Pete Thorn: EVH Pickup Extravaganza/vhlinks Nod

[PrideofPasadena]

Another great EVH vid from Pete.

Just amazing pup comparisons as only he can do.

The best part, though, was his reference to The Links! I thought that was cool. He also mentions a specific thread and member.

[garbeaj]

He told me that he mentioned my thread the day before he posted the clip, but I thought he was going to mention my tuning thread since we had been discussing that earlier. I was somewhat surprised that he only referred to my Destroyer thread!

I’m still trying to get Pete to try the tuning offsets! Nice guy though and what a player…I’m honored that he mentioned me! I’ve learned some things from him and I hope that he has found some of my little observations useful!

[MF5150]

Pete’s a guitar player and EVH-head that truly gets it.

Always great watching him.


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[PrideofPasadena]

He told me that he mentioned my thread the day before he posted the clip, but I thought he was going to mention my tuning thread since we had been discussing that earlier. I was somewhat surprised that he only referred to my Destroyer thread!

I’m still trying to get Pete to try the tuning offsets! Nice guy though and what a player…I’m honored that he mentioned me! I’ve learned some things from him and I hope that he has found some of my little observations useful!

Way to go, garbeaj! Given your immense knowledge on the subject he shoulda had you in the video.

[Jedi McFly]

Incredible video, and awesome shoutout, Allen.

I built a 5150 shortly before Ed's passing, but I've been gassing for a '78 style Frankie. This is not helping!

Based on this video I'm 100% convinced the Shark had a Super Distortion and the Frankie had a ~9k A2 pickup in it. In terms of the Frankie, The Pariah Pasadena White and the Rewind Electric VH2 sounded particularly good to me, especially on the Little Dreamer riffs.

[Brett]

That is a pretty amazing video. I actually have a lot of those pickups myself in various Van Halen guitars so it was cool to hear him play them. The only one I really don’t have in anything is a DiMarzio Super Distortion. In my Stratized version of the Shark I have the Pariah Destruction 70 pickup and not an SD. I’m thinking I might change it, even though the Pariah sounds awesome.

It’s funny that he did the same thing that I do when I EQ songs based on the VH cover I’m doing. Like I have a brighter EQ setting for Van Halen 1, and then everything else is just a darker tone and it doesn’t matter what pickup I use I just stick with the same EQ based on the album. And it seems to work pretty well. I also usually use the same guitar depending on the album the VH track is on. Not that I am anything special or a player like Pete, but it’s cool that he’s thinking about how to do it similar to me.

And yes it was very cool to hear him mention us and Allen’s Ibanez post.

[CalFB]

I thought the Pasadena White sounded amazing, particularly when he played DOA I was like 'yup, that is IT'.

Amazing commitment from Pete to put this video together.

[Brett]

The biggest thing though is that his playing is awesome. I thought most of those pickups sounded awesome.

[PrideofPasadena]

The biggest thing though is that his playing is awesome. I thought most of those pickups sounded awesome.

Lol. I was thinking the same. Doesn't matter what pickup it is his playing shines.

[Jedi McFly]

For anybody interested, I asked Pete when he was going to leave in his Frankenstein and here was his response:

The ones I really enjoyed-
Well first I must say I DID really dig the Thornbucker with an A2 magnet. For VH/hard rock tones I think it'd for me need to be wound a bit hotter and so we are exploring that! But I really dug the SOUND of our wind with the A2... as is It was right there in the "Antiquity" sort of vibe, as is it would be great for Page, Kossof etc and a + or hot rod version would be just killer for harder rock i think, so, stay tuned..

My favs were-
For an A5, Bare Knuckle VHII. Terrific sounding pickup.
For a ceramic- really they all sounded pretty cool for the more distorted VH1 destroyer-is thing, the vintage Mighty Mite was really cool, something special going on there, as well as the new Dimarzio super distortion, the Motor City, the Rewind, the Pariah... The Suhr was like HAMMER, real hot but would I bet be cool for metal!

The A2 9k variants- the Pasadena White was killer, IMHO. The others were nice as well, the 78 and the Rewind....

The A2 14 k variants- the Custom Custom was no slouch, and almost identical to the Frankenstein I think, and the Pasadena black was rippin!
These work great for Fair Warning tones, and while a little hot for the VH2 stuff maybe, they would be a great, easy to play pickup, all around, for players that don't want to have to fight the guitar too much.

