Ed's 1978 touring rig.

[jcm800nut]

Robin, you brought up a very interesting and obscure detail regarding the string spacing of the Destroyer bridge! I thought I was the only one who noticed these things. Allot of Ed's riffs are hard to play on narrower string spacings, especially on a Japanese knockoffs like the Destroyer. The classic Fender Stratocaster 2 7/32" spacing at the bridge is ideal for early VH riffage. You can see how Ed cut new grooves in his destroyer bridge to give a little extra breathing room between the strings.

Hey, that might explain why the bridge was put in backwards when he borrowed chris holmes' destroyer to use because he messed his original up and didn't like it anymore. He took out holmes original bridge and put in his with wider grooves, then slapped it back together to get back to chris, but put it back in upside down on accident (or on purpose to mess with him)? Everyone just guessed he had doing something weird with the intonation or something.

Sounds like a perfectly reasonable explanation to me, funny...

[Mats A]

The pedalboard and effects chain:

Ed used this crappy plywood pedalboard for his effects pedals.
The 2 Maestro Echoplexes were sitting next to the amps on ED's side of the stage, but their footswitches were located next to the plywood board.
The Univox was shelved in a real WWII bomb standing to the right of Ed's cabs.
It was just unbelievable you know, those were really the good 'ol days.
On the board, Ed's guitar would hit the MXR Flanger, then the MXR Phase 90.
From the ouput of the phase 90, a long cable would then reach the 2 echoplexes (wired in series).
After the echoplexes, another long cable would go back to the stage pedalboard to the input of BOX 1, then out to the input of BOX 2.
Yet another long cable would connect the ouput of BOX 2 to a "Y"-type splitter , and then hit the top left inputs of the main plexi and its smallbox backup.
BOX 1 and 2 were loopers for the MXR 6bandEQ 's Ed was using to boost his signal prior to hitting the plexi.
Most of the time, Box2 was not used, but from time to time he would have a second MXR EQ on his board.
The MXR EQ's were replaced by The Boss EQ's in the summer after the japanese leg of the tour.
Btw, Ed was not using a wireless yet in 1978.
The MXR pedals were stock script logo pedals.
In the early 80's, Ed had them overlooked by Jose to reduce unwanted noise (shielding and replacing cheap components with better ones).

The main plexi and his backup were loaded and the line level signal was fed to the univox before it was slaved to the superleads and out to the cabs.

It looks like he's bypassing the Flanger and Phase and going straight into the 1 box where the blue MXR EQ usually goes when it's connected.

WHAT A NEAT GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION !
It is correct, and as you can see, the input of MXR EQ is not connected, hence the unconnected short blue cord (saving batteries).
Ed would connect it for his live guitar solo and certain songs, for example 'I'm the one'.
It was just a matter of how it felt to him on a given day.
The pic was taken in the summer of 1978 and the MXR EQ was gone in favour of The BOSS EQ.
The 2 purple cords are the in's and out's of looper BOX number 1.
Looper box 2 is not in use on that day, that's why we don't see a second Boss EQ in the pic.

Great stuff Robin!
Did Ed set his MXR 6 band EQ exactly like it´s on this picture or how did he set it? As you said it´s apart from Ed himself a key to the VH1 tone.

[guitar007]

His EQ settings seem to vary but the general frown curve is a good place to start.

[Ralle]

Robin says: " The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album. "

Being from Sweden 'n all I tend to mix a few things up in my head, so...

1. What amp did he use as the first amp ( amp 1 ) on the seccond album?
2. Please bare with me on this one... The amp the Jose modded prior to the seccond album ( the wooden amp ), was that the one Ed used as the first amp on the first tour and on the first album?
Ralle

[rgorke]

Robin says: " The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album. "

Being from Sweden 'n all I tend to mix a few things up in my head, so...

1. What amp did he use as the first amp ( amp 1 ) on the seccond album?
2. Please bare with me on this one... The amp the Jose modded prior to the seccond album ( the wooden amp ), was that the one Ed used as the first amp on the first tour and on the first album?
Ralle

Ralle,

The way I read and understand Robin's post to say that the wooden (no tolex) amp was the second amp and prior to VH2, EVH ran his signal from the load box through the front end of the amp. Thus, the extreme eq needs. After VH1 and the VH1 tour and prior to VH2 being recorded, Jose modified that amp (wood with no toles) to bypass the front end and just to use the power section. This is what Mark A. has done.

