Metropoulos Forum

Its 2018 and for many the Brown Sound mystery has been solved.
Thought it would be cool to make a new thread and compile all of the info that we know (or believe) that Eddie used for the magical combination.

Help me fill in the blanks brown sound brothers!

Van Halen 1 Record:

Guitars: Black and White Strat, 76-77 Ibanez Destroyer
Pickups: Mighty Mite 1300 in the Strat, stock pickup in the Destroyer?
Amps: Stock 12 series 68 PLEXI, bare wood head shell 69 Super Lead
Variac: Set at 90 volts
Speakers: Celestion Greenbacks, 68 Cabinet
Pedals: Mxr script phase 90, Mxr 6 band EQ, Echoplex EP3
Secret Pedal - Univox UD-50?
Hands: Ed’s !!
Strings: Fender Bullet 9-40
Picks: Fender Light or Medium?
Cables: ?
Recording Mics: Sm57 on top speakers of 68 Marshall Cab?
Reverb: Added at the console

What have I left out or what am I missing?

MXR Flanger.
Univox EC-80.
Those silver dust cap JBL 120 speakers.

I think the bare wood head shell amp might be a 1971...

Tazin wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 13, 2018 9:56 am

MXR Flanger.
Univox EC-80.
Those silver dust cap JBL 120 speakers.

I think the bare wood head shell amp might be a 1971...

Ok cool, yes MXR Flanger, and looks like the Destroyer might have been a 75-76.
Univox Echo machine was used on Eruption? Any other tracks?
Never heard of him using the JBL 120 speakers.. Can you elaborate? Always thought it was a 68 Cab with Greenbacks.

I don't think the EC-80 was used on any other tracks other than the ending of Eruption...But Atomic Punk does have a weird echo on the solo which could be the EC-80.
One of Ed's cabinets had a pair of JBL D120F along with a pair of Greenbacks in it. Whether he used it while recording the first album I don't know, but many folks think he did based on the raw tracks of RWTD.

I always knew Eddie had a brass nut on his Strat. That and a cold-rolled steel tremolo block each definitely adds resonance, harmonics and sustain (which I've experienced first-hand).

But in the website ads for Eddie's 40th Anniversary Black/Whited striped VH1 Strat, Ed says "it's as close as you can get.." and that "It has a brass block.."

I NEVER knew Eddie was using a brass block- COOL..!

Brass block with the Floyd Rose bridge not with the Fender bridge.

Tazin- That's what I thought too. But the data specs for the '78 Reissue EVH says with the Fender bridge too...

"... Vintage Fender® Stratocaster® bridge with a Kluson® brass block..."

www.evhgear.com/extras/eruption/

Weird...

The 1978 photos of the B&W guitar show what looks like a standard steel block.

I believe you. Love those old steel blocks. The Callaham in my Guitar was an INSTANT improvement

Aren't forgetting the Marshall 2003 Master PA head? A sure must have for that sound...

Ralle wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:32 am

Aren't forgetting the Marshall 2003 Master PA head? A sure must have for that sound...

So you really think he was running a slaved rig back in 1977 & 1978?

Yes... with out a doubt... there's no way he could have gotten that sound without the seccond amp... and the beauty of it is that master PA head; with the tonecontroll and pre eq master, plus the level of signal hitting the first stage in the PA head that brings the gain level up to where you never can without it. I mean, look at the PA; it has NO brightcaps anywhere, it has only one 68k input resistor, so when pushing that first stage with the signal from the first amp, you get that stage to distort in a way that makes the sound nice, thick and with the right amount of edge ( no bright caps )... The rest of the sound, well, since the powerstage of the PA head is like any other marshall head... I mean where can you go wrong... it's the ideal way to do it. You have the mastervol to controll the over all volume ( pushing the powerstage just about right ). you have the eq AFTER the mastervol; the best way to controll the freqs comming out of your cab... As you probably understand; I rest my case!

Ralle wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 16, 2018 4:53 pm

Yes... with out a doubt... there's no way he could have gotten that sound without the seccond amp... and the beauty of it is that master PA head; with the tonecontroll and pre eq master, plus the level of signal hitting the first stage in the PA head that brings the gain level up to where you never can without it. I mean, look at the PA; it has NO brightcaps anywhere, it has only one 68k input resistor, so when pushing that first stage with the signal from the first amp, you get that stage to distort in a way that makes the sound nice, thick and with the right amount of edge ( no bright caps )... The rest of the sound, well, since the powerstage of the PA head is like any other marshall head... I mean where can you go wrong... it's the ideal way to do it. You have the mastervol to controll the over all volume ( pushing the powerstage just about right ). you have the eq AFTER the mastervol; the best way to controll the freqs comming out of your cab... As you probably understand; I rest my case!

I hear what your saying and I've heard some rather convincing slaved setups capturing the "vibe" the Ed got back in the day...But how does one explain Kevin Estrada's photos of Ed playing at the Whiskey in late '77 using what appears to be only one amp?

Have you heard the boot's from that eara? It's clearly less gain, and a kinda moore attack... listen to " Eyes of the night " from 76, there's a stereo sound a while into that song, where ( I think ) the seccond amp is "switched" on. When the right side dissapears, the left side is more audioable... Much less gain... just as if one single amp is played. Back then, it could very well have been any amp ( no lead amp though ) as that seccond amp... it doesn't take much to transform a, let's say basshead into somekind of pa head. The trick here is to get rid of all those brightcaps... no need for those. All it takes to convert a bass head to an allmost PA is to just remove those brightcaps in the mixer and the volume brightcap... What would be eaven more perfect here is to have a master volume in the right place ( pre eq ). let's say the "white knob" amp was just that? But even without that, a converted basshead would work just fine. So to awnser that question: Well, again I have np proof what so ever, but my own ears... If there's just one amp vissable in those pics, well, maybe Ed did play gigs with just one amp... and was trying to fight the volume in any other possible way, like having somekind of stompbox or boost before the amp, I don't know. What I do know is that the sound from the first album and "after Zero " demo ( not the Gene Simmons demo ) is not possible without this config.
Like I said before, I could be wrong

The picture of the Marshall PA 2003 in 5150 studios to which Ralle was referring has been re-uploaded from another location on the web. viewtopic.php?f=49&t=45019#p454729

Great to hear Ralle chime in again!