Van Halen - Distorted Phase, Echo & Chorus Tricks

[@vladv5126]

"So the amp's completely clean" - actually plays a clean channel. Fluff has left the chat.

[@christosfragias592]

Nice job. EVH will always be my biggest influence, and you nailed his tone.

[@voodoolabofficial]

That's how I always use that Marshall. I even did another video for Guitar Player years ago showing how to do that exact thing. This video was intended to show how to get the signal path right, and use whatever clean type amp you have lying around.

[@nojyeloot]

Amazing how much of a part of his sound is made up of that reverb. Thanks James.

[@luminositymusic3810]

So amazing how good that was. The sounds is solid. Playing is killer

[@luminositymusic3810]

I think so too.

[@grayboo212]

"Supa Puss". I just found a name for my newborn kitten.

[@andreituico7273]

I'm proud and disappointed at the same time

[@raylovett9187]

Sounds right in the money to me. A lot of people attempt to "re-create" this signature sound, You have nailed it better than anyone yet. Excellent demonstration all the way through and perfect explanation as well... now I subscribe!

[@kennethhodsdon5876]

awesome video. I appreciate you going into the examples quickly and not talking for 20 min before like so many others videos. Great settings too. Thanks

[@bassmanjoe8]

Impressive man. You really did your "homework" on the effects/tone. Sounds GREAT! Extremely nice job.

[@tatsandteles]

One of the few demos that really captures the essence of the earlier tones. Very well done, great playing.

[@CSLWoodward]

Your playing is really something else, you 100% sounded like Eddie during Eruption. Top job!

[@voodoolabofficial]

Yes. We have a Sparkle Drive demo video here that goes over it all. Basically, old SD only have the one 808-style sound. This MOD version has 3 more flavors that allow you to get these style tones.

[@guitarslinger2837]

Eddies early Van Halen style tones is so good, and you really nail it.. the Supa-Puss and the Sparkle Drive are awesome...Thanks for the vid...

[@voodoolabofficial]

Old Marshall 4x12 cab with original Celestion 25-watt greenbacks. We usually record with multiple mics and just choose the best position/type later. This is likely the old SM-57 just off the center off the cone. (There's also a 2nd SM57 pointed at the edge, and a Royer 121 ribbon mic that were recorded, but likely not used for the final mix.)

[@shinybald36]

love the plate reverb on the tc pedal, i'd always heard ed had huge plate reverb, around the studio

[@ariesvictorygroup]

Forget the pedals, i was watching you play!! Awesome ! !

[@voodoolabofficial]

It's a 100-watt Super Tremolo metal panel from late 70/early 71.

[@eyetalic]

Cool. Good to hear the modulation going before the distortion instead of after or into an effects loop.

[@voodoolabofficial]

It's a tough one. Using the top right input, I crank the presence all the way up to make that fatter/darker bass input sound nice and clean. Running into the top left input, I have to pull the presence and treble down. You probably already know this, but those two channels (at least in the old ones) are not identical. I also find that using my old 25-watt celestions give me a brighter speaker tone, which is also good for cleans. I've heard Scott many times and he always sounds great, btw.

[@Skibble5150]

Like the 'Little Guitars' f/x explanation. Thanks dude!

[@jimbradley727]

And I intended to comment already but that video is awesome and I chose yours because it was right at the five minute mark.. Many folks take 25 minutes talking about their experience with Eddie Van Halen instead of giving some tips on the brown sound..by rule of thumb I don't care if it's tearing an engine down I don't want to watch a video with more than 10 minute clip and if you're talkin about pedals and effects your time was spot-on and well-used.. Great demo 👍

[@samwats]

One the few boards I've seen on KZbin with that sparkle drive mod. I own one myself and love it so much, ridiculously versatile yet very authentic. Awesome demo and great playing, rock on dude!

[@ZEGO24x]

This was REALLY good for a bedroom level EVH representation! Wow...

[@t-boog2173]

Great job James!!! Between Mod 1's- E.J. Tube Driver type tone and Mod 3's- EVH bright Marshall type tone, plus the fact that you can get these sounds at a bedroom volume level... I'm sold!!! IMO, someone would be crazy to buy a TS9 or 808 over this, when this does the same sound plus has 3 more killer sound options with plenty of gain available and all on which you can blend in your dry signal to taste. It's really like having 5 pedals in one. Not to mention, it's built in the U.S.(like a tank according to the reviews). My only negative is I feel it deserves a cooler/sexier enclosure. Otherwise, Fantastic Work!!!

