Eddie also played a White 1975 LP Custom that had the electronics modified. He traded it in at Rainbow Guitars on Grant Rd in Tucson when they were on a bar tour before their 1st album came out. I bought that guitar in 1978 and owned it for 3 years before selling it. EVH confirmed it was his when I took it to a concert sound check at Tucson Arena in 1979. He told me he recorded Ice Cream Man using that guitar. Wish I kept it but needed the $$$. Great memories.
Eddie's 100 watt plexi head was always correctly set at 110 volts. The variac came about because he tried another 100 watt head and noticed it took ages to warm up and produce sound. When it did, the sound was very quiet. Upon examination, he saw that the head was set to 240 volts for UK use. That's when he realised that he could take his original plexi head, use a variac to reduce the voltage to around 90 volts, and get the same driven tone but at a quieter volume. Less voltage is similar to something running on almost dead batteries, ie it works, but with less performance. In this instance, the amp sounded more "brown" and Eddie liked that.
You realize the "brown sound" was about Alex's drum sound and not his guitar sound? It was actually on the EVH website. It may still be there. I like hearing people talk about it, not realizing the interview it stemmed from and how it got misconstrued. Too funny.
@@blondegraemey no he hasn't. Check out billboard magazine article from June 27, 2015. Read his quotes. Its a common misconception. There was information about that on his EVH blog. Go to blog.evhgear.com and search "brown sound" . You're going to have a holy s**t moment. Kinda like finding out who Santa is. Phillip McKnight also addressed this on his RUclips channel and posted the letter too. This world is full of misinformation.
@Justin Ford Search for a recent interview by Pete Thorn titled Vai's Jose Modded Marshall Amps and you'll see him talk about. Did Ed invite him up to talk about the problems working with Dave? Probably given the timing.
@Justin Ford I don't listen to Vai at all (though I do respect him as a player), but if want to hear something that is both hilarious and disgusting, look up Steve Vai Worst Gig.
@Justin Ford Justin, I suggest you at least give Passion and Warfare a listen. If you don't like it, you don't like it, but give it a listen. Vai has also worked with Frank Zappa, and post-Yngwie Alacatrazz. JAMES
Actually, EVH had to leave Ernie Ball becuase he was caught sleeping with Sterling Ball's wife. Valerie Bertinelli's autobiography supports this. He was kicked out and that's why he scrambled and went to peavy.
I cannot tell you how much I wanted the black and yellow guitar when I was in my late teens . . . . I was obsessed with it. . . Now it's buried with dimebag
Great video. Just a couple of things you missed for his early effects chain. He also used an MXR Flanger and at some point before the second album, he added a Chorus Pedal too. There are also pictures of his early pedal board that show a graphic EQ that people debate whether he used it for a booster or a line buffer. Finally, his tone changed for 5150 because he started tuning his guitar to 440 standard pitch instead of dropping the tuning down a 1/2 step. Because he raised the pitch of the guitar, his sound was thinner than before. To help thicken it back up, the Eventide Harmonizer was added in for the stereo detune effect. I also believe the Eventide replaced the Echoplex tape delay units too.
Thank you for such a wonderful and heartfelt tribute to our King Edward. I know you did this a year ago but anything honouring the King deserves some love \m/ The Missus woke me up crying and for the entire day we couldn’t listen to a note of King Edward without the waterworks comin’ - so many good times with his music -it felt weird We found watching interviews with him and other kind folks like yourself paying tribute to Eddie makes it somewhat easier to bear. We literally had a day of intensely mourning. It might sound daft but Ed’s playing and attitude is hugely responsible for inspiring me to be the person I am. There’s a Bad Religion ( Punk Band ) Lyric that says it al “ Everyone you love leaves a mark on your soul, The world is a little less bright without King Edward Im fighting cancer and depression and its been especially tough with the news of Eddie’s passing but hearing all these wonderful tributes and reaction and the love and joy he brought and is bringing….makes it a tad bit easier Much love and respect! Thank you for honouring our King Edward. Eddie's music touched us so deeply because of his love for the instrument and the innovations he has done. To us, it feels like the brightest and best brother, Uncle, friend mentor you ever had is not in our realm anymore. You have Nothing but love from the rock/metal / guitarist community, respect for your tribute to EVH, Rock n Metal does not get the exposure and respect that other genres get. So, you are forever in the hearts of many a Rock / Metal / Guitar fan's hearts. Stay safe & all the best wishes to you. Watch this Video Interview and you'll see why we're hurting so much...The world is a little less bright without King Edward This is a brilliant interview if you haven’t seen it ruclips.net/video/yb26D8bBZB8/видео.html&ab_channel=Z%C3%B3caloPublicSquare most people don’t know the King Edward was a bi-racial half Asian / half white Immigrant and that his lifelong friends were the black kids who stood up for them when they came to the US. A definitive American Dream story. Eddie buried Dimebag Darrell from Pantera with his original Bumblebee Guitar when Dime’s life partner Rita asked him to make a Copy Ed said “an Original deserves an Original” Vinnie Paul ( Paantera ) Dimebag’s brother says the last words his brother said to him was Van f+*in Halen’ their nightly ritual before hitting the stage. Frank Zappa loved and respected Eddieand got him to teach Dweezil who was obsessed with ED When Frank died Ed was THE 1st first to call with condolences and to offer any assistance. He was the 1st to mod his guitars in such an extreme way chasing tone, Creating the Super Strat - Humbuckers in Strat style guitars, Waxing Pickups, Variac on his amp and did his first 2 albums with the original Fender Whammy which led to the creation of the Floyd Rose Whammy Bar. His Rhythm Playing was funky, tasteful and rockin’ and his songwriting is the reason his loss is affecting grandparents, parents, kids and all ethnicities alike as Van Halen songs will live forever. Enjoy EVH ruclips.net/video/L9r-NxuYszg/видео.html&ab_channel=Hazardteam
Really cool channel! George Lynch would be a cool one. Under Lock And Key had one of the best guitar tones of all time. If you were to cover all of the gear Lynch has use throughout his career it would be a 2 hour segment though. Other considerations: Glenn Tipton, Nuno Bettencourt, Blam Supplebutt, Klaus Storper, Dave Gilmour. Any of those would be cool.
Killer Vid! I’d say the only thing you missed concerning the block/script part is that the power tubes were different between the two. Not sure exactly which ones but that’s why people falsely say that the block letter is better. It’s not. The block/script versions are the exact same amp. They were just shipped with different power tubes. You rule Ray!!!🤘
Eddie also used a Les Paul Jr in the early days and this can be seen in photos that weren't used for the 1st album. Also, in the early 2000s, he had an artist series of guitars thru Charvel and used them, though not as main guitars. There is also evidence that Eddie experimented with and used a Marshall JCM800 during the early Van-Hagar years. And… …there is also his new line of non-Wolfgang models, which I've heard he also uses. All in all though…great video, thanx 🤘🏼😉👍🏼
Great video! One thing I would add is that on the first album 2 shure 57's where used, one closed mic'd and one on top on an angle about 1 to 2 feet away from the cabinet. I purchased Ted Templeman 's book and he has a photo when the band was recording the first album and you can clearly see his cabinet isolated from the drums and bass amp. I'm not sure if they used the same mic position on later albums. He also used a dummy load for live performance so he could change the speaker output of the amp to preamp levels and using other amps as "power amps" Jose Arredondo built the dummy load which could handle 3 different amps so he can switch between them just in case he blew up one. You can see some videos where you can see Marshall JMP's and even Music man amps on stage which he most likely use a power amps. He placed the Univox delay between the dummy load and the amps he used as "power amps" Since in those days effects loops did not exist he plugged the signal of the dummy load into the front panel of the amps he used as power amps. Later he started using on live performances HH V800 power amps using a wet/dry/wet system with a dry cab and 2 more cabs driven by the HH V800 for stereo effects. He used Roland SDE3000 and Eventide H910/949 harmonizer which he started using on Fair Warning(studio only) and 1984 and later Hagar albums. You can hear it on Live without a net live video. He uses different milliseconds and pitch settings on the R & L sides like 5 msec -9% pitch and 25 msec +9% pitch for example.
