Ed's use of Dist/OD Pedals, the ADA MP-1

LypsLynch55 · Post by **LypsLynch55** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:31 pm

Ok folks,

I know Nitro (who makes some very informative posts, btw) speaks frequently about how Jose referenced how Ed used a drive (Dist/OD Pedal) pedal in front of the Marshall head (The first amp head, i.e. the pre-amp in a re-amp scenario) on VH I.

Now, recent breakdowns on Ed's live rig indicate that

A) At one point he used an ADA MP-1 pre-amp (Rack) in his set-up
http://www.amptone.com/eddievanhalenrig.htm (About 40% through the document)

B) More recently, a dissection of Ed's rig had him using a Boss SD-1 pedal in the chain...unfortunately I cant find references, but it was in the Guitar World piece in the back of the mag where they break down a star's rig and the "their secret weapon"....it was when Ed was using the 5150s, so what the hell would he need more gain for? Why would he use this - for color or to boost for solos??? Does anyone know.

So, at least we know that he was alleged to use some pre-amp gain effects in his chain.

Does anyone know anymore about this (although given Rockstah's "Plexi Mod # 5, I think we now know the answers to the mystery of VH I) ?

And Rob is pretty much there too. I love those A/B of the JTM/Bassman clips. And I think he has NAILED that WACF sound. Its uncanny.

Good Guest · Post by **Good Guest** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:51 pm

I remember reading in guitar gear or some mag about the use of a boss overdrive(very simuliar to a tube screamer)..I have the mag somewhere.

Even on his last tour ..one of his techs remarked on tuning his tube screamer type pedal. You'll have to do some heavy searching on a van halen forum to find that one. I read it and forgot about it.

I think what most people are concerned with however is the first album tone. The use of an ada preamp and boss overdrive were used on later albums as well as a tom sholtz sustainer and palmer units.

In the famous japanese interview chalked with pics he says he uses a modified fuzz box..but there is some ambiguity as he does use a jumbo tone bender case as a switch box. Wether this is what he meant by modified ..who knows.

It is rumoured there is a pic of a distortion plus on his first tour but I have never seen it, as well as an mxr distortionII and I have never seen that , however they (distortionII) look exactly like the mxr flanger except for the color. Randy Rhoads used an mxr distortion II also, many believe a distortion plus but there are many referances to the II.

Some have claimed getting an identical sound as vh1 using a distortionII, but I can't say for sure ..nowadays people will say just about anything to sell a pedal.

With Eddies love of old yardbirds etc. I wouldn't be surprised if he had an old fuzztone or boost hidden someplace. Remember his brother told him at one time.."when you do your tapping thing , turn around and face me, because they (other guitarists) will rob you blind". AND THEY DID AND WILL.

In the rudy leiren interview entitled "the anatomy of the brown sound" it is mentioned Eddie used an "ada preamp intermitingly as well as an mxr micro amp for a slight boost."

Just these 2 devices would provide more than enough gain and noise...it's probably a safe bet to say he used all the devices to color his sound and make up for lost gain in long cable runs. mxr flanger, phase 90, eq, micro amp, ada preamp, boss 10 band eq, echoplex all blasting the front end of a plexi modded to be a jcm800 ,oh and not to mention an super overdrive...Do I hear bacon frying or what.

LypsLynch55 · Post by **LypsLynch55** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:08 am

Good Guest wrote: Just these 2 devices would provide more than enough gain and noise...it's probably a safe bet to say he used all the devices to color his sound and make up for lost gain in long cable runs. mxr flanger, phase 90, eq, micro amp, ada preamp, boss 10 band eq, echoplex all blasting the front end of a plexi modded to be a jcm800 ,oh and not to mention an super overdrive...Do I hear bacon frying or what.

Yep. Like the Randy issue of GW last year where Ozzy called Randy's pedalboard "The chip pan" because of all the noise.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:34 am

Yeah, I think Good Guest nailed it, Ed's tech in 92 or 93 said the Boss od was only used sometimes, depending on how far they had to run the cables at particular venues. I do think that Ed(75-78 ?) probably had and used an MXR Distortion +, cause like Nitro say's, there was an insane amount of gain on alot of the stuff right before, during and a little after that first album. And the Distortion + was probably the only pedal back then that remained relatively tight and tube/natural sounding. That circuit is very "Brown" sounding.

rockstah · Post by **rockstah** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:10 am

was the mxr distortion a block logo or script?