[@dereksendrak]

Dude great job you NAILED his tone! Ur there man🤘🏻🤘🏻

[@wolfie316781]

Great take on the tone

[@charliefoxtrotthe3rd335]

That was the closest Eddie Van Halen sound I have heard. To me, that is the best sound in the world. Your spectacular playing is a big part too, but you got to have the gear to even have a chance of nailing that sound, and I think you're on to something here.

[@silentboy85]

Im not only enjoy watching your pedal, but also enjoy watching your playing... nice playing and video sir...

[@nothingtoseehere177]

I love how you can hear the springs for the whammy inside the guitar. I put my Strat in Drop G and they almost have their own natural reverb when they resonate from the heavy strings. It makes the cleans sound haunting, at least the chords I play.

[@DedeAldrian]

great

[@bweeks8869]

Impressed with tone at 3:16 when you hit reverb!

[@bubba871x]

I bought the Supa Puss and Sparkle mod and Hall of Fame and added to my EVH Phase 90 and the sound is perfect, authentic Van Halen! Thanks for this great video. By the way I am running my effects into the clean side of a new EVH 5150 III combo. When I am done with Van Halen songs I just click off sparkle and Hall of Fame and use the amps channel 3 with the Supa Puss. Great sound for rock.

[@bobbarcus8310]

For Bedroom sound, Not Bad...... Kind of hard to turn a 100watt Marshall up in your room..

[@brpadington]

Bob Barcus Actually it isn't hard to crank a 100watt Marshall. I do it all the time. The knob turns real easy. The hard part is getting my wife to bail me out after I got arrested for the 100th time for doing it.

[@VioletDeliriums]

I am going to agree with you about tube amps for hard rock. The Fender Supersonic is a tube amp. The question I thought we were talking about, however, was whether or not to use an effects loop. The Supersonic has an effects loop an I put all my modulations (except phaser) and 2 delays in that. Putting them in the effects loop rather than before the amp reduces impedence and thus boost guitar signal to amp, which will make tone better. There are quality new tube amps that outperform old ones.

[@super63strat]

Well done ! You have some great Eddie effects .I still have my Phase 90 script original 70's most of my stomp box toys unfortunately we're stolen ...

[@SilentKnight43]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. Informative...and your playing was quite spot-on, too. Nice work. Thanks for takin' the time.

[@Bolation]

luv the "smack in front of his marshall" part. great job, James, you just sold me a sparkle drive!

[@jeanpat8946]

Absolulty brillant demo !!! Great playing great sound !!!! YOU GOT THE BROWN SOUND !!!!!!!

[@VioletDeliriums]

Definitely! I don't think there was every any disagreement over using tube amps for most rock styles. But I think that putting certain effects in an effects loop is a good idea. Before my amp is my compressor, wah, fuzz box (for when I need a punk sound), and phase 90 -- these all sound better before the amp. In the loop are 2 choruses, a flanger, a tremolo, and 2 delays -- all of which either sound better in the loop, or are not necessary before. The loop reduces the impedence to my signal.

[@BatEatsMoth]

Wet into dirt definitely sounds better than dirt into wet. More dynamic. Pete Thorn did a video about echo into distortion. Great example of the difference before and after dirt.

[@chazzman1900]

Eddie never used distortion pedals only distortion from the amp (as said by himself) but good tutorial thing or whatever point is this was cool and helpful.And the playing was really nice \m/

[@MaggaraMarine]

Well, I think the pedal was used here because it was a bedroom volume demo. EVH cranked his amp up to achieve distortion and that's not something you can do at bedroom levels.

[@335fusion]

+1 explains why the OD comes after the modulation

[@1xjohncenax1]

he did use the Boss Super Overdrive though....

[@HamsterDude5150]

yup never use. one did but it think hes showing what you can get a bed room level :P

[@TheSammyreynolds]

the reason why he's using pedals is to keep at bedroom lvl. in order to get good amp tube distortion you have to crank those suckers.

[@rocknrollguitarcovers5654]

That Sparkle Drive pedal sound amazing!!

[@darrinbunston5932]

Really close and pretty convincing I can remember being at a Van Halen concert and seeing Eddie using stomp pedals like you're using but I'm wondering what your thoughts on the story I heard where he just cranked everything up high and then ran it through some sort of voltage adjustment wondering if you think he got the sound like you got with that method

[@georgediavolitsis4735]

4:24 reminded me of the start of run like hell from pink Floyd lol sounds great I think I'm gonna get the sparkle drive now

[@GimmeNitro]

Nice job, and great sounding new OD pedal you guys have. I couldn't help noticing that Black Flag JTM 50 sitting on top - would LOVE to hear/play through it!

