Ed's Early Pedalboard and EP3s

[vh junkie]

I am still wondering about the the switchboxes on the early pedalboard. Did anyone conclusively determine what they were for?

I know leadguy and others have tried to suss this out...

I am just wondering, could one of the switches been there to bypass the second echoplex entirely? Wondering, because I am now running (what I think is) the same signal chain:
VIntage MXR Flanger
VIntage MXR Phase 90
EP-3
EP-Free pedal (with TIS58, made to EP-3 HiZ specs)
12xxxx clone

I seems like the EP-Free pedal is most useful for leads and certain other parts... sounds better with it bypassed for a lot of parts???

[vanhalen5150]

What's an EP-Free pedal?

[vh junkie]

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... &start=243

[vanhalen5150]

Ah ok, didn't make the connection.

[rgorke]

Are you talking about the boxes that were labeled #1 and #2.If you are I believe that one of those boxes is the so-called customized distortion pedal.

Yes they were customized into switchers.

[vh junkie]

I think:
(1) Ed may have used both EP3s as echos simultaneously
(2) May have use one EP3 as an echo and the other still in the chain as an additional boost (w/ echo off)
(3) Needed to bypass the 2nd EP3 entirely for situations where the additional boost was not needed.

I am not saying that on of the switch boxes was a boost in itself.

[TWANGGG]

Any of those could be right and what about this:
(4) Second EP-3 is a backup always at the ready at the stomp of a switch because Ed knows EP-3's can be tempermental and being part of his signature sound he doesn't want to be without one.

edit: just found leadguy's conclusions on Ed's 78 pedalboard from this thread:http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... up#p367646

"Ed doesn't use Echoplexes in series.
The second Echoplex is for backup and for a 2nd amp/signal chain."

Beyond that, just wondering in your setup with the two EP-3 preamps active are you winding up with too much gain for some parts or is it more of an eq change you're hearing?

[jnewlyn]

#1 was to loop the MXR 6 band in and out when ever he used it. #2 was for a second head/cab for backup. Later came the Boss GE-10 that had bypassing foot switch so I don't think it was used much afterwords.

[leadguy]

Seems like everyone has their own theory based on what they think Ed used.

Don't forget that if Ed was using 2 Echoplexes in series then there would be the dual ATBL delay on the 1978 boots and as far as I know the 1978 boots of ATBL have only one delay as per usual for a lot of Ed's stuff.

Also, both Echoplexes have the same settings, so I can't see Ed using 2 Echoplexes in series with the same settings.

Ed had a backup amp line and he really needs one of the Echoplexes to be on the backup amp line because the Echoplex was a part of his tone.

There are 2 round shaped stock standard Echoplex /echo on/off switches taped near his pedalboard.

Don't forget that Ed has to turn the fukkin Univox off by a footswitch because even if he switches the guitar signal to another amp(s), the Univox would still be screaming away in the background and sometimes Ed launches straight into YRGM or some other thing straight after Eruption with a quick guitar change, so a Univox footswitch would be what most Univox owners with common sense would have on their pedalboard.

Strat78 noticed that in a 1978 video, Ed steps on the pedalboard and the Univox shuts the fuk up.
So there is a Univox footswitch on the pedalboard IMO.

The EQ is sometimes plugged into Box 1 and sometimes not.

If Ed had a Univox footswitch (which is so easy to set up and would be something that would be included on a pedalboard by most players using a Univox), then Box 1 has to be a Univox footswitch because there are no other switches on the pedalboard that could function as a Univox footswitch.

I think the EQ is used in front of the Univox as a buffer (and Box 1 is the Univox footswitch) because the Univox has a pretty low input impedance for guitars and with Ed's cables also sucking tone, the EQ would help prevent tone sucking from the Univox because the EQ has a higher guitar matching input impedance and a much lower output impedance that would interface very well into the pretty low Univox input impedance.

IMO, Box 1 and the EQ and the Univox are all used because of Eruption, because of the Univox's pretty low input imedance and for turning the Univox on/off.

Ed's EQ's were often in front of the Echoplexes for cable loss tone sucking (Echoplexes were connected by long cables) or in front of amps for tone sucking reasons and maybe altering some amps EQ a bit that were making up the numbers (not his main amps btw).

Box 2 is never used in the photos we can all see.

[wjamflan]

I think:
(1) Ed may have used both EP3s as echos simultaneously
(2) May have use one EP3 as an echo and the other still in the chain as an additional boost (w/ echo off)
(3) Needed to bypass the 2nd EP3 entirely for situations where the additional boost was not needed.

I am not saying that on of the switch boxes was a boost in itself.

Ed had two EP-3s and two Univox Ec-80s. I know it's popular around here to say that only certain effects were available through certain rigs, but it just isn't so, and the echoes are just one example. Ed used two echoes set at two different speeds on songs on that first tour. I don't know if it was both EP-3s at once, but there are two going on Atomic Punk, Down In Flames etc.

I don't believe he intended to use the EP-3s to boost, but it could have been a nice consequence.

[wjamflan]

Maybe this will help junkie:

Atomic Punk Guitar Track - 1st Album
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5k358gowzw[/youtube]
Listen to it with headphones. You'll hear the slap echo (Ep-3) that is present throughout the song. When the riff starts at 0:18, you can hear how short the delay is - not reverb, but a distinct delay. Just before the solo starts, he kicks on the second echo set for a longer delay. The two of them together is what gives the spacey sound. You can hear the longer delay time during the more stacatto descending part of the solo (1:40). Before the riff starts again, he turns off the second echo and returns to the spacious slap sound he had at the beginning.

Atomic Punk Audio - Tokyo (6/22/78)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCmQn3T-F2Y[/youtube]
Starts at 14:21. No reverb room, just spacious slapback EP-3 goodness. Solo starts at 15:45 after he kicks on the 2nd echo and gets the same wild sound as the album. At 16:18 you can clearly hear the 2nd echo is off and the spacious echoey slapback goodness is present.

**While you're at it, check out the version of Down In Flames from this show. It starts at 22:30 with the volume swells blanketed by spacious slap. Then at the end of Ed's solo, he hits a note and it repeats up to 15 times. This is definitely a different echo. My question would be, is this a third echo with a different setting????

Atomic Punk Video - Fresno (9/22/78)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq51q5me3P0[/youtube]
Pay no attention to the date the poster put on there. Audio quality not as good as the Tokyo show, but you can clearly hear the slapback while Ed rubs his hand on the strings at the beginning and the 2nd echo being activated for the solo.

** Better audio: http://www.mediafire.com/?ozvzlxr2tod

[leadguy]

Another thing is that the Univox could be used as a second delay.

It's only at the end of Eruption that Ed goes nuts with the controls but it should be able to be used as a delay effect as well, especially in conjunction with a footswitch.

[wjamflan]

Another thing is that the Univox could be used as a second delay.

It's only at the end of Eruption that Ed goes nuts with the controls but it should be able to be used as a delay effect as well, especially in conjunction with a footswitch.

Very true LG, but only if it's in the chain

[leadguy]

Those DOTG photos are just really bits of the show but some of those bits are YRGM with the Destroyer that usually came just after Eruption (sometimes Bottoms Up too I think).

I have no idea what Ed did for every song in 1978, because I wasn't there and there are no photos of what Ed did for every song.

[FrankenMatt]

Box 2 is never used in the photos we can all see.

There is this one...



It looks like jacks are in place of the knobs on the old big muff enclosure and it has the same amount of cables coming/going to it as seen in the usual Box 1 pics