The EVH pickup is just fine in the EVH frankie, no need to look elsewhere, it;'s a fun guitar and the tone is cool!

If I had to pick one from this whole crop- for me and the way I play hypothetically going for a VH vibe across the spectrum, in a strat style geetar into a nice cranked Plexi-
Pasadena White.

[MF5150]

Love his answers.

You don’t need a really hot pickup to nail VH sounds, kids. EVH Gear, take note.

Those Pasadena Whites and Thornbuckers have resistances within in the ‘hot-PAF’ range.


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[joezlo]

Love his answers.

You don’t need a really hot pickup to nail VH sounds, kids. EVH Gear, take note.

Those Pasadena Whites and Thornbuckers have resistances within in the ‘hot-PAF’ range.


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I've always loved the pickup debates.

At one point I swapped out a bunch on a particular guitar & I even repotted 2.


The contestants:
SD JB
SD 59
SD Evenly Voiced Harmonics
Fender Stock Humbucker off a MIJ 80's metal strat with pole screws extended to drill into the body of the guitar
A Peavey EXP Wolf Bridge Pup
Dimarz Virtual Hot PAF
(Wound up with a Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF in bridge & Dimarzio Vintage PAF in neck)

The conclusion to my scientific method pickup experiment was:

If the stock pickup doesn't sound good when you pick up the guitar don't buy it.

-I played 4 different standards before I picked the one I love to death and play-

This is also why I have a hard time buying stuff via the internet.

[garbeaj]

Way to go, garbeaj! Given your immense knowledge on the subject he shoulda had you in the video.

Thanks! I know next to nothing about pickups, so I would have not been helpful at all!

[garbeaj]

So truth be told, I’m no expert on anything…just always searching for answers and asking like everybody else.

But I will say what I always say and what I have learned from 30 plus years of experience with guitars, pickups and amps and I’m shocked at how many people fail to understand this:

All pickup advice is only relevant to you if you are using a nearly identical guitar and a VERY nearly identical or the identical amp as the person that is giving you the advice.

That isn’t to say that I don’t appreciate what Pete and Dave have done here. I absolutely do. This is THE ultimate VH pickup shootout and it is very useful for VH tone chasers that are using similar guitars with plexi style amps and proper speakers like Greenbacks, Blackbacks and the JBLD120 speakers cranked or with the volume moderated by a Fryette Power Station. This is a monumental effort from these guys and I’m extremely grateful for the lengths they went through to make this video.

But please…take the advice you get from this video and ANY other advice from anyone with a grain of salt. Again, unless the advice is from someone that has a nearly identical guitar to you and an almost exactly identical amp to yours. The basic sound of electric guitars is the relation between the guitar, pickup, amp and speakers.

In the end, the only way you will know if someone’s pickup advice works in your gear if it is different (and it is HIGHLY likely that you have a different guitar and almost a certainty that you do not have the same type of amp as the advice giver) is if you try the pickup in YOUR guitar going straight into YOUR amp.

[garbeaj]

For anybody interested, I asked Pete when he was going to leave in his Frankenstein and here was his response:

Notice that Pete qualifies what he says by saying he likes the Pasadena White in a strat style guitar into a real cranked plexi amp with the way he tries to play varying Van Halen tones across the spectrum of the many different classic Van Halen tones from the first four albums. This is because he knows his advice and opinions are based solely on his experience with his guitars and his plexi style cranked amps and that it may likely not pertain to someone else using a different type of guitar and amp going for different Van Halen tones. His use of this type of language is a big clue that he knows what’s up when it comes to pickup advice.

I use a PPIMV Mod 5 Marshall with 90s reissue Greenbacks in a 2x12 combo. This is VERY different from Pete’s real plexi and plexi style cranked amps and 4x12 speaker combinations. But with that said, I have found that a brand new DiMarzio Super Distortion into my particular amp with my Frankenstein replica and my vintage Destroyer with the specific intent of chasing first album and Warner Demo sounds works great for me. Interesting that it works for Pete as well. Except I’d say it works BETTER for Pete because though we are using virtually identical guitars built by essentially the same people and companies, he has the luxury of using REAL cranked plexi with a gorgeous 4x12 cab with his selection of speakers.