[@VioletDeliriums]

Yes you are correct about the "no effects loops" in the 70s -- many amps didn't even have an effects loop then. But I don't think it is necessary to copy his setup exactly to approximate the tone. There are plenty of new quality amps and effects that can replace the 70s technology and do a pretty good job. I just switched my main amp from a 1973 Twin Reverb to a Fender Supersonic, and I have to say the new amp sounds pretty good, and I use the effects loop.

[@metalheadneji]

Awesome man you matched his tone flawlessly.

[@francesco-villa]

Thanks, James! I've tried various combos: I like to plug in the bottom left input and bridge the top ones. Channel 1 at 9 o'clock anche channel 2 at 'noon. It's not too clean, nor too crunchy. Thanks for your suggestions! :-)

[@MrTelecasterIV]

The dive at the end of eruption is actually a delay pedal that he was turning (turning the delay time duration knob up to make it longer) manually up after he hit the E string, you can hear him tapping the pedal at the end in the song.

[@hpatata8914]

Didnt work on my stomblab 1 g pedal. Ill try it again

[@MrTelecasterIV]

it works with my MXR Carbon Copy, watch the : guitar method vid. - Curt Mitchell on youtube Cru$her LP

[@hpatata8914]

Thank you very much!

[@MrTelecasterIV]

You 're welcome :)

[@donrutter6765]

CORRECT, IT TOOK ME MANY YEARS BEFORE I SAW SOMEONE SAY THAT.

[@Travis-pf3gt]

I like how you have everything out in front like Eddie did at the time, I know this is old but nice demo and playing here.

[@hoosierdaddy2308]

Liked the second example expecially with the Chorus and Plate Reverb at the end. I think it cleans up the signal and makes the distortion sound better somehow. Love the examples though. Please keep it up!

[@neilmcevoy7190]

you've nailed it here brother

[@Rxpgtiandrew]

Great job man!! Lots of help with the tone and the way to get that EVH brown sound! Thanks

[@voodoolabofficial]

Good stuff. Yeah, I'm tuned down a half-step here. And, yeah I should have ignored the standard tuning and dropped the B-string a little flat. It would sound a wee bit out of tune doing chords in the first few frets, but would have been WAY sweeter sounding when doing the "Running With The Devil" chording.

[@88ueshiba88]

THAT IS what i was planning to do (but with TC flashback instead aquapuss), but i found that video helping A LOT and clarifing my intentions.. THANKS A LOT! ps try to split that signal after the reverb with the stereo output and do a wet/dry rig, you should be pretty spot on :)

[@ThePigonSkates]

Best tone vids period. Thank you for posting these they are incredible.

[@robbymarquez8245]

Very interesting it's got me rethinking my whole setup hmmm?

[@anthonyarredondo2682]

Simply awesome ! I need to get these pedals ! Thank you so much and God bless you !😁🎸👍

[@legend71]

Great job - would love to see you do all his great tones in a series of vids. All the way through the Sammy years too

[@Mistergibsonsg1]

Whoa! NO FLOYD ROSE?? And your guitar stays in tune?

[@voodoolabofficial]

+Mistergibsonsg1 I'm mostly dealing with the fist record here. Ed used a stock Fend bridge on that entire record as well! Does it stay in tune? No very long. ;)

[@92tele25]

+Voodoo Lab thanks

[@flashy5150]

Unless you put oil on the nut slots, then it stays in tune.

[@aaronsmith2492]

Voodoo Lab I'm going to build x-90 (Matthias jabs) ......with floyd rose ......Seymour Duncan pickup.......

[@reneotten2288]

Lubricate your nut, saddles etc and it will stay in tune. Lubrication works like a miracle, also on hard tails.

[@voodoolabofficial]

Ended up with Giggity off. But, I've also done it that way as well.

[@voodoolabofficial]

I'm with ya! It was a pain. Eddie is the man!

[@timmer92211]

Excellent playing/tones!

[@Tmidiman]

Thanks for posting this. I was able to dial in the sounds using another effects unit.

[@voodoolabofficial]

It's probably going back to the 4x12 Marshall cabinet in the other room with 25-watt Celestions and mic'd with an old SM-57.

[@coldacre]

that's a really nice demo of the EVH tone. of course the big thing missing is having the Marshall dimed..... nothing can replicate pushed speakers and moving air, but for bedroom volumes, this is on the money.

