Van halen 1 sounding overdrive-distortion pedal

[DougH]

He talks about the variac a little in that interview. My impression is it was used as a way of controlling volume, nothing more. Of course, we all know that it decreases headroom too, and probably crunches it up a little more too.

[karbomusic]

My impression is it was used as a way of controlling volume, nothing more.

Yep, he said exactly that if I remember. It was his way to keep the distortion/tone somewhat the same but change volumes for different rooms.

Funny... about that same time (as a much younger kid) I would run my FX loop w/no FX except I built a little pedal with a Pot and a switch. Basically, since I was using the preamp for distortion and the FX loop was between preamp and power amp, I had an adjustable lead boost switch that didn't change the distortion at all. Completely different approach yet oddly similar problem being solved.

[caspercody]

He said he turned all the knobs to 10, and used the variac to control the voltage going to the amp. Less voltage for smaller rooms, and around 89 volts for the studio. From what I gather, by doing this, this would allow him to adjust the noise level for the room he was playing in.

I do not know much about tube amps, but is this also how he got is Brown sound? The lower voltage would not allow the tubes to distort at full range, starve them is what some I think call it. Wouldn't his distortion sound different at 60 volts for the smaller rooms, as opposed to what it sounded like at 89 volts (on the recordings)?

Thanks
Rob

[karbomusic]

Just like he "sounds like Eddie" no matter what song he plays, he sounds like Eddie no matter what he plays through which bleeds into the concept of "his tone". His tone and pushing for it surely made it's mark but he himself was always one of the variables in the list of variables when he was tweaking. Meaning, most any other person on earth would not have arrived at such a combination even using the same ideas because they aren't him.

Additionally, human brains have a very, very difficult time separating mechanical tone (gear) from human tone (playing the gear). I don't often see terrible players with killer, to die for tone in other words. 

[Ripdivot]

I read somewhere in a fairly recent interview that what the variac was really used for was to keep the output tubes from blowing  so quick. With the amp wide open it was going through tubes very rapidly and sometimes taking the output transformer with them. He said he was told by Roth amoung others to never tell the truth about his tone back in the day. He says now that the amp wasn't modded at all.

[Ice-9]

To be honest  I have read many articles of EVH being interviewed in guitar mags over the years and nearly every time he has been asked about tone and the variac it has been a different answer. At times in earlier interviews his comments on the variac were just wrong , technically speaking. Like most players that didn't/ don't understand electronics  I think EVH just made shit up. 

Still though no matter what, he still had and has a killer sound.

[Quackzed]

might help/might not but i remember when ed was doing his bit at les pauls birthday party show? i think, his tone was extra middy, i thought at the time, this is a little insight into the van halen sound/tone. he 'MIGHT' have been playing through a different rig, but i think it was more that it was his tone in a more raw, less post processed state and that it was his actual 'in the room' tone. so you might look it up on youtube and see what i mean as far as evh tone chasing...

[J0K3RX]

I don't even think Eddie has the sound that he used to have back on the first two records..! I don't think he has had that sound/tone since the "Fair Warning" record.. There are many Marshall mods that damn near nail that early Eddie tone 100% and without using a variac! I have yet to hear anything in the form of a pedal that does it, not even close... The pinnacle, bsiab and Hot Mod 800 sort of get in the groove but still don't cut it in my opinion. The closest I have heard in a stomp box was from a sansamp classic with tube screamer in front of it with some post EQ then into a mosvalve power amp.

[B Tremblay]

We're quite happy with the performance of the Thunderbird circuit for that sort of tone.

[Willypp]

Madbean's Laserwolf is fairly specifically designed for this sound...  I'd check that out.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Laserwolf/Laserwolf_2015.pdf

[Ice-9]

Madbean's Laserwolf is fairly specifically designed for this sound...  I'd check that out.

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/projects/Laserwolf/Laserwolf_2015.pdf

Nice, Overdrive ,phaser and echo all on one pcb.  The overdrive part of the circuit is a BSIAB II. I didn't check component values for any alteration though.

The VH sound on the first two albums that is known as the brown sound really is down to volume(and variac) along with the production. There is a you tube vid kicking around which is a 1977 Demo of some of the early incarnations of a lot of the songs and the guitar sounds sort of there but not like the eventual released albums. It is quite good to hear VH's guitar in both left and right speakers though. I found the vid so posted it.

[DougH]

^^That is really cool. Thanks for sharing!

[Ice-9]

^^That is really cool. Thanks for sharing!

I like that it has early demo's which are very different to what made the records, House of pain which I think went on diver down is recognizable but very different.

[DougH]

Is this the demo that Gene Simmons was involved with?

Listening to this, it's obvious to me that so much of his "sound" had to do with the studio production. The guitar sound here is generic bar band cranked Marshall, pretty typical for the time period.

[strassercaster]

well to get his sound you need to hire ted templeton.i think he used an mxr micro amp. i built one and run it through my JMP at about 3-5 oclock it adds that spongy sizzz on top. its just enoughto get the brown sound. growing up we always assumed he used a distortion plus but i have had one for years its not right. the micro amp is closer i think. dont fprget he used that eq pedal as well

[strassercaster]

in the nineties he was using a boss super overdrive . thats what i have been using since 1985 . that and a jmp is about as good as it gets. the mxr micro amp as a boost works really nice i am finally happy with my tone at least till i get bored with it.

[J0K3RX]

I don't think the early Van Halen "brown sound" is as difficult to get as everybody thinks...  There are scores of amp modders/builders today that offer any number of mods to get you anything from Ed's VH1 and all 50 shades of brown in between, to anything ever recorded on through a Marshall, or whatever.  The thing that can't be replicated is that day decades ago when some kid picked up the 8 track cassette of the first Van Halen, pushed it into the slot and these magical mind blowing guitar sounds started to flow into world. They didn't stop after just one song either, they kept coming and coming like a freight train from one song to the next, one record to the next... It was something new, totally different and had an aggression and style like nothing before it! The guitar sound itself for that time period was totally different but, that coupled with Ed's playing was Legendary. Changed guitar playing forever... Can you imagine knowing that something you created changed the face of music forever!?!? Millions upon millions of kids tried to emulate your sound, your guitar, the paint job on your guitar, your amps and last but not least your playing and style.. and they still do today!!? That is truly a gift, truly humbling! There are millions upon millions of guitar players today that are unbelievably good but, there is still only 1 Ed Van Halen and that as far as I am concerned that is only where the true "brown sound" comes from! I always thought that Ed conveyed a real "be yourself" kind of mentality... And rules do not apply.. Nobody told me about the laws of gravity so, I flew away!

[jeepfazoli]

Satriana will know

[aron]

The closest thing I heard that actually sounded close was the Yamaha practice amp that they sell. THR series. I think it sounds awesome. I should get one.