European 220V amp plugged into US voltage making very little volume. And the answer is to plug it to a variac, turn down the voltage and get more volume? NOPE! Just doesn't work that way.
In the Smithsonian interview with Eddie actually said was that initially the amp made no sound at all like it was broken, but he accidentally left it on for quite some time and when he came back and tried it again it sounded great but it sounded like a5 W amp. That interview gives you some great insight into the jury rig stuff he had to build on his own because he didn’t have any money. He also talks about how many amazing vintage Gibson pick up he probably destroyed trying to figure out the wax potting And also things like gluing the quarter underneath the bridge
I guess that kind of makes sense, if the amp was extremely starved then it might take time for filaments to warm up enough just to work, and then of course extremely low output as well
@@frankpaws That link showing Johann playing with the variac, is not demonstrating the point made in this original video. Johann is running a 230V amp on 230V's and 170V's. This original posted video talks about a 230V amp plugged into 115V US voltage. Ran this way, the amp will be very quiet. So plugging into a variac and lowering the voltage even more will not increase the volume. The amp will barely stay powered at all.
@@jamesnewlyn1803 Yeah, you are right. The one thing Eddie left out of his "discovery" was that after realizing his second head was set to 220, he discovered that the voltage controls the volume. Of course after he hooked it up to a light switch dimmer and blew it. Here is Eddie talking about it. He never mentioned that he switched the amp to US voltage, which I don't know if the 60's amps had that option in the back of the amp, or if he had to modify it to US voltage. wgsusa.com/blog/true-story-eddie-vanhalen-using-variac-tube-guitar-amp
If I’m remembering this correctly, another guitar that was used during the sessions of Fair Warning was a white 1962 Gibson SG Junior that Eddie used for some slide parts on “Dirty Movies”
Turning down the voltage does not increase the volume. It lowers it. He discovered (while he was working at a music store) on another Marshall Amp which was still set to British voltage that it was super quiet. Relative to what the amp needed to see the voltage was turned down. Sp he discovered that if he lowered the voltage he could make his amp quieter. That in turn starves the tubes and makes the power amp section feel a lot more squichy and give a lot more sag. You also have to bias the tubes fore the lowered voltage.
a 220v amp that didn't have a voltage selector switch needs the transformer to professionally rewired or a converter used to increase voltage and decrease current. if the amp was THEN re-wired for 110v AC and ... (as noted) VH used a variac to reduce voltage to 90-93 v AC, Transformer wanted to "see" vintage AC voltages of 110v AC.....over time, the AC Wall voltages in the USA have increased from 110v AC to 118v -120/121v AC. The variac reduced the original spec wall voltage of 110v AC to 90v AC. he originally attempted to use wall light dimmer switches but would burn them up. 2. speaker power attenuation and direct line out. - this device was located in the "practice bomb" and was not seen. it sent one channel with speaker output to one 4x12 cabinet and one channel-out with line level...(similar to Weber MASS attuenator). the line-level output was sent through one of the echoplexes and two univox EC-80 echos, a 10-band EQ (frown) and possibly the MXR flanger. This line was fed into a power amp that drove the 2nd 4x12 speaker cabinet.
If it was a UK amp set to run at 220V, he would have actually had to turn the voltage UP with the variac to get sound. My understanding is that it was an amp set to USA 110V that he did turn down to 85-90V.
Love the video! Great comments too! Only catch: I know I read through the years that the Kramer 5150 wasn't really a Kramer, and there never was an Eddie model. He endorsed Kramer (as was seen in all the guitar mags back then), and would guess the Baretta was about as close to a signature model. As for his iconic 5150, pretty sure it was another pieces/parts rig, Warmouth or Boogie again, and the Kramer decal was just added. One other interesting fact: ALL modern Wolfgang's are supposedly the same neck profile as that Kramer. Eddie has gone on record stating that neck was THE profile for him. Peavey originally did a computer profile of it for their guitars, then Fender did the same for his signature models. How much of this is true? Who knows, cause Ed changes his story continuously, lol! Doesn't stop me from proudly claiming he too was one of (and still is) my big influences (after The Ventures that is). Rock on Ed and get well soon so you can continue to melt out faces! And again, great video!! C.W.
Can't tell you how I know this, but the pic with all the Marshalls has a story. Eddie's techs kept 10 Marshalls under the stage to make sure they had one that worked. They were always having to repair on the fly because the Marshalls he had were so undependable. At least that was their story during the Van Hagar period, that's the closest I can come to tipping off why I know that.
Eddie did not use a chainsaw to cut out a piece of the Ibenez. He used a drill to mark out the area and then used a saw to remove the piece. He thought it sounded thin after removing that much wood from behind the bridge so he added the turn buckles. I use work for Peavey when Eddie was still using their amps and guitars and got the story from Mike Powers.
My fav was when he first had the Kramer proto type neck with the explorer type headstock on his red devil. It was in that famous ad and you can see it live in a bunch of his ‘83 live concerts in South America.
