Ed's Early Pedalboard and EP3s

[leadguy]

Great pickup there.

I've seen that 3 plug thing before in another photo but I didn't make any connection to it being Box 2.

It's a bit hard to see if it is Box 2 but it very well could be.

I thought Box 2 might be a Bi-Amp setup, like 1 in and 2 out, but who knows.

[Tazin]

I don't think that top picture is of Ed's pedal board....It seems positioned way to much towards center stage. The middle hole in Box 2 is actually a rectangular cutout for a switch; which is empty, and not a circle.

[FrankenMatt]

I agree on the board placement but I really can't think of anything else it might be, particularly with a jack arrangement like that. I don't see the rectangular cutout in the pic, just tape with a circle(which I presumed being a jack)

I was just scrolling through some more pics to see if I could find more pics of the pedalboard in that arrangement but managed to stumble across this...




Anyone else catch Box 2 in this pic before? It's interesting it shows up in a VHII "recording session" shot

[leadguy]

Those VHII photos are staged publicity shots.

Even Zloz who took the photos said it.

Interesting Box 2 in them though.

It seems to just have one lead going into it

Whether anything is hooked up properly for playing in a publicity shot? probably not.

Ed also has one Univox in the Bomb in probably late 1977/early 1978 http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=38195" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and then Ed has two Univoxes in the Bomb by VHII in late 1978, so looks like he picked up another one in 1978.

[Tazin]

Like I mentioned before, the middle cutout in Box2 is a rectangle for a switch. Therefore, the thing shown in the other picture with the three jacks plugged in is not Box2. I think that thing has do do with sound reinforcement, or perhaps mics.

[FrankenMatt]

I stand corrected, there's definitely not a jack in the center like I thought

Those VHII photos are staged publicity shots.

Even Zloz who took the photos said it.

Interesting Box 2 in them though.

It seems to just have one lead going into it

Whether anything is hooked up properly for playing in a publicity shot? probably not.

I just find it interesting to see it there at all.

It could have 2 leads going to the back like a stock EH, but yeah if they're staged it could all just be nothing.

[spaceace76]

"Staged publicity shots"who started that rumour.They are in Sunset sound recording VHII,what publicity......

the guy who took the picture, Neil Zloz. his memory is strong, no reason to doubt him. bands do staged shots like this all the time

[rgorke]

My take on this is that the band was fresh off a very successful world tour. Zloz said that he wanted to work with the band. He most likely approached them for some shots and said they could be used for publicity purposes or whatever he or they wanted to use them for.

I would bet that they were set up in the studio working out the last bits of songs or what have you. The "staged" part is throwing some (many) beer cans and trash around and having Dave pretend to sing or just run through some songs. The equipment set up I would argue is no way "staged"...just the atmosphere is staged.

[leadguy]

Staged VHII photos.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... 2&p=312516" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Baffles would at least be used for some isolation because the engineer has to mix tracks and a bit of bleedover is ok but too much just makes it harder to get a good mix.

Baffles and iso rooms are used for isolation.

The way VH is in the VHII photos is all on top of each other with no baffles or isolation and they didn't even play live this close together.

It would sound like a garage band with large bleedover between everyone.

They would be spread out across the studio and baffles would be used and in Ed's case maybe an iso room would be used for his amp and it's all monitored and they can all hear what is going on between each other using the headphones.

There are engineers talking about the bands they recorded all over the net in great detail from the Sex Pistols to the Rolling Stones to whoever and none of them record like these VHII photos show, all on top of each other in one end of the studio with no baffles or iso rooms which would be an engineers nightmare.

[Good Guest]

It's kind of obvious that anything staged is going to be the atmosphere, posing and pretending to play and stuff like beer cans and Macdonald containers strewn about for party type atmosphere ..I really don't think that EVH and the whole band for that matter would bring in anything weird and hook it up weird for show....everything there related to musical equipment is sound. Jeez it aint Frank Zappa and the mothers of van halen

However things like colorsound overdrivers and patch cords in the univox (using all inputs and outputs) pokes holes in theory's like no fuzz overdrive or distortion allowed or no univox used in vh2 only one song on vh1 and that's it.. ...

What's next ..... that isn't an echoplex you see there ..it's a card board cutout for staging purposes...
Now something that might be staged ..showing the overdriver by M. A's foot ..that might be something moved away from EVH's area for staging purposes....secret weapon can't put that in the shot. either way box 1 and 2 appear in all effects shots from that era and highly unlikely they were brought along for prop purposes and connected for show.

Funny his boss 10 bands aren't in those vh2 shots....maybe it's true what Mark C. said that they were just used for arena sound shaping ..they only seem to be around live concert photos..I would totally agree.

[leadguy]

It doesn't matter if it's the Stones or VH, the recording isolation requirements are similar.

Have a look at Jagger recording Sympathy with baffles all around him and headphones.

