I have never heard anybody get a tone even remotely like Eddies. Its definitely modern sounding, but not in any way "cheesey". I read an interview where he said he dunks his pickups in melted parrafin wax. How does he get that tone? How can I get it without having to pay unrealistic amounts of money?

Go to the "Your Ideas" thread in the guitar room, download Eddie_Italians 316

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Baluchitherium

[This message has been edited by homeunit (edited June 08, 2000 at 11:34 PM).]

Dipping your pickups in parafin wax really doesn't affect your tone that much. However, it does help eliminate microphonic "squeel" because it keeps the windings in the coils from vibrating. This is also called "potting" your pickups. Most good quality pickups are potted with epoxy when you get them, so you can get that off the shelf. If your going to try it yourself, just go get some wax from a crafts story and melt it in a coffee can. Drop your pickup down in the wax until it is totally submerged, but leave the conductor wires out of the wax. Let it sit for a short period of time, and BE CAREFULL because you can melt your pickup if you don't watch out. Take out your pickup and allow the wax to harden. Carefully remove the wax from screw holes and the pole pieces, but do not disturb the wax where the wires on the bobbins are located. Reinstall, and there you go.

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Eat Us And Smile!!!

EUAS Co-Founder

"I won't go down in history, but I will go down on your sister!"....David Lee Roth

Pickups today are already potted, so dipping them in wax really is not necessary. Ed was doing that to older pickups that were not potted. To be honest, guys, Ed's tone is in his hands. That's what makes him so special to us. It's not a matter of what tools you use to get your sound (sure they help and can get you closer to the sound, but that's it). Just because you play a EVHMM or Wolfgang through a 5150 amp and a bradshaw rig won't make you sound like Eddie (but it sure is a hell of a set up!). My advice is to practice through any kind of amp (or none at all) and concetrate on the sound you can create with your hands. Everything else will eventually fall into place.

See the thread of posts for Marshall Mods.

Does anyone know if he uses a distortion pedal? It doesn't sound like he does. I mean, his sound isn't overly distorted. He doesn't seem to use the flanger and phaser very much, only on songs like unchained.

He uses a Boss Super O/D sometimes live, he said it depends on the venuehttp://www.vhlinks.com/vhlforum/smilies/biggrin.gif

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Baluchitherium

Eddie Van Halen used to warm up before shows with a Fender Twin Reverb. I actualy watched him play through a Twin in 1984. It sounded like Ed. The sound is in his fingers, that's why nobody but Ed can get his tone 100%. Amps effect the tone and different amps sound better in different sized rooms. That little practice amp that sounds good at home might sound like shit at the club. The Marshall stack that sounds good on stage might sound like mud at home in a small room. The majority of the sound comes from how the fingers manipulate the stings. Unless you are a proffesional musician, you don't need a 4x12 and a hundred watt head. Any good 30 watt amp will work great for home use and sound just as good as the big iron. Remember, it's in the hands. I learned many VH songs on a Strat with single coil pickups. Not an Ed guitar at all. I used a distortion box to beef the sound up a bit and played through a Fender Champ amp. I mastered harmonics, palm muting, and a lot of other things on this rig. When I finaly got a Marshall and a Kramer Baretta, I had a lot of the basics down on a rig that was better suited for country gigs. The Marshall and Kramer refined the sound that was coming from my fingers but it didn't produce the sound.

There is a difference between tone and sounds.
Sounds are emitted from the guitars, amps,effects,picks and whatever else we may use.
Our fingers transcend TONE.
The perfect example is when I heard 2 very accomplished violinists play the exact same solo piece and sounded wwwwaaaayyy different.

Tone is in the hands.
When I find TONE in a box,I'll post it here............don't hold you'r breath!

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"I Got Myself a Brand New Oakland Scarf right here I say"

I've heard countless stories that confirm what Fat Tone is saying - numerous accounts of guitarits (Nugent is the first one that comes to mind)saying they plugged into Ed' setup and just sounded like themselves playing through Ed's rig. It's easy to get a nice tone through your rig if you work everything right, but it's never going to make you sound just like another guitar player.

Eddies fingers are his sound ......after playing guitar and owning wolfangs,music mans,5150s,marshalls,soldanos,fenders,lepauls...et c EDDIE SOUND AND TONE ARE HIS FINGERS......GOD GIVEN TALENT.......