Here’s My List!

My 8-year-old son makes me listen to only Van Halen and Led Zep in the car (he’s a good kid!), so to keep it interesting I started to pick out some highlights of Dave-era VH albums – and wondered, wouldn’t it be cool to have some of these things on the new VH [...]

The latest of the perennial debates about Edward Van Halen’s early tone/rig, the post You Too Can Sound Like Angus and this AmpGAS! post got me thinking: Can anyone with decent chops – say, “Running With the Devil,” “You Really Got Me,” “Dance the Night Away,” maybe “Everybody Wants Some” and “Unchained” – get close [...]

Today we continue with John Suhr “talking” – actually posting, in a looooong thegearpage.net thread – about his experience with EVH’s magical Marshall Super Lead amp. We pick it up with John’s comments to some doubters:

John Suhr!
A hundred years from now there will be mythology about Edward Van Halen’s early VH signal chain. But right now the unending discussions about it (which I am not denigrating!) are largely rumor or misinformation resulting from some version of the telephone game: someone heard/read something, told someone else, etc.
Mostly. But once in a [...]

What did Edward Van Halen really say about his early tone? Did he really mean it? What can we read into it? Following is the remainder of the tone-related excerpts from the November 1978 Guitar Player interview (part 1 is here). Commentary by yours truly.

Part 1
By now no one’s exactly sure what Edward Van Halen really said or didn’t say about his tone and technique over the years. Even though lots of folks on this-here Internet thingy act like they know fo’ sho’, they either don’t or are misremembering. You really have to go back to what the man [...]

I’d heard of the Canadian metal band Annihilator but don’t think ever heard the band until I stumbled across this cover of the Van Halen tune “Romeo Delight.” The song was on VH’s third album, Women and Children First, and was also played by the band on its last tour.
Take a listen. It’s good! The [...]

I have to say up front that Van Halen’s 5150 is one of my least-favorite VH albums. Naturally the songs and playing are good (truth be told I’m more of a Dave-era fan), but I’m not a huge fan of the buzzy guitar tone and the electronic drums. The VH brothers lost so much wood [...]

And finally, here are the final highlights from the April 1980 Guitar Player cover interview of Edward Van Halen.
Is [having a lot of Marshall heads live] to refine the sound?
It’s to make a good tone even louder. Some people get a sound like an amplified AM [...]

Here’s part 2 of highlights from the legendary April 1980 Guitar Player cover interview of Edward Van Halen.
Do you do anything special to your pickups?
I usually use old Gibson PAFs, and I always pot them. I submerge the whole thing in paraffin wax, and this cuts out the high obnoxious feedback. [...]

Edward Van Halen’s tone has been dissected, obsessed over and pursued to the ends of the tonal universe maybe more than any other single guitarist’s. That’s no surprise because the man is the Beethoven (gifted substance-abusing composer of the popular music of the time), Paganini (virtuoso) and [some other classical reference having to do with [...]

…and Save a Bundle
This cool post was submitted by WoodyTone reader and avid EVH tone-chaser Trev Morson. More about him and his band is at wolfscrossing.net.
How many of you want to own a new EVH Wolfgang but can’t afford the $3K asking price?

Human Voice-Emulating…
PremierGuitar.com had an article on its website titled “The Science of Tone.” Caught my eye, read it, turned out to be only semi-interesting. The bottom line of the article is that there really isn’t much of a science because it’s all in the ears of the beholder, and everyone’s ears are different. Duh.
Having said [...]

…and Three Van Halen Connections

Montrose, the 1973 self-titled debut album by the band of the same name, is one of those tone-pillar albums – “a pillar of tone that holds up the house of rock” (or pick a different metaphor). It likewise stands on its own as a monument of great tunes and great tone.
I [...]

Edward Van Halen has a new guitar and a new amp – new in the sense that they haven’t been recorded yet. Not sure if it’s a rumor, but conventional wisdom is that Van Halen will at least record a new album this year. Hopefully civil behavior and sobriety will win the day, and they [...]

In 1974, Edward Van Halen was 19 years old, a year out of high school. By that time he was already a monster – in fact, well before that according to people who were around in his high school years.
In September, we took a look at some of his – really Van Halen’s – super-early [...]

Bonzo! Alex!
When you’re pondering how to improve your tone and playing next year, think about this: It’s inspiring to play with a good drummer. You might play differently, you might be inspired to new heights in riff-dom and all that could change your tone – much of which is in your fingers anyway.