What is "Brown Sound" I Always Hear Referenced About EVH

[DLR Bridge]

Well put!

[fryingdutchman]

This thread needs a nice salad...

[katina]

[ZahZoo]

Ok... since no one took the time to actually explain it in simple terms I'll give it a shot...

In terms of distorted guitar tone it has a warm, earthy growl on the bottom end that sounds more natural than electronically buzzing all over the place like a lot of distorted electric guitar. Technically the low frequencies are very balanced and tight. Similar to the sound produced by a herd of stampeding horses/cattle/buffalo or thunder in the distance, but very tight and focused... not muddy.

The other end of the spectrum is the middle and high frequencies are also more warm sounding but tightly balanced. The highs are crisp but not sharp or harsh sounding... similar to a natural high pitch from song bird. The middle tones are more similar to a cello kinda warm sounding rather than bright like a trumpet.

The key to Ed's sound is he found that warm, earthy balance from a certain guitar type, amplifier and in his hands... Simply it's like a combo of stampeding buffaloes, thunder, a soft string section, song birds and lightning all blended perfectly in a bottle... ie... Brown Sound

PS... Brown is the color you get when you mix up all kinds of different colors of the spectrum.

[DLR Bridge]

Don't forget the key third ingredient after his guitar and amp set up. His mitts! Those hands cuntribute a lot of warmth to his tone.

No Thousand Island salad dressing required.

(ah shit. You did say his hands. Was reading too dang fast)

[ThrillsNSpills]

Ok... since no one took the time to actually explain it in simple terms I'll give it a shot...

In terms of distorted guitar tone it has a warm, earthy growl on the bottom end that sounds more natural than electronically buzzing all over the place like a lot of distorted electric guitar. Technically the low frequencies are very balanced and tight. Similar to the sound produced by a herd of stampeding horses/cattle/buffalo or thunder in the distance, but very tight and focused... not muddy.

The other end of the spectrum is the middle and high frequencies are also more warm sounding but tightly balanced. The highs are crisp but not sharp or harsh sounding... similar to a natural high pitch from song bird. The middle tones are more similar to a cello kinda warm sounding rather than bright like a trumpet.

The key to Ed's sound is he found that warm, earthy balance from a certain guitar type, amplifier and in his hands... Simply it's like a combo of stampeding buffaloes, thunder, a soft string section, song birds and lightning all blended perfectly in a bottle... ie... Brown Sound

PS... Brown is the color you get when you mix up all kinds of different colors of the spectrum.

Ok, thanks, I understand it now.
the middle tones are like a cello. check, yep got it. thanks

[ashstralia]

top job, zah!

[Hardrock69]

he key to Ed's sound is he found that warm, earthy balance from a certain guitar type, amplifier and in his hands... Simply it's like a combo of stampeding buffaloes, thunder, a soft string section, song birds and lightning all blended perfectly in a bottle...

[DavidLeeNatra]

Let me Google that for you

[mh5150]

EVH suffers from a color .

[atlantakat]

One way to appreciate Ed's "brown sound" is to compare his tone to other guitarists. For example, Steve Vai's tone tends to have more high-end frequencies which makes his guitar sound somewhat shrill and thin, particularly when playing classic VH tunes. Ed tends to boost the mid-range but roll off the high frequencies which gives his playing a warm tone that is easier on the ears. On the early albums, Eddie also often used his phase shifter on many of his leads to fatten his leads and give them a little "swirl". Indeed, the intro to Atomic Punk is a simple technique, Ed hits his "phaser" and rubs the strings up and down with the side of his right hand -- its the same technique Hendrix used on Are You Experienced but Eddie adds the phaser to give the sense of "motion".

Another key part of Ed's sound is that Ed hits the strings (with both right and left hands) very hard. This means that Ed drives more signal when he plays and that allows him to not rely so much on high end frequencies and still punch through the mix (and do many harmonic based and whammy bar tricks that other guitarists can only pull off by relying on more top end gain). Again, compare Ed's sound to a guitarist who plays with a very light touch: Joe Satriani. Because Joe picks and frets with minimal pressure, he can pull off some speed picked and sweep pick things that would be very hard for Ed to emulate, but Joe's sound, even on heavy rock tunes, almost always has more treble to maintain punch as he has less signal coming out of his strings.

Thus, we have the oft-repeated stories of other guitarists (Ted Nugent etc) that plug into Ed's rig but still sound like themselves and not like Ed. The point is, Ed's incredibly strong hands and his technique are huge contributors to his tone and hence are key reasons why the "brown sound" is so hard to get right even with amps and effects identical to what Ed uses.

[Sensible Shoes]

Now you see? All you other shitheads who think it was a stupid question? There was a beautiful answer that I could understand.

[sadaist]

I made a thread here years ago asking for the single best example of the brown sound. So if you had to play it for someone to explain it what song displays it the best. Many choices were made but if I remember correctly the song chosen most was......

[jhale667]

What's more amazing is that every guitarist that tried initially to emulate that sound went completely *ss-backward about it, and had their amps modded to add PREAMP gain, when the Brown sound is all about the power stage of a Marshall about to melt down...

Still wonder exactly how many Marshalls died being hooked up to Variacs cranked UP instead of DOWN...

[Jagermeister]

Well being as this may be the 100th thread in Van Halen message board history to talk about the brown sound, I have nothing to add at all.