In the VHII photos we are supposed to believe that Dave is singing along like it's a karaoke night, right next to Ed's amp with no isolation, yeah right.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4NsqNfMbM[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q4NsqNfMbM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVq50i6Zzc[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDVq50i6Zzc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Stones are spread out with baffles isolating them.

For a amp on 10, it is often put in an iso room with the door shut like in the Brown Sugar session with Keith running a Fender Twin at max.

And the guitar amps?

Keith played a Fender Twin, and so did Mick Taylor, and they brought those in with them. The loudness on those tracks really came from Keith. I had it put in that back booth and shut the door on it.


On the guitar amplifiers, let’s see there were two different ones, on Mick’s I had a Shure SM-57, and then on the other I was using.. I might have been using an RE-15 on Keith. But I had a real problem with Keith because he was running a Fender Twin amp wide open, I mean that sucker was getting it.

I had a real problem with distortion going on, but I happened to remember that my maintenance guy, about a month before that, had left me a 20dB pad that he had made, a homemade pad, so I just stuck it in between. So I dropped that level before it hit the front of the Universal Audio and it saved the day.

Otherwise, I would have been hosed. I still thank God for that. I would have just been screwed. So on Keith’s amp, ‘oh no, I remember what was on his amp, an RCA 77DX, because I was having to get that level down any way I could, it was a ribbon mic.

With the pad and that RCA, I made it, just barely. A lot of that had to do with how it sounded, and I was always real pleased with that guitar sound.


I assume you close-miked the amps.

Yes, they were miked about two or three inches from the grille cloth, and with the Twins, we would get right in front of one of the two speakers. I’d make sure that both were working all right, and that one didn’t have a hole.

Well, Keith’s guitar amp was in a booth, and Jagger was in the back of the room with baffles around him. There was some leakage going on, but you couldn’t tell because he was so close to the mic.

It was part of the sound. The drums did not have a booth, they were open, but with baffles. But there was a lot of leakage on the drums, cymbals and stuff, even though he didn’t play real hard.

Really? But there’s a lot of impact in the drums on that song, more than on most Stones tunes.

Yeah, it’s that mic and the way we set it. Even today, that would be a good way for a rock band to mic their drums, if they like some great live drumming sound. They would be surprised to find that sometimes less is more. I think it would blow them away.

And the sound of Keith’s guitar is so good, and I really attribute it to that RCA DX77 with the pad, going into that Universal Audio tube console which warmed it up, too. Pretty wild, huh.

Did you use any compression on those tracks?

None. At the time, I did not have a compressor in the building. It was a couple more years before we had compressors. The only outboard gear was that 20dB pad, that’s all I remember.

What about board EQ? Did you use much of that?

Mostly, on all sessions, I would use one click or two on the highs to air it out. It was set at around 3 or 4K, with two dB steps; you could go to two or four. We had 100Hz for the low end, and I guess around 3500 for the high.

When we did the Stones sessions, we had a Universal Audio console with tube modules, the one with the big rotary knobs, knobs as big as your hand. We had ten inputs.

There was some fixed EQ on it, a fixed low end at 100Hz, and you could go two clicks of boost at two and four dB, and you could roll back to minus three.

But that’s all it was. It also had an echo send on it. Back then, we were using a live chamber.

I remember Barry Beckett saying he was sitting outside on the steps and could feel the building shaking.

Yeah, when they stated grooving around one in the morning, when I started the machines, it was an unbelievable thing; I have not experienced anything quite like that since.

[leadguy]

There is a RWTD DLR iso vocal track around on the net and DLR's vocals are very isolated with no or hardly any bleedover from Ed, Mike and Al.

DLR must be in an iso booth doing the vocals.

The VHII photos showing Dave karaoke singing right next to Ed's amp are a staged joke.

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/runnin_wit ... _devil.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[leadguy]

The Univox is switched off abruptly around 52 minutes in this clip and then Ed seems to change to the Destroyer (or LP) for DOA.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCmQn3T-F2Y[/youtube]

[ampSnob]

To me, these shots look like tour rehearsals or pre recording rehearsal. Where the band holes up for a while with all their toys and sees if they can pull of live what they did on tape or hashes out arrangements for the record. It's pretty common for bands to do this before a tour to tighten up their set lists, figure out all the logistics, alternate arrangements, that kind of junk. After a week or so of this the place would be littered with booze and fast food like any practice space. The would make rudimentary mix tapes of it so they can play it back and make sure they are on the right track.

[leadguy]

I don't know what it is exactly but I'd go for the pre recording rehearsal.

Ed's even got his cassette recorder that he kept ideas on.

The cans and litter are all staged but VH had their gear at the recording studio so I'd say it's a pre recording rehearsal and the photos were a bit of an in joke with Zloz, the photographer who followed VH around.