I remember being a junior in high school my older friends dragged me to a Black Sabbath concert in Cleveland / I saw this whole rig on stage / then Van Halen happened for 45 mins / nothing prepared us for the Sonic hurricane that hit us / this was the loudest opening band I ever witnessed and it was like unreal was I saw this guy do on guitar / the next day I’m at biggest guitar store in Columbus looking for a blk and wht stripped fender / salesman had no clue what I was describing well I guess I was describing the future .
Someone lost a ticket to the Seattle Sabbath/Van Halen show in my school lunchroom on the day of the show. I was only 15 and gave it to the only guy I knew who could drive. I asked him the next day how the show was. He said "Sabbath was okay but the opening band was mindblowing - never seen anything like it." Remember that like it was yesterday.
Too bad VH never gave up and coming bands the same opportunity during the Roth years that Sabbath gave them. I saw VH twice with Roth. Don't remember the pitiful band that opened the first time but the second was After the Fire. (Der Kommissar). They were so bad they got booed off stage. This was before anyone really knew off them and at least a year before Der Kommissar hit the charts. Hagar put a stop to that crap when he joined the band. I think Randy Bachman opened for VH on the 5150 tour.
Eddie is soooooooooooooo much more than just tapping . He had that special something that put him on a much higher level than everybody else . There have always been great shredders and guitarists out there but Eddie just had something extra that nobody else had whether it was his impeccable ridiculously tight rhythm playing and natural groove who knows . Even other guitar greats call him "The King" .
In 1978, I was in a Cincinnati record store when "You Really Got Me" exploded from the sounded system. Usually songs simply begin, but this one grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. Everything about it--the brassy vocals, the soaring harmonies, the jet-sound of the pick sliding down the strings, the freewheeling guitar fills and solo, set my heart racing. Who was this? At first I thought Van Halen was the name of the lead singer. I didn't know it was actually the last name of two of the players, until I bought the album soon afterwards. Running home and slapping it on my turntable, I was in for more thrilling surprises. The record began with a chorus of sirens that descended until a bass guitar broke in. Just as I thought "cool," two taps of the high-hat followed, then that little guitar twinkle, and then they charged into the killer hook for Running with the Devil. Just like in the record store, it sent me over the top. Then followed my first hearing of the soon-to-be-iconic Eruption, Eddie mashing the whammy bar way down low, fast-picking classical notes, and giving me my introduction to the wonders of tapping. When it faded out at the end I was staring into space, thinking "What did I just hear?" I almost didn't notice when You Really Got Me came on after that. And that was just the beginning. Song after song was an exuberant celebration of the guitar, music and, I think, just being alive. Then I saw them on that first tour, at Riverfront Coliseum. When I walked in, they were setting up Van Halen's gear, the racks of Marshalls on Eddie's side and Ampegs on Michael Anthony's, the drum kit with their name on it in the middle. I got excited, and ran across the floor yelling "Van Halen!" When they came on, it was pandemonium. They sprang out onstage and started with On Fire, then I'm The One with Eddie & Michael leaning in to sing those doo-wops with Dave, then Michael launching into a solo thrashing his bass...and he ended it by lifting his bass up in front of his face and playing, with his teeth, the opening notes of Running With Devil. When the rest of the band joined in, they rocked back and forth playing the chords. Everyone. Went. Wild. I never saw a crowd go so absolutely bonkers for a band, before or since. When they finally left the stage, I looked back and saw everyone holding up their lighters like a starry sky. RIP Eddie, you are never forgotten.
I'm so glad I was part of the generation that was happening during Eddie Van Halen, I was a aspiring 18 year old guitar player and this dude almost made me give up but his music was just to dam interesting so Instead of quiting because he set the standard way the hell up there Im still learning his stuff at 60 years old, thank you Eddie Van Halen for making me a way better guitar player than I know I ever would have been if you hadn't hit the sene , and R.I.P. my old friend.
Thanks to all for putting this together. As someone who has been reading Eddie Van Halen interviews since the very beginning, I finally have a vehicle to really visualize what Ed described. From the Marshall plexi and period-correct variacs set to 90 V to the univox echoes in a bomb casing, it was really cool to see and imagine I was knocking around the LA club scene in the late 70s. I have been mesmerized since when I was a 12 year old hearing Eruption for the first time... Life-changing! Thanks for taking us along for the ride Eddie!
@@Ottophil Jesus man, does everyone have to be original? If you're so original, good for you, but don't force everyone else to be creative. A lot of people are content being fans who just want to copy their heroes. You should respect their desire. No one's forcing you to copy anybody. So don't force others to be original either.
One of the reasons i like Eddie's rhythm playing so much, it has that boogie woogie gypsy jazz (Reinhardt) feel to it. He really knows how to rock and swing. You just can't help tapping your toe and it gives such energy. My father wasn't into heavy rock but the more into Django. When i played him Big bad Bill (is sweet William now) he listened to the rest also :)
Good comments. Agree, in many ways, they were a coked-up, double speed version of ZZTop. As I listen today...I wonder too if Alex’s syncopation is a much more important aspect to Eddie’s playing than we’ve really considered. The timing is anything but straight, almost like Alex is adding a third hand to the guitar riffs and runs.
