Ed's 1978 touring rig.

motrock · Post by **motrock** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:38 pm

Robin,

Thanks for all of the great information that you are providing in this thread... its greatly appreciated! I look forward to hearing whats up with the other albums.... especially Fair Warning!

fivecoyote · Post by **fivecoyote** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:41 pm

ROBIN L. wrote:It's getting ridiculous, I described the main rig already, I won't go into such meaningless details.
And like M. Cameron said, any good Marshall in a slave setup is going to get really close to the VH1 sound anyway.
It has to stop somewhere, Guys, go work on your chops ! That's where the sound lies anyway

Robin -- Not meaningless to me and others -- you never know what you might think is unimportant but Ed thought made a big difference. I really doubt he left anything out of the total equation. Those were easy questions to answer -- either you remember or don't -- but whatever. Thanks again for the details you have posted. Some perspective here, brother: If you would like others to refrain from commenting on the merits of what you post, as I do, perhaps you might consider doing the same. I will now get back to my forum sensitivity training....

papawoofer · Post by **papawoofer** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:59 pm

thanks Dave for your response, and thanks Robin and Mark for your input, this has turned out to be a great thread and we all need to listen to the vets that were there. I dont think there is any better info any where on the net. I think Rockstah going right into the PI is killer, the best actually. Mark has giving us an example of others who did it also and as he and Robin said this was nothing new! So what made Ed with his duct taped, ripped up tolex, heads stacked up in the corner, handmade POS guitar different? .......ED! I think its time we all go practice

beaulieu · Post by **beaulieu** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:05 pm

Very interesting read. THanks again Robin...Hopefully you can ignore the repeated questions/comments that don't matter! I mean just because 1 pic of Eds rig might be a little different then what you are saying dosent mean diddly! Maybee that night he ran it a little different for God only know what reason??I find all this info fascinating and theres lots of awesome info here and I don't see why it's still not enough for some people?? Don't get me wrong.Theres some good questions/comments from some people that "get it" and can use this info or it's just good to know how Ed did what he did.I just wonder how many are going to go out and try to duplicate EVERYTHING Ed did?? Once one gets the main amp set-up happening I think they will get close with out trying to do every little last thing Ed did set up perfectly. Also I don't see why anybody tries to debate anything you are saying!!It all makes perfect sense to me.I was glad to find out about the pedal board "chain" and especially the 2 Main amps and how the Marshall 2nd amps were set up as power amps!! Makes perfect sense. Thanks a million!!

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:49 pm

fivecoyote wrote:
ROBIN L. wrote:It's getting ridiculous, I described the main rig already, I won't go into such meaningless details.
And like M. Cameron said, any good Marshall in a slave setup is going to get really close to the VH1 sound anyway.
It has to stop somewhere, Guys, go work on your chops ! That's where the sound lies anyway
Robin -- Not meaningless to me and others -- you never know what you might think is unimportant but Ed thought made a big difference. I really doubt he left anything out of the total equation. Those were easy questions to answer -- either you remember or don't -- but whatever. Thanks again for the details you have posted. Some perspective here, brother: If you would like others to refrain from commenting on the merits of what you post, as I do, perhaps you might consider doing the same. I will now get back to my forum sensitivity training....

Please accept my apologies

, I've had a really bad day.
I have a hard time keeping up with all the questions.

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:58 pm

fivecoyote wrote:Awesome. Many thanks, Robin L., Mark Cameron and everyone else for the insight. It's just as awesome that Rockstah found all of this out, give or take, on his own and got "the" sound.

Questions for Robin:

1. Do you know what Seymour did to the pickups he altered for Ed? Any details or hearsay would be great.

2. Did Ed say anything about why he liked brass nuts?

3. Did he mention what type of bridge he liked the best?

4. Did he mention liking any types of tuners better than others?

5. Did he stick with the Ohmite brand of Varaic or did he use others?

6. Did he like any kind of guitar cable (guitar to amp) in particular or did he use whatever he had?

7. How much cable (length) between the guitar and the pedal board?

8. Did he alter his whammy bars at all?

Trying to nail down as many details as possible!

Thanks again.

