Van Halen F.U.C.K. album

[Exo-metal]

Will the poor mans harmonizer nail the EVH pitch sounds...910/949, as well as microshift?
You know the one, Digitech ips33 or 33b

I have used the g-force for the delays and micro-pitch but somehow I think I am missing something and want to move on.

 

[Dave L]

Those Digitechs are very nice pitch shifters, but for that 80s detune sound the Yamaha SPX90 (or better yet the SPX90-II or SPX900) is the usual suspect on a budget. It was in all the big racks during the later part of the 80s and replaced the 910/949 for most guys except EVH. Other than that, the Eventide Pitchfactor does a damn fine job.

 

[Bronco]

Those Digitechs are very nice pitch shifters, but for that 80s detune sound the Yamaha SPX90 (or better yet the SPX90-II or SPX900) is the usual suspect on a budget. It was in all the big racks during the later part of the 80s and replaced the 910/949 for most guys except EVH. Other than that, the Eventide Pitchfactor does a damn fine job.

Yes, the Pitchfactor gets you so close, particularly if you can do W/D/W.

 

[Anonymous]

Those Digitechs are very nice pitch shifters, but for that 80s detune sound the Yamaha SPX90 (or better yet the SPX90-II or SPX900) is the usual suspect on a budget. It was in all the big racks during the later part of the 80s and replaced the 910/949 for most guys except EVH. Other than that, the Eventide Pitchfactor does a damn fine job.

Yes, the Pitchfactor gets you so close, particularly if you can do W/D/W.

For micropitchshift, the Picthfactor is indistinguishable from the H3000. It doesn't just get you close, it sounds identical.

I agree the SPX90 is pretty good at the detune thing as well, but the Pitchfactor is the same as an H3000 for the -9 cents/+9 cents shift that will get you that tone in a W/D/W setup.

Steve

 

[Bronco]

Those Digitechs are very nice pitch shifters, but for that 80s detune sound the Yamaha SPX90 (or better yet the SPX90-II or SPX900) is the usual suspect on a budget. It was in all the big racks during the later part of the 80s and replaced the 910/949 for most guys except EVH. Other than that, the Eventide Pitchfactor does a damn fine job.

Yes, the Pitchfactor gets you so close, particularly if you can do W/D/W.

For micropitchshift, the Picthfactor is indistinguishable from the H3000. It doesn't just get you close, it sounds identical.

I agree the SPX90 is pretty good at the detune thing as well, but the Pitchfactor is the same as an H3000 for the -9 cents/+9 cents shift that will get you that tone in a W/D/W setup.

Steve

Well I've never played through an actual H3000...but that's good to know! I mean, the Pitchfactor sounds dead nuts to me for micropitch shift. FWIW, I always thought +9/-9 sounded a bit much though; typically I did +5/-5.

 

[Dave L]

I had sold my Pitchfactor way before I got my H3000, and it´s almost impossible to compare sounds by memory - but on that tone they seemed extremely close in sound at least on guitar.

As for how deep the detuning should be, to me the mix has always been critical on detune. Just a smidge more or less volume can make or break the whole effect, and if you get it right +9/-9 doesn´t have to be all that obvious. I mostly use slight offsets both in pitch and predelay, though... +9/-8, +4/-5... and I think that makes it more lively and less static.

 

[eljodon]

With the Axe Fx 2 if you attach an LFO on both L & R pitch one set up at -9 and the other at + 9 it ads a cool movement to the tone. You can also use different types of LFO's that the axe fx has and it moves the pitch between 0 and 9 or -9 and it sounds really cool. If you have limited space on stage you can make a W/D/W system with 2 4 x 12 Marshall cabs that has the stereo inputs by using one for dry and the other one for the stereo wet sound. You can also get creative and use the 2 left and right speakers for the dry tone and the 2 outer speakers for stereo wet sound. Of course it's better to use 3 cabs but you get a similar effect with just 2 cabs.

 

[311splawndude]

I know it is heresy but for me Drop Dead Legs and Girl Gone Bad, which were the '58 V into the old Marshall, was Ed's best tone ever.