“I’m gonna abandon my spirit to them which is exactly what I attempt to do. You work yourself up into that state and you fall into the supplication of the demon gods.” - David Lee Roth (Rock, April 1984, page 30) “I started playing guitar, drinking, and smoking at the age of twelve.” - Edward Van Halen Where did Eddie get his inspirations for songs and the tones he came up with for them? Well, here is an excerpt from a January 1997 Guitar World interview Eddie connected. It was in an article titled UNCHAINED MELODIES by Steven Rosen. These are actual quotes by Eddie Van Halen given: “It’s a wicked feeling when a complete piece of music comes to you. But it’s not me, I’m just a vehicle and I really believe that.” “I ended up writing five songs that day including the music for Me Wise Magic. It blew my mind. I just didn’t want to believe I could do it without drinking.” “Then she had me do some yoga and meditation and some chanting. Next she had me close my eyes and imagine the room that you go to after you’ve had a six-pack of beer. Really try and feel that place. The therapist continued and said, Look you’ve been chosen to do this. All you are doing by drinking is blocking it. It’s a lot easier for them to send it when you are clear.” I wonder who “them” is? Also, Valerie Bertenelli is wicked as well. Valerie is an icon of show business and why is that? Yes she is pretty and she seems to have done a great job raising her son Wolfgang Van Halen. But she has been known to attend the Kabbalah Center and she wears a red string on her wrist which signifies allegiance to the devil. Here is an excerpt from her book Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time by Valerie Bertinelli on pages 157-158: Thankfully, I was able to stay at home for my next project, Murder of Innocence. Although shot locally, it took me as far away from myself as I’d ever been. The character I played, Laurie Wade, was a newlywed whose childhood traumas trigger a series of psychotic breaks that lead her to shoot at schoolchildren. She then commits suicide. Though the project let me work with director Tom McLoughlin again, I didn’t for one minute like climbing into the skin of this woman. I had the feeling that the ghost of Laurie Wade didn’t like it either. One day Tom and I were walking down a tree-lined street in an residential neighborhood, going over a scene in which Laurie is in a manic state when suddenly we heard an ear-splitting squawk that I swear to God sounded like someone saying “Get off!” Both of us looked up and saw two giant ravens sailing toward each other, like two planes on a collision course. We didn’t see them hit, but suddenly one bird fell from the sky hitting tree branches on its way down and landing with a thud at my feet. I looked down and saw blood dripping from its mouth. I looked at Tom and said, “I don’t want to be this woman anymore.” As the weeks progressed I broke down into hives and rashes. They had dermatologists visit the set. Nothing worked. Something about that part got under my skin and triggered a reaction. That’s why I couldn’t wait for the movie to end. I wanted Laurie to leave me alone. Now, isn’t that sick? Hollywood is sick! Valerie married Eddie on 4/11/81. 111 days later MTV debuts. All the rock and roll people who loved Eddie and all the TV fans who loved Valerie “came together” on April 11th when they married. Just in time for MTV which debuted a few months later. Music and Television merges and Eddie and Valerie helped it a long. MTV went on to be a socialistic enterprise to destroy culture. See the 11’s? Married on the 11th? 111 days later MTV debuts…
To those curious about a VARIAC on a Marshall. Eddie used his on the 110v Amp and found the "sweet spot" for perfect volume in clubs and a different sweet spot for recording: about 89v. **Here is his statement from 2017: " Marshall? I said I gotta have that amp, and so I worked all summer to buy that amp and we were already too loud as it was and now I had a 100-watt Marshall! It was so dam loud I did everything from facing it backwards to facing it down to the floor … I was just too damn loud! So I saw an ad in the paper for another Marshall amp and thought “maybe this one will be different”, well it certainly was cuz when it showed up I plugged it in and it didn’t work … but, I left it on and what I didn’t realize was this thing was from England and it was 220-volt, and I plugged it in and I didn’t look at the back and see it was set on 220; it took a long time for it to warm up at half voltage, and when I picked up my guitar I was like “it sounds incredible!” … but incredibly quiet. It dawned on me “I could control the volume of the (first) amp with the voltage, so I proceeded to hook it onto the light dimmer of the house, and blew it out and so on. So finally I went to this place called Dial Radio and asked “do you have any kind of like an industrial variable voltage transformer that I can use like a light dimmer” and he said “yea I got this thing called a Variac”, I said “ok cool”, and I take it home and plug the amp into it and I’d lower the voltage from like 110 slowly down to 100 and ... the lowest I ever went was like 60. Depending on the room we were playing I’d set it anywhere between 60 and 100 because the only way the amp sounded good was with everything all the way up, so that became my volume knob. If we were playing little bars I’d set it to like 60 volts; somewhere a little bit bigger I’d crank it to 80 and for recording the sweet spot seemed to be 89-volts.'
Just to clarify, alot of people use the term SLP to refer to any Marshall Superlead but the SPL refers specifically to the modern reissue. Original Superleads were never called SLPs.
That '67 Marshall Plexi was the "house" amp at Gazarris (sic) night club... Eddie basically stole it. He used between 90-135 volts (voltage selector set for 120) depending on the sound he wanted. His tech would have to replace the power transformer on a regular basis because of this "we had a crate of them" Eddie said in a mid- 80's interview. Eddie used the Phillips 6CA7 tubes in it, as he thought the stock EL-34's were too mushy (the 6CA7 is an American EL-34 tube in a 6L6 bottle). He used that Plexi through "1984" and stopped using it because it "gave up the ghost" and "didn't sound like the same amp anymore". Eddie ruined a couple of those Gibson humbuckers by leaving them in the saucepan of paraffin wax too long "I'd go to grab a beer and come back and the coils were melted". Hope this has been helpful.
Eddie van halen is my idol he is the best guitar player in music history, his guitar playing and techniques has been followed in so many guitar players.
Ed's use of stereo stemmed from the Kramer Ripley guitar where you could control each string, sending it to the left or right speaker. I remember Mick Mars playing one live in LA in Aug 1985.
Very cool video, thanks for the info brother... I love the evh amps... Serious heavy crunch on the red channel with the gain at around 8-9:00....yes, that low!...run a 10 band eq pedal thru the loop and you can create a beast of a sound!....
The bee pickup was a Frankenstein its self , he took the humbucker from the destroyer which had alnico 8 mag put it in a mighty mite pickup that had clear open coils. The destroyer wasn’t even his, it belong To Chris Holmes which he had borrowed. The 335 humbucker wasn’t just stock he also rewound it to his own specs.harmonizer was used to split his sound which he had set it detune slightly that gave a modulated chorus sound , he had a wet dry wet setup.
Many believe from VH2 he used a eventide ultra harmonizer also used and presets designed by Steve Vai especially during his whitesnake tour and album. Harmonizer did a diatonic pitch shifter or like a playing the note but also sounding as if there's a guitar playing above the note a octave above and below or like 3 guitats.. I saw a guy showing a cheap pedal that kind of did the same thing cheaper
A big part of his unique sound from the beginning was his wild vibrato with 2 whole step bends which was likely only possible with 9 gauge strings tuned a 1/2 step down. I haven't seen anybody confirm what his string gauge was or if he changed it according to the tuning. Do you know?
Steve vai said Eddie Van Halen invited him to his studio and while there told Steve Via he recorded every Van Halen album with his original Marshall plexus it’s in One of Steve’s videos
Correction: Eddie didn't do the Variac trick with the English powered Marshall SLP. He bought another one made for US power, and bought the Variac to use on that.
At 2:29 the strat with the Danelectro neck is a 1962 Fender that he used for the Woman in Love intro also Cathedral & Secrets. The snake/ dragon guitar was first made for Eddie & used on the VH 2 tour not Fair Warning.
Nice try, but You forgot the custom mini Les PAUL STYLE guitar he used when he played Little Guitars... I consider that an important guitar exclusive to that song. Sorry to point out that omission.
What about the TransTrem on the Steinberger? Not sure if it went unnoticed or folks didn’t care? While I’m not a huge Steinberger fan normally, a part of me has always wanted to get a Steinberger with the TransTrem. Wouldn’t be used a ton but I could find some uses for it!
I would like to see one of these of Steph Carpenter. Not my all time favorite guitar player but amazing tone. Tone for days and it would be cool to see how exactly he achieves it. I know he’s a gear head so I’m assuming a lot of stuff.
2:56 well the story is somewhat correct, but the whole variac thing works in reverse. In Eddies words: he originally bought a Marshall plexi set to US voltage (120 v ish) and it was way too loud, to the point that it was unusable (even for gig standars), then he bought another one, thinking that it was going to be different, it was, because when he turned everything up to 10, it was too quiet, that's when he descovered that it was set to UK voltage (220 v ish) and then he got a variac to use it on hes US Marshall to LOWER the voltage and in consecuence LOWER the volume. Here's the man himself telling the story: ruclips.net/video/yb26D8bBZB8/видео.html
your exactly correct. lowering the voltage going in with the variac lowered the volume coming out and made the amp work harder. what happened in the guitar player (or world) interview in 1980 he said he used the variac but that he turned the voltage up (his idea of humor) so of course everyone goes out and buys variacs and blows up their amp. His amp is pretty much stock and he used that amp in the studio from 77 till he changed his sound around the time of van hagar. My friend James Demeter's brother worked for van halen and James at some point was at Eddie's studio and Ed demoed his amp for James and said "what do you think?" If you don't know who James Demeter is look it up. anyway James said something to the effect of what am I supposed to say??? This story was told to me by James years ago... Ed also used to say that "jose" worked and modded the amp... all Jose did was maintain it.