Swanneez- Yes, I also think about that boogie woogie gypsie Jazz feel to Eddie’s playing. I think about it 4,5 times a week. Sometimes when I’m in rush hour traffic. Or at a stoplight. I’m looking at what was in his guitar rig. Eddie and Gary Moore’s The only complaint I have with Eddie is that he never played long guitar solos. But he had his reasons. We don’t know
The first time I saw the band Van Halen was at the Pasadena civic in 78 battle of the bands , this was the set up I remember him having with the bomb casing in the back ! Loud AF too ! Memories
Pressure from the record company and sales, and production staff. After Fair Warning, which in my opinion was one of their best and heaviest records, Eddie and producer Ted Templeman got into an argument about how Eddie wanted to do more with his guitars dubs and Ted said no. Do it like we have been. But Ted and the others said VH needed to do a cover. They need a hit. David said let's do Dancing In The Street and Eddie said lets do (Oh) Pretty Woman. The did both fantastically, and another cover. Another Kinks tune called Where Have All The Good Times Gone?.
@cubscursed yes, like the later years of VH are regarded as the best. Not even close. The choices the band made after the first 4 albums - never matched the brilliance of the earlier work. Pop music is what came later. What is lame is your lack of fact and that's a fact, ja-richard
@cubscursed You should never forget the past. I don't hate what VH later did. As a matter of fact I love the Sammy Hagar era. I knew it was going to happen before it did. Sammy is awesome in every respect. Most bands loose that raw energy of their early days. Sammy brought that and more when he joined the band. I'm trying to be respectful to you. Someone I don't know. But why people feel that they need to throw negative statements in where others are happily reminiscing, I just can't understand. Yes it is something we experienced years ago. A better time. A good feeling. Carefree days of our youth. Eddie was, and will always be my guitar hero no matter what he did or played. He could've started playing bluegrass or rapp and I would've loved it because it was King Edward Van Halen playing it. I personally think the whole band improved and became far better musicians in the years after DLR. I love the raw energy they had though in the beginning. Eddie's guitar would rip your face off.
Dan.D, the thing is..these geniuses are NEVER satisfied to remain static. I too SOOOOOOO hungered for the rawness of the early years, but a brain like Ed's could never settle. Change can be the only constant for them. It's a curse really...as well as a blessing. Still, after all the constant change they will never be statisfed. As a kid I wanted so badly to be Ed. As an adult I was sooooo glad to never have been Ed. When you are at his level you don't really know how AMAZING you are. You think that you are just a normal dude, and that anybody can do what you do. You can not stand back and see that what you do is COMPLETELY different from anybody else. You are blind to your INSANE level of genius. Sad really. As an onlooker, we get to appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime talent. I'm soooooooooooooo sad as I write this!😭
Excellent video...very interesting. Eddie was and is and always will be the greatest rock guitarist of all time. His innovation alone is far above everyone else. His personality shines through every note. RIP EVH...the GOAT of guitar.
EVH is absolutely incredible mind blowing. He changed guitar forever. Very deeply missed by all . Was a wonderful Father to his son he loved with all his heart .
Rst28- Amen! This is the reason they invented RUclips. And this is the reason I am grateful for RUclips After this I’m going straight to practicing some Van Halen!
This is pretty mind blowing, to see this '78 rig recontructed meticulously by the legend himself, plus getting some gear specs for guitar nerds, spectacular installation, at the MET no less, wow!
I honestly love the fact that the guy that set the music world on fire had a hand assembled, junky pieced together guitar, duct taped floor pedals, and electrical taped cords and just a plywood pedal board...all novice looking stuff and "not much money style" but yet changed the direction of all other guitar musicians to follow.
The video from Fresno Media Restoration needs to accompany this exhibition. A must see as it is hands down the most authentic record of the band opening for Black Sabbath in 1978. The crowd reaction at the end says it all. You simply will not witness a better example of the original lineup at its peak of powers. In the beginning..... VAN HALEN
Amazing! He was like the mad scientist of heavy metal back then. The stuff he created musically and the equipment he made to get his totally unique sound!
Really cool to see this up close. One of Eddie’s tricks is also the wiring/pedal order. It took me a bit to figure out at the time, that he only used distortion from the amps and the phaser/flanger were, of course, in front of the distortion. This went against the normal chain order. What a freakin’ genius he was.
Saw VH in 78 in my home town, on their 12th stop( was supposed to be 13, but Indy got cancelled) . My best friend Greg (r.i.p.1999) and I bought tickets to see to see Montrose. Journey played too .I had heard the end of you really got me on the radio earlier that week and I was like" that dudes Les Paul is ripping it". I did not hear the name of the band though ,at the end of the song. We were in the second row right in front of Ed and this rig. They were the openers. We were 16 years old and pretty good players for that age .We had the Derringer stuff down pretty good, which was bad ass too . Trower, Hendrix and Johnny Winter captured live stuff too. We could hear the stage volume and the PA too . We thought Ed came from a different planet when he did his solo, we thought the guitar was a Gibson prototype. My other friend had back stage pass and smoked a hoot with Ed and Al before they went on. They gave him a Schlitz malt beer . After, he told them "Man you guys are real good ,I am going to tell everyone about you guys". I thought of this show with my friend the same day , right before I heard that Ed had passed. I played in a cover band and we had a bass player who could sing just like Michael and a lead singer that could do Dave really well. We did a few VH songs really well. People who never saw the White and Black guitar missed out on the hungry , not yet famous Eddie Van Halen. The greatest display of musicianship I ever witnessed . This includes Itzhak Perlman , and the Chester string Quartet. The world is less of a place for me now
The original 78’ Frankenstrat was in the smithsonian of American history for a little bit in 2018 and my grandma at the time was the deputy director of the museum. She was able to get me a behind the scenes tour and I got to play that guitar and prince’s yellow guitar. What a trip that was.
Now, we all know that VH is the best and the music is so good. But for some reason, the songs here (through this RUclips video) sound really really good.
His early guitar sound is the best. I hate the later chorus / detune / multi efx / rack-unit type of sound. The 1978 setup with stompboxes, tape echo's, and variac's was the real deal!
