Tips for getting Ed's DLR era sound

[Don Corleone]

Came across this site earlier. It's got some pretty good tips if your trying to reproduce Ed's early (DLR era) sound on a low budget.

http://www.guitarwizardjfrocks.com/

[Mezro]

Tip 1: drink
Tip 2: drink some more
Tip 3: do a shot
Tip 4 slam a beer
Tip 5: line up some blow
Tip 6: light up a fatty
Tip 7: crack goes snap/crackle in the pipe
Tip 8: repeat

Mezro...now you should sound just like Ed

[Don Corleone]

Originally posted by Mezro
Tip 1: drink
Tip 2: drink some more
Tip 3: do a shot
Tip 4 slam a beer
Tip 5: line up some blow
Tip 6: light up a fatty
Tip 7: crack goes snap/crackle in the pipe
Tip 8: repeat

Mezro...now you should sound just like Ed

These also help

[Panamark]

Old School Marshalls

Thats the starting point.

[Mr Grimsdale]

Originally posted by Mezro
Tip 1: drink
Tip 2: drink some more
Tip 3: do a shot
Tip 4 slam a beer
Tip 5: line up some blow
Tip 6: light up a fatty
Tip 7: crack goes snap/crackle in the pipe
Tip 8: repeat

Mezro...now you should sound just like Ed

ha!

i find masturbating helps too
but that's just a general habit of mine

[flappo]

masturbating while drinking is not advised

you keep spilling the vodka

[Mezro]

Originally posted by Mr Grimsdale
ha!

i find masturbating helps too
but that's just a general habit of mine

Gerbils...don't forget the gerbils!

Mezro...jack a chunk and then dunk a rodent

[Mr Grimsdale]

yeah i like to regurgitate them

[jacksmar]

Cool Don, thanks.

[Mezro]

Originally posted by Mr Grimsdale
yeah i like to regurgitate them

Spew them out of your gullet all soaking in digestive chum.

Mezro...pick a pickled pint and then chow swing it at a runt

[BrownSound1]

In all seriousness, Panamark is correct...obtain an old Marshall Super Lead. I would also recommend at the very least you get an MXR Phase 90. The bad thing about this is you have to crank the holy fuck out of your amplifier, because there is nothing but a single volume control on those old amps. I would suggest a THD Hotplate, so your neighbors don't kill you in your sleep.

[flappo]

mezro is one funny mofo

[Cathedral]

I suggest finding your own sound and avoid getting stuck in Van Halenland. be original and leave the copying to the followers.

Be a leader....

[BrownSound1]

Yeah that is true Cathedral, but some people's tone just sucks total ass, so I say use Ed's old tone as a reference point. I gotta admit it would be nice to just be able to dial up the "Van Halen II tone," or the Unchained tone. My tone doesn't sound that much like Ed...probably somewhere between old George Lynch and Jimmy Page. LOL

[GAR]

Tip #1 should be learn how to play a guitar..

[Cathedral]

Originally posted by Brownsound1
Yeah that is true Cathedral, but some people's tone just sucks total ass, so I say use Ed's old tone as a reference point. I gotta admit it would be nice to just be able to dial up the "Van Halen II tone," or the Unchained tone. My tone doesn't sound that much like Ed...probably somewhere between old George Lynch and Jimmy Page. LOL

That's kind of what i did actually, lol...I'm running a modified 5150II half stack right now which is close to his older tone since i am now using EL34's in it as opposed to the 6L6 pieces of shit that sound like the cold ass smegma filled vagina of the Spammy era.

This all came about when i was changing the Pre-Amp tubes which the design really sucks on, and i cracked the circuit board.
Killowatt, my friendly neighborhood electronis guru who has modified a few Kustom amps for me in the eearly 90's suggested letting him screw around with it...I agreed and he gave me back a hotrodded killer sounding amp...
The dude is a genius and really did this amp a world of good, it rips ass now and i have given up the thoughts of selling it.

My Quadraverb GT is still my effects arsenal, but the noise it produces is starting to get on my nerves. I do love the range in tones this set up gives me but i am looking for something quieter and hopefully more versitile.

[BrownSound1]

I'm surprised the Quadraverb is all that noisy...perhaps there is a problem with the unit. I'll tell you what though, I think Lexicon produces the best sounding reverb units on the market. To me a lot warmer than the Alesis stuff, of course they cost a bit more too.

One thing people HAVE to remember, even if you played through Ed's old rig it is still going to sound like you. Equipment is definitely part of it, but the other part is all you...and I mean physically you. The attack of you pick...the way your fingers push the strings...all of these contribute to tone.

