EVH Balance tone?

[joviguitarist]

Anyone come close to Eddie Van Halen's tone on the Balance album? I prefer that to his early years. It's so heavy sounding but smooth and, most importantly, CLEAR. His notes just rang off the fretboard on that album.

 

[TheReflex]

That's probably my favorite as well, would love it if someone has this sound already nailed.

 

[yek]

Don't know for sure but doesn't the Modern Eddy factory preset come any close?

 

[joviguitarist]

Don't know for sure but doesn't the Modern Eddy factory preset come any close?

I'll have to go back and check it out, but from memory, it didn't sound close to me at all. There's definitely pitch shifting going on.

 

[Griffin]

I remember reading an interview with Eddie around that time (a looong time ago now ), and he said that the key to the tone on Balance was some Eventide patches to really thicken it up...didn't go into too much more detail than that really though...

It does sound like some subtle delay and pitch shifting going on...I remember thinking how cool it sounded at the time...the "new" Eddie...shame it was his last (VHIII does NOT count - IMHO YMMV etc!)

 

[G-Man Music]

I love Ed's tone on that album. They kicked major A** on that tour!

Well, here's a patch I've been working on that I think comes pretty close. I have an old Peavey magazine that featured Ed's 5150 and it had his live settings, so I copped it to the 5150 amp model. It has a Redwire IR mix on the "dry" cab(cab1).
Here's the recipe mix:
Marshall 1960A-G12M's Mix R121-sm57-boc

Marshall1960A-G12Ms-R121-CapEdge-2in.wav,0.486
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-SM57-CapEdge-2in.wav,0.486
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-D6-BackCab-0in.wav,0.028

If you don't have Redwires, try the stock V30 cab with the R121 mic, that one worked pretty good too. Cab 2 (wet) has the stock 5150cab.

Sorry, I don't have any clips but give it a try and let me know what you think, good or bad.

 

[jlbaxe]

That sound is all Eventide H3000 micropitchshifting and lots of gain in a W/D/W setup. +9/-9 cents micropitchsift left and right, 500 ms delay R, 250 ms delay L. If you do this and set the amp right, it IS the Balance tone. Axe does it fine with that pitchshifting...

Steve

From another forum I am on. Same question answered. There is more info on the Topic there. Here is the link… http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=76004

 

[joviguitarist]

that's me on the other forum asking the same question :lol:

 

[jlbaxe]

that's me on the other forum asking the same question :lol:

why didnt you keep the same name :lol: Well if anyone wanted more info…..

 

[joviguitarist]

I love Ed's tone on that album. They kicked major A** on that tour!

Well, here's a patch I've been working on that I think comes pretty close. I have an old Peavey magazine that featured Ed's 5150 and it had his live settings, so I copped it to the 5150 amp model. It has a Redwire IR mix on the "dry" cab(cab1).
Here's the recipe mix:
Marshall 1960A-G12M's Mix R121-sm57-boc

Marshall1960A-G12Ms-R121-CapEdge-2in.wav,0.486
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-SM57-CapEdge-2in.wav,0.486
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-D6-BackCab-0in.wav,0.028

If you don't have Redwires, try the stock V30 cab with the R121 mic, that one worked pretty good too. Cab 2 (wet) has the stock 5150cab.

Sorry, I don't have any clips but give it a try and let me know what you think, good or bad.

this was a huge help...thank you. I wasn't sure how to set up the cabs and where to place the detuner.

 

[joviguitarist]

why didnt you keep the same name :lol: Well if anyone wanted more info…..

when I joined this forum, it wouldn't let me use my other name for some reason.

 

[jlbaxe]

why didnt you keep the same name :lol: Well if anyone wanted more info…..

when I joined this forum, it wouldn't let me use my other name for some reason.

Ahhhhhh. Did you get close to the Balance tone?

I would think a Marshall plexi tweaked like his marshall in amp block 1 ….a CAA+3 amp block 2 and a 5150 amp block 3. Run all 3 amps parallel and on the 5150 run -9 +9 with a Harmony block and start there. What speakers are in a 5150 cab? use them.

I believe on rig talk under the Suhr forum they talk about the CAA+3 pre amp being used in the studio and what channel he was using.

 

[joviguitarist]

How can you run 3 amp blocks?? I thought it was only able to do 2 at a time? I also have a standard.

 

[jlbaxe]

How can you run 3 amp blocks?? I thought it was only able to do 2 at a time? I also have a standard.

Sorry, I was just throwing it out there….I dont have an Axe... YET…. soon hopefully.

 

[G-Man Music]

this was a huge help...thank you. I wasn't sure how to set up the cabs and where to place the detuner.

Glad to help out.
I'm still tweaking this patch but it's very close when I jam along to the album at least on the parts I can play along to. :lol:
Notice I put a pitch block at the front of the amp to tune it a half step down when jamming along to the live stuff.

I'll put the updates to the patch on this thread when I get a chance.

 

[equilibrium]

Man, what a huge sound. I love this one.

Thank you Axisman!

 

[G-Man Music]

Thanks equilibrium!
Glad to hear the patch works for you.
I really like setting up the patch this way, it's kind of like a W/D/W system where cab1 is dry and cab2 is stereo and panned hard left/right with all the effects. Mix cab2 volume to taste and enjoy! Another thing you could try, is pan the dry cab hard left and the wet cab had right. That sounds big as well.

 

[Dan the Axe Man]

I thought the "Modern Eddie" was very close to the Balance tone. I think I tweaked some EQ a little, but it's very close stock.

 

[joviguitarist]

what's the "modern eddie"?

 

[G-Man Music]

I hope he doesn't mean this: