My Favorite VH Tone

[SFW]

I know that I am in the minority, but to me this was the pinnacle of Eddie's tone.

 

[Ben Waylin]

First album.

FTW.

 

[RaceU4her]

i agree. someone posted this vid a while back and i was instantly in love

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

Love all early Marshall EVH tones,
But my all time fav EVH is Fair Warning, Mean Street, Sinners Swing, Dirty Movies…
the whole album is my desert island for sure.

 

[Racerxrated]

VHII, then I, then FW then FUCK.

 

[thegame]

In order:
VH 1, Fair Warning, WACF, 1984, VH 2, DD
The rest doesn’t register with me, though there is some good music here and there in the later era

Some early live bootlegs would be near the top too.

 

[Rick Lee]

1984

 

[Ben Waylin]

In order:
VH 1, Fair Warning, WACF, 1984, VH 2, DD
The rest doesn’t register with me, though there is some good music here and there in the later era

Some early live bootlegs would be near the top too.

FW has so much drop-D, dark sounding, coke-fueled anger.

 

[shredhead7]

I know that I'm probably in the minority, but my favorite is Diver Down. Hang Em High is perfect. I love the first five and when you are cranking the volume they all sound great, but I feel like DD has that tone without having to crank the stereo.

 

[thegame]

FW has so much drop-D, dark sounding, coke-fueled anger.

For being predominantly a hard rock band, Meanstreets, Sinner’s Swing and Unchained are pure heavy metal tunes. There’s a few more sprinkled around the catalog.

 

[ewill52]

I agree....until I listen to FW, then it's FW. Then i listen to VH1 and now it's the best lol. And so on and so on

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

VHII, then I, then FW then FUCK.

Ya, VHII is incredible tone. It’s a close second for me, right behind fair warning… It’s so thick and has so much depth to it in my opinion.

 

[Racerxrated]

Only VH tone I didn’t care for were the heavily modulated 5150 and OU812. Not my favorites.

 

[vertigo08]

When I was younger, early VH.

As I got older - loved the thickness of the balance tone. Especially the live tone from that tour.

Two completely different approaches but instantly recognizable.

 

[blackie13]

Its VHII and F.U.C.K...

Too bad you need2 diffrent rigs for each...

 

[SQUAREHEAD]

Yes, I really didn’t care for 5150 album tones either, But interestingly, I wonder if I would like fair warning even more if it had that VHII guitar tone?
Another-words, I sometimes wonder whether I like the ‘fair warning tone’ because I am being swayed by the music itself and not the actual guitar tone…

I saw Van Halen in 1981, 1984, 1986, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2012…
The worst live tone I ever heard from Eddie (for me) was the 1995 tour.
The best Marshall tone was 1984 concert.
The best Post Marshall tone, by a mile, was 1998 with his Peavey 5150II amplifiers. The juice he had that night, those amplifiers sounded like they were going to catch fire at any second…

It’s all subjective though, I guess nobody’s right or wrong.

 

[Techdeth]

Only VH tone I didn’t care for were the heavily modulated 5150 and OU812. Not my favorites.

I agree .

 

[rottingcorpse]

All of them. Every one of his tones was my favorite EVH tone.
Never heard him play and thought "mmmmmmmeh".

 

[Searay]

I appreciate that the tones evolved with the Super Lead setup. That first album was unlike anything before and peaked at Fair Warning. Still nothing like it in recorded tones. The later stuff is really a different topic once the preamp gain was utilized.

 

[Ben Waylin]

Only VH tone I didn’t care for were the heavily modulated 5150 and OU812. Not my favorites.

By then he was using the Bradshaw rig in the studio - running the amps into the load resistor.

All the 949's and the SDE-3000, H&H power amps bullshit.

His tone was totally wrecked by then.