Was EVH using his old trusty Marshall still in 1985?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kyrpajyra
  • Start date Start date
TheToneDig said:
Marshall amps are like wrestling with a beast.

Eddie didn't have attenuators around so he tried to lower the voltage on his Plexi because they were too loud. After destroying several amps using a light dimmer switch he got a Variac and that's how the foundation for the Brown sound was achieved incidentally to his lowering volume. Then you need the EvH chops which is really a lot of his tone also. Give someone else his rig and it will sound like any other Plexi.

That studio is playing those amps fully opened up and isolated in another room. The results through the monitors sound incredible. Can you imagine how loud it would be in the room? A guitar just sitting on a stand would be playing by itself with the resonance going on.
Click to expand...
Altair attenuators were around before VH-1. He didnt want quiet
 
RaceU4her said:
did eddie have a preferred mic/mics or technique?? out of all the evh threads i never really see that discussed much when its probably a big part
Click to expand...


Unidyne 57s…. That was what the early records were. Get an older uni 57, the high end sounds like Van Halen no matter what amp it’s on haha. Also he made the “fredman technique” or something very very similar way cool before it was a thing as well.
 
Racerxrated said:
Everything on 10, at 90v is still crushingly loud, I can assure you.
Ed did that because he liked the tone it produced, not because it was too loud.
Click to expand...

God yes. A 1959 is crushingly loud when turned up for any kind of distortion. Lowering the rails will get more distortion, a bit earlier, but it'll still be extremely loud. That's why you're playing in a "soundproof" room with heavily insulated headphones on to hear the mix - a thing you can do in a professional studio that you can't do at home.

Even then, lots of guys would sit in a different room to play, running a long cable or splitting them. There's lots of techniques in the studio for capturing sound. No one method.
 
VESmedic said:
Literally this, 100 percent. It’s hillarious, embarrassing, and uncomfortable how dumb he looks all at once.
Click to expand...
It’s become embarrassing to read his posts. Preaching the same stuff that we’ve all known for years, like he actually came up with it😂
… and everything always comes back to volume / dB
 
Does anyone know if both Mike Soldano and Dave Friedman refer to a plexi with the "fat cap" as all stock? curious about this- I read some amps did have this done at the factory whether intentional or not? and that cap value adds gain doesnt it?
 
9b556e9461679f1216739d8de240aeff.jpg

guitarist_edward_van_halen_1977%20charvel_strat_frankenstrat_guitar_1979_marshall_100_watt_plexi_amp_variac_vhII_w.jpg


To stock or not to stock that is the question. This has been beat into the ground.
Ed's amp had a master, then it didn't.
Friedman went thru the amp 10/12 years ago and refurbished it back to stock. Its been worked on before that.
Anyone who was alive in 1978 and heard the first VH album knew that wasn't a "stock" amp.
Who cares really.
 
Last edited:
VESmedic said:
Unidyne 57s…. That was what the early records were. Get an older uni 57, the high end sounds like Van Halen no matter what amp it’s on haha. Also he made the “fredman technique” or something very very similar way cool before it was a thing as well.
Click to expand...
Anyone here who's compared Uni 57 and a current SM 57? Clips only tell so much but what i'm hearing is that uni has a tad more highs.
 
Kyrpajyra said:
Anyone here who's compared Uni 57 and a current SM 57? Clips only tell so much but what i'm hearing is that uni has a tad more highs.
Click to expand...


I have some old clips I did awhile back, of course not scientific because you can’t always place the mic in the absolute exact same location as another, but that’s accurate yes. More higher highs( air for lack of a better term) and not near the pronounced 3k spike of the new 57s. The caveat? They all sound different. Every uni I own sounds different than the other, I have a favorite like many, but they are all different. But don’t drink the Kool aid too much, while I often prefer the uni, the new 57 is just as good and is sometimes the better option in XYZ situation like anything.
 
VESmedic said:
Unidyne 57s…. That was what the early records were. Get an older uni 57, the high end sounds like Van Halen no matter what amp it’s on haha. Also he made the “fredman technique” or something very very similar way cool before it was a thing as well.
Click to expand...


Yeah my unidyne has that crispy top, almost too much at times, I could see where if he did some sort of fredman the off axis might have filled it in a little
 
Kyrpajyra said:
Damn i really wish someone who knows amps would be able to get a hold on that one such as Dave Friedman so he could take a look at it.
Click to expand...
He did roughly 10 years ago at the old Tone Merchant's shop in Anaheim. I actually got to see it -- it was tagged and ready to go in the back store room. FWIW, Soldano, Friedman, Bogner, Suhr, and Fryette have all seen the amp inside and out.
 
RoccoPezzin said:
He used his Marshall on every record up until 1991 as far as I know, so that's probably what's being played here, probably through G12m Greenbacks. Love this clip!
Click to expand...
He brought it back and used it on parts of Balance
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top