+311

 

[Jayy]

Those Digitechs are very nice pitch shifters, but for that 80s detune sound the Yamaha SPX90 (or better yet the SPX90-II or SPX900) is the usual suspect on a budget. It was in all the big racks during the later part of the 80s and replaced the 910/949 for most guys except EVH. Other than that, the Eventide Pitchfactor does a damn fine job.

Yes, the Pitchfactor gets you so close, particularly if you can do W/D/W.

For micropitchshift, the Picthfactor is indistinguishable from the H3000. It doesn't just get you close, it sounds identical.

I agree the SPX90 is pretty good at the detune thing as well, but the Pitchfactor is the same as an H3000 for the -9 cents/+9 cents shift that will get you that tone in a W/D/W setup.

Steve

I agree completely! I have the Pitchfactor and had an H3500 for a short time and now have an H8000FW. The Pitchfactor totally NAILS the micropitch effect. It's version of the H910 isn't bad at all either (I currently have 2 real H910s). It is cleaner than the H910, but at slight pitch shift it sounds pretty damn close, just cleaner. I have wanted to try the SPX90, but I haven't had a chance to.

 

[Jayy]

I know it is heresy but for me Drop Dead Legs and Girl Gone Bad, which were the '58 V into the old Marshall, was Ed's best tone ever.

+311

I love those tones too! Some of my favorite!

 

[Anonymous]

As for how deep the detuning should be, to me the mix has always been critical on detune. Just a smidge more or less volume can make or break the whole effect, and if you get it right +9/-9 doesn´t have to be all that obvious.

This 1,000,000% The dry to wet sound mix is critical, but +9/-9 is F.U.C.K. to my ears...

Steve

 

[the rossness]

It's funny this thread got bumped today. I was just listening to it yesterday, thinking the intro to Pleasure Dome has to be one of my favorites of all time.

Pleasure Dome is my favourite Hagar era tune!

 

[reverymike]

I know it is heresy but for me Drop Dead Legs and Girl Gone Bad, which were the '58 V into the old Marshall, was Ed's best tone ever.

+311

I love those tones too! Some of my favorite!

There's also 910 all over that record.

 

[Jayy]

I know it is heresy but for me Drop Dead Legs and Girl Gone Bad, which were the '58 V into the old Marshall, was Ed's best tone ever.

+311

I love those tones too! Some of my favorite!

There's also 910 all over that record.

Yep! And I LOVES me some H910!!!

 

[Exo-metal]

Can't find any good clips of the H910 or 949 with distorted guitars on youtube. Mostly demos and synth crap.

 

[eljodon]

3 years later and I still think his tone on the F.U.C.K album blows.

Not as much as the 5150 album which in my humble opinion, his tone was the worst tone out of any album!

 

[IntenseJim]

......

 

[Jayy]

Can't find any good clips of the H910 or 949 with distorted guitars on youtube. Mostly demos and synth crap.

Well, this isn't any great playing, just a couple of simple riffs, but shows the H910 in a stereo rig being mixed in and out on one side doing a slight detune setting. It goes from dry to varying levels of H910 mixed in. Not a great recording, but you can hear the character and sound of the H910 in there. It's my video and me playing. I wasn't trying to play anything great, just capture the effect with my shitty IPhone. The IPhone is all I have to record with.

 

[agbiggs]

I like both the 1984 and Balance tones - agree that 5150 was over the top and cheesy.

Interestingly, for the last VH tour where they played Drop Dead Legs, Ed just used a chorus pedal.

 

[Jayy]

I like both the 1984 and Balance tones - agree that 5150 was over the top and cheesy.

Interestingly, for the last VH tour where they played Drop Dead Legs, Ed just used a chorus pedal.

You know, one way or another I end up liking all of his tones on all of the albums, or at least pieces of the albums. The album I like the least overall is VH3, except the song fire in the hole. Obviously full of micropitch shift and DAMN what a tone!

I agree also that 5150 was over the top cheesy, but damn it, I like it too! Overall my favorite albums as far as tone are Fair Warning, 1984, VH2, and F.U.C.K.