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:42 am

Well depending on when it went to block (77 or 78 ?) it could have been either, if he used it. I had a '77, and it was script. I think he had the script and used it a bit back in the day, just as a "Hair" more kinda thing.

45auto · Post by **45auto** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:32 pm

if i remember "right" he went wireless for awhile way back, but then had to resort back to cables.

LypsLynch55 · Post by **LypsLynch55** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:35 am

Tone Slinger wrote:Yeah, I think Good Guest nailed it, Ed's tech in 92 or 93 said the Boss od was only used sometimes, depending on how far they had to run the cables at particular venues. I do think that Ed(75-78 ?) probably had and used an MXR Distortion +, cause like Nitro say's, there was an insane amount of gain on alot of the stuff right before, during and a little after that first album. And the Distortion + was probably the only pedal back then that remained relatively tight and tube/natural sounding. That circuit is very "Brown" sounding.

So, if I am taking the gist of what you and GoodGuest are saying, 1) The primary purpose of the Dist. Pedals in Ed's chain was nothing more than just a booster/helper to compensate for the loss of signal that you get when you run long cables (or later in the VH timeline, wireless) and secondly to perhaps to add a little more high end sizzle to his sound?

Makes sense. I never really put 2 and 2 together about the wireless.

Good Guest · Post by **Good Guest** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:29 pm

Don't forget the distortion plus..the script models used germanium diodes in the clipper section ...and they produce the "HAIR" in the tone of the first album. Actually there is a very blurry pic floating around the net of eddie playing thru his re amp rig and you do get to see ( after putting on the csi helmut) the orange of a mxr script phase 90 going into the "telltale yellow" of vintage script mxr distortion +, then to the re amp rig, but shhh! don't tell anyone.

cary chilton · Post by **cary chilton** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:43 pm

good guest, what is re amping?

rgalpin · Post by **rgalpin** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:19 pm

Good Guest wrote:Don't forget the distortion plus..the script models used germanium diodes in the clipper section ...and they produce the "HAIR" in the tone of the first album. Actually there is a very blurry pic floating around the net of eddie playing thru his re amp rig and you do get to see ( after putting on the csi helmut) the orange of a mxr script phase 90 going into the "telltale yellow" of vintage script mxr distortion +, then to the re amp rig, but shhh! don't tell anyone.

YES!! nice work good guest! and i would say that the phase 90 MUST come before the distortion+ because the distortion+ chills out the phase a little by knocking its head off and taking its feet out from under it. it all makes sense.

hey cary,
re: re amp
guitar into amp 1
amp 1 into load box and tap the signal
signal tap into amp 2
amp 2 into NOTHING BUT WEBERS BABY!!

Star*Guitar · Post by **Star*Guitar** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:45 pm

That pic would be easy to download by right clicking your mouse.

I would be very interested in seeing that pic if you can find it.

Good Guest · Post by **Good Guest** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:51 am

Star*Guitar wrote:That pic would be easy to download by right clicking your mouse.

I would be very interested in seeing that pic if you can find it.

That would be too easy and telling..but here is a clue..it's in this forum..and it's obvious that the pic was intentionally blurred , but the "telltale yellow" of a distortion+ is there. I'm sure when delving deep into the forum you will learn what re-amping is and find the pic.

I'm just getting into re-amping myself..I experimented with it years ago with an assortment of amps and didn't like it, the tones were too rank in the high end...now playing with marshall type circuits it's a whole new ball game..shimmering highs and lots of lows and the best way to describe what it sounds like is what Eddie said...like a hi-fi stereo system.

This forum rocks "bigtime" ..I wouldn't of bothered re experimenting if it wasn't for the pioneers here.

rgalpin · Post by **rgalpin** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:59 am

if you get rank tones in the high end, try knocking down the level of the signal hitting your 2nd amp by inserting an EQ or something and lowering the main output of it. makes a world of difference.

Good Guest · Post by **Good Guest** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:32 pm

rgalpin wrote:if you get rank tones in the high end, try knocking down the level of the signal hitting your 2nd amp by inserting an EQ or something and lowering the main output of it. makes a world of difference.

This exactly what I found out..and it's good advice. When I first tried it I was like everything to the max.."I'm gonna sound like Eddie"..what a disaster that was. I found the best tone I got was dark sounding marshall into the loadbox with line out..then into a bright marshall. Just a fantastic extremely wide bandwidth of tone!