Dudester is that you in you channel pic? Just curious. Impressive. My dad was a 20 year military man. (E-9!) He was so bad ass. Played great guitar, too. Martin acoustics. D-18's/D-28's - nylon string Spanish guitars, etc. Anyhow love your channel. Cheers! From mtw guitars in L.A. ps: it's really hot here in LA today. In November! ha ha. ; )
He always tinkered. Whether it was pickups, speakers or his amps. He had such a hard time with amps because he routinely blew up his plexi. Slight tone variations are form his pickup alterations and amp repairs. He also tinkered with speakers. He always tinkered because he always hated his sound.
Reducing voltage can't make an amp louder. UK voltage is 240V. US Voltage is 110V. The amp was quiet because he was feeding 110V when the amp was set up for 240V? Reducing the voltage further would make it quieter still and further reduce the power output of the amplifier.
New the channel and subscribed because I think you nailed it... I am a huge EVH fan but did not know about a third of his gear stuff. I have a question: Didn't at one time he had a Charvel brand on his bumblebee? Maybe I missed it! Congrats on your channel and I would love for you to do Adam Jones from Tool, with special attention to 10,000 days album... love his tone on The Pot!!
His destroyer, he borrowed from Cris Holmes from WASP. He hacks it up and admits cutting it up ruined the tone. So that is why you don't see him playing it live.
Eddie borrowing Chris Holmes destroyer... y’all just blew my mind! But, was that guitar the one he hacked up, or he borrowed Chris’ after he chopped up his? I’ve always read that Eddie’s sounded great before he chopped it up.
The danelectro strat in the studio picture is from the recording of VHII. He slapped it together in the studio for only one song; the intro to "women in love". He used it because his other strat was too balsy.
Ed's new guitars in 1984 were not actually Kramers but said Kramer because he began endorsing Kramer at that time. I remember the ads with his new short hair in 1985. Those new striped guitars were probably made by Ed Roman and looked like the Kramer Baretta.
Question; when the EVH division of Fender released the EVH Shark Guitar, they (meaning Eddie and a few write-ups) stayed that this guitar was used on many of the rhythm parts for W&CF. It seems like the history of this particular guitar had more actual use than you mention. I’m just curious if you read or watched any of this historical information? Thanks for your content. It’s awesome. I play guitar, bass and drums and am a huge gear-head. Working on building a recording studio so I love all the info I can get.
In all seriousness did Ed document this? I just don't see how anyone besides him or maybe his tech truly know exactly what his setup was throughout the years. Just wondering how accurate this is and out of curiosity where anyone could find this priceless information!
Vai said in an interview that when he went to 5150 ed said that he had recorded all van halen songs to that date on one amplifier except for two songs.
Eddie was the first guitarist that made me want to play guitar and Van Halen was the first band I ever saw live back in 2012 (when I was just 13 years old), Ed is still one of my favourite guitarists and is one of my personal guitar heroes. Anyways, how about James Hetfield or maybe guys like Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age or Daron Malakian of System of a Down?
I was just searching RUclips the other day to find this information. Then it pops up today. Awesome vid glad you made this video. Are you still playing the schecter evil twin?
Very cool review, Ray! If I remember correctly from an older interview, he said he used some variant of a Tom Scholz Rockman for some recording on the 5150 album. Not sure if any confirmation can be found out there, but it would be great if there was. Keep rockin, man!!
During Balance, Eddie was in the talks with Peavey. there are a couple songs that were actually recorded with his peavey wolfgang. although the videos show otherwise.
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Eddie also played a White 1975 LP Custom that had the electronics modified. He traded it in at Rainbow Guitars on Grant Rd in Tucson when they were on a bar tour before their 1st album came out. I bought that guitar in 1978 and owned it for 3 years before selling it. EVH confirmed it was his when I took it to a concert sound check at Tucson Arena in 1979. He told me he recorded Ice Cream Man using that guitar. Wish I kept it but needed the $$$. Great memories.
Eddie's 100 watt plexi head was always correctly set at 110 volts. The variac came about because he tried another 100 watt head and noticed it took ages to warm up and produce sound. When it did, the sound was very quiet. Upon examination, he saw that the head was set to 240 volts for UK use. That's when he realised that he could take his original plexi head, use a variac to reduce the voltage to around 90 volts, and get the same driven tone but at a quieter volume. Less voltage is similar to something running on almost dead batteries, ie it works, but with less performance. In this instance, the amp sounded more "brown" and Eddie liked that.
You realize the "brown sound" was about Alex's drum sound and not his guitar sound? It was actually on the EVH website. It may still be there. I like hearing people talk about it, not realizing the interview it stemmed from and how it got misconstrued. Too funny.
@@GreatWhiteLionSnake Not sure what you mean there? Since 1978 Eddie has described the tone he has always wanted as a "brown" sound.
@@blondegraemey no he hasn't. Check out billboard magazine article from June 27, 2015. Read his quotes. Its a common misconception. There was information about that on his EVH blog. Go to blog.evhgear.com and search "brown sound" . You're going to have a holy s**t moment. Kinda like finding out who Santa is. Phillip McKnight also addressed this on his RUclips channel and posted the letter too. This world is full of misinformation.
Spot on @blondegraemey
@@GreatWhiteLionSnake Do you search the interwebz for people to make this mistake so you can point it out and feel like you're super in the know?
After Steve Vai left Roth's band, Ed invited Vai over to 5150 told him that he used the same Marshall head on every VH recording except for two songs.
@Justin Ford Search for a recent interview by Pete Thorn titled Vai's Jose Modded Marshall Amps and you'll see him talk about. Did Ed invite him up to talk about the problems working with Dave? Probably given the timing.
@Justin Ford I don't listen to Vai at all (though I do respect him as a player), but if want to hear something that is both hilarious and disgusting, look up Steve Vai Worst Gig.
He may have said that, but actually his amos were lost by the airline.
Thats why VHII sounded very different
@Justin Ford Justin, I suggest you at least give Passion and Warfare a listen. If you don't like it, you don't like it, but give it a listen. Vai has also worked with Frank Zappa, and post-Yngwie Alacatrazz.
JAMES
Who is here for the eulogy on his death day
I was so SAD when I heard he died
mmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeee
Actually, EVH had to leave Ernie Ball becuase he was caught sleeping with Sterling Ball's wife. Valerie Bertinelli's autobiography supports this. He was kicked out and that's why he scrambled and went to peavy.
Damn
Classic Edddie👍🏻🎸
@@philbarrows424 yessir 🤣🤣🤣
😆🎸
Hahaha Eddie !!! Legend
I cannot tell you how much I wanted the black and yellow guitar when I was in my late teens . . . . I was obsessed with it. . . Now it's buried with dimebag
I know. It looked so cool on the cover/insert of VHII. A shame he never took to it.
Great video. Just a couple of things you missed for his early effects chain. He also used an MXR Flanger and at some point before the second album, he added a Chorus Pedal too. There are also pictures of his early pedal board that show a graphic EQ that people debate whether he used it for a booster or a line buffer.
