Academy of Tone #13 "Eddie‘s legendary Brown Sound, Plexi & Variac - how you get that Tone on AMP1"

[@themotocrossmodchannelWulfMX]

For the love of God we need to protect this man. Thank you Thomas for your mind and heart, I anxiously await the Amp-X!! Joshua

[@BluGuitar]

Thank you so much 😊! I feel so honored...;-)

[@jasonholt4132]

Please release amp x! Any idea when?

[@phillamoore157]

Very well said…

[@texasflood4416]

I saw the first Van Halen Tour in Germany 1978 at the age of 15 Years. That was a great Experience. Another great Experience for me was in 1994 after reading a very good Review in the Gitarre & Bass Magazine about your CD...The beauty of simplicity. After hearing your CD i was a huge Fan of your Guitar Playing and Music still to these Days. Thanks Thomas for all your great CD´s, Workshops, Live Shows, KZbin Channel and hold up Flag all these Things over the Years. I don´t know it is possible, but it was very interesting to talk about Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. His Records since 1977 are unbelievable especially his live Record from 1978 and the Power of Rock´n Roll/Juggernaut Records. I know the most People didn´t know Frank Marino but he is a Fantastic Player. Thanks again.

[@jonathancarmichael1578]

Awesome! Your innovative spirit is inspiring. Keep it up! I can't wait for the AMP-X!

[@rockybalboa2526]

Hey Tom, Great video, great teaching too. What makes eddie, eddie, is not just his fingers as you pointed out, IT WAS EVERYTHING HE DID! He made a TONE SOUP to get THAT tone! And you showed us that here.. IT was ALL THE INGREDIENTS as you said. I also agree that after Jimi, Eddie was the guy to TAKE GUITAR AND GUITAR SOUND TO THE NEXT LEVEL! His song " eruption" was actually his way of practicing. Its was not a song. He said he all that to warm up before playing. That is why there is so many different parts in it. Those parts were all exercises he did. When you put it all together you get what since that first album Van halen 1 " eruption" ... The story behind that song, was, he was in the studio getting ready to start recording the first album, and right before they started, eddie started warming up, and he was playing what became eruption. So their manager bill acron, said stop.. Whats that youre playing eddie, and eddie said nothing, it was just how he warms up. : / So bill said play it again we are going to use that as a song. and instrumental because to bill, it sounded like a short intense exciting RIDE.. So they put on the album as " ERUPTION" and that was born.. And yes, Eddie had that GROOVE in his playing.. And that is forgotten for while now in the music of the last 30yrs. there is no GROOVE.. But making the guitar groove is even more unique.. but all the music should be grooving.. And i think the 2 different singers of van halen separated the two distinct sounds of VAN HALEN.. with their first singer David Lee Roth, they made FUN, wild music.. And their sound was fun and wild. BUT with Sammy Hager, their sound matured i thought, and their music changed to a more sophisticated, mature sound. Still great sounds, still grooving, and eddie still being great, but he GREW i thought. His music, his musical ideas GREW. And their songs were more meaningful, more important in a moral and ethical sense. their first sound was more teenage and just not very mature. Thats they best way for me to describe it. The sounds were good, but there with the exceptions of a few songs, there was no real important meaning for anyone.. Its was just fun and wild, and great.. BUT with Sammy, their songs had deeper meaning, and i think appealed to a much wider audience. I could hear the difference between the original plexi, and tha amp one. But you did a fantastic job of recreating a small amp that can just about match the big tube amps.. ITs pretty close. And when you think about the costs of all that equipment, and killing the tubes with the variac, and putting everything together all the time when performing? IT makes sense to use the amp one. MAGIC CAN BE MADE WITH YOUR AMP 1 Thomas.. Great job!

[@BluGuitar]

Hi Rocky, thank you so much for your deep insights to Eruption and the evolution of the band. I believe it is a good process when a band and artist are evolving... it’s natural progression in life. I’m very impressed by all the different elements that Eddie was evolving: technical things, like his signature Tone but also his playing and composing ... ;-)

[@jamiegustkey2573]

Nice nod to Johan ! He IS the real deal !✌🏻

[@AdaCaldwell-uq9lq]

I could not forget the old folk songs nice to hear

[@HMNyge]

I like you. You are very knowledgeable, smart, and talented. But underneath all of those traits, you seem like a genuinely good person. Thank you

[@BluGuitar]

Thank you… I’m trying to be nice and positive to give the world a bit positive energy… ;-)

[@phillamoore157]

Wow…it was interesting to see the how the amp tightened up when you dropped the voltage. I’ve seen other videos showing the variac, but this was dramatic. I was combing Amp 1 videos trying to see which one was right for me, and I got completely lost in Thomas’s playing, and gear demo’s. Such an amazing man to listen to….and better yet, he’s such a gentleman, with an incredibly kind soul. Love the shout-out to Johan. Every guitar player has watched his videos at some point. Even if it’s just to watch him tap his foot, and hear Johan say “Mor-shall”. 😂. Johnan’s another brilliant, genuine, kind soul.

