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Van Halen's new tune

mwestenberg

By mwestenberg
in Guitar Forum

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Guitarzan

Guitarzan

Posted
Posted
Ed is known for slammming a bucker in his "strat". now he has on occasion used different guitars on recordings. but he rarely used a single coil loaded axe. "finish what you started" (0u812) was a taste of single coil recorded tone. the brightness of his regular tone was a combo of his use of a strat style guitar with no tone pot to suck the highs out and a marshall plexi cranked. a low output PAF bucker helped alot as well. not all humbucker equiped axes are starved for brightness. Eds difference in tone later on was more a result in his use of higher gain amps (soldano,peavey 5150)

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274

 

rock it, i will

 

 

 

 

 

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Darklava

Darklava

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by FunkJazz:

Originally posted by DARKLAVA:

I'm glad they

are back in the saddle.

of a dead horse ;)
With a record deal,what you got?
The story of life is quicker then the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye.
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Gabriel E.

Gabriel E.

Posted
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Well they don't SOUND like a humbucker equipped guitar at all! Take a listen to ice cream man! You'll see what I mean. I think it would be very hard to get the highs like he did on that song with humbuckers! Also the red strat I am thinking of had a Kramar like neck with a Kramar looking head to match ....BEFORE he ever was endorsed by Kramar guitars(the headstock was just plain red....did not say kramar or anything), so I don't see how THAT white guitar is the same one? unless he changed out necks!
In the further interest of pedantry:

 

That's the same guitar. If you look at photos from various times in the late 70s and early 80s, you'll see various different necks on that guitar. He also played his "5150" guitar a lot. It looks similar except that it is only routed for one humbucker and has a slightly different body shape (it's built from Kramer Baretta parts).

 

"Ice Cream Man" is indeed a humbucker. The white/red guitar has an ash body and a maple neck with a maple fingerboard which contribute to the bright tone. Also he was plugged into a cranked Plexi Marshall with EL-34 tubes which is by no means a dark-sounding amp. It would be impossible to get that tone out of a single coil pickup without using a gain box.

 

Also, early VH records were recorded, mixed and mastered without a lot of compression. Modern records are heavily compressed which kills some of the high end.

 

Back in the 80s, lots of players (myself included) obsessed over the finest details of Eddie's gear in an effort to replicate his tone.

"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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webe123

webe123

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by Gabriel E.:

Well they don't SOUND like a humbucker equipped guitar at all! Take a listen to ice cream man! You'll see what I mean. I think it would be very hard to get the highs like he did on that song with humbuckers! Also the red strat I am thinking of had a Kramar like neck with a Kramar looking head to match ....BEFORE he ever was endorsed by Kramar guitars(the headstock was just plain red....did not say kramar or anything), so I don't see how THAT white guitar is the same one? unless he changed out necks!
In the further interest of pedantry:

 

That's the same guitar. If you look at photos from various times in the late 70s and early 80s, you'll see various different necks on that guitar. He also played his "5150" guitar a lot. It looks similar except that it is only routed for one humbucker and has a slightly different body shape (it's built from Kramer Baretta parts).

 

"Ice Cream Man" is indeed a humbucker. The white/red guitar has an ash body and a maple neck with a maple fingerboard which contribute to the bright tone. Also he was plugged into a cranked Plexi Marshall with EL-34 tubes which is by no means a dark-sounding amp. It would be impossible to get that tone out of a single coil pickup without using a gain box.

 

Also, early VH records were recorded, mixed and mastered without a lot of compression. Modern records are heavily compressed which kills some of the high end.

 

Back in the 80s, lots of players (myself included) obsessed over the finest details of Eddie's gear in an effort to replicate his tone.

Well you seem to know your stuff about eddies gear. I always thought he was a single coil person! Guess I was wrong.
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Hendmik

Hendmik

Posted
Posted
Originally posted by DARKLAVA:

Critics :rolleyes: I like it,and I'm glad they

are back in the saddle. :P

Don't feel lonely. I like it too.

Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

--------------------

Reporter: "Ah, do you think you could destroy the world?" The Tick: "Ehgad I hope not. That's where I keep all my stuff!"

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Joe Cole

Joe Cole

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Well they don't SOUND like a humbucker equipped guitar at all! Take a listen to ice cream man! You'll see what I mean. I think it would be very hard to get the highs like he did on that song with humbuckers! [/QB]

 

Humbucker. No question. Absolutely no question.

 

Maybe the fact that we are so used to that PRS into a Rectifer makes us forget what a bolt on neck, humbuckered guitar sounds like through a non-master volume el34 Marshall. It is raw, not all compressed. Not every guitar sounds exactly the same. This was the beauty of tube amps. Rockers have lost this in the chase for more gain.

We used to say that every guitar sounded the same through a Rockman, well.... tons of gain and compression will do that to ya....

There is no substitute.
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Dennyf

Dennyf

Posted
Posted

Still sounds like Van Halen to me. The only atypical Eddie tone I hear is the intro. Still hear some variation and improv on every chorus, still hear the same idiosyncracies in the solo (wow, a song with a solo!).

 

It does have the "all-bits-on" production ethos, but it IS the first single, and it's going up with all the other singles with the same production ethos, so you can't really blame 'em for that. Production-wise, it's just like everyone else, and artistry-wise, well, it's 'WAY more interesting than Nickelback.

 

Bands with a history and any kinda layoff have it pretty tough when they come back out. Half the people bitch if they don't sound just like they used to, and the other half bitch that they haven't "progressed."

 

I've only heard this new tune, but to me it sounds like typical latter-sammy era Van Halen. (Which I still happen to like). We'll either hear another single from the album after it's actually released (did that happen yet?), or else they'll muddle through the tour, and then sink without a ripple. Eddie will retire, become a recluse who doesn't bathe and lets his fingernails grow out to about a foot-and-a-half. Alex will move to Vegas, and just hang out at the casinos in the hopes of becoming a Sin City "personality." Sammy will return to his solo "career" and play his own club until the IRS seizes it for back taxes. Michael Anthony will continue touring "B" circuit venues and festivals with some young bucks as "5150-A tribute to the music of VH."

band link: bluepearlband.com

music, lessons, gig schedules at dennyf.com

 

STURGEON'S LAW --98% of everything is bullshit.

 

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: The Jackhammer of Love and Mercy.

Get yours.

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