@Eck Stacy I absolutely agree on Alex's drum sound too. It's terrible! I've got the 5150 album, but never listen to it. All pre-Hagar albums are the real deal.
@Eck Stacy My favorite will always be the first album. It has that raw unpolished power of a bunch of energetic young dudes ready to conquer the world. I also remember the world was in shock when it came out. EVH changed guitar playing forever. R.I.P.
MY Lee stormer jean jacket from high school with the VH logo on the back I wore that for years. it's too bad we didn't carried cameras around back then didn't even think about it too busy trying to earn money for the weekend buying albums picking up girls going to parties ect I remember there being a camera every now and zen but most of us would hide from it. How things have changed now people can't get through anything without taking a picture while doing it.. makes you wonder if people are actually doing what they like or just for a show to put on some social media platform look at me!
Eddie was in the studio and invited Dwezel Zappa to come check out some of the leads he was tracking. Dwezel asked if he could try out his guitar and rig set up. Eddie said of course and handed Dwezel the 5150 Kramer and as soon as Dwezel started playing he was trying to play old VH tunes and couldn't come close to how Eddie sounded when he played. He said to Eddie, I don't get it. I always thought if I could play your rig I would be able to sound just like you. Eddie raised his hand up and wiggled his fingers and said, It's in your fingertips. Everybody has their own sound and tone no matter what they play because part of chain of tone starts in your fingertips. I have lived by that ever since. I will always sound like ME.
Sure! I still wish I had a set of fingertips from all my favorite guitarists. I'm passionate about this story because it taught me a huge lesson. I would get discouraged if I couldn't learn a song good enough to sound just like my heroes. After I read this story it changed all that for the better.
I stopped listening to VH when David was out. I never liked Hagar before he was in VH. Whatever Eddie is gone and all us that grew up following him are deeply saddened. Cool he had Wolfie to continue his legacy, Wolf is a great musician. Can't wait to see him tour.
Ed got all of us into being gear geeks I used to mess around with an old guuild copy cat tape loop echo great sound but a pain in the ass ! 1982 I bought my first Ibanes A-D-80 analog echo plex thank God for bucket brigade technology. At age 54 now I use both digatal & analog for different perposses . The first Vanhalen album mind blower of course ,Later on in the 90's Type Of Negative , bloody kisses album I heard that & oh S#@T ! To boldly gowhere mixing had not gone before ! It's just my opinion but bloody kisses knock me out just like the first Vanhalen. Rock & Roll has come along & even more. Long Live Rock and Roll !
Research Wasps Chris Holmes interview on EVH. Very interesting. Its about Chris lending his cabs, guitars and heads back in the day to the early VH and his Ibanez Destroyer guitar on "Women and Children first". Great video by the way!
@Circuit Trainee Those were the lawsuit Ibanez guitars from the 1970s. Eddie’s “shark” guitar that Chris loaned him was an Ibanez with paint covering the logo. They called them “lawsuit” because some of their guitars were almost the spitting images of Gibson & Fender guitars (except for the Ibanez logo) before they were ordered by the courts to stop. Shortly after, Ibanez started putting their own spin on body & headstock shapes. Phil Collen’s Destroyer, Paul Stanley’s Iceman, etc.
@Circuit Trainee I believe they did! Some really nice Flying Vs, too. Hamer made some great quality instruments back up until the '90s. It seems they dropped off the face of the earth, lately. 🤨 I haven't heard of anything from them in ages.
@Circuit Trainee I found a few really cool documentary videos on their guitars. Like many successful guitar companies, they have a pretty interesting history! 😃 Hope this helps. ruclips.net/video/IdrRFF_GuQk/видео.html
@Circuit Trainee True, about Rick & the Hamers. I read a few of the comment on the other video, & he says that some of the guitars he borrowed from friends to make the video, but still...... WOW!
Eddie has the throne ..after Hendrix . Alone for the first five Records and "1984" they are by FAR one of the ABSOLUTE BEST Rock Bands of ALL Times !! "Im on Fiiiireeeee" (Riff..) im on FIIIREEEE (Riff, solo ...)
I think 1881(I can't remember the street) in Pasadena should be created into a museum too. That house, they jammed at in the garage, they were raised there, from the beginning to 1981. They had multiple parties that needed Police to control because there were 2000 people lining the streets near there. What does that tell you ?
@@bjajma maaan, if I were their neighbors back then, I would have talked to the band and knocked the fence down and had a huge party. I would have loved to have heard them rehearsing all those awesome songs, like “Unchained, Meanstreet, Here about it Later etc.” in that shed at the back. I wonder if any of their old neighbors from that time are still alive, I would love to hear about what they used to hear and go through. Awesome. I always forget that street name lol.
To debunk any myths regarding Ed's guitar tone. Back on Sept 13, 2004, on the reunion tour with Sammy, I met Ed backstage while I worked the venue they were playing... he played a small Peavey practice amp on 10 (loud as F) NO PEDALS straight to the amp. Sounded just like ED... so yes , it's in the fingers
Seeing recreations of the Frankenstrat over the years has been cool but seeing the entire rig recreated...this is amazing. It literally looks like a pile of junk. How Ed toured with that mess is incredible & especially since he ran that stuff into the ground. He coaxed unbelievable sounds out of it & it probably cost $2 - $3K total in todays dollars? Ed said he had no money through VHI & VHII which forced him to develop this tone on the cheap. Hendrix had to do the same & he called his rig "a pile of junk".
This is amazing....Great job..Looks like it would just fucking blow up if you didn’t know how to turn it on and make it work....And how he made it work!!! 😇
I read somewhere with an interview with him that he regretted making that guitar into a shark tooth. He said cutting that section out loses all the bottom end that the explorer creates in that area. He said he tried to beef it back up trying different pickups. I think he mentioned trying a DiMarzio super distortion to add more bottom end. Unfortunately it didn't work. But it sure was a cool looking guitar!
