Van Halen Letterman 1985 Clips

[Strat78]

I hear ed's going to reissue the 1x12 peavey bandit with stripes and a resonance fart knob on the back to commemorate the 30th anniversery of his letterman tone. tone so good you'll butter your popcorn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uecapxuY-k

[JiMB]

I hear ed's going to reissue the 1x12 peavey bandit with stripes and a resonance fart knob on the back to commemorate the 30th anniversery of his letterman tone. tone so good you'll butter your popcorn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uecapxuY-k

LOL!!!

[Ruben]

My guess; variac'ed way down.

[awangotango]

rest easy strat, we're making the commemorative bandit5150 to be just as voltage starved as the lettermen plexi so it can be run off van cig lighters. no worries there! we're just about done with r&d and into marketing but while you're waiting, i'll give up the trick to getting your marshall to give up the letterman tone. before the show ed poured a can of malt liquor down each tube socket. you guys have done your deep sherlock research and know what brand. so don't skimp and try using the genny cream ale or pabst in the fridge. the barley was grown in the central valley and there's something particular about that brand that ruins, i mean enhances the voltage starvation inside the soeckets. two cans for 100's and one for a 50. make sure you get it good and soaked for maximum voltage starvation and insurance for farty bass response to get authentic letterman eddie tone and that nasty distortion low voltages produce.

[Strat78]

........ to get authentic letterman eddie tone and that nasty distortion low voltages produce.

I'm sure spilled beer has a place in this tone, love it!

[FL6]

I can't add any technical elements to this thread but I will say when I stayed up late to hear that performance I was blown away by the few seconds I heard coming back from commercial. That was the Sunshine riff. That tone and riff combo was ungodly heavy. Stuck in my head forever.

I do agree however with most comments good and bad, it sounds a little farty at times, a little uninspired and weak for the solo high string stuff, I don't think Ed was letting go and soaring. But it sure is different listening to it with just your ears and not your eyes.

[awangotango]

.....

[Megaro]

post edited

[garbeaj]

I can't add any technical elements to this thread but I will say when I stayed up late to hear that performance I was blown away by the few seconds I heard coming back from commercial. That was the Sunshine riff. That tone and riff combo was ungodly heavy. Stuck in my head forever.

I couldn't agree more...I had the same experience. When he lights into the riff on the second Letterman appearance as Sandra Bernhard is air-guitaring it is just crushing with attitude and amazing tone. Really the whole Farm-Aid/Letterman sound is just amazing to me.

[Maverick]

MOdded
This is right around the time the marshal was fading

[echoplexi1974]

Well Eddie was still calling his 12301 his "baby marshall" in 1988ish. Recently he said it was starting to fade after the Fair Warning album. Again, such contradictory stuff here.

I believe he started to think the amp was fading after he heard the soldano amp. He think he wanted an amp that he didnt have to fight so hard to get the gain/sustain he wanted. The soldano was probably a nice compromise between a preamp gain and sustain. Just my opinion

[rdodson]

Well Eddie was still calling his 12301 his "baby marshall" in 1988ish. Recently he said it was starting to fade after the Fair Warning album. Again, such contradictory stuff here.

I believe he started to think the amp was fading after he heard the soldano amp. He think he wanted an amp that he didnt have to fight so hard to get the gain/sustain he wanted. The soldano was probably a nice compromise between a preamp gain and sustain. Just my opinion

I agree. He heard Clapton and the effortless sustain he had when he switched to the SLO and suddenly the Marshall was too hard, too noisy, etc.

[matttornado]

I know this is old.... I just watched the Letterman show & it sounds like to me he's plugged straight into the amp with the variac turned way down to maybe 50 -60 volts to match the house band's volume. The sound is very chewy which is how my amp sounds with a variac turned down that low.

[redozzman]

I friend of mine had satellite tv back in the 80's and we would watch The Letterman show, the great thing about satellite back then was when Dave went to commercial you got to listen to the band through the break. you would just get the graphic right at the end of that clip, through the entire commercial, He recorded a lot of those shows, I would love to have those entire breaks on audio :drool

[Roe]

isn't a slo100 noisier than a plexi?