless)...there was no modded Marshall?

I don't think so...

Well this is a Grey area. I'm sure that Jose Modded Eddies other Marshalls to have the same spec as his #1.

You have to take into consideration that Marshall used the parts that they had. When they ran out, they would use substitutes. I'm sure that when Eddies amp was built, they subbed a few parts and that's what you get. Throw a variac on a particular spec'ed marshall and you get that sound. Throw a variac on your standard Plexi spec and you get something else. You can continue to think whatever you want and I don't mean that in a nasty way.
This is the problem we have with all of this shit. It's peoples belief system. Even if EVH came into this thread and told you the `100% truth, people will still think he is full of shit because the damage has been done.
I'm going back off into hibernation. Cheers everyone!

i thought he used a camaron?

Doesn't everyone? Pfffffft

now i remember-tremoverb.