EVH Cool Interview

electronpirate

Axe-Master


It's an hour slog, but it kind of drew me in.

Been awhile since I've seen him in an interview. Nice to see him looking very sober, coherent, and candid. The brief playing he doesn't look like he's lost many steps. Very interesting to hear about his childhood (musical and otherwise), his friendship with Les Paul, and spends much time talking about his strength in family (seems like Alex and Wolfie are in the front of the audience.) I especially liked the parts that I didn't know about...his musical innovation with equipment and the amount of tweaking he did to hardware. Wow.
 
Love me some Ed even though he treats people like shit. I’m amazed at how much gain he plays with but is able to tame it. The harmonics fly off his tapping so easily. That being said, I watched a bootleg video of an old concert in Rio. He had stock Marshalls I’m sure he had to rent. The tone was less distorted with a great deal of headroom. You could hear the ‘clean’ on top of the crunch. And he played so accurately and clean. Most of us need that gain to get that fluid. I assumed he did to but that’s not the case. He’s a freak.
 
Love me some Ed even though he treats people like shit. I’m amazed at how much gain he plays with but is able to tame it. The harmonics fly off his tapping so easily. That being said, I watched a bootleg video of an old concert in Rio. He had stock Marshalls I’m sure he had to rent. The tone was less distorted with a great deal of headroom. You could hear the ‘clean’ on top of the crunch. And he played so accurately and clean. Most of us need that gain to get that fluid. I assumed he did to but that’s not the case. He’s a freak.
 
I have been using two practice amp one dirty and the sec one clean using a/b switch. Wondering if he was doing the same.
 
Love me some Ed even though he treats people like shit. I’m amazed at how much gain he plays with but is able to tame it. The harmonics fly off his tapping so easily. That being said, I watched a bootleg video of an old concert in Rio. He had stock Marshalls I’m sure he had to rent. The tone was less distorted with a great deal of headroom. You could hear the ‘clean’ on top of the crunch. And he played so accurately and clean. Most of us need that gain to get that fluid. I assumed he did to but that’s not the case. He’s a freak.

I'd say he had to compensate for not being able to play at a face melting volume level.
 
I have been using two practice amp one dirty and the sec one clean using a/b switch. Wondering if he was doing the same.

It was a huge stadium in Brazil. They would have to rent equipment rather than fly their own I'm guessing. It sounded like a 100 watt Marshall that didn't have much pre-amp pushing the front end. Like plug and play with it cranked up. So early 80's Marshall with headroom.

I doubt he used a clean and dirty amp together. I've never read anything where that would be something he'd do. It is a cool tone though. Stone Temple Pilots comes to mind. Joe Bonamassa too.
 
Love me some Ed even though he treats people like shit. I’m amazed at how much gain he plays with but is able to tame it. The harmonics fly off his tapping so easily. That being said, I watched a bootleg video of an old concert in Rio. He had stock Marshalls I’m sure he had to rent. The tone was less distorted with a great deal of headroom. You could hear the ‘clean’ on top of the crunch. And he played so accurately and clean. Most of us need that gain to get that fluid. I assumed he did to but that’s not the case. He’s a freak.

He is a freak - he definitely put his 10000, 20000, 50000 - whatever hours in.
I remember when Valerie Bertinelli was on Howard Stern a few years ago, she basically said that the guitar never left his shoulder all day- every day. Even sitting on the toilet playing...
 
I haven't heard a full VH album post 5150. I actually just recently went back to listen to 5150 again wanting to hear the tone on that album because it may have been the first album with his Peavy 5150 amp. (Maybe later??). But that album kicks ass. Or at least songs like "Good Enough" and "5150" do, which are really the only two I bothered listening to.

I did buy/download the new one with Roth and absolutely loved it at the time. I thought the tone was modern and like the way it was mixed. Read up a few articles with the guy who was the engineer because I really liked the mix. Roth obviously doesn't have a voice. Still love the attitude even though it's so corny. But Ed's playing is killer.

He's such a huge influence on playing, tone, and equipment. It baffles me when he doesn't get the acclaim with the greats. I mean most people do give him his due but there are folks who just don't dig it. And that's cool. And yeah, he's an insecure a-hole, so we've read or heard. But 99% of us players, have been influenced by him in one way or another regardless if you've ever listened to him. The tone, the amp, the guitar, the gear and the countless number of guitarists that were his either peers at the time or came after him were influenced and that has shaped OUR quest for tone. How many Fractal models are amps that were trying to cop that tone? The Jose modded Marshalls led to the Soldanos. That pushed Marshall tone. And I still don't believe he played a stock Marshall WITHOUT anything boosting the front end. The MXR EQ or the echoplex pushed it.. The variac wasn't the only factor as he likes to clam. At least that's MY humble opinion. - end of rant.
 
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