Van Halen F.U.C.K. album

[Anonymous]

I thought Gilbert's tone on the first Mr. Big record was pretty sweet. It was raw, but still had a cool spread sound to it. But, I do understand what you're saying. It's NOT that focused, in your face, AC/DC sound.

In the early 90's i used an ADA MP1, 2 ADA 2x12 cabinets, a Mosvalve poweramp and an Alesis processor and i ran a stereo chorus. Everyone in my band back then always told me they could NEVER hear me no matter how loud i turned up. I got a Marshall halfstack, only ran a Tubescreamer and a wah pedal! All of a sudden, there i was. Best thing i ever did was trash that bullshit rack.

Now I know that this is not reasonable for most small club/bar bands because it is too much shit to lug around and there isn't much room on the stages, but that is why you use a dry cab in the center and mix the Left/Right micropitchshifted/delayed cabs LOW in the mix to just get a taste of those effects. The main sound should be the dry cab. The effected cabs are "icing on the cake". Problem is that Ed overwhelmed everything with the micropitchshifted/delayed sound on OU812 and beyond... He was using pitchshifting earlier than that, but wasn't overwhelming the overall sound like he did later. Of course, this is my opinion... I do like that sound sometimes (hell, almost anything you play sounds good with all that wash and delay ), but it would never be my main thing...

Steve

 

[mentoneman]

the eventide deal is also what hosed luke and vai

I never liked the eventide effect on dirty tones but tri stereo chorus to me sounds jucier and less phase scooped while still giving the tone motion and space. I think mutt lang managed to capture the dirty chorus sound best on some later def lep albums. dan huff and landau too.

Eddie got his tone right the first time with the wet/dry rig and a little ambience in the dry.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I always thought the guitar tone on this album was a little bit shrill, I prefer Eddie's older tones from the 1970s.
Still, I do like it and how he uses the Eventide.

You can cop it fairly easily with a Boss PS-5.

It's not that far off from the original.

Sorry, I don't think it sounds very close at all.

 

[Rogue]

My favorite tone from Ed's later stuff is off VHIII, except for the clean tones. The cleans were lifeless. The crunchy and heavier stuff was balanced with a nice, thick mid presence again. I thought the FUCK and Balance tone thinned out a bit on top.

 

[gmcelroy]

The album's producer Andy Johns stated in an interview with Vintage Guitar Magazine a few months back when dicussing some highlights of his career and people he has worked with that Ed was having issues with his #1 Marshall which is why Ed looked for another amp to use which ended up being a Soldano SLO. Johns also went on to mention that Ed also used a couple of other amps in small bits but the majority of the album is an SLO. Ironically, if I remember the article correctly, Johns also stated that the SLO had a "generic tone" to his ears and he was a bit disappointed to not be able to use the Marshall since it was the iconic Van Halen sound.

 

[megamike]

Love the FUCK CD,it never leaves my CHARGER

 

[petejt]

I never liked the eventide effect on dirty tones but tri stereo chorus to me sounds jucier and less phase scooped while still giving the tone motion and space.

What do you mean by "phase scooped"? Is it a shrill sound? Thin, brittle, shrill-like?

And therefore the Tri-Stereo Chorus in comparison is thicker, solid, warmer? And "juicier" as you said?

Would that just be the case because the Tri-Stereo Chorus is an analogue device, and the Eventide is digital?
Or is it more to do with the processes involved to create the effect, and how the processes affects the dirty tone/s?

 

[mboogman]

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.

 

[petejt]

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.

Haha .


I bumped it because I've been experimenting with my Chroma Chorus, and remembered that I mentioned it in this thread so wanted to see if anyone had commented on it. I thought what Mentoneman said about the Eventide and tri-stereo chorus really interesting, so I want to find out more about them.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I always thought the guitar tone on this album was a little bit shrill, I prefer Eddie's older tones from the 1970s.
Still, I do like it and how he uses the Eventide.

You can cop it fairly easily with a Boss PS-5.

It's not that far off from the original.

Sorry, I don't think it sounds very close at all.

No close at all? Sounds very close to me.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

I never listened to this album back in the day. 5150 was the last VH I ever bought. I had seen them live since then but never bought anything. Beginning of the week I put in fuck and was really diggin the tone. Pretty killer if you ask me. Really made me want that Rockstah guys mod. Sounds awesome.

 

[Rogue]

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.

All of Pleasure Dome is one of my all time favorites.

 

[Gitfiddler]

I thought VH has always used Vox amps for recording

 

[petejt]

You out there Pat?

 

[rockstah]

I never listened to this album back in the day. 5150 was the last VH I ever bought. I had seen them live since then but never bought anything. Beginning of the week I put in fuck and was really diggin the tone. Pretty killer if you ask me. Really made me want that Rockstah guys mod. Sounds awesome.

interesting as i don't even go for this tone.
Mark

 

[Gsxrbusa]

I never listened to this album back in the day. 5150 was the last VH I ever bought. I had seen them live since then but never bought anything. Beginning of the week I put in fuck and was really diggin the tone. Pretty killer if you ask me. Really made me want that Rockstah guys mod. Sounds awesome.

interesting as i don't even go for this tone.
Mark

I meant older VH in general. It's hard to believe fuck is 20 years old now. Not Fuck per say. Just older. Mr.VH sounds likes like himself no matter what amp he seems to have imo. Your mods and or amps make me think older VH, that's all.

 

[rockstah]

i hear ya.
Mark

 

[skoora]

I am going to have to duck after this post, but while I love the songs on this one, I hate Eddies tone - way too processed and muddy. I much prefer his tone on Balance, although I would be the first to admit the songs are not as strong.

BTW - everyone mentions the SLO, but didnt he also use a prototype 5150 on this album?

JQ

Isn't the SLO a 5150 prototype?

I hate chorus on dirty tones period. Perfect example is Zakk Wylde's awful live tone with Ozzy. Sounds big and wide but no teeth or balls.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I always thought the guitar tone on this album was a little bit shrill, I prefer Eddie's older tones from the 1970s.
Still, I do like it and how he uses the Eventide.

You can cop it fairly easily with a Boss PS-5.

It's not that far off from the original.

Sorry, I don't think it sounds very close at all.

No close at all? Sounds very close to me.

I stand by my statement. I don't want to start a fingers vs. gear war, but I really do think that those are about as different tones as one can achieve while playing the same riff. The top one sounds like it doesn't have very much at all below say 150Hz or so, and the album version is full of that ~80Hz fundamental "punch in the stomach" low end. The midrange voicing is all wrong as well. I'd say that the top clip could pass for VH1, but not the stuff it's being compared to.

 

[petejt]

bump for Mentoneman.