Acheiving the Van Halen Sound

[moth balls]

In 1999 Sammy Hagar throw out a 60mm Dunlop.I put this to my guitar and acheived a great chord progression of harmonics

[Guitar Shark]

ok then.

[sadaist]

Maybe it was a magic pick. I caught a James Hetfield pick once and all it does is play Master of Puppets. I tried to play some Megadeth with it, but it threatened to kill me in my sleep.

[moth balls]

I once had a chick at a Rock club start and tell me the evil of hot dogs,and after the conversation telling me all the additives they put in hot dogs, she said "you know you look just like david lee roth"That was the end of the conversation.

[moth balls]

I collected alot of picks from97-04.Eddie Van Halen also throwed me a pick when he used Gary cherone,It was teal with the van halen logo and his signature

[sadaist]

EVH picks on eBay sell for $30 - $50. You are lucky to have them. I recently traded Dave Ellefson for some picks of his. 2 Megadeth and 2 from his new band F5.

[moth balls]

Yes ,I wa svery lucky to get them. how I managed to make a collection like I did, I have checked the prices I think Mick jaggers and any thing related to the rolling stones sells for alot, thats my impression.unless you have like"stevie Ray vaughn"I, heard one of his selling for $2,500

[ELVIS]

You're all on crack...

Except Guitar Shark...

[moth balls]

Black Zambowl ....PCP is even better

[ThrillsNSpills]

http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/photos/santa_barbara_california/images/ostrich.jpg


Well FUCK this is as good a place as any to post a pic of an ostrich.

[scamper]

Originally posted by sadaist
EVH picks on eBay sell for $30 - $50. You are lucky to have them. I recently traded Dave Ellefson for some picks of his. 2 Megadeth and 2 from his new band F5.

What do ya think the bass players picks go for?

[BrownSound1]

Who gives a rat's ass what Eddie used on Hagar and Cherone tours? His tone hasn't been great since....well Dave was in the band. No I don't credit Dave for the tone to begin with, but I do blame Eddie for using that rack o' shit.

[ELVIS]

Proof that you don't read threads...;)

[Nitro Express]

In all seriouseness, the pick and how you hold it and use it has a huge effect on the sound.

There's lots of good footage of Eddie playing on the internet and the guy has amazingly great picking hand control. He is a loose picker meaning he lets the pick extened past his fingers quite a bit and lets it flex.

Eddie gets a loose sound and one key is to pick the strings the way he does. Eddie is loose but in control. If you play tight, you won't get his sound.

If you are using heavy guage strings to get the speed like Ynwgie Malmsteen, you aren't going to sound like Eddie. You really need a pick that flexes but Eddie still gets great speed with his great right hand and wrist control.

Ed holds his pick different than most players. He holds it between his middle finger and thumb. When he picks fast he puts his index finger on the side of the pick. Why? He's stiffening the pick with finger resistance. This way he's making a medium guage pick stiffer for fast runs.

Pick guage is one thing but how you hold it or how much is sticking out of your grip effects pick performace as well.

[BrownSound1]

I agree that picking technique does have a great effect over the tone, but to mention what Ed used on a Hagar or Cherone tour? The fact that the dude was even there...I mean who could listen to that shit.

And yes I did read the thread, but the first couple of posts bothered me so badly that I had to say something.

[ELVIS]

I must have missed those posts...:D

[Nitro Express]

Eddie's playing style has changed over the years. Heck, it even changed during the Roth years. During Van Halen 3 Ed used metal picks. So if you are a sick bastard and want the VH3 sound, that's the secret. LOL!

[Nitro Express]

For the old school VH sound you want .009 guage strings. Eddie used Fender XL's in those days and Fender medium celluoid picks. He used sevral guitars and pickups. The shark guitar and some of the guitars used on the Fair Warning tour actually had Dimarzio super distortion pickups on them. The original Frankenstrat had a PAF in it. That's why on Van Halen II you hear that great warm tone. It's a normal vintage Gibson PAF in that guitar.

[ELVIS]

You trying to tell us something ??

Get yer facts straight...

[BrownSound1]

I'll be honest, I don't believe that Ed ever used Super Distortions in the old days. He's got too much definition going on in his tone for that. PAF types of pickups I can hear, but not a Super Distortion.

[DeadOrAlive]

I've used Fender Medium Picks, but I usually use these Heavy Fender picks... They have a palm tree on them, and I don't know what to call them. But the with the Mediums, it seems to be easier to hit the harmonics.

[nitro]

Thats very true ED did use super distortion pickups and he also used PAF pickups also if you look at some old photos of eds guitars 78 to 81 the super distortion pickup is there. The shark guitar had a super distortion pickup so did the black and yellow strat so did the fair warning strat ED changed pickups often but liked the paf best......

[Eyes of the Night]

Paf pro's is the way I went ... great vintage sounding hummbucker ...

As for the medium picks I never used em consistantly ...

I use triangle .38's made by ??? ... shit the white one's ...