That is what I understand and I am from L.A.

Roger

[vanhalen5150]

Would using the return of the effects loop(amp slaved in) acomplish the same thing, by passing the pre amp?

[Ralle]

" Ralle,

The way I read and understand Robin's post to say that the wooden (no tolex) amp was the second amp and prior to VH2, EVH ran his signal from the load box through the front end of the amp. Thus, the extreme eq needs. After VH1 and the VH1 tour and prior to VH2 being recorded, Jose modified that amp (wood with no toles) to bypass the front end and just to use the power section. This is what Mark A. has done.

That is what I understand and I am from L.A. "

Well, same thing in LA, right
I see what your saying, but Robin allso said that the wooden amp was Ed's main amp... amp 1 I guess ( along with a 50 w plexi as back up ) and that he had three superleads for slaving feed by the load box... If Jose had that amp modded into a poweramp prior to the seccond album, what amp did Ed use for amp 1 for the seccond album? or am I missing something...

[Mats A]

His EQ settings seem to vary but the general frown curve is a good place to start.

sorry! But beeing a swede is frown curve like a sad mouth? And did he have any sliders below 0 (-) so that he decreased some frequenzies? Or was everything on 0 and above (+)?

[rgorke]

Ralle,

I see what you are saying now. There are a few discrepancies in the story line. Maybe the main points to take away are that amp #1 was a plexi, amp #2 were superleads. The, or a, superlead was modded later to be just a power amp when it was determined that the eq'ing was too much of a pain to keep the tone good.

Or better yet, Roger should spend less time obsessing about this and more time playing his guitar!

When are we going to hear more clips from you?

Roger (the one mentioned above)

[guitar007]

His EQ settings seem to vary but the general frown curve is a good place to start.

sorry! But beeing a swede is frown curve like a sad mouth? And did he have any sliders below 0 (-) so that he decreased some frequenzies? Or was everything on 0 and above (+)?

To answer your question...Ed's MXR 6 band EQ that was taped to his #1 Marshall...they were all above 0. What I do is set the sliders at zero...raise the center bands in a smooth arc until it sounds the way I need it to. You have different gear then Ed and you’re playing in a different venue (you likely tune an amp for the room, right?) so don't get too hung up on exact EQ settings. ‘Best of luck.

[Ralle]

Roger, your not obsessed... your simply... interested
Here's what I'm thinking; I'm guessing that Ed had a plexi ( any plexi, since he owned a bunch ) as amp 1, and had another plexi ( the wooden amp ) for slaving on the first album ( I'm not going to mention the effects and loops now ). The reason for these thoughts is; If I feed a superlead ( amp 2 ) into the bright channel it's very logical to adjust the eq like Robin says, otherwise it gets nuts... not becaus it's the bright channel, but because the bright channel has a brightcap across the volume... So I can't get it to work like I want it to... But if I feed a plexi the same way it'll probably work much better cause that volume has no bright cap ( depending on how old the plexi is ofcours )... and work with the eq ( Robin said that the plexi's had to adjust the eq different from the superleads )... I can really appritiate it working like a charm like this... And prior to the seccond album Ed had the wodden amp modded into a power amp ( much cleaner, no eq being needed exept for presence )...
Me, I'm feeding a superlead's normal channel with my plexi, and it gets me VERY close... no brightcap... I say close; the normal channel has no mixercap either, so... But I can't get it to work if I feed the superlead into the brightchannel ( remember I have no effects or eqboxes )
Does any of this sound logical?

Oh btw, I guess I'll be posting some new clips soon

[harddriver]

Robin says: " The wooden amp was modded by Jose Arredondo to act as a pure poweramp prior to the recording of the second album. "

Being from Sweden 'n all I tend to mix a few things up in my head, so...

1. What amp did he use as the first amp ( amp 1 ) on the seccond album?
2. Please bare with me on this one... The amp the Jose modded prior to the seccond album ( the wooden amp ), was that the one Ed used as the first amp on the first tour and on the first album?
Ralle

Ralle, Ed's main amp always was the 68 with the horizontal tear in the tolex and the master volume control on the back and all the filter caps on the circuit board except the PI, as seen from the back in the VHII studio pics.