Finally, his tone changed for 5150 because he started tuning his guitar to 440 standard pitch instead of dropping the tuning down a 1/2 step. Because he raised the pitch of the guitar, his sound was thinner than before. To help thicken it back up, the Eventide Harmonizer was added in for the stereo detune effect. I also believe the Eventide replaced the Echoplex tape delay units too.
The flanger was used on the first album, Ain't talking, Atomic punk, On fire..Good call.
Well, 1984 was also in standard.
Thank you for such a wonderful and heartfelt tribute to our King Edward.
I know you did this a year ago but anything honouring the King deserves some love \m/
The Missus woke me up crying and for the entire day we couldn’t listen to a note of King Edward without the waterworks comin’ - so many good times with his music -it felt weird
We found watching interviews with him and other kind folks like yourself paying tribute to Eddie makes it somewhat easier to bear. We literally had a day of intensely mourning. It might sound daft but Ed’s playing and attitude is hugely responsible for inspiring me to be the person I am.
There’s a Bad Religion ( Punk Band ) Lyric that says it al “ Everyone you love leaves a mark on your soul,
The world is a little less bright without King Edward
Im fighting cancer and depression and its been especially tough with the news of Eddie’s passing but hearing all these wonderful tributes and reaction and the love and joy he brought and is bringing….makes it a tad bit easier
Much love and respect! Thank you for honouring our King Edward. Eddie's music touched us so deeply because of his love for the instrument and the innovations he has done. To us, it feels like the brightest and best brother, Uncle, friend mentor you ever had is not in our realm anymore. You have Nothing but love from the rock/metal / guitarist community, respect for your tribute to EVH, Rock n Metal does not get the exposure and respect that other genres get.
So, you are forever in the hearts of many a Rock / Metal / Guitar fan's hearts. Stay safe & all the best wishes to you. Watch this Video Interview and you'll see why we're hurting so much...The world is a little less bright without King Edward This is a brilliant interview if you haven’t seen it ruclips.net/video/yb26D8bBZB8/видео.html&ab_channel=Z%C3%B3caloPublicSquare
most people don’t know the King Edward was a bi-racial half Asian / half white Immigrant and that his lifelong friends were the black kids who stood up for them when they came to the US. A definitive American Dream story.
Eddie buried Dimebag Darrell from Pantera with his original Bumblebee Guitar when Dime’s life partner Rita asked him to make a Copy Ed said “an Original deserves an Original”
Vinnie Paul ( Paantera ) Dimebag’s brother says the last words his brother said to him was Van f+*in Halen’ their nightly ritual before hitting the stage.
Frank Zappa loved and respected Eddieand got him to teach Dweezil who was obsessed with ED When Frank died Ed was THE 1st first to call with condolences and to offer any assistance.
He was the 1st to mod his guitars in such an extreme way chasing tone, Creating the Super Strat - Humbuckers in Strat style guitars, Waxing Pickups, Variac on his amp and did his first 2 albums with the original Fender Whammy which led to the creation of the Floyd Rose Whammy Bar. His Rhythm Playing was funky, tasteful and rockin’ and his songwriting is the reason his loss is affecting grandparents, parents, kids and all ethnicities alike as Van Halen songs will live forever.
Enjoy EVH ruclips.net/video/L9r-NxuYszg/видео.html&ab_channel=Hazardteam
Really cool channel! George Lynch would be a cool one. Under Lock And Key had one of the best guitar tones of all time. If you were to cover all of the gear Lynch has use throughout his career it would be a 2 hour segment though.
Other considerations: Glenn Tipton, Nuno Bettencourt, Blam Supplebutt, Klaus Storper, Dave Gilmour. Any of those would be cool.
Lynch used the purple 1972 Marshall Super Lead he borrowed from Aspen Pittman of Groove Tubes on than album.
Only thing I think you might of missed was his invention of the D Tuna which is a great 👍 mod ... Excellent video too.
Ahh d tuna. I hate that thing but you’re right I should’ve mentioned it
@@xanderraymondcharles It's so easy to use lol
@@MetalKillsRap2 Yeah but it only works if your floyd is set up so that it has no pull back, which is part of the fun of a floyd.
@@xanderraymondcharles -- Why do you hate it? It was a genius move and it is time efficient tuning down the e string
Do James Hetfield Next
Coming next!
@@xanderraymondcharles yesssss
Love your stuff dude
Awesome!!!!
James plays the same stuff for ever and he plays no lead. There's more interesting players to do
@@chrisbauman2562 Who TF asked you?
Can't forget the Wurly thru his Marshall on Cradle Will Rock, the Oberheim that's all over 1984 and other synths he used throughout the years :)
I would like to see what you can come up with for George Lynch
Killer Vid! I’d say the only thing you missed concerning the block/script part is that the power tubes were different between the two. Not sure exactly which ones but that’s why people falsely say that the block letter is better.
It’s not.
The block/script versions are the exact same amp.
They were just shipped with different power tubes.
You rule Ray!!!🤘
The voltage sag with the variac doesn’t increase volume, it increases gain. Difference.
Eddie also used a Les Paul Jr in the early days and this can be seen in photos that weren't used for the 1st album. Also, in the early 2000s, he had an artist series of guitars thru Charvel and used them, though not as main guitars. There is also evidence that Eddie experimented with and used a Marshall JCM800 during the early Van-Hagar years. And… …there is also his new line of non-Wolfgang models, which I've heard he also uses. All in all though…great video, thanx 🤘🏼😉👍🏼
Great video! One thing I would add is that on the first album 2 shure 57's where used, one closed mic'd and one on top on an angle about 1 to 2 feet away from the cabinet. I purchased Ted Templeman 's book and he has a photo when the band was recording the first album and you can clearly see his cabinet isolated from the drums and bass amp. I'm not sure if they used the same mic position on later albums. He also used a dummy load for live performance so he could change the speaker output of the amp to preamp levels and using other amps as "power amps" Jose Arredondo built the dummy load which could handle 3 different amps so he can switch between them just in case he blew up one. You can see some videos where you can see Marshall JMP's and even Music man amps on stage which he most likely use a power amps. He placed the Univox delay between the dummy load and the amps he used as "power amps" Since in those days effects loops did not exist he plugged the signal of the dummy load into the front panel of the amps he used as power amps. Later he started using on live performances HH V800 power amps using a wet/dry/wet system with a dry cab and 2 more cabs driven by the HH V800 for stereo effects. He used Roland SDE3000 and Eventide H910/949 harmonizer which he started using on Fair Warning(studio only) and 1984 and later Hagar albums. You can hear it on Live without a net live video. He uses different milliseconds and pitch settings on the R & L sides like 5 msec -9% pitch and 25 msec +9% pitch for example.
When 1984 came out I was 8 and Eddie was the coolest guy on mtv
European 220V amp plugged into US voltage making very little volume. And the answer is to plug it to a variac, turn down the voltage and get more volume? NOPE! Just doesn't work that way.