[ELVIS]

There is no pickup (or pick, for that matter) in the world, that will give you a Van Halen sound...

[sadaist]

Originally posted by ELVIS
There is no pickup (or pick, for that matter) in the world, that will give you a Van Halen sound...

Correct. It does help to have the right gear, but if you can't finesse the thing like him, you don't have a chance. I think Ed could get good sound from a Hondo guitar and Gorilla amp if he fucked with it for a while. At least better sound than I ever could.

[sadaist]

I still have the Hondo by the way. Piece of crap, but my 1st guitar. Who doesn't keep their first guitar?

[Coyote]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
I'll be honest, I don't believe that Ed ever used Super Distortions in the old days. He's got too much definition going on in his tone for that. PAF types of pickups I can hear, but not a Super Distortion.

Ever heard of the Duncan Custom/'59 Hybrid?

[BrownSound1]

Originally posted by Coyote
Ever heard of the Duncan Custom/'59 Hybrid?

Tone wise that's PAF territory, but a higher output.

[Coyote]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
Tone wise that's PAF territory, but a higher output.

Exactly. Kinda like the Custom Shop '78/EVH model.
The guys over at the Duncan forums claim that it's "the" p'up to get.

(Although I got myself a Custom a month ago...)

[BrownSound1]

I've been told that an EVH '78 is basically made from two pickups. The slug coil of a Duncan '59 and the adjustable screw coil from a Custom/Custom Custom. Also, and this is a big key, is the use of an AlNiCo 2 magnet. So, if you have a Custom Custom you have one of the coils and the AlNiCo 2 magnet already. All you need to do is get a Duncan '59 and remove the slug coil and replace the slug coil on the Custom Custom. Mismatched coils and the weaker magnet and you have what is claimed to be Ed's pickup from the Fair Warning era.

BTW, you could use a Duncan Custom pickup too, because the coils are EXACTLY the same as a Custom Custom. You just have to come up with the AlNiCo 2 magnet.

[nitro]

I would not consider the VAN HALEN brown sound by using a alnico 2 magnet its to soft sounding go back and listen to VAN HALEN 1 it sounds more like a alnico 5 magnet or a ceramic magnet there is alot of attack and edge, there is no way a alnico 2 magnet can achieve that .I use the duncan 59 in the bridge which is a alnico 5 magnet and its very very close to the van halen sound i have been through many many pickups on the closest to the VAN HALEN brown sound to me would be the DUNCAN 59...............

[Coyote]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
I've been told that an EVH '78 is basically made from two pickups. The slug coil of a Duncan '59 and the adjustable screw coil from a Custom/Custom Custom. Also, and this is a big key, is the use of an AlNiCo 2 magnet. So, if you have a Custom Custom you have one of the coils and the AlNiCo 2 magnet already. All you need to do is get a Duncan '59 and remove the slug coil and replace the slug coil on the Custom Custom. Mismatched coils and the weaker magnet and you have what is claimed to be Ed's pickup from the Fair Warning era.

BTW, you could use a Duncan Custom pickup too, because the coils are EXACTLY the same as a Custom Custom. You just have to come up with the AlNiCo 2 magnet.

I'm not gonna fuck up my Custom since I got that quasi-WACF-tone going... :D

I'm looking for "close enough", not "exactly like".

[BrownSound1]

Originally posted by nitro
I would not consider the VAN HALEN brown sound by using a alnico 2 magnet its to soft sounding go back and listen to VAN HALEN 1 it sounds more like a alnico 5 magnet or a ceramic magnet there is alot of attack and edge, there is no way a alnico 2 magnet can achieve that .I use the duncan 59 in the bridge which is a alnico 5 magnet and its very very close to the van halen sound i have been through many many pickups on the closest to the VAN HALEN brown sound to me would be the DUNCAN 59...............

Are you taking into account that on the first album he used an MXR 6 Band eq in front of the amp? Then there's the Ibanez Destroyer to take into account as well...korina wood, set neck, etc. PLUS, all of the post-eq on the recording.

There's more to the output of a pickup than just the magnet. It is very possible to have a pickup with an alnico 2 magnet output as much or more signal than an alnico 5. It's all in the coils.

A Duncan '59...Alnico 5 for sure, but a lower output pickup, than a Custom Custom with an Alnico 2.

There is so much to take into account when trying to duplicate the elusive "brown sound." Pickups are but a small piece of the puzzle. My personal opinion is it is NOT a distortion type of pickup. However, I think you could...no, I know you could get that tone pretty easily with a Duncan '59, Duncan Custom, Custom Custom, and even a JB. I've heard all of these pickups used and get DAMN close.

Now as far as the rest of it goes...it's gotta be a Plexi type of amp. Sorry, but the brown sound ain't going to come from a Messy Booger Triple Rectumfrier. More on that at another point in time.

[nitro]

The ibanez destroyers were made out of ash with a korina finish thats a true fact from ibanez.