Van Halen - Mean Streets

great job on that intro (that one always gave me a hard time) bring up the guitar a little bit in the mix during the actual song that patch sounds really close to spot on.
which amp/Cab did you use?
 
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I may post the preset when I finish the song. The only reason I say I might is because at this point I haven't really done much to the preset. It's the factory "Brown Sound". The only changes I've made were setting Mid, Treb, Presence to 10. MV to 5 and Input Drive to 7.3. No rocket science (thankfully). I did change the cab to #103 4x12 Basketweave TV Mix. And even then I didn't really compare it to the RW cab that the preset used originally. I just liked the TV mix on the other Marshall presets I use so I used it here as well. I kept the default 67 cond in place.

fucking awesome dude! :D one of my favorite VH tunes

You're the man Rocco! :encouragement:

The legacy of the Axe-FX: Putting immortal tone into the hands of mortals. Good job!

No kidding! It's one thing to learn a song and play along or play it with a band. It's a whole new level of enjoyment when the tone is replicated and can fit into the original recording so well. And for the most part a factory preset.

Did you learn all that just using tabs or by ear?

A combo of ear and youtube. For the intro I watched every youtube clip and lesson I could find. After getting the main idea under my fingers it seemed like I picked up at least some small nuance from each one of them. And I still struggle with the first section of the intro. I think you either get it naturally or not. Some nights I get really close while other nights it feels like I'm starting over again. :) I'll get it eventually. The rest of the song I used video clips to refine what I had done on my own.

Thanks for the kudos guys! I can't wait to finish the song!
 
Excellent work. If anything, that patch live would blow people away.

Van Halen apparently used K120 JBL speakers alongside his Greenbacks during this era. Your tone really is there, but IMO, might be missing a tad of that scratchy JBL sound.

Stick in a K120 cab in there and see what happens, I'm real curious myself.

BUT, FWIW, that sounded really great.
 
Excellent work. If anything, that patch live would blow people away.

Van Halen apparently used K120 JBL speakers alongside his Greenbacks during this era. Your tone really is there, but IMO, might be missing a tad of that scratchy JBL sound.

Stick in a K120 cab in there and see what happens, I'm real curious myself.

BUT, FWIW, that sounded really great.

I really haven't spent much time dialing in the tone (great work Fractal!) but can tweak now that I have a re-amped track to tinker with. Where did you get the info on the JBL speakers? I've never found anything concerning the cabs he's used. As for the Marshall cab(s) any idea if he was using the Pre Rola M's or the H's?

Thanks Tyler, I'll give it a go and post an update.
 
I'm thinking that I read the JBLs Ed was using in those cabs were D120, not K120. Of course the way Ed has changed his story over the years about his gear, they may have been Radio Shack speakers for all we know.

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I really haven't spent much time dialing in the tone (great work Fractal!) but can tweak now that I have a re-amped track to tinker with. Where did you get the info on the JBL speakers? I've never found anything concerning the cabs he's used. As for the Marshall cab(s) any idea if he was using the Pre Rola M's or the H's?

Thanks Tyler, I'll give it a go and post an update.
 
....Where did you get the info on the JBL speakers? I've never found anything concerning the cabs he's used. As for the Marshall cab(s) any idea if he was using the Pre Rola M's or the H's? .....

Black back G12M series from about 1977 I believe

Here is a photo of the cabs he used (the ones he stripped the tolex off)

CelestionJBLCaboutsideSunsetSoun.jpg


Here is a pic of a K120:

m9TT0t1pJ7731w2q2z-ov2w.jpg


I'm thinking that I read the JBLs Ed was using in those cabs were D120, not K120. Of course the way Ed has changed his story over the years about his gear, they may have been Radio Shack speakers for all we know.

$

Its very possible that they were the "D" series... but considering that those are extremely weak speakers they might explode under such heavy volumes. Also, JBL released the K series speaker right around VH's era which leads me to believe the K120 is a better match. But I don't have any documentation other then the pics above which at least tells you he used JBL.

On a side note, I'd like to make a special appreciation post about the JBL speaker. Its importance in rock guitar history is pretty remarkable. Its rarely discussed, but the BIG THREE guitar gods in my world each used them for their signature tone:

Hendrix - D120s and D130s in his showman and other fender amps in studio
Van Halen - K120s in VH1
SRV - E130s and E110s in his Vibro and supers (Probably the most significant element to getting his sound IMO)
 
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The JBL's remained clean while the Celestion's became dirty when pushed. That's what I understood from Ed's custom 4x12" cabs.

Between this the Variac, the Marshall 100W SUPER TREMOLO PLEXI 100w that was meant for UK 220v... For years guitarists searched for EVHs guitar tones (add Dimebag's tone, Ty Tybor's tone) Until FAS I never came anywhere close, not even in the same ball park. That's a testament to what the AxeFxII has done for tone seekers.
 
You should have just said "nailed it" and posted the link. That's about as close as I've heard. I've never spent much time playing or learning EVH material, even though he's the reason I started playing years back. I agree that I think a player either can or can't with Ed's stuff- at east to some extent. Especially getting the swing and feel of his playing, which is what really pulls me in. I love his rhythm playing as much or more than his leads..

Nice playing, nice tone… well done man.
 
You should have just said "nailed it" and posted the link. That's about as close as I've heard. I've never spent much time playing or learning EVH material, even though he's the reason I started playing years back.

Thanks Hotplate. Oddly enough I was the same way. I picked out key things back in the day but never did sit down and learn some of these iconic VH tunes note for note. Now I want to revisit all these tunes but I don't have the time I had then. That's not right!
 
I may post the preset when I finish the song. The only reason I say I might is because at this point I haven't really done much to the preset. It's the factory "Brown Sound". The only changes I've made were setting Mid, Treb, Presence to 10. MV to 5 and Input Drive to 7.3. No rocket science (thankfully). I did change the cab to #103 4x12 Basketweave TV Mix. And even then I didn't really compare it to the RW cab that the preset used originally. I just liked the TV mix on the other Marshall presets I use so I used it here as well. I kept the default 67 cond in place.

Right on the money! I haven't touched the factory presets since firmware 7. The factory brown sound sounds great. I've used the TV Mix for most of my Marshally stuff too. Sounds great with a JB pickup in the bridge.
 
Black back G12M series from about 1977 I believe.

I just looked up production dates of the Black Backs. According to this article they started production sometime in 75 (I was thinking late 70's). VH1 released in 78. So yeah he could've been using those.

On a side note, I'd like to make a special appreciation post about the JBL speaker. Its importance in rock guitar history is pretty remarkable. Its rarely discussed, but the BIG THREE guitar gods in my world each used them for their signature tone:

Hendrix - D120s and D130s in his showman and other fender amps in studio
Van Halen - K120s in VH1
SRV - E130s and E110s in his Vibro and supers (Probably the most significant element to getting his sound IMO)

Cool stuff. I didn't know SRV had some of those mixed in his gear until you started posting your SRV patches. Don't forget Duane Allman. If I remember correctly he had a pair loaded into a Marshall 4x12 and took the handles out.
 
As an avid collector of VH DVD boots, I can tell you that you're playing it as well as Eddie does live, that's pretty amazing. If you get a chance to track down the 4/1/12 show - it's basically a two-hour Blu-Ray closeup of Ed for the entire concert. Didn't play Mean Streets that night but otherwise it's like a textbook on how to play EVH.
 
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