[@MrDT543]

This definitely sounds close enough for me! Great playing as well

[@kathyfoucaud940]

Very very good demo and tips !!!!!!!!!!!

[@voodoolabofficial]

Yup, at the top of the video, it's clean.

[@flockoglock]

Nice job as usual James.

[@Musicman4001007]

Music to my ears...

[@leanneturner6284]

Yeah well obviously

[@coltsuperocean10]

....nailed!!! Good work fella!

[@titmusspaultpaul5]

Sounded really good but i think you needed mire sustain. How would you choose to get that sound? I'm looking for a new set up and love the EVH sound.... Cheers.

[@MrUltraworld]

I saw his live rig in '82 and it amazed me that is worked at all. It smelled like it was going to burn (and apparently it did from time to time.

[@dewycatt2112]

That sparkle Drive sounds like a great pedal. Sounds Organic

[@futarydary]

great stuff and great playing, but IMO Eddie's tone from VH's debut has a lot more gain...

[@chrisbrennanguitar]

excellent video! good to see someone talkin about sound for a change

[@MrPissed1]

More gain and a bit more reverb? Sounds really good

[@HeadfirstHumanity]

The very last 2 chords you played with chorus reminded me of Rush so much xD (Grace Under Pressure era)

[@magicmike6961]

shut up asshole

[@UnkleJustin]

Thanks for making this video James. Easy to understand and just damned fun!!

[@anthonyschwabe5036]

YOUR GUITAR IS THE SICKEST THING IVE EVER SEEN

[@5150RDH]

Awesome demo, well done***** Truly a great way to get an authentic-sounding, "early" evh brown sound!

[@MrCecilbag]

wow this really sounds great, thanks for sharing

[@lolobuggah2670]

You definitely got very close to that tone. Its surprisingly simple. Great job man! Btw your EVH chops are NOICE!

[@TruthSurge]

not the spongy sound he had on the first albums. :(

[@davidsmolarek7221]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

[@32spitzer]

AWESOME DEMO DUDE! KILLER SOUND/TONE PLAYING ETC! LONG LIVE THE M-E-T-A-L! \m/

[@vox1966]

Sounds great!

[@MrShredify]

Damn, that was some spot on tone.

[@JockeLundgrenTV]

This video is absolutely AMAZING! Thank you very much.

[@voodoolabofficial]

No cash changed hands. It was a trade for a vintage Super Reverb and a strat about 23 years ago.

[@paulkelzer5038]

OUTSTANDING!

[@briankehew579]

If you put the echo (echoplex) in FRONT of the amp, the echo has less distortion than the first sound. What Ed did was take the output of the head, knock it down to low level with an attenuator, then run it through the echoplex (the distorted head output) an a big EQ pedal, THEN into big power amps into the speakers. So your delay doesn't change tone due to level, it is the same sound, just echoe'd twice... You can hear the difference.

[@mark7166]

I've gotta say man, I don't think that's true....

[@mark7166]

***** Oh yeah, I know lots of people do that, I just don't think that's how he did it back then. I could be wrong, though. Never really looked into it.

[@bap_la_so_1]

what you said is similar to plug the echoplex to the fx loop

[@briankehew579]

Yes, similar BUT with Ed's amps much of the distortion is only from the output tubes, so could only be heard (or effected) by taking it after the amp output.

[@voodoolabofficial]

+Brian Kehew You're right about how that works. But, this is specific to his first few records when he always ran the Phase 90 first, Flanger, EQ (an old Boss), and an Echoplex all in front of the amp. He didn't start slaving heads until much later. When you look at rigs done by Bob Bradshaw (in the 80s) that's absolutely how he did it. He also ditched the Echoplex's by then in favor of two Roland SDE-3000 delays in discreet stereo with power amps.

[@clayton5150]

Well sir nice vid i had never considered putting and echo one repeat in front of my distortion.

[@voodoolabofficial]

Oh man, not at all. Thanks so much for bringing up the tuning!!! :)

[@neppiesworld9432]

Great tips in this vid

[@jpeace6226]

You killed it bro

[@TOPDOGTHAOGYAC1]

Eddie and Alex played in clubs in CA before becoming famous and naming the band after their own last name, the band was called Mammoth and they rocked this was before the Roth entry to the band

[@deepee1452]

Eddie’s tone is legendary

[@tatsandteles]

BTW, the key here is the delay in front of the overdrive. Ass backwards from what you would ideally do in a 'normal' setup. I think he went to a regular post drive delay when he started using the Peavey 5150's, yes? Damn, you really nailed it.