1) call MJ at the custom shop
2) a standard on Fender necks in the 70's. Ed widened the grooves though.
3) the vintage fender bridge, but it was hard to keep it in tune. But he managed to do it pretty well
4) no
5) I don't remember the brand of the 2 variacs he used
6) whatever was available, money was tight
7) from the lesf side of the stage to his pedalboard, depending on stage size, but it was a lot of long cables.

no

ilikeoldschool · Post by **ilikeoldschool** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:11 pm

Hi my first post here. This is really interesting stuff Robin been posting. I saw i while back somebody mentioned this photo of an mxr noise gate sitting in ed's echoplex and someone else said they didnt exist yet? I do have a script logo noise gate however. Was it placed anywhere in the signal chain ever? I would think so because i use 1 echoplex and the hiss is pretty loud from it.

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:14 pm

ilikeoldschool wrote:Hi my first post here. This is really interesting stuff Robin been posting. I saw i while back somebody mentioned this photo of an mxr noise gate sitting in ed's echoplex and someone else said they didnt exist yet? I do have a script logo noise gate however. Was it placed anywhere in the signal chain ever? I would think so because i use 1 echoplex and the hiss is pretty loud from it.

It's possible, but I do not remember seeing a noise gate pedal after the EP's.
You're damn right about the hiss, what a nightmare.

ilikeoldschool · Post by **ilikeoldschool** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:18 pm

Also I was wondering what this box is that the 3 amps on the top left pic are connected to? Is that one of the loads? And thanks for all your input.. I know people must discourage you with so many questions and when they dont believe what you say it gets irritating.

spaceace76 · Post by **spaceace76** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:18 pm

It's a backup Phase 90. The EQ's helped curb hiss, not wonderfully, but they helped.

The picture is not great quality, and the color is not well represented. The argument comes up every once in a while about what that little box is but it's most likely that it's just a backup 90.

Bluesgeetar · Post by **Bluesgeetar** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:30 pm

spaceace76 wrote:It's a backup Phase 90. The EQ's helped curb hiss, not wonderfully, but they helped.

The picture is not great quality, and the color is not well represented. The argument comes up every once in a while about what that little box is but it's most likely that it's just a backup 90.

I'm inclined to agree. The position of the out jack on the pedal in the pic is more consistent with a Phase 90 than that Line driver. It seems a little higher in location on the line driver so that XLR jack can fit on it.

MarkCameron · Post by **MarkCameron** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 4:44 pm

Bluesgeetar wrote:
spaceace76 wrote:It's a backup Phase 90. The EQ's helped curb hiss, not wonderfully, but they helped.

The picture is not great quality, and the color is not well represented. The argument comes up every once in a while about what that little box is but it's most likely that it's just a backup 90.

I'm inclined to agree. The position of the out jack on the pedal in the pic is more consistent with a Phase 90 than that Line driver. It seems a little higher in location on the line driver so that XLR jack can fit on it.

I think..the line driver was used around the FW time to replace the EQ....

harddriver · Post by **harddriver** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:02 pm

Two last questions from me Robin.

The Wooden headboxed plexi used for the recording of VH1, would you happen to recall if that amp was a Super lead at the time or Super Bass?

Did Ed run the signal chain using the two echoplexes in series for the recording of VH1?

I have the recording "Die Laughing" and I feel his live tone on this recording mirrors the recorded VH1 tone best of all the bootlegs I have IMHO.

Any insight on this show's setup if you remember?

I've seen pics from around 1977 Civic shows were only one echoplex was visible at least in the picture angle that I have.

Thank you!

ROBIN L. · Post by **ROBIN L.** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:05 pm

harddriver wrote:Two last questions from me Robin.

The Wooden headboxed plexi used for the recording of VH1, would you happen to recall if that amp was a Super lead at the time or Super Bass?

Did Ed run the signal chain using the two echoplexes in series for the recording of VH1?

I have the recording "Die Laughing" and I feel his live tone on this recording mirrors the recorded VH1 tone best of all the bootlegs I have IMHO. Any insight on this show's setup if you remember?

I've seen pics from around 1977 Civic shows were only one echoplex was visible at least in the picture angle that I have.

Thank you!

I don't know if it was a superbass or superlead, sorry.
It was only one EP for the recording of VH1.
"Die laughing" ? when and where was that show recorded ?
And yes, prior to the first world tour, he would often use one EP onstage.

Grosh_Guitars · Post by **Grosh_Guitars** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:12 pm

Hey Robin, How well did you know Karl Sandoval? I worked with him at BC Rich from 87-91 and he would tell me great stories of when his band Smoke house would open for VH. Do you remember smoke house?

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