[@BluGuitar]

The lower voltage changes the headroom in all stages, resulting in earlier break up in these… If bass is clipping it can actually sound tighter when it’s a hard clip… Thanks for your compliments btw…;-) Greetings, Thomas Ps: I love to watch Johan’s Mooooorshall videos too!!!!!!! ;-)

[@phillamoore157]

@@BluGuitar Interesting! Very cool…thank you, Thomas.

[@BluGuitar]

@@phillamoore157 pleasure!

[@ogunhe]

Yupperoni! "Straight back Marshall cabs with G12M25 (75Hz) or Blackbacks on the bottom row with JBL D120Fs in the top row with his Marshall Super Lead." -Johan Segeborn

[@kfaudio1]

Lehrreich, interessant, ...... richtig gut gemacht !!! Danke dafür

[@BluGuitar]

Gerne! ;-)

[@Magman1961]

Wieder einmal ganz ganz großes Amp- und Gitarren Tennis wowwwwww👍🎸🤘👌

[@BluGuitar]

Grazie...;-)

[@DrGregWeisswasserND]

Amazing playing and tones as usual. You are the best Thomas. I love your toys. My buddy hangs with David Lee Roth a lot and we were just talking about how much he and Van Halen influenced our lives. Thanks for covering such an important time in rock sound.

[@BluGuitar]

Totally Agreed...;-)

[@DutchGuitarDude]

Awesome Thomas. Unbelievable you get this sound on the clean channel. My first pick would be the vintage channel.

[@BluGuitar]

LOL 😂 , it’s always a surprise... sometimes for me as well...;-)

[@DutchGuitarDude]

@@BluGuitar hahaha

[@freegee3503]

That guitar version of Jump sounds so good. I wish Van Halen recorded a version like that. Hopefully someone makes a great cover with guitar for the main melody.

[@johnewilde8753]

Awesome demo. Would love to see you model/copy etc Steve Vai tone I think it would be eye opening.

[@BluGuitar]

Great idea 💡! I will put it on the to do list!!! Need a proper Ibanez Vai for that though…

[@riccardococcia]

sound to me like the Amp1 doesn't have the distorted tonestack pushed in the phase inverter like the Marshall does. I mean the dip in the mids that is still in the tonestack that gets distorted further and makes the crash/swish sound on the attack, similar to a fuzz, especially in the unwound strings. Are you avoiding that in the preset tonestack of the Amp1?

[@BluGuitar]

We are not doing that to the extreme as the original, but we will I’m AMPX

[@riccardococcia]

Great to know! Thanks!@@BluGuitar

[@ivanglucina9396]

Thanks yet again. Great informative vid.

[@BluGuitar]

My pleasure! It’s fun to do that stuff...!

[@MisterTee]

At 51:10 when the bassist started going ‘weoooo oooo eeeeoooo’ my dog sat up, looked at the TV, threw his head back and started howling. He is still going as I type this out.

[@BluGuitar]

That is funny 😄!!!! Cat 🐱 wants to join in... that’s a typical reaction from our audience...;-)

[@effdpaul1815]

I always love your vids ... with this one there is a HUGE disparity between voice volume and guitar volume ... if you turn up the volume up enough to hear you talking, the guitar just absolutely kills you when you begin to play.

[@DoctorMcFarlandStudios]

The voice started off fine but then something happened. Sometimes live streams are not perfect.

[@rikshredder]

I will purchase one but I am torn. So Thomas which of the two do you feel is best for getting the early EVH sound? Thank you.

[@BluGuitar]

Get the iridium and use the vintage channel with the internal boost, and you are there. With the Mercury you need a bit more toolslikr echoplex, EQ etc…

[@rikshredder]

@@BluGuitar Excellent! Thank you Thomas!🤘🏼

[@TavaresProject]

Did I see correctly??? The mercury is on the clean setting for the original evh sound with the boost on? It would be nice to see the settings on the side as well 😬. Sounds incredible

[@BluGuitar]

Yes, you did see right! Plexi crancked all the way : everything on Full vs. Mercury was the AMP1 clean channel with boost on (set to about 50%/middle position custom control) CLEAN volume cranked, CLEAN Tone (custom control) all up , Bass 6, Mids about 5, Treble about 7 if I remember correctly. Master volume up about 8 , I used some powersoak dialed in with the Remote1 to be at the same wattage to get to the same level like the Plexi with the Variac. Not to forget the EQ before the input with that curve: almost no bass, and the mids boosted. That’s the original sound recipes.

[@craigcornell2752]

@@BluGuitarthanks Thomas. Sounded great

[@bpy4073]

Wow just fkin wow.

[@BluGuitar]

Thank you so much 😊

[@bpy4073]

@@BluGuitar You are welcome,you deserve the praise you get.

