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Van Halen Tone (Brown Sound)


jazzbo

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also getting an eq to put between the pod and whatevers amplifying it would help you get a lot closer to the tone.

 

i think it was EVH who used to boost his mids way up before the pre and then would scoop them after

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Thanks for the info. In surfing, I have found an article that claims he used a Super Lead Head with everything cranked to 10 with a dummy load as a pre-amp to his effects and then a standard power amp to boost the signal! Actually sounds like a good idea... for any kind of sound because it will sound better with the output stage cranked up. The article also mentions what you said, about boosting his mids on before the pre and then scooping them after the pre. Check it out if you want:

http://www.legendarytones.com/brown_sound6.htm

this is the signal chain

the whole article

http://www.legendarytones.com/brown_sound.htm

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Originally posted by jazzbo

Thanks for the info. In surfing, I have found an article that claims he used a Super Lead Head with everything cranked to 10 with a dummy load as a pre-amp to his effects and then a standard power amp to boost the signal! Actually sounds like a good idea... for any kind of sound because it will sound better with the output stage cranked up. The article also mentions what you said, about boosting his mids on before the pre and then scooping them after the pre. Check it out if you want:


this is the signal chain

the whole article

 

 

How is he using the dummy load? What could be used today? I don't get it. The dummy load comes before the echoplex and the cabinets. How does this work?

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Originally posted by baimun

Sits back and waits for POD people to flip out.
;)

 

:eek: What were those GLOWING things?! :D

 

Just kidding, of course. A POD is a handy tool, but it will never replace a nice Marshall tube amp. Though I generally find I can get a decent tone out of it, it doesn't really compare to the real thing. I was more interested in how to set the dials if I wanted to approximate that sound.

 

I'd rather have a real Marshall. Someday....

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Originally posted by ColorsoundKid



I understand how an attenuator works, but is it safe to run your effects after it before your cabinet and use it like an effects loop?

 

 

As I understand it, as long as you are careful to match the impedances and use good cables, there is a -32 dB output setting which puts out the right level for effects boxes and then into a separate power amp. But if you don't use the extra power amp, it wouldn't be safe to run a high voltage signal through your effects.

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Originally posted by jazzbo

Thanks for the info. In surfing, I have found an article that claims he used a Super Lead Head with everything cranked to 10 with a dummy load as a pre-amp to his effects and then a standard power amp to boost the signal! Actually sounds like a good idea... for any kind of sound because it will sound better with the output stage cranked up. The article also mentions what you said, about boosting his mids on before the pre and then scooping them after the pre. Check it out if you want:


this is the signal chain

the whole article

 

So, whats a dummy load?

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The amplifier needs to have a load on it (speaker cabinets usually).

 

A dummy load (power soak, hotplate, etc) are a set of capacitors and heat sinks that absorb the output power of an amp to reduce the signal to bedroom, and sometimes even direct recording, levels.

 

Why generate all that power just to bleed it off???

 

Because power tubes that are being PUSHED HARD reach their upper limits and begin to "clip" the sound. Solid state clipping is abrupt and harsh... tube clipping is spongier... and is where much of that great tone comes from.

 

This give-take relationship that tubes have with their input signal is why good tube amps are so touch sensitive to dynamics, pick attack, volume swells, and gain. :)

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He used that variac also that controled the voltage so the tubes wert actualy being pushed that hard were they?

 

When you look at his setup, i wonder how many amps he blew before he found his sound. What a rigamaroo mess.

 

was his power amp tubes? or solid state?

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The POD xt has a patch titled Eruption that is in the ballpark for jamming on. It uses the marshall with the variax model. I don't know if that is a model in the pod, or if it's just the XT.

 

One odd thing I've found with the Pod is most of the patches have a flabby/farty low end. I've found that if you add a distortion pedal to the simulation it tightens it up. Doesn't have to be set high in the distortion catagory. I had a pod a long time ago and found the same issue. Since the Pod didn't have the footpedal options I actualy went and got one of the Boss Overdrives. It really helped tighten everything up and loose the flab.

 

Hope that helps.

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