In the Smithsonian interview with Eddie actually said was that initially the amp made no sound at all like it was broken, but he accidentally left it on for quite some time and when he came back and tried it again it sounded great but it sounded like a5 W amp. That interview gives you some great insight into the jury rig stuff he had to build on his own because he didn’t have any money. He also talks about how many amazing vintage Gibson pick up he probably destroyed trying to figure out the wax potting And also things like gluing the quarter underneath the bridge
I guess that kind of makes sense, if the amp was extremely starved then it might take time for filaments to warm up enough just to work, and then of course extremely low output as well
Why not see for yourself? Seems to work.
ruclips.net/video/hinQPWiiwaI/видео.html
@@frankpaws That link showing Johann playing with the variac, is not demonstrating the point made in this original video. Johann is running a 230V amp on 230V's and 170V's. This original posted video talks about a 230V amp plugged into 115V US voltage. Ran this way, the amp will be very quiet. So plugging into a variac and lowering the voltage even more will not increase the volume. The amp will barely stay powered at all.
@@jamesnewlyn1803 Yeah, you are right. The one thing Eddie left out of his "discovery" was that after realizing his second head was set to 220, he discovered that the voltage controls the volume. Of course after he hooked it up to a light switch dimmer and blew it.
Here is Eddie talking about it. He never mentioned that he switched the amp to US voltage, which I don't know if the 60's amps had that option in the back of the amp, or if he had to modify it to US voltage.
wgsusa.com/blog/true-story-eddie-vanhalen-using-variac-tube-guitar-amp
If I’m remembering this correctly, another guitar that was used during the sessions of Fair Warning was a white 1962 Gibson SG Junior that Eddie used for some slide parts on “Dirty Movies”
Turning down the voltage does not increase the volume. It lowers it. He discovered (while he was working at a music store) on another Marshall Amp which was still set to British voltage that it was super quiet. Relative to what the amp needed to see the voltage was turned down. Sp he discovered that if he lowered the voltage he could make his amp quieter. That in turn starves the tubes and makes the power amp section feel a lot more squichy and give a lot more sag. You also have to bias the tubes fore the lowered voltage.
a 220v amp that didn't have a voltage selector switch needs the transformer to professionally rewired or a converter used to increase voltage and decrease current. if the amp was THEN re-wired for 110v AC and ... (as noted) VH used a variac to reduce voltage to 90-93 v AC, Transformer wanted to "see" vintage AC voltages of 110v AC.....over time, the AC Wall voltages in the USA have increased from 110v AC to 118v -120/121v AC.
The variac reduced the original spec wall voltage of 110v AC to 90v AC. he originally attempted to use wall light dimmer switches but would burn them up.
2. speaker power attenuation and direct line out. - this device was located in the "practice bomb" and was not seen. it sent one channel with speaker output to one 4x12 cabinet and one channel-out with line level...(similar to Weber MASS attuenator). the line-level output was sent through one of the echoplexes and two univox EC-80 echos, a 10-band EQ (frown) and possibly the MXR flanger. This line was fed into a power amp that drove the 2nd 4x12 speaker cabinet.
If it was a UK amp set to run at 220V, he would have actually had to turn the voltage UP with the variac to get sound. My understanding is that it was an amp set to USA 110V that he did turn down to 85-90V.
Love the video! Great comments too! Only catch: I know I read through the years that the Kramer 5150 wasn't really a Kramer, and there never was an Eddie model. He endorsed Kramer (as was seen in all the guitar mags back then), and would guess the Baretta was about as close to a signature model. As for his iconic 5150, pretty sure it was another pieces/parts rig, Warmouth or Boogie again, and the Kramer decal was just added.
One other interesting fact: ALL modern Wolfgang's are supposedly the same neck profile as that Kramer. Eddie has gone on record stating that neck was THE profile for him. Peavey originally did a computer profile of it for their guitars, then Fender did the same for his signature models.
How much of this is true? Who knows, cause Ed changes his story continuously, lol! Doesn't stop me from proudly claiming he too was one of (and still is) my big influences (after The Ventures that is).
Rock on Ed and get well soon so you can continue to melt out faces!
And again, great video!!
C.W.
Hey thank you so much for your comment! You’ve got a lot of usual info! Take care!
Can't tell you how I know this, but the pic with all the Marshalls has a story. Eddie's techs kept 10 Marshalls under the stage to make sure they had one that worked. They were always having to repair on the fly because the Marshalls he had were so undependable. At least that was their story during the Van Hagar period, that's the closest I can come to tipping off why I know that.
Eddie did not use a chainsaw to cut out a piece of the Ibenez. He used a drill to mark out the area and then used a saw to remove the piece. He thought it sounded thin after removing that much wood from behind the bridge so he added the turn buckles.
I use work for Peavey when Eddie was still using their amps and guitars and got the story from Mike Powers.
Great compilation and coverage of Eddie's gear
Loved this video - I only just found you! This was killer and I had a blast :)
I believe Eddie mentioned in one of his later interviews, he used an old Fender Bandmaster in his earlier recordings ....
Love this idea for a video series!
I’ve been doing this series for about a year now
One of my favorite series you have!
I wanna see one on Angus Young!!!
Thanks brada, as an Eddie fan I appreciate the work you put into this.
Dude super interesting. Eddie was always one of my top five when I started out. I love these videos Ray
U missed the celestion black back speakers and JBL speaker on top
most important comment
Are you able to tell me if these are the celestion t1977 model speakers with the low resonance 444 cones? But they are labeled as 50hz bass cone
@@WyattWillis88 all look online when I get free
My fav was when he first had the Kramer proto type neck with the explorer type headstock on his red devil. It was in that famous ad and you can see it live in a bunch of his ‘83 live concerts in South America.
“I’m gonna abandon my spirit to them which is exactly what I attempt to do. You work yourself up into that state and you fall into the supplication of the demon gods.” - David Lee Roth (Rock, April 1984, page 30)
“I started playing guitar, drinking, and smoking at the age of twelve.” - Edward Van Halen
Where did Eddie get his inspirations for songs and the tones he came up with for them? Well, here is an excerpt from a January 1997 Guitar World interview Eddie connected. It was in an article titled UNCHAINED MELODIES by Steven Rosen. These are actual quotes by Eddie Van Halen given: “It’s a wicked feeling when a complete piece of music comes to you. But it’s not me, I’m just a vehicle and I really believe that.” “I ended up writing five songs that day including the music for Me Wise Magic. It blew my mind. I just didn’t want to believe I could do it without drinking.” “Then she had me do some yoga and meditation and some chanting. Next she had me close my eyes and imagine the room that you go to after you’ve had a six-pack of beer. Really try and feel that place. The therapist continued and said, Look you’ve been chosen to do this. All you are doing by drinking is blocking it. It’s a lot easier for them to send it when you are clear.” I wonder who “them” is?
