Ed's 1978 touring rig.

Gainfreak · Post by **Gainfreak** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:07 pm

I just stumbled on this thread and it's great!! I don't want to sound negative or take away from this thread in any way but Mark Cameron mentioned this stuff a long time ago "although maybe not as detailed" and he even posted a picture of the load box that fits the description!! I think this is great information but I just wanted to mention Mark because there were some people giving him crap a while back. All the best everyone!!

EDIT: I wrote this before Mark actually showed up!! Sup Mark!!! See you soon !!

Ralph

highgainiac · Post by **highgainiac** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:10 pm

Excellent info and much appreciated! I think I just had a geargasm!!!

bmf5150 · Post by **bmf5150** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:30 pm

amen,mark cameron is a great guy!!

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:01 pm

MarkCameron wrote:
ROBIN L. wrote: Jose Arredondo built a few prototypes for Ed.
The one used by Ed on the 1978 world tour featured 2 inputs, a volume knob, and 3 line level outputs.
That volume knob was used to control the overall stage volume of the rig.
The 2 inputs were fed with the speakers outputs of the main plexi and the 50 watt smallbox plexi
This is the one I have....from people who would know.....have said to me..it may be one of the ones he used ...what do you think???

It looks just like one of Ed's, but this is a big piece .
It's certainly similar in design to the ones I have seen (some 30 years ago !).
I couldn't say more than that because I don't work with electronics, I have no electrical knowledge whatsoever.
Where did you find this one ?

Good Guest · Post by **Good Guest** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:05 pm

Robin said

"The amp used for slaving on the first album was the wooden plexi often seen in many of the pics uploaded on this forum.
The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album."

Fantastic thread by the way..it'll go down in history

Question tho..did the brown plexi have a key ignition switch as an on/off switch? I ask as there was a jose moddded one years ago on ebay which was even modified as a power amp (effects return). Seller claiming it once was Ed's and modded by jose. Seemed authentic but all the forum experts

claimed the wooden plexi wasn't moddded like that.

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:14 pm

Good Guest wrote:Robin said

"The amp used for slaving on the first album was the wooden plexi often seen in many of the pics uploaded on this forum.
The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album."

Fantastic thread by the way..it'll go down in history

Question tho..did the brown plexi have a key ignition switch as an on/off switch? I ask as there was a jose moddded one years ago on ebay which was even modified as a power amp (effects return). Seller claiming it once was Ed's and modded by jose. Seemed authentic but all the forum experts claimed the wooden plexi wasn't moddded like that.

I do remember that the mods were external, similar to what we now call an effects loop.
But I do not work on amps, never have.
He had 5 or 6 of his (slaving) amps modded for the second world tour.
Pic?
No switch on the front pannel, that I'm sure of.

wjamflan · Post by **wjamflan** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:27 pm

Robin,

I recall reading an interview with Ed where he talked about learning a new setup from Tony Iommi on their first tour. I believe it was a way of connecting his rig, and I think I remember him saying he thought everyone did it that way. He also said it was so loud that Dave would avoid going to his side of the stage.

Do you recall a change in his setup from that time? I'll have to hunt through the old magazines to get the exact quotes, but the reason I ask is because it sounds like the opposite of what your talking about - volume control/tone preservation.

Thank you for your time, and thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Bill

rgalpin · Post by **rgalpin** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:43 pm

On the superleads (metal pannel), the preamp knobs were basically set as followed, but with some slight changes depending on the amp:
presence: off
bass: 10
middle: off
treble: off

This is the most intriguing thing in here to me. I mean that is a crazy ass setting. I wonder if this has a similar effect as what I was doing by burying the highs with an EQ in between the 2 amps. With no EQ between the 2 amps mentioned by Robin, maybe a setting like this would be necessary. It's more radical than I woulda figured.

cary chilton · Post by **cary chilton** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:11 pm

Awesome post Robin! Also, everyone knows you are the real deal now.Thank you brutha.

Did you mention before that Ed specifically like a certain resistor for his load box? Any info on that?
I am curious if and when you will reveal yourself name or title with VH 30 years ago.

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:48 pm

Awesome stuff ROBIN. This needs to be archived. I wonder if people will still question the Alnico II vs Alnico 5 theory??

Thanks Eddie.............I mean Robin.

Mr. Beasty · Post by **Mr. Beasty** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:44 pm

rgalpin wrote:
On the superleads (metal pannel), the preamp knobs were basically set as followed, but with some slight changes depending on the amp:
presence: off
bass: 10
middle: off
treble: off
This is the most intriguing thing in here to me. I mean that is a crazy ass setting. I wonder if this has a similar effect as what I was doing by burying the highs with an EQ in between the 2 amps. With no EQ between the 2 amps mentioned by Robin, maybe a setting like this would be necessary. It's more radical than I woulda figured.

If you are slaving one Plexi into another Marshall, the second one's pre-amp has to have this sort of setting otherwise everything goes to hell.
I think the reason is that both amp amphasize the same frequencies so things get quickly out of hand. For instance slaving my Plexi into a SLO sounded better than slaving the same Plexi into a SL ...

wntbtw · Post by **wntbtw** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:50 pm

VHoholic wrote:This is good stuff, wow!

Welcome back 'VHoholic'!!

VHoholic · Post by **VHoholic** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:00 pm

wntbtw wrote:
VHoholic wrote:This is good stuff, wow!
Welcome back 'VHoholic'!!

Hey wntbtw, it's good to be here! Didn't want to miss this historic event!!

nitro · Post by **nitro** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:04 pm

I will question the alnico V vs alnico II magnet,alnico V or ceramic will do the job,im working with lindy fralin pickups(one of lindys techs im working with)to come up with a pickup that will end the story about alnico II magnets, and will achieve the van halen 1 sound,, we are working with alnico V and ceramic magnets,we are not even playing with alnico II magnets(waste of time for the van halen 1 sound, first album),ive been using the duncan 59 for a longtime and im very close to THAT sound using that pickup, but i feel we will(fralin pickups and myself)accomplish something amazing.STAY TUNE

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:30 pm

why the bass all the way up and everything else off?

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Ed's 1978 touring rig.

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