@@Meandmythirdleg during the Smithsonian interview he mentioned that too. Vintage guitars. Well they were vintage to us. But you got to think about it, back then those guitars he butchered were probably only like 10 maybe 15 years old.
OK OK OK ..i was SOO wrong Eddie start using the Floyd Rose system at the second Tour ..1979 ...so this ist REALLY the realistic setup he used in 78` Mea Culpa ..Mea Maxima Culpa XD,
Eddie's playing was revolutionary. His solos fantastic, but his rhythm playing was stellar and very different than the norm. As for the words on the cards about his guitar, I learned recently from many that knew the band before the first album, Eddie was copying Chip Kinman, the guitarist of The Dils, a local LA punk rock group VH used to go see back in 75/76. Chip Kinman put black electrical tape on his white Les Paul so it would look "punk". Eddie copied him.
why is there 6 cabinets at 4:39? Thought he just had a 4x12 stack back then ..... and why would he want ALLL that huge crazy gadjets to set up & hook up & connect & transport each show? Musta taken atleast a day to set all that up to do an opening show.
They used to stack up dummy cabs back in the day at concerts. made it look rock N roll. I remember my dad took me to a DIO concert, Holy diver tour, and when they were packing up the gear, a guy accidently turned one of the marshall cabs around and it was empty..
What? Huh? I can't hear you. The trebles are too what? Huh? Saw VanHalen once on a day on the green 1978, Oakland Coliseum: Aerosmith, Foreigner, Pat Travers, VanHalen, AC/DC.
Eddie would probably not have played the instruments that had been removed at the time ... there is a vintage tremolo system installed ... have you ever heard of Floyd Rose? (Eddie co-invented this) sorry, that's pretty bad for a museum
@vera filmes The Univox was used for the end of eruption while he used an echoplex for his general delay sound. There is an echoplex switch on the pedalboard, but it is odd they didn't include at least one echoplex.
@@warrencantero I already knew the guitar was a replica. Do you think the amps cabinets, and other gear are original or are they also replicas, or just something that look in general like what he used?
![Van Halen - Live in Fresno 1978 [watermark removed & upscaled to HD]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/98pfx1B5LVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I remember being a junior in high school my older friends dragged me to a Black Sabbath concert in Cleveland / I saw this whole rig on stage / then Van Halen happened for 45 mins / nothing prepared us for the Sonic hurricane that hit us / this was the loudest opening band I ever witnessed and it was like unreal was I saw this guy do on guitar / the next day I’m at biggest guitar store in Columbus looking for a blk and wht stripped fender / salesman had no clue what I was describing well I guess I was describing the future .
that is so true great story thanks for sharing
Someone lost a ticket to the Seattle Sabbath/Van Halen show in my school lunchroom on the day of the show. I was only 15 and gave it to the only guy I knew who could drive. I asked him the next day how the show was. He said "Sabbath was okay but the opening band was mindblowing - never seen anything like it." Remember that like it was yesterday.
@@paulrogers6037 if someone asked me to sum it up it one word EPIC No that’s not good enough Fucking EPIC There we go
Black Sabbath closed for Van Halen.
Too bad VH never gave up and coming bands the same opportunity during the Roth years that Sabbath gave them. I saw VH twice with Roth. Don't remember the pitiful band that opened the first time but the second was After the Fire. (Der Kommissar). They were so bad they got booed off stage. This was before anyone really knew off them and at least a year before Der Kommissar hit the charts. Hagar put a stop to that crap when he joined the band. I think Randy Bachman opened for VH on the 5150 tour.
Eddie is soooooooooooooo much more than just tapping . He had that special something that put him on a much higher level than everybody else . There have always been great shredders and guitarists out there but Eddie just had something extra that nobody else had whether it was his impeccable ridiculously tight rhythm playing and natural groove who knows . Even other guitar greats call him "The King" .
In 1978, I was in a Cincinnati record store when "You Really Got Me" exploded from the sounded system. Usually songs simply begin, but this one grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. Everything about it--the brassy vocals, the soaring harmonies, the jet-sound of the pick sliding down the strings, the freewheeling guitar fills and solo, set my heart racing. Who was this? At first I thought Van Halen was the name of the lead singer. I didn't know it was actually the last name of two of the players, until I bought the album soon afterwards.
Running home and slapping it on my turntable, I was in for more thrilling surprises. The record began with a chorus of sirens that descended until a bass guitar broke in. Just as I thought "cool," two taps of the high-hat followed, then that little guitar twinkle, and then they charged into the killer hook for Running with the Devil. Just like in the record store, it sent me over the top.
Then followed my first hearing of the soon-to-be-iconic Eruption, Eddie mashing the whammy bar way down low, fast-picking classical notes, and giving me my introduction to the wonders of tapping. When it faded out at the end I was staring into space, thinking "What did I just hear?" I almost didn't notice when You Really Got Me came on after that. And that was just the beginning. Song after song was an exuberant celebration of the guitar, music and, I think, just being alive.
Then I saw them on that first tour, at Riverfront Coliseum. When I walked in, they were setting up Van Halen's gear, the racks of Marshalls on Eddie's side and Ampegs on Michael Anthony's, the drum kit with their name on it in the middle. I got excited, and ran across the floor yelling "Van Halen!" When they came on, it was pandemonium. They sprang out onstage and started with On Fire, then I'm The One with Eddie & Michael leaning in to sing those doo-wops with Dave, then Michael launching into a solo thrashing his bass...and he ended it by lifting his bass up in front of his face and playing, with his teeth, the opening notes of Running With Devil. When the rest of the band joined in, they rocked back and forth playing the chords.
