Van Halen F.U.C.K. album

[CP5150]

This is Jan 1991. Carnal Knowledge was released in June. Tour started in August. I assume, yes I'm guessing that the Peavey was still in prototype stages in Jan. He also used the Soldano rig in Cabo for the opening. No secret he was using it. I wouldn't show up wth a new amp at NAMM either. I'd use what I knew and trusted. I'll bet there was that no name Peavey head sitting at 5150. The one that is obviously a 5150 but has no badging on it. Although based on Ed's quotes from the time he was actively recording and getting EBMM prototypes arriving. So he's gotta be close to done recording the album if he's running around with his favorite EBMM. Which according to Matt Bruck became number one as soon as it arrived. Maybe?

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

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

Agree I lean more towards drop dead legs as some serious EVH tone. Just right up front, bright and warm at the same time, singing sustain.
Well put together tone at his best.

 

[CP5150]

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

Agree I lean more towards drop dead legs as some serious EVH tone. Just right up front, bright and warm at the same time, singing sustain.
Well put together tone at his best.

That 1984 tone is my fave.

Let's talk Ed and Soldano for a sec. I heard a rumor that Ed was supposed to endorse Soldano. He and Mike couldn't agree on the split. Ed wanted too much. Peavey heard Ed was shopping for amp companies and gave him whatever he wanted to get him on board. And he wanted money and a copy of the Soldano. I heard this around 1994. Anyone else ever hear this or know if there's any truth to it? It makes sense to me on a couple levels. Ed used the SLO heads. And the 5150 is a rip off of the SLO. Also makes sense because Mike worked on Ed's Marshall. Easy to see when he built the SLO he might show it to one of the most influential rock guitar players ever.

Sometime I think Sucker In A Three Piece piece from OU812 is an SLO. Timeline would be tight. 1988. SLO was what late 1987-1988? Think OU812 was finished by early 1988. Very early.

 

[Rick Lee]

I've heard there was a lawsuit between Soldano and Peavey that quietly went away. And I heard from a guy at Jet City, while I was standing 5' from Mike Soldano, that Mike was backstage at a VH show on the 2007 tour and saw two SLOs in Ed's rig.

 

[Bronco]

Sometime I think Sucker In A Three Piece piece from OU812 is an SLO. Timeline would be tight. 1988. SLO was what late 1987-1988? Think OU812 was finished by early 1988. Very early.

Pretty sure that entire OU812 album is 12301...and in particular, Sucker definitely sounds Marshall, to me anyways...

 

[Dave L]

Yeah, the Soldano didn´t make it to OU812. It could have, though, since very early adopter Steve Lukather got his SLO in time to go back and rerecord the leads on The Seventh One, which came out a few months before OU812.

 

[CP5150]

Wait a sec. I was distracted by the removal of the Soldano letters and my daughter jumping on my lap. Is that the 5150 prototype is right there! I think it is. I thought I saw one with the 5150 grill and chicken knobs. Just no 5150. Maybe I remembered it wrong and it's this head?

Remember the Cabo Wabo clips? There's an Ampeg head next to his blue SLO head. When all I had was pictures I wondered which he was really using. Sounds like the SLO in YT clips. Clearly he's plugged into the SLO. The Peavey there as a back up?

 

[Jayy]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has doubts that he actually used Peavey 5150s on the F.U.C.K tour! LOL.

 

[IntenseJim]

Let's talk Ed and Soldano for a sec. I heard a rumor that Ed was supposed to endorse Soldano. He and Mike couldn't agree on the split. Ed wanted too much. Peavey heard Ed was shopping for amp companies and gave him whatever he wanted to get him on board. And he wanted money and a copy of the Soldano. I heard this around 1994. Anyone else ever hear this or know if there's any truth to it? It makes sense to me on a couple levels. Ed used the SLO heads. And the 5150 is a rip off of the SLO. Also makes sense because Mike worked on Ed's Marshall. Easy to see when he built the SLO he might show it to one of the most influential rock guitar players ever.

Sometime I think Sucker In A Three Piece piece from OU812 is an SLO. Timeline would be tight. 1988. SLO was what late 1987-1988? Think OU812 was finished by early 1988. Very early.

Mike is as straight and honest as one can expect. A man of principle and integrity. No games. I know this from personal experience with him since 1990, time and time again, and his work with others.

Ed's reputation is... less sterling.

 

[DanO5150]

Yea Eddie's guitar sounds pretty awesome on F.U.CK...
I've been playing through my Peavey 5150 head for almost 20 years. I do have "signature" head (not the block letter) but the cheap Chinese tubes have been long gone since I've owned it LOL Anyways, had Jerry at FJA mod it like 10 or 12 years ago. It still rips. I haven't been able to replace it LOL
Anyways, I ran across this thread because I was listening to the 1991 MTV VMAs and noticed that Eddie's tone is almost more chorus then just pitch shift. I was just poking around to see what I could find on it.
I've used (still do) a w/d/w stereo rig for a long time. Sound guys "love" it when I show up to a show and ask for 3 channels LOL

edit: I didn't realize that @sgill72 was on this board. Anyways, I bought a bunch of components from him and he helped me get my w/d/w rig going.

 

[DanO5150]

This is Jan 1991. Carnal Knowledge was released in June. Tour started in August. I assume, yes I'm guessing that the Peavey was still in prototype stages in Jan. He also used the Soldano rig in Cabo for the opening. No secret he was using it. I wouldn't show up wth a new amp at NAMM either. I'd use what I knew and trusted. I'll bet there was that no name Peavey head sitting at 5150. The one that is obviously a 5150 but has no badging on it. Although based on Ed's quotes from the time he was actively recording and getting EBMM prototypes arriving. So he's gotta be close to done recording the album if he's running around with his favorite EBMM. Which according to Matt Bruck became number one as soon as it arrived. Maybe?

That VTM head; the SLO is sitting on must be one of the ones James Brown (the main engineer working with Eddie for the 5150 development)modded to see what Eddie liked. Awesome pic. Thanks for sharing.