Also, Valerie Bertenelli is wicked as well. Valerie is an icon of show business and why is that? Yes she is pretty and she seems to have done a great job raising her son Wolfgang Van Halen. But she has been known to attend the Kabbalah Center and she wears a red string on her wrist which signifies allegiance to the devil. Here is an excerpt from her book Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time by Valerie Bertinelli on pages 157-158: Thankfully, I was able to stay at home for my next project, Murder of Innocence. Although shot locally, it took me as far away from myself as I’d ever been. The character I played, Laurie Wade, was a newlywed whose childhood traumas trigger a series of psychotic breaks that lead her to shoot at schoolchildren. She then commits suicide. Though the project let me work with director Tom McLoughlin again, I didn’t for one minute like climbing into the skin of this woman. I had the feeling that the ghost of Laurie Wade didn’t like it either. One day Tom and I were walking down a tree-lined street in an residential neighborhood, going over a scene in which Laurie is in a manic state when suddenly we heard an ear-splitting squawk that I swear to God sounded like someone saying “Get off!” Both of us looked up and saw two giant ravens sailing toward each other, like two planes on a collision course. We didn’t see them hit, but suddenly one bird fell from the sky hitting tree branches on its way down and landing with a thud at my feet. I looked down and saw blood dripping from its mouth. I looked at Tom and said, “I don’t want to be this woman anymore.” As the weeks progressed I broke down into hives and rashes. They had dermatologists visit the set. Nothing worked. Something about that part got under my skin and triggered a reaction. That’s why I couldn’t wait for the movie to end. I wanted Laurie to leave me alone. Now, isn’t that sick? Hollywood is sick! Valerie married Eddie on 4/11/81. 111 days later MTV debuts. All the rock and roll people who loved Eddie and all the TV fans who loved Valerie “came together” on April 11th when they married. Just in time for MTV which debuted a few months later. Music and Television merges and Eddie and Valerie helped it a long. MTV went on to be a socialistic enterprise to destroy culture. See the 11’s? Married on the 11th? 111 days later MTV debuts…
To those curious about a VARIAC on a Marshall. Eddie used his on the 110v Amp and found the "sweet spot" for perfect volume in clubs and a different sweet spot for recording: about 89v. **Here is his statement from 2017: " Marshall? I said I gotta have that amp, and so I worked all summer to buy that amp and we were already too loud as it was and now I had a 100-watt Marshall! It was so dam loud I did everything from facing it backwards to facing it down to the floor … I was just too damn loud! So I saw an ad in the paper for another Marshall amp and thought “maybe this one will be different”, well it certainly was cuz when it showed up I plugged it in and it didn’t work … but, I left it on and what I didn’t realize was this thing was from England and it was 220-volt, and I plugged it in and I didn’t look at the back and see it was set on 220; it took a long time for it to warm up at half voltage, and when I picked up my guitar I was like “it sounds incredible!” … but incredibly quiet. It dawned on me “I could control the volume of the (first) amp with the voltage, so I proceeded to hook it onto the light dimmer of the house, and blew it out and so on. So finally I went to this place called Dial Radio and asked “do you have any kind of like an industrial variable voltage transformer that I can use like a light dimmer” and he said “yea I got this thing called a Variac”, I said “ok cool”, and I take it home and plug the amp into it and I’d lower the voltage from like 110 slowly down to 100 and ... the lowest I ever went was like 60. Depending on the room we were playing I’d set it anywhere between 60 and 100 because the only way the amp sounded good was with everything all the way up, so that became my volume knob. If we were playing little bars I’d set it to like 60 volts; somewhere a little bit bigger I’d crank it to 80 and for recording the sweet spot seemed to be 89-volts.'
Stienberger used for “get up” and “summer nights”
Just to clarify, alot of people use the term SLP to refer to any Marshall Superlead but the SPL refers specifically to the modern reissue. Original Superleads were never called SLPs.
That '67 Marshall Plexi was the "house" amp at Gazarris (sic) night club... Eddie basically stole it. He used between 90-135 volts (voltage selector set for 120) depending on the sound he wanted. His tech would have to replace the power transformer on a regular basis because of this "we had a crate of them" Eddie said in a mid- 80's interview. Eddie used the Phillips 6CA7 tubes in it, as he thought the stock EL-34's were too mushy (the 6CA7 is an American EL-34 tube in a 6L6 bottle). He used that Plexi through "1984" and stopped using it because it "gave up the ghost" and "didn't sound like the same amp anymore". Eddie ruined a couple of those Gibson humbuckers by leaving them in the saucepan of paraffin wax too long "I'd go to grab a beer and come back and the coils were melted". Hope this has been helpful.
Eddie van halen is my idol he is the best guitar player in music history, his guitar playing and techniques has been followed in so many guitar players.
that destroyer was korina! he painted it white then did the rest later awesome vid bro! rip ed
thanks so much. Did my best!
First time watching one of your vids and I loved it. Well done mate. 👍
Hey thank you so much!!
@@xanderraymondcharles not a drama my friend.
Edward's guitars have always been the coolest!!! Have played a few guitars that were build for him. Amazing!!!
Electrovoice was the company that had a problem with EVH on the front of the “block letter” 5150
Really cool video... That pic with the blue guitar! Where da hell does that one come from!!?
Lucas, Eddie's blue guitar was discussed in one of Johnny Bean's clips while talking to another EVH fan/gear collector on line.
Ed's use of stereo stemmed from the Kramer Ripley guitar where you could control each string, sending it to the left or right speaker. I remember Mick Mars playing one live in LA in Aug 1985.
Very cool video, thanks for the info brother... I love the evh amps... Serious heavy crunch on the red channel with the gain at around 8-9:00....yes, that low!...run a 10 band eq pedal thru the loop and you can create a beast of a sound!....
The bee pickup was a Frankenstein its self , he took the humbucker from the destroyer which had alnico 8 mag put it in a mighty mite pickup that had clear open coils. The destroyer wasn’t even his, it belong To Chris Holmes which he had borrowed. The 335 humbucker wasn’t just stock he also rewound it to his own specs.harmonizer was used to split his sound which he had set it detune slightly that gave a modulated chorus sound , he had a wet dry wet setup.
Many believe from VH2 he used a eventide ultra harmonizer also used and presets designed by Steve Vai especially during his whitesnake tour and album. Harmonizer did a diatonic pitch shifter or like a playing the note but also sounding as if there's a guitar playing above the note a octave above and below or like 3 guitats.. I saw a guy showing a cheap pedal that kind of did the same thing cheaper
He also used a mini Les Paul for Little Guitars. I think it had less strings too. It can be found on live videos from the Diver Down era.
A big part of his unique sound from the beginning was his wild vibrato with 2 whole step bends which was likely only possible with 9 gauge strings tuned a 1/2 step down. I haven't seen anybody confirm what his string gauge was or if he changed it according to the tuning. Do you know?
Steve vai said Eddie Van Halen invited him to his studio and while there told Steve Via he recorded every Van Halen album with his original Marshall plexus it’s in One of Steve’s videos
You would lower the voltage to reduce head room or clean range of the power tubes. Power section clips the signal in a nice way at lower volume.
Correction: Eddie didn't do the Variac trick with the English powered Marshall SLP. He bought another one made for US power, and bought the Variac to use on that.
The other Boogie Bodies in the VH2 Studio photo (that you said was from VH1) that guitar was used on the intro to Women in Love from Van Halen 2.
I was going to ask what your MOS was, but then I saw the blue chord...nice. Another fascinating gear video!
At 2:29 the strat with the Danelectro neck is a 1962 Fender that he used for the Woman in Love intro also Cathedral & Secrets. The snake/ dragon guitar was first made for Eddie & used on the VH 2 tour not Fair Warning.
Nice try, but You forgot the custom mini Les PAUL STYLE guitar he used when he played Little Guitars...
I consider that an important guitar exclusive to that song.
Sorry to point out that omission.
and the 12 string rickenbacker guitar used on WCF, on the song "In a Simple Rhyme"
Great documentary!!! I been a life long fan. Nice Editing set up in the background!!!
Please do a Gear video for Warren Dimartini of Ratt.
Thank you
Awesome video my friend. Thanks for sharing.
Personally my favorite tones Eddie achieved were on the second album
I agree the track DOA comes to mind.