Everyone. Went. Wild. I never saw a crowd go so absolutely bonkers for a band, before or since. When they finally left the stage, I looked back and saw everyone holding up their lighters like a starry sky.
RIP Eddie, you are never forgotten.
Great share!
I'm so glad I was part of the generation that was happening during Eddie Van Halen, I was a aspiring 18 year old guitar player and this dude almost made me give up but his music was just to dam interesting so Instead of quiting because he set the standard way the hell up there Im still learning his stuff at 60 years old, thank you Eddie Van Halen for making me a way better guitar player than I know I ever would have been if you hadn't hit the sene , and R.I.P. my old friend.
Thanks to all for putting this together. As someone who has been reading Eddie Van Halen interviews since the very beginning, I finally have a vehicle to really visualize what Ed described. From the Marshall plexi and period-correct variacs set to 90 V to the univox echoes in a bomb casing, it was really cool to see and imagine I was knocking around the LA club scene in the late 70s. I have been mesmerized since when I was a 12 year old hearing Eruption for the first time... Life-changing! Thanks for taking us along for the ride Eddie!
It was a hope of mine that EVH would one day do a video of exactly how he set-up his 1978 rig - step by step. Not to be......
It has always been a hope of mine that people stop obsessing over details so they can try to recreate it. Make your own tone!
Tool
@@Ottophil Jesus man, does everyone have to be original? If you're so original, good for you, but don't force everyone else to be creative. A lot of people are content being fans who just want to copy their heroes. You should respect their desire. No one's forcing you to copy anybody. So don't force others to be original either.
@@johnnyjaime123 Good bro, that's it!
@@johnnyjaime123 you nailed it
One of the reasons i like Eddie's rhythm playing so much, it has that boogie woogie gypsy jazz (Reinhardt) feel to it. He really knows how to rock and swing. You just can't help tapping your toe and it gives such energy. My father wasn't into heavy rock but the more into Django. When i played him Big bad Bill (is sweet William now) he listened to the rest also :)
Good comments. Agree, in many ways, they were a coked-up, double speed version of ZZTop.
As I listen today...I wonder too if Alex’s syncopation is a much more important aspect to Eddie’s playing than we’ve really considered. The timing is anything but straight, almost like Alex is adding a third hand to the guitar riffs and runs.
Swanneez-
Yes, I also think about that boogie woogie gypsie Jazz feel to Eddie’s playing. I think about it 4,5 times a week. Sometimes when I’m in rush hour traffic. Or at a stoplight.
I’m looking at what was in his guitar rig. Eddie and Gary Moore’s
The only complaint I have with Eddie is that he never played long guitar solos. But he had his reasons. We don’t know
The first time I saw the band Van Halen was at the Pasadena civic in 78 battle of the bands , this was the set up I remember him having with the bomb casing in the back ! Loud AF too ! Memories
Man, as much as I enjoy seeing this rig...it is bittersweet af. Rest easy Edward. No doubt about it, you were the kid that changed it all.
Agreed !
Still blows my mind! If they could have just stuck to this sound and style instead going more poppy later.
Pressure from the record company and sales, and production staff. After Fair Warning, which in my opinion was one of their best and heaviest records, Eddie and producer Ted Templeman got into an argument about how Eddie wanted to do more with his guitars dubs and Ted said no. Do it like we have been. But Ted and the others said VH needed to do a cover. They need a hit. David said let's do Dancing In The Street and Eddie said lets do (Oh) Pretty Woman. The did both fantastically, and another cover. Another Kinks tune called Where Have All The Good Times Gone?.
everybody just jump JUMP I agree with you ! FULLY
@cubscursed yes, like the later years of VH are regarded as the best. Not even close. The choices the band made after the first 4 albums - never matched the brilliance of the earlier work. Pop music is what came later. What is lame is your lack of fact and that's a fact, ja-richard
@cubscursed You should never forget the past. I don't hate what VH later did. As a matter of fact I love the Sammy Hagar era. I knew it was going to happen before it did. Sammy is awesome in every respect. Most bands loose that raw energy of their early days. Sammy brought that and more when he joined the band. I'm trying to be respectful to you. Someone I don't know. But why people feel that they need to throw negative statements in where others are happily reminiscing, I just can't understand. Yes it is something we experienced years ago. A better time. A good feeling. Carefree days of our youth. Eddie was, and will always be my guitar hero no matter what he did or played. He could've started playing bluegrass or rapp and I would've loved it because it was King Edward Van Halen playing it. I personally think the whole band improved and became far better musicians in the years after DLR. I love the raw energy they had though in the beginning. Eddie's guitar would rip your face off.
Dan.D, the thing is..these geniuses are NEVER satisfied to remain static. I too SOOOOOOO hungered for the rawness of the early years, but a brain like Ed's could never settle. Change can be the only constant for them. It's a curse really...as well as a blessing. Still, after all the constant change they will never be statisfed. As a kid I wanted so badly to be Ed. As an adult I was sooooo glad to never have been Ed. When you are at his level you don't really know how AMAZING you are. You think that you are just a normal dude, and that anybody can do what you do. You can not stand back and see that what you do is COMPLETELY different from anybody else. You are blind to your INSANE level of genius. Sad really. As an onlooker, we get to appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime talent. I'm soooooooooooooo sad as I write this!😭
Excellent video...very interesting. Eddie was and is and always will be the greatest rock guitarist of all time. His innovation alone is far above everyone else. His personality shines through every note. RIP EVH...the GOAT of guitar.