[Cathedral]

The GT isn't that noisy, but it has this very low hiss that only i pretty much hear that is getting on my nerves lately. I have owned 3 of these units and they all had it.

I'll check out some Lexicon stuff, there are a few local guys using their stuff that sound really cool and their rigs are super quiet, they just have ego's that i don't feel like climbing in order to talk shop.

Great point about unique sounds from unique individuals also. I can get pretty anal about wanting to accurately represent a bands sound during any given song. I don't even like a vocalist taking liberties with covers if it hurts the delivery of the tune to the crowd. I don't think we should play things note for note, but we tried to at least keep the flavor of the band that wrote it in tact.

[BrownSound1]

LMAO!! It totally pisses me off when the singer doesn't sing the song like it was originally done. I'm like dude, when you sell a million records then you can take liberties...until then you gotta sing it like it was originally done. My old band did a lot of obscure Zeppelin..meaning not the normal radio shit. I would get pissed off when the fucking singer couldn't sound like Plant did. I know that is wrong of me, but damn...I've got to take a stab at sounding like Page...so why shouldn't he try to sound like Plant. LOL

[Cathedral]

A-fuckin-men...Singers have been the single most difficult assholes we have had to deal with. We had one guy that sounded like he was gonna have a coronary with his breathing style during songs that required a lot of wind.

I mean, you know it's time to put out a new ad when the guitarist is giving the vocalist tips on how to deliver a line, lol.

It's an 80's tune, take your high note into a falsetta but blend it so they can't hear the shift, lol. he's like, "What?"

We're like, "You're fired, go home" lol...true story...

[GAR]

Betcha $1000 I could put the Van Halen sound inside an Altoids tin, along with a stereo chorus, echoplex slapback digital delay, reverb, with direct stereo output AND a headphones output.. with active adjustable EQ?

ANY TAKERS?

An older Marshall JMP Super Lead is a good start, but you'll have to add some additional gain stages in the preamp section like Ed did.

.. just because you can buy the same container does not mean you will wind up with the same sound - its just a start.

[Big Troubles]

Originally posted by Cathedral
A-fuckin-men...Singers have been the single most difficult assholes we have had to deal with. We had one guy that sounded like he was gonna have a coronary with his breathing style during songs that required a lot of wind.

I mean, you know it's time to put out a new ad when the guitarist is giving the vocalist tips on how to deliver a line, lol.

It's an 80's tune, take your high note into a falsetta but blend it so they can't hear the shift, lol. he's like, "What?"

We're like, "You're fired, go home" lol...true story...

Funny stuff. Kudos to the new avatar too Cathedral.

[Big Troubles]

I know its unrelated, but there are way too many thread starters for the sake of starting threads, so Id like to ask a dumb question here...(being a newbie and all) Ive been playing for about 7 months, and I've gathered an impressive collection of pedals. Im moving to buying a better quality guitar. I like the Epiphones. But the one I want doesn't have a whammy bar hook up. (realising that this might be better since the bar tends to bend the fuck out of the strings when attached) Is the Epiphone worth the doe, and can I put a custom bar on it, or would that be just dumb?

[Big Troubles]

I can prob pick up a used Epiphone for about $200, maybe $300.
Pawn shop on main street here has tons of good used shit. Old Marshall stacks too.

[Cathedral]

If you want a whammy down the road i'd suggest just getting an axe with one installed on it now.
If you aren't interested in using a bar then go without it and buy another guitar later.
If the one you get isn't routed for a trem then it wouldn't really be worth having it done later.

It's easier to have the trem and not use it then it is to want a trem and not have it, lol.

But, the key to your answer is this "The guitar i want doesn't have one", sooooooooo, You don't really seem to need one, lmmfao.

[Eyes of the Night]

Originally posted by GAR


An older Marshall JMP Super Lead is a good start, but you'll have to add some additional gain stages in the preamp section like Ed did.

.. just because you can buy the same container does not mean you will wind up with the same sound - its just a start.


Thanks broham ... never knew that! Niiice ...

Can you have someone put that in for you or is it easy enough for a peep like you or *I*? ...

Can't we just get a 5150II stack and call it even?;) ...

[BrownSound1]

The 5150 and 5150 II won't get that early Ed tone as easy as you might think. A big part of the early tone is attributed to the power amp screaming like a virgin because it is cranked full on. If you use a 5150 type of amp, first thing you've got to do is get rid of the Peavey cabinet and put it on a vintage Marshall cab...or the reissue.