[@the92project]

1:25 that riff is played by Steve Lukather not Eddie VH

[@BluGuitar]

You are right...!

[@janeckdzugan1252]

I read in a VH interview that VH himself get the Plexi Jimmy Page used to play, for the first VH album. So it proves that even with the same amp, the tone in general is completely different.

[@kingsofrocknroll]

Best Strat Player alive : Thomas Blug ❤

[@BluGuitar]

Thank you so much for the compliment! …I just do my thing…. There are so many great players, and the question is: is there actually a best… In my opinion : we all have our personal favorite players, and that’s something that we all can live with… ;-)

[@kingsofrocknroll]

@@BluGuitar Hallo Thomas, schau mal auf das Bild😉weißt Du noch wann das war? 😅

[@carstenfunk6075]

Mentioning Pink Floyd: how about covering David Gilmore gear and sounds? Also hitting his guitar mod to use neck and bridge PU together?

[@onewiththings]

I love to hear people do accents, especially a German doing a Swedish speaker's English accent. Don't take offense people, enjoy our differences.

[@BluGuitar]

We love accents too! Any accent is “culture” and of corse fun and funny….;-)

[@themarvellousfive1361]

It sounds not right to me calling Van Halen a three piece Band ( singer, git and Drums) ! In my opinion, Mike Anthony is a killer background singer and a great „Rock“ Bassplayer. ✌️

[@BluGuitar]

You are absolutely right! Mike Anthony is massively underestimated. He played so perfectly what kept the band and the groove together. And his vocals together with Eddie‘s vocals had a killer unique quality - sure that is all more then an three piece band. I just meant that from a guitar playing perspective that there is no keyboards or second guitarplayer. Of corse later Van Halen had keys and a second guitar with Sammy, but when they started, Eddie was the only „chord“ instrument and a big soloist. I meant that in a positive way,that he was filling all that space beautifully...;-)

[@themarvellousfive1361]

👍👍👍😀

[@andyc5729]

Is the "hendrix" blug strat scalloped?

[@BluGuitar]

...this is a one of a kind guitar with many experiments, and yes it’s scalloped! And I like it...;-)

[@ellnut8302]

Thomas du Spielst so mega geil unglaublich...mach mal eine guitar Welt Aufnahme...

[@BluGuitar]

Okay 👌

[@ellnut8302]

@@BluGuitar tom was hälst du vom.. Säbeltanz von gaineh..mit heavey voll Speed solo hinten dran....wär doch was...grosser Meister..

[@Terry-ms5ze]

Knobs on the side should be top-mounted

[@BluGuitar]

No room in this design

[@julianc.227]

Kind of nice but nowhere near the orig sound: the orig. brown sound comes from a US 100w JMP and not a JTM (the sound quite different). Hotter bias, lowered Voltage to approx.93Volts and played with thin (some say 8s others 9gauge Fender bullet strings- also light picks). Helps immensely to clean up the bottom end and boost some upper mids. Dave Friedman has talked about this recipe very often. And of course- have Ed's genius hands.

[@BluGuitar]

Hello Julian, you are right. I was using the material that was available to me. For instance I got that red stripes guitar from our guest Manuel literally minutes before the livestream. And also you are right that my JTM is a bit too soft compared to a JMP with hotter bias and different tubes. Thinner strings is the secret of many iconic players: Jimi Hendrix, Brian May, Billy Gibbons and Eddie... less mass means less low end and thereby less mud. But I still believe that a lot of people did not know how to get a sound in that direction out of a standard plexi Marshall. That is the beauty of a video lifestream where you can listen step-by-step and not only read about it. And then I showed that there are different approaches. Even Eddie himself uses different amps today than he used back in the days. And of course it’s all in the hands!

[@truescotsman4103]

don't forget he tuned down almost a half step by ear early on and started using e# with a tuner later on. 9s in e# are pretty slack and the slack in the string gives them more dynamic. ed had a lot going on. i read an article where he says himself he would boil his strings assuming this would pre-stretch them. i tried it once i makes them tarnish overnight so its probably just removing all the manufacturing oils from the wound strings mostly making them lighter and probably much different sounding.

[@onewiththings]

The brown sound requires a large burrito plugged into a liter of beer. The sound just jumps out when you do that.

[@BluGuitar]

😂 😆 😝 😆 😂

[@SharpEdgeStandardOfficial]

More like Eddie Van Banjo

[@BluGuitar]

😂!!!

[@officialpoa3171]

WHAT HAPPEN TO YOUR VOLUME???

[@josephrusso7069]

You are a great player, and your unit is amazing. But, no, not even close on the VH tone. Back yo the drawing board.

[@BluGuitar]

I will do that with AMPX, it’s a great challenge!

[@josephrusso7069]

@BluGuitar Check out the David Bray COCO 50. VH tone right out of the box. Check out a handful of videos because some are much better than others.