A thing of beauty 🙏🏾🎸❤️RIP EVH
Luckily I saw her live with Sammy Hagar in 1992 ... it was fantastic ...
i saw HIM live ..omg google translation XD,
EVH is absolutely incredible mind blowing. He changed guitar forever. Very deeply missed by all . Was a wonderful Father to his son he loved with all his heart .
RIP EVH. The world feels a bit empty without you here man.
I visited at this exhibit last year. It was so surreal seeing the setup in person.
This video is HUGE..the reason why they invented RUclips.
Thnx...
Rst28-
Amen! This is the reason they invented RUclips.
And this is the reason I am grateful for RUclips
After this I’m going straight to practicing some Van Halen!
This is pretty mind blowing, to see this '78 rig recontructed meticulously by the legend himself, plus getting some gear specs for guitar nerds, spectacular installation, at the MET no less, wow!
Man, Eddie Frankensteined everything he had! The Franken rig is just epic!
I honestly love the fact that the guy that set the music world on fire had a hand assembled, junky pieced together guitar, duct taped floor pedals, and electrical taped cords and just a plywood pedal board...all novice looking stuff and "not much money style" but yet changed the direction of all other guitar musicians to follow.
Great video man! Thanks for putting it together and sharing! That presentation looks like it's ready for the opening number right now!
The video from Fresno Media Restoration needs to accompany this exhibition. A must see as it is hands down the most authentic record of the band opening for Black Sabbath in 1978. The crowd reaction at the end says it all. You simply will not witness a better example of the original lineup at its peak of powers. In the beginning..... VAN HALEN
Amazing! He was like the mad scientist of heavy metal back then. The stuff he created musically and the equipment he made to get his totally unique sound!
I was at the exhibit... goosebumps when I stare at EVH gear and with the video.
Really cool to see this up close. One of Eddie’s tricks is also the wiring/pedal order. It took me a bit to figure out at the time, that he only used distortion from the amps and the phaser/flanger were, of course, in front of the distortion. This went against the normal chain order. What a freakin’ genius he was.
Wow, thank you so much for posting this! I’ve seen some pictures of this, but I didn’t know where it was, and I’ve never seen it anywhere else before.
Wow, a lot of work went into that rig.
A pure wild rock machine.
This is a fantastic presentation. Appreciate the audio. I was living in NYC during this exhibit. Sadly, I wasn't aware of it and missed out.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great post! I love the sound of the Marshall's Ed used on the first 4 albums...
Saw VH in 78 in my home town, on their 12th stop( was supposed to be 13, but Indy got cancelled) . My best friend Greg (r.i.p.1999) and I bought tickets to see to see Montrose. Journey played too .I had heard the end of you really got me on the radio earlier that week and I was like" that dudes Les Paul is ripping it". I did not hear the name of the band though ,at the end of the song. We were in the second row right in front of Ed and this rig. They were the openers. We were 16 years old and pretty good players for that age .We had the Derringer stuff down pretty good, which was bad ass too . Trower, Hendrix and Johnny Winter captured live stuff too. We could hear the stage volume and the PA too . We thought Ed came from a different planet when he did his solo, we thought the guitar was a Gibson prototype. My other friend had back stage pass and smoked a hoot with Ed and Al before they went on. They gave him a Schlitz malt beer . After, he told them "Man you guys are real good ,I am going to tell everyone about you guys". I thought of this show with my friend the same day , right before I heard that Ed had passed. I played in a cover band and we had a bass player who could sing just like Michael and a lead singer that could do Dave really well. We did a few VH songs really well. People who never saw the White and Black guitar missed out on the hungry , not yet famous Eddie Van Halen. The greatest display of musicianship I ever witnessed . This includes Itzhak Perlman , and the Chester string Quartet. The world is less of a place for me now
Well the pickup in his frakenstrat was from a vintage Gibson ES, so you are partially right.
Very cool to see the uncovered cabinets back then. He truly was a tone chaser.
thank you 🙏🏽 for sharing this.
This is the most iconic guitar of all.
The original 78’ Frankenstrat was in the smithsonian of American history for a little bit in 2018 and my grandma at the time was the deputy director of the museum. She was able to get me a behind the scenes tour and I got to play that guitar and prince’s yellow guitar. What a trip that was.
So cool.
Great Presentation 💥 🎸💥
Thanks!
Wow love it. How archaic.
Teary eyed. The benchmark for hard rock/heavy metal.
I was 12 in'78 Still timeless.
The secret is his amps. Full up late '60's Super Lead Marshalls
Now, we all know that VH is the best and the music is so good. But for some reason, the songs here (through this RUclips video) sound really really good.
Piece of Guit-ART!
Might have to steal this.😜
His early guitar sound is the best. I hate the later chorus / detune / multi efx / rack-unit type of sound.
The 1978 setup with stompboxes, tape echo's, and variac's was the real deal!
@Eck Stacy I absolutely agree on Alex's drum sound too. It's terrible! I've got the 5150 album, but never listen to it. All pre-Hagar albums are the real deal.
@Eck Stacy My favorite will always be the first album. It has that raw unpolished power of a bunch of energetic young dudes ready to conquer the world. I also remember the world was in shock when it came out. EVH changed guitar playing forever. R.I.P.
@Eck Stacy Good point. My first Floyd experience was "Dark side of the moon", and it stuck.
It's almost like Dave kept Ed in line with the good guitar sound.. Dave left and so did that epic guitar sound..
Chills down my spine
So raw, so old school, just get in there and do it!
ON FIRE! wanna crank my Marshall. But it’s bedtime 🤗🍺
MY Lee stormer jean jacket from high school with the VH logo on the back I wore that for years. it's too bad we didn't carried cameras around back then didn't even think about it too busy trying to earn money for the weekend buying albums picking up girls going to parties ect I remember there being a camera every now and zen but most of us would hide from it. How things have changed now people can't get through anything without taking a picture while doing it.. makes you wonder if people are actually doing what they like or just for a show to put on some social media platform look at me!