The wooded headboxed plexi had all the caps on top of the chassis as was all stock, I would guess this amp to be a late 68 or early 69, it was used as the slave power amp on VH1 recording. For the 1978 tour Ed was using 70's superleads as power amps, I would imagine the wooden beadboxed amp was used as a backup plexi on the 78 tour.

That amp( the wooden headboxed plexi) was modified again somewhere between 81 and 83 and used as the main amp for the 1984 tour. Here are the pics. According to quite a few people it was sold on Ebay a few years back.
http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php ... &sk=t&sd=a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Robin stated it was converted as strictly a power amp for VHII hence the slightly cleaner less aggressive tone on VHII.

[Good Guest]

I originally thought it was the wood amp but it turned out after locating the pics it was what Ed and Jose created called the golden amp with gold plated this and that.

My mistake golden amp..wood panel amp...how many more amps are out there? Back then I wasn't really into Ed's amps in a detailed way.

Anyways in the right up the seller says if Eddie wants it to contact him....years later it now appears as a tour amp and the pics are identical to the one that was being sold. So I guess Ed wanted it back.

4b_1_b.jpg

There IS a line out effects loop with volume on the back. Conveniently left out of the pics.

[Good Guest]

Here's what I'm thinking; I'm guessing that Ed had a plexi ( any plexi, since he owned a bunch ) as amp 1, and had another plexi ( the wooden amp ) for slaving on the first album ( I'm not going to mention the effects and loops now ). The reason for these thoughts is; If I feed a superlead ( amp 2 ) into the bright channel it's very logical to adjust the eq like Robin says, otherwise it gets nuts... not becaus it's the bright channel, but because the bright channel has a brightcap across the volume... So I can't get it to work like I want it to... But if I feed a plexi the same way it'll probably work much better cause that volume has no bright cap ( depending on how old the plexi is ofcours )... and work with the eq ( Robin said that the plexi's had to adjust the eq different from the superleads )... I can really appritiate it working like a charm like this... And prior to the seccond album Ed had the wodden amp modded into a power amp ( much cleaner, no eq being needed exept for presence )...
Me, I'm feeding a superlead's normal channel with my plexi, and it gets me VERY close... no brightcap... I say close; the normal channel has no mixercap either, so... But I can't get it to work if I feed the superlead into the brightchannel ( remember I have no effects or eqboxes )
Does any of this sound logical?

Oh btw, I guess I'll be posting some new clips soon

Well that’s your problem…you don’t have a way to control your loaded signal. When using your superlead as the loaded amp you MUST have your bass turned up..the middle , treble and presence turned down too “0” and your volume at 3 not 3 o’clock but set for a clean sound.

So how do you get the volume? With your line out box ….the lineout box Ed used had a volume control as well as outputs for other amps. That is what controlled the volume not the second amp.

If you just load your amp and run it too a superlead and figure you can use it to amplify your plexi ..forget it. You will have tooooo much high end..the tone will be mangled..and the noise might be unbeareable as well as the feedback.

So your line out must also have a way too decouple the power soaked signal..and that is why they use a transformer…it provides the isolation necessary and a way to get rid of the noise and provide you with a nice shimmering powerfull wide bandwidth mud free signal you cannot get with reactive loads eq's.

Remember all those reactive loads are designed to filter and roll off your signal like a speaker does or a cab..basically mangling everything under 5khz and chucking everything over 5khz to ground..so they wreck the signal before it hits the slave amp…..Eddy , Jose etc figured out a way around that ridiculous waste of tone.

You better put your name on the “rackman list” and get your “cork sniffer special” that everyone is getting.

[rgalpin]

... When using your superlead as the loaded amp you MUST have your bass turned up..the middle , treble and presence turned down too “0” and your volume at 3 not 3 o’clock but set for a clean sound...

this is confusing.

when you say "loaded amp," i'm thinking amp 1, the amp that is sending it's output to a load. that amp needs to be cranked with the tone controls dimed, give or take...

the power amp then needs to be set "for a clean sound" with "your bass turned up..the middle , treble and presence turned down too “0” and your volume at ... " 9 o'clock.

i don't know if i was misreading your post or not - but it seemed confusing so i thought i would clarify based on my understanding of the setup.