EVH cabinet heads from 07/08

[sadaist]

Hey gear heads, I was watching this video and noticed an oddity. You can especially see it from about the 0:30-0:50 second marks. The EVH brand cab heads are empty. Empty? Is that right? You can see the giant TV screen clearly through them. I don't know much about them. Is there really not much inside, or are these just dummies placed on top for appearances?

[VanHalenFan5150]

Hmm, it could perhaps just be the angle, but your point is well seen... (Pardon the pun).

[ZahZoo]

Well you are seeing the heads on Wolfie's side of the stage... another clue on piped in bass..?

The 5150 III has a metalic grill on the front in Ed's stripe configuration and fairly open backs. You can see the silloette of the tubes and transformers inside the heads at about the :39 mark pretty clearly.

But you can also see the heads on Wolf's side are not powered up. There's no red power or stand-by lights lit on Wolf's heads... where all of Ed's side are powered up and the 2 units on the far left you can even see the tubes glowing when the stage goes dark.

I think Wolf was piped into some power head offstage and direct in to the mains. Ed was claerly plugged into the far left stacks and the bottom cabinet was mic'ed as well.

[sadaist]

I don't know. The ones on Wolfs side look empty. All I see through to the giant screen is the EVH logo, the stripes, and an empty Ding Dong wrapper.

[Nitro Express]

Hey gear heads, I was watching this video and noticed an oddity. You can especially see it from about the 0:30-0:50 second marks. The EVH brand cab heads are empty. Empty? Is that right? You can see the giant TV screen clearly through them. I don't know much about them. Is there really not much inside, or are these just dummies placed on top for appearances?

Ed only uses three cabs and he never stacks them. One is ran dry with a dedicated amp and this is a monitor for Al. Sometimes two 2x12 cabinets are used. Then Ed runs a dry signal to one cab and a wet signal to another from a second amp.

Most of the cabs on stage are for show and eliminating speakers would reduce weight and save money. Basically, all those amps and cabs are basically props.

[Panamark]

Plexi, Ed...

[Hardrock69]

Marshall needs to do an EVH signature model.

[jhale667]

Marshall needs to do an EVH signature model.

Always seemed like the logical choice, never understood why he never tried with them, at least...

[kwame k]

Always seemed like the logical choice, never understood why he never tried with them, at least...

$$$$$, pure and simple.

[Nitro Express]

Actually the signature amp thing started when Hartley Peavey hit Eddie up on the idea that Peavey make a signature guitar for him and Ed said he would love someone to design an amp to his specifications. His plexi needed an overhaul and Ed was using a Soldano at the time.

[Diamondjimi]

Marshall needs to do an EVH signature model.

No shit, they made a Sakk Wylde @ Slash sig. Why not one for king Edwardo?

[sadaist]

Basically, all those amps and cabs are basically props.

OK, noob question for you guys. In a typical rock concert in an arena, how many stacks is the guitar coming out of? I remember the old pics of Eddie with a wall of them in back. How many does it actually take to make enough sound to fill the arena properly? It sure looks cool seeing walls of them though.

[jhale667]

OK, noob question for you guys. In a typical rock concert in an arena, how many stacks is the guitar coming out of? I remember the old pics of Eddie with a wall of them in back. How many does it actually take to make enough sound to fill the arena properly? It sure looks cool seeing walls of them though.

In that scenario the PA's doing the "fill the arena" bit, so could be as little as 1 - maybe even a half-stack.
Most "wall of cabs" guys don't really run the tops anyway, so their heads don't get cut off.

But a single 4x12 doesn't look as cool as six from the nosebleed seats.

[sadaist]

But a single 4x12 doesn't look as cool as six from the nosebleed seats.

No it sure doesn't.

[Diamondjimi]

Love that pic!

So once upon a time I made a gif. of it..

[jhale667]

Nice!!

[Diamondjimi]

Ah, the wonders of youth, large quantities of alcohol and cocaine...

[Nitro Express]

OK, noob question for you guys. In a typical rock concert in an arena, how many stacks is the guitar coming out of? I remember the old pics of Eddie with a wall of them in back. How many does it actually take to make enough sound to fill the arena properly? It sure looks cool seeing walls of them though.

Most of those speakers were props. I worked a VH show in 1984 and watched the whole stage go up. What you saw onstage wasn't making most the noise. It was the PA suspended above or to the side depending on the venue. Some of the speakers were monitors. If I remember right, Ed had a miked cab under the stage. Ed's side of the stage was like Fort Knox. Nobody went into the guitar bin that didn't belong there. In comparison the party was over at the bass bin. Mike was a buddy of the road crew where the Van Halens and Dave seemed to be in their own little world. I never saw Dave until he hit the stage.

[Nitro Express]

All of Ed's amplification was under the stage and not on it. I think the only cab ran by a head was at Alex's drum kit. All the rest were powered by solid state power amps in a rack. All Ed was using the 100 watt Marshall heads for was tone and then he took a line signal off the output and ran the signal to various cabs and monitors on the stage. I think two speakers were miked and then sent to the mixing console.

[Nitro Express]

The real power to a Van Halen show in those days were several road cases full of Crown power amps with lots of fans blowing on them. The days of having huge stacks onstage for sound were over. The stack was obsolete.

[Seshmeister]

I never saw Dave until he hit the stage.

So are you saying that in his book where Roth talks about personally wiping down the stage each night before the show and checking it for flaws and so on he was bullshitting?

[Seshmeister]

Well you are seeing the heads on Wolfie's side of the stage... another clue on piped in bass..?

The 5150 III has a metalic grill on the front in Ed's stripe configuration and fairly open backs. You can see the silloette of the tubes and transformers inside the heads at about the :39 mark pretty clearly.

But you can also see the heads on Wolf's side are not powered up. There's no red power or stand-by lights lit on Wolf's heads... where all of Ed's side are powered up and the 2 units on the far left you can even see the tubes glowing when the stage goes dark.

I think Wolf was piped into some power head offstage and direct in to the mains. Ed was claerly plugged into the far left stacks and the bottom cabinet was mic'ed as well.

To be fair this is partly to do with symmetry. The stage looks weird if on one side you have a bunch of guitar amps and on the other there is nothing. Rush get around this by having washing machines or whatever and I don't think anyone has ever accused Geddy Lee of miming.

[sadaist]

Love that pic!

So once upon a time I made a gif. of it..

I mean, if every speaker behind Eddie in this pic was turned up to 7+, wouldn't the very first power chord he hit blow his 145 pound body forty feet out into the audience? Stage dive extreme.

[Hardrock69]

A friend of mine ran monitors for AC/DC on the Who Made Who? tour.
He said despite the Marshall stacks onstage, Angus had a JCM800 2 X 12 combo under the stage on it's back blasting upwards, with a mic hanging over it, and that was his actual "usage" amp.

[rocknrolldork]

A friend of mine ran monitors for AC/DC on the Who Made Who? tour.
He said despite the Marshall stacks onstage, Angus had a JCM800 2 X 12 combo under the stage on it's back blasting upwards, with a mic hanging over it, and that was his actual "usage" amp.

A ton of bands do that. Even Slayer uses combo amps stashed in the dressing room or under the stage.

As far as Ed's amps go... I'm not sure how many amps/cabs he uses, but when they played ATL 2 years ago this month, the PA went out during his guitar solo and the stage sound of his amps/cabs was still pretty darn loud. Wolfie's bass on that tour sounded like it was a direct signal from a Tech21 SansAmp pedal.