You had the life I wished I had
@@jennifersman7990 LOl, There's nowhere you can be that isn't where your meant to be my friend.
*Awesome video Echo Tango ✌😷🎸*
Glad you enjoyed it!
Eddie was in the studio and invited Dwezel Zappa to come check out some of the leads he was tracking. Dwezel asked if he could try out his guitar and rig set up. Eddie said of course and handed Dwezel the 5150 Kramer and as soon as Dwezel started playing he was trying to play old VH tunes and couldn't come close to how Eddie sounded when he played. He said to Eddie, I don't get it. I always thought if I could play your rig I would be able to sound just like you. Eddie raised his hand up and wiggled his fingers and said, It's in your fingertips. Everybody has their own sound and tone no matter what they play because part of chain of tone starts in your fingertips. I have lived by that ever since. I will always sound like ME.
u want a pat on the back?
Sure! I still wish I had a set of fingertips from all my favorite guitarists. I'm passionate about this story because it taught me a huge lesson. I would get discouraged if I couldn't learn a song good enough to sound just like my heroes. After I read this story it changed all that for the better.
@@roosterj2599 so its a built in excuse
Nope
I stopped listening to VH when David was out. I never liked Hagar before he was in VH. Whatever Eddie is gone and all us that grew up following him are deeply saddened. Cool he had Wolfie to continue his legacy, Wolf is a great musician. Can't wait to see him tour.
Awesome
The variac!!!! Love it!!!
Ed got all of us into being gear geeks I used to mess around with an old guuild copy cat tape loop echo great sound but a pain in the ass ! 1982 I bought my first Ibanes A-D-80 analog echo plex thank God for bucket brigade technology. At age 54 now I use both digatal & analog for different perposses . The first Vanhalen album mind blower of course ,Later on in the 90's Type Of Negative , bloody kisses album I heard that & oh S#@T ! To boldly gowhere mixing had not gone before ! It's just my opinion but bloody kisses knock me out just like the first Vanhalen. Rock & Roll has come along & even more. Long Live Rock and Roll !
Sensacional!!!!
COOL!
In the end, Eddies fingers made all his sound.
In the beginning Eddie Van Halen had a very talented father who made him take classical piano lessons.
Research Wasps Chris Holmes interview on EVH.
Very interesting. Its about Chris lending his cabs, guitars and heads back in the day to the early VH and his Ibanez Destroyer guitar on "Women and Children first". Great video by the way!
@Circuit Trainee Those were the lawsuit Ibanez guitars from the 1970s. Eddie’s “shark” guitar that Chris loaned him was an Ibanez with paint covering the logo.
They called them “lawsuit” because some of their guitars were almost the spitting images of Gibson & Fender guitars (except for the Ibanez logo) before they were ordered by the courts to stop. Shortly after, Ibanez started putting their own spin on body & headstock shapes. Phil Collen’s Destroyer, Paul Stanley’s Iceman, etc.
@Circuit Trainee I believe they did!
Some really nice Flying Vs, too.
Hamer made some great quality instruments back up until the '90s.
It seems they dropped off the face of the earth, lately. 🤨
I haven't heard of anything from them in ages.
@Circuit Trainee I found a few really cool documentary videos on their guitars.
Like many successful guitar companies, they have a pretty interesting history! 😃
Hope this helps.
ruclips.net/video/IdrRFF_GuQk/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/SF5BmbAdLMY/видео.html
@Circuit Trainee True, about Rick & the Hamers.
I read a few of the comment on the other video, & he says that some of the guitars he borrowed from friends to make the video, but still......
WOW!
Eddie has the throne ..after Hendrix .
Alone for the first five Records and "1984" they are by FAR one of the ABSOLUTE BEST Rock Bands of ALL Times !!
"Im on Fiiiireeeee" (Riff..) im on FIIIREEEE (Riff, solo ...)
I think 1881(I can't remember the street) in Pasadena should be created into a museum too. That house, they jammed at in the garage, they were raised there, from the beginning to 1981. They had multiple parties that needed Police to control because there were 2000 people lining the streets near there. What does that tell you ?
1881 Las Lunas. There is still a shrine for Ed as of 11.12.20. It's a rental property now unfortunately. (Source: I live a block away)
@@bjajma maaan, if I were their neighbors back then, I would have talked to the band and knocked the fence down and had a huge party. I would have loved to have heard them rehearsing all those awesome songs, like “Unchained, Meanstreet, Here about it Later etc.” in that shed at the back. I wonder if any of their old neighbors from that time are still alive, I would love to hear about what they used to hear and go through. Awesome. I always forget that street name lol.
@@flashy5150 Las Lunes translation is the moons. Now you won't forget it.😉
Awesome -- just fuckin awesome
This is cool !
This image screams TONE! Planet Tone! God help us- thx-
I saw them open for KISS, Largo MD. Still have the Ticket Stub...who knew?
the white with the black stripes is the right ed axe
So that's how he got his unique sound DUCK TAPE!!!haha haha missya!
Just saw that Neil Peart's 1977 drum kit is going up for auction....wonder if Eddie's rig will ever go that route??
Epic.
OMG Cool !!
I wonder what the speakers with the large dust caps are? I don't see any JBL d120f's either. Still a very cool piece of History!
To debunk any myths regarding Ed's guitar tone. Back on Sept 13, 2004, on the reunion tour with Sammy, I met Ed backstage while I worked the venue they were playing... he played a small Peavey practice amp on 10 (loud as F) NO PEDALS straight to the amp. Sounded just like ED... so yes , it's in the fingers
You're right. Back in the 80's he said Nugent asked to play EVH's his rig. He said it sounded like Nugent....