What about the TransTrem on the Steinberger? Not sure if it went unnoticed or folks didn’t care? While I’m not a huge Steinberger fan normally, a part of me has always wanted to get a Steinberger with the TransTrem. Wouldn’t be used a ton but I could find some uses for it!
I would like to see one of these of Steph Carpenter. Not my all time favorite guitar player but amazing tone. Tone for days and it would be cool to see how exactly he achieves it. I know he’s a gear head so I’m assuming a lot of stuff.
the ATF album has the best tone IMO. Diamond Eyes is close 2nd.
2:56 well the story is somewhat correct, but the whole variac thing works in reverse. In Eddies words: he originally bought a Marshall plexi set to US voltage (120 v ish) and it was way too loud, to the point that it was unusable (even for gig standars), then he bought another one, thinking that it was going to be different, it was, because when he turned everything up to 10, it was too quiet, that's when he descovered that it was set to UK voltage (220 v ish) and then he got a variac to use it on hes US Marshall to LOWER the voltage and in consecuence LOWER the volume.
Here's the man himself telling the story: ruclips.net/video/yb26D8bBZB8/видео.html
your exactly correct. lowering the voltage going in with the variac lowered the volume coming out and made the amp work harder. what happened in the guitar player (or world) interview in 1980 he said he used the variac but that he turned the voltage up (his idea of humor) so of course everyone goes out and buys variacs and blows up their amp. His amp is pretty much stock and he used that amp in the studio from 77 till he changed his sound around the time of van hagar. My friend James Demeter's brother worked for van halen and James at some point was at Eddie's studio and Ed demoed his amp for James and said "what do you think?" If you don't know who James Demeter is look it up. anyway James said something to the effect of what am I supposed to say??? This story was told to me by James years ago... Ed also used to say that "jose" worked and modded the amp... all Jose did was maintain it.
Thank you
If I had to guess what company had a similar logo similar to the EVH logo on the Peavey 5150 it would be Electro Voice.
Dudester is that you in you channel pic? Just curious. Impressive. My dad was a 20 year military man. (E-9!) He was so bad ass.
Played great guitar, too. Martin acoustics. D-18's/D-28's - nylon string Spanish guitars, etc. Anyhow love your channel. Cheers!
From mtw guitars in L.A. ps: it's really hot here in LA today. In November! ha ha. ; )
He always tinkered. Whether it was pickups, speakers or his amps. He had such a hard time with amps because he routinely blew up his plexi. Slight tone variations are form his pickup alterations and amp repairs. He also tinkered with speakers. He always tinkered because he always hated his sound.
Reducing voltage can't make an amp louder. UK voltage is 240V. US Voltage is 110V. The amp was quiet because he was feeding 110V when the amp was set up for 240V? Reducing the voltage further would make it quieter still and further reduce the power output of the amplifier.
New the channel and subscribed because I think you nailed it... I am a huge EVH fan but did not know about a third of his gear stuff. I have a question: Didn't at one time he had a Charvel brand on his bumblebee? Maybe I missed it! Congrats on your channel and I would love for you to do Adam Jones from Tool, with special attention to 10,000 days album... love his tone on The Pot!!
Bit sad that you didn't mentioned that the bumblebee guitar has been buried with Dimebag Darrell... RIP Eddie and Dime we miss you alot.
Great vid dude!
His destroyer, he borrowed from Cris Holmes from WASP. He hacks it up and admits cutting it up ruined the tone. So that is why you don't see him playing it live.
During the Women and Children First sessions, Ed had borrowed Chris’s Destroyer to record the songs, since Ed’s was hacked up.
@@Dani-ff6gq
This..
Eddie borrowing Chris Holmes destroyer... y’all just blew my mind! But, was that guitar the one he hacked up, or he borrowed Chris’ after he chopped up his? I’ve always read that Eddie’s sounded great before he chopped it up.
The danelectro strat in the studio picture is from the recording of VHII. He slapped it together in the studio for only one song; the intro to "women in love". He used it because his other strat was too balsy.
No mention of MXR Phase 90 or MXR Flanger or the Maestro Echoplex? Glaring omissions!
I would like to see what you can come up with for George Lynch
You knocked it out of the fucking park dude. Thank you!
Ed's new guitars in 1984 were not actually Kramers but said Kramer because he began endorsing Kramer at that time. I remember the ads with his new short hair in 1985. Those new striped guitars were probably made by Ed Roman and looked like the Kramer Baretta.
Please do more of these!!! 🤘
soon as i start making my strat into a van halens frankenstrat, this video gets uploaded by you, perfect fucking timing ray ^^
Haha hell yeah! Enjoy making that guitar!
@@xanderraymondcharles thanks man, ill send you pics when its done ^^
What did he use for a live rig from 78 to 85? I can’t believe he used that same Marshall with the variac. It would not have held up.
Question; when the EVH division of Fender released the EVH Shark Guitar, they (meaning Eddie and a few write-ups) stayed that this guitar was used on many of the rhythm parts for W&CF. It seems like the history of this particular guitar had more actual use than you mention. I’m just curious if you read or watched any of this historical information? Thanks for your content. It’s awesome. I play guitar, bass and drums and am a huge gear-head. Working on building a recording studio so I love all the info I can get.
The Shark is still in its original form, this is a different explorer style body guitar that can be seen in a few images from the late 70s
OCT 6TH IS NOW EVH DAY. Eddie will never be forgotten!!!
You missed the small guitar on Diver? Also Diver Down was 1982 not 1983. Also what double neck guitar was used on Cathedral/Secrets live?
I wish you had been around when I was playing brother you sure fuel the need to jam!
Who else is watching after evh sadly passed. RIP Eddie van Halen
In all seriousness did Ed document this? I just don't see how anyone besides him or maybe his tech truly know exactly what his setup was throughout the years. Just wondering how accurate this is and out of curiosity where anyone could find this priceless information!
Vai said in an interview that when he went to 5150 ed said that he had recorded all van halen songs to that date on one amplifier except for two songs.
Eddie was the first guitarist that made me want to play guitar and Van Halen was the first band I ever saw live back in 2012 (when I was just 13 years old), Ed is still one of my favourite guitarists and is one of my personal guitar heroes. Anyways, how about James Hetfield or maybe guys like Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age or Daron Malakian of System of a Down?
Very interesting ! Thanks for that great video ! Any plan to make a John Petrucci gear through the years video ? That would be so cool !
Thanks! It’s on the radar, that’s a lot of research but I’ll get it done!
I was just searching RUclips the other day to find this information. Then it pops up today. Awesome vid glad you made this video. Are you still playing the schecter evil twin?
Loved it mate! That blue guitar you were talking about earlier; that kind of looks like a Dan Armstrong model, but I’m not sure. Great vid 😊👍
Very cool review, Ray! If I remember correctly from an older interview, he said he used some variant of a Tom Scholz Rockman for some recording on the 5150 album. Not sure if any confirmation can be found out there, but it would be great if there was. Keep rockin, man!!
Like you I painted my first guitar like the frankenstrat. Wish I didn’t get rid of it.
Great job man! Subbed
He influenced me to start playing. Cool video.
During Balance, Eddie was in the talks with Peavey. there are a couple songs that were actually recorded with his peavey wolfgang. although the videos show otherwise.
You missed the mini Les Paul he used on Little Guitars. It wasn't made by Gibson but he used that guitar for several tours.
Somewhere in the evh lore is that in the unchained era that the Seymour Duncan custom custom was designed for him and used for sometime afterwards.