There is an amp that gets that tone pretty good...it is called the Peacemaker. It is manufactured by Mojave Amp Works.

Here's the url... http://www.mojaveampworks.com

And one for the Peacemaker... http://www.mojaveampworks.com/1Amplifiers/PeaceMaker/PeaceMaker.asp

Be sure to check out the sound clips on the left hand side of the Peacemaker page.

[sambo]

A big part of the sound is 1. the * amp * and 2. a decent humbucker - doesn't necessarily have to be a Seymour Duncan, but it helps. I have a 500K pot in my Strat and these coupled with an original 70's script logo MXR Phase 90 gets the job done. EVH also played aggressively back then, which was vital.

Oh and this type of amp helps... a non master volume Plexi. The older the better, I have heard some bad things about the ones from 2000 onwards, esepcially the 2003 on www.harmonycentral.com.

This is exactly like mine, will post when I get my camera sorted.

Cheers!

[BlimpyCHIMP™]

Originally posted by sambo
Oh and this type of amp helps... a non master volume Plexi.

THE PEACEMAKER IS A BETTER DEAL CUZ THEM VOLTAGE CAPS IS STRONGER N SHIT

PLEXIS - YOU GOTTA REBUILD EM TOTALLY AND GET CHARGED 500-600

ID RATHER BUY NEW

[sambo]

Cheers Blimpy... v.interesting. May have to go check out the Peacemaker. I wonder if I can get one in Australia... nothing on Ebay. http://www.wildwestguitars.com/peacemaker.htm makes interesting reading.. thanks for the heads up..

[BlimpyCHIMP™]

THEY SELL DIRECT

TAKE YOU ABOUT A MONTH IN SHIPPING TO GET IT THOUGH

[Nitro Express]

Buy the Marshall 1989 Super Lead 100 reissue and then have the Custom Audio Electronics Crunch mod done to it. Eddie used simular amps for his live sound (check out customaudioelectronics.com theres some picutures of Eddie's live rig) until the 5150 came into the scene.

Of course you need a Marshall 1960B speaker cabinet loaded with Celesian 25 watt speakers to get the early tone.

[Don Corleone]

Originally posted by Brownsound1
There is an amp that gets that tone pretty good...it is called the Peacemaker. It is manufactured by Mojave Amp Works.

I've just bought one of those things, and it smokes.

[Nitro Express]

Those Peacemakers look like great amps. Very well built and handwired to boot. In fact, I think they are better than the original old Marshalls because the output transformers won't blow on you. But for $2700, they should be a good amp.

You still can get close to classic VH tone without spending a fortune. Probably the cheapest way to go is a good digital sampler. I can get close with a cheap SOVTEK MIG 50 amp and a Marshall cab.

[Don Corleone]

Actually the Line 6 Pod XT has got a good classic Ed sound pre-programed into it (Eruption)

[Brett]

Just wanted to add that it's damn near impossible to get Ed's old sound with a 5150 unless you get rid of that piece of shit Peavey cabinet with those awful Sheffield speakers, and use a Marshall cab instead. The singer in our band had a 5150 half stack with the crappy 5150 cab, and I have mine with a Marshall cab with greenbacks, and the warmth of the tone of is night and day. He finally got smart and just got a Mesa. :)

I have a Pod XT, the Eruption tone is a cool preset, but it doesn't really sound good for anything but VH1. With some tweaking of the Pod, you can get something closer to the VH2 / Fair Warning tone.

[GAR]

The aim in getting any particular amp sound is having an understanding of the transducers that were involved in the recording as much as the added gainstages in Ed's amp.

If I had to go thru mailorder for a setup, I'd have the Mojave 100 (do they call it a "Peacemaker"?), an original Ross compressor (to compensate for the lack of a companding circuit Ed had in the Schaffer-vega wireless transmitter,) a Pearl phaser, two delays equivalent of an Echoplex Model EP-3 and some type of spring reverb unit using an Accutronics tank. Plus a strat copy body with a standard-stock Fender block trem, an EMG-AB model Afterburner preamp, and a T-top Gibson humbucker pickup from the 70's with about 250 winds removed from each bobbin - and of course a Marshall cabinet with two G12-H30 and two G12-M25 speakers in it wired series-parallel for 16ohms.

[LickMyCream]

Cheaper Alternative:rolleyes:


$125 Microcube amp (or any other Roland Cube)
Put setting on Marshall Stack (Plexi)
Gain, to about 6, Volume all the way up, tone about 5 give or take
flanger to your taste, delay to your taste.


To make it even more authentic

$200 BurstBucker Pro (Most accurate PAF copy) in bridge position