2:50 I've seen it many times in Eddie's rig rundown but I have no idea what's that...
It was just to hold his echoplexes it's a casting replica of a bomb from world war II
The MIGHTY EVH!!
The reason I bought a guitar
This lets see you that it;s all in the fingers. How expensive your installation is, it has to come out of your fingers. Eddie had it....
Seeing recreations of the Frankenstrat over the years has been cool but seeing the entire rig recreated...this is amazing. It literally looks like a pile of junk. How Ed toured with that mess is incredible & especially since he ran that stuff into the ground. He coaxed unbelievable sounds out of it & it probably cost $2 - $3K total in todays dollars? Ed said he had no money through VHI & VHII which forced him to develop this tone on the cheap. Hendrix had to do the same & he called his rig "a pile of junk".
The king . Rip
hats off to the people who put this together.....does his orig rig still exist?
2:28 ecualization in /\ mxr
Interesting... that is a bomb replica. The original one was all rusty, and was later painted black. This one is clean and seems taller.
This is amazing....Great job..Looks like it would just fucking blow up if you didn’t know how to turn it on and make it work....And how he made it work!!! 😇
So he did use an EQ for a mid boost. Was the thing always on?
no he used that for the explorer shark guitar.
I read somewhere with an interview with him that he regretted making that guitar into a shark tooth. He said cutting that section out loses all the bottom end that the explorer creates in that area.
He said he tried to beef it back up trying different pickups. I think he mentioned trying a DiMarzio super distortion to add more bottom end. Unfortunately it didn't work. But it sure was a cool looking guitar!
@@independentthinker.273 I imagine he butchered many guitars over the years. The cost of innovation!
@@Meandmythirdleg during the Smithsonian interview he mentioned that too. Vintage guitars. Well they were vintage to us. But you got to think about it, back then those guitars he butchered were probably only like 10 maybe 15 years old.
@@independentthinker.273 He tried to beef it up by installing the two turn-buckles as well. He said they didn't return the original sound.
Please! Mxr flanger settings……
OK OK OK ..i was SOO wrong Eddie start using the Floyd Rose system at the second Tour ..1979 ...so this ist REALLY the realistic setup he used in 78`
Mea Culpa ..Mea Maxima Culpa XD,
Eddie's playing was revolutionary. His solos fantastic, but his rhythm playing was stellar and very different than the norm. As for the words on the cards about his guitar, I learned recently from many that knew the band before the first album, Eddie was copying Chip Kinman, the guitarist of The Dils, a local LA punk rock group VH used to go see back in 75/76. Chip Kinman put black electrical tape on his white Les Paul so it would look "punk". Eddie copied him.
Too bad Chip didn't have the EVH brilliance & creativity to make the guitar sing like Eddie. Thanks for sharing this interesting history.
Goodluck putting this rig together. I'm surprised PRS hasn't yet asked to examine it. 😂
Are those echoplexes on the amp stack?
the variac is set to the wrong setting here.
At about 1:38 into the video, is that unit the legendary variac voltage regulator that Edward used?
Yes, you can see them a few times. There are 2 of them for each head.
The true secret to the brown sound is removing the tolex from the 4x12 cabs
The only true secret to getting the Brown Sound is no secret. It’s the brain and fingers of Eddie Van Halen. His gear is simply the vehicle.
Mixing of speakers jbl and celestions.
why is there 6 cabinets at 4:39? Thought he just had a 4x12 stack back then ..... and why would he want ALLL that huge crazy gadjets to set up & hook up & connect & transport each show? Musta taken atleast a day to set all that up to do an opening show.
They used to stack up dummy cabs back in the day at concerts. made it look rock N roll. I remember my dad took me to a DIO concert, Holy diver tour, and when they were packing up the gear, a guy accidently turned one of the marshall cabs around and it was empty..
Two Variac
Poor Vox Tonebender :(
Rip eddie
Much preferred this earlier guitar sound to the later .. it got mushy and lost in the mix of a lot of the songs.
right around the time Sammy came into the picture....Still a pretty good sound but nothing compared to the early days.
Duct tape...tone magic.
What? Huh? I can't hear you. The trebles are too what? Huh?
Saw VanHalen once on a day on the green 1978, Oakland Coliseum: Aerosmith, Foreigner, Pat Travers, VanHalen, AC/DC.
i mean ...ok ..Come On !! The Effectsbord might be ok for a Replika ..
Eddie would probably not have played the instruments that had been removed at the time ... there is a vintage tremolo system installed ... have you ever heard of Floyd Rose?
(Eddie co-invented this)
sorry, that's pretty bad for a museum
eddies rig probably misses him......
All patch up together no NASA kind of setup
LOL! Yes! Great comment.
So Sad. 😫😫😫😫😫
i wonder why they forgot the e choplexes
@vera filmes The Univox was used for the end of eruption while he used an echoplex for his general delay sound. There is an echoplex switch on the pedalboard, but it is odd they didn't include at least one echoplex.
The original Echoplex EP-3s are getting REALLY hard to find, and the price has been climbing out of sight.
I thought he used a 10-band equalizer.
he did... this is just for show... just like the guitar(original "Frankie" is now red)
@@warrencantero they did a good job replicating the original Frankie.
Good catch and you’re correct! EVH used a Boss GE-10, 10 band eq on his board.
@@warrencantero I already knew the guitar was a replica. Do you think the amps cabinets, and other gear are original or are they also replicas, or just something that look in general like what he used?
@@independentthinker.273 they look just like the ones Neil Zlozower took pics from back in 78...