Has Ed been playing his "magic" Marshall?

[jhale667]

CTS is a bitch, too - however

Van Halen's Hand Surgery a Success

http://www.spinner.com/2009/07/24/van-halens-hand-surgery-a-success/

Eddie Van Halen is recuperating from hand surgery that was needed to alleviate increasing pain in his left hand. The world famous rock guitarist reveals he began to sense pain in his pinky and thumb on the final dates of Van Halen's 2007-2008 tour, but after an initial treatment for arthritis, the operating table was deemed his only option.

"It got progressively worse to the point that about three months ago I wasn't able to play at all," Van Halen told Rolling Stone. "My pinky and my thumb were totally locked up and felt like there was something broken."

Specialists in Düsseldorf, ruled out arthritis after discovering a bone spur, twisted tendon and a cyst in the joint of his left thumb. Van Halen -- who had hip replacement surgery ten years ago and also had a portion of his tongue removed being fter diagnosed with mouth cancer -- says wasn't exactly stoked to go under the knife again. "[It] scared the s--- out of me," he said. "But I was told it was the only way to fix it."

Doctors tell Van Halen -- who's made a living with his finger-tapping guitar-playing technique -- that the surgery is a success. Once his stitches are removed in a few days, he can resume playing the guitar. "I am totally jazzed that they found the problem," he added. "In about four months my hand will feel like I am 18 again."


If the bone spur is gone and the tendon un-twisted and correctly re-attached? Hopefully he's feeling and playing better.

It's been well past 4 months...hey, maybe his left hand does now feel like it's 18 again, and of course it would then want it's old amp back...!

[VanHalenFan5150]

We can only hope...

[Diamondjimi]

It's been well past 4 months...hey, maybe his left hand does now feel like it's 18 again, and of course it would then want it's old amp back...!

Well lets hope the hand is 18 again. Now, what about that brain of his???

[GAR]

Anyone who plays tapping style and fanpicking guitar styles feels these things. They don't go away, there's not going to be any "play like I'm 18 again" that's so wrong.

It's deliberately misleading. Maybe he lasts another tour, maybe not.

(I thought it was CTS! I was right..)

[Nitro Express]

Someone needs to tell Ed that EL34s these days are reliable. He is living in the past. If someone could get that through to him, maybe he would stop developing gainy amps with 6L6s and the next amp may have nice crunchy power amp tube distortion.

High gain pre-amps don't sound good with EL-34 tubes in the power amp section. Mike Soldano himself said this. EL-34's are at their best pushed into clipping in the power section. On a high gain amp the power tubes don't clip, the pre-amp tubes do. This is how you get the better reliability because there is less heat and less strain on the output transformer. Old Marshalls sound good cranked but it comes at a price of shortened tube and transformer life.

[GAR]

I disagree, it all depends on the engineer who designs the mod. When I say "design" I don't mean playing ticky-tack with "real" carbon comp resistors, I mean doing the actual differential computation (if I substitute one value for a different one = how the measurement after that component changes after each consecutive component).

If you can't predict those mathematical values after changing one resistor value for another, you're not an engineer.

I can't say if Soldano is an engineer or how much of one he is, but increasing the preamp gain stages to sound good before the power amp section to sound any good really depends on how it's done and what method is used.

I've had amps with one, two and up to ten added tube gain stages modded to JCM stock Marshalls and have found you actually have more control with more gain added - but not if you use it all. Of course if you ten everything it's gonna sound like mud with any amp.

[indeedido]

High gain pre-amps don't sound good with EL-34 tubes in the power amp section. Mike Soldano himself said this. EL-34's are at their best pushed into clipping in the power section. On a high gain amp the power tubes don't clip, the pre-amp tubes do. This is how you get the better reliability because there is less heat and less strain on the output transformer. Old Marshalls sound good cranked but it comes at a price of shortened tube and transformer life.

Right on. That is what I meant by him developing some nice power amp distortion and not this gainy tone from his current amp. He has become lazy and doesn't want to work an amp and guitar like he used to so he is relying on hi gain preamp distortion. He's never going to get that magic classic tone with 6L6s and preamp buzz. Good old fashioned EL34 crunch baby!

[VanHalenFan5150]

I think that Ed, being a father of present day technical metal, is trying to keep up with the times and sounds of heavy metal... He just can't keep up. Van Halen will be Van Halen forever. Unless it's Spammy

[GAR]

I wouldn't go so far to call Ed "father" of technical-sounds in metal. That desrip definately belongs to Yngwie Malmsteen, and if not him, Alan Holdsworth OR Al Di Meola..







These three guys don't have to show up drunk for work, to enable them to work. They just do what they're supposed to do, they write all the time, and have struggled alot harder than EVH.

Roth could have hired any of these guys when he had the money and probably eclipsed Van Halen but he didn't and that's all hindsight - except the fact that Van Halen is nothing without Roth because the songs and material are predominantly blues-based Myxolidian with the rare Harmonic minor riffs once in a blue moon, snagged from Ritchie Blackmore.

Ed by no means was "father of technical metal" or rock, and for these 3 predecessors that DID make it, you better know there were hundreds more like them in the mid- to late 70's who didn't make it.

[vanhalen1r2]

I wouldn't go so far to call Ed "father" of technical-sounds in metal. That desrip definately belongs to Yngwie Malmsteen, and if not him, Alan Holdsworth OR Al Di Meola..







These three guys don't have to show up drunk for work, to enable them to work. They just do what they're supposed to do, they write all the time, and have struggled alot harder than EVH.

Roth could have hired any of these guys when he had the money and probably eclipsed Van Halen but he didn't and that's all hindsight - except the fact that Van Halen is nothing without Roth because the songs and material are predominantly blues-based Myxolidian with the rare Harmonic minor riffs once in a blue moon, snagged from Ritchie Blackmore.

Ed by no means was "father of technical metal" or rock, and for these 3 predecessors that DID make it, you better know there were hundreds more like them in the mid- to late 70's who didn't make it.

Wow that is a great group of guitarists

[GAR]

Wow that is a great group of guitarists

I just wanted to show that EVH isn't really a "father" of any technical trend per se, as these three examples clearly show striking advancements in the technical playing styles - and that they are considered initiators of that style even if Malmsteen would be the final refinement of it.

Eddie Van Halen's style is more bues-based and jazz-riff oriented and not too technical considering DiMeola and Holdsworth's contributions.

[vanhalen1r2]

I just wanted to show that EVH isn't really a "father" of any technical trend per se, as these three examples clearly show striking advancements in the technical playing styles - and that they are considered initiators of that style even if Malmsteen would be the final refinement of it.

Eddie Van Halen's style is more bues-based and jazz-riff oriented and not too technical considering DiMeola and Holdsworth's contributions.

When you listen to Fair Warning you can clearly hear the Holdsworth influence on Ed's playing.

[jhale667]

When you listen to Fair Warning you can clearly hear the Holdsworth influence on Ed's playing.

He was hugely into Holdsworth back then...

[vanhalen1r2]

He was hugely into Holdsworth back then...

I know he was a big fan of his Jedi guitar Master, Allan is a great player. EVH was really pushing his playing to new heights around that time frame, too bad FW did by VH standards poorly in sales.

I love the boots of Jeff Berlin AH and EVH playing

[jhale667]

Agree, too bad FW is considered one of their "weaker" efforts (especially sales-wise at the time), it's one of my favorites of the 6-pack.