Van Halen "BEAT IT" solo

I had read that Eddy tracked that solo direct through a boss ds-1 into the mixing console. It doesn't sound anything like his normal miked brown sound of that era. I'd try not using an amp block.
 
Personally, I think that solo is all in the fingers. I say that because I have a number of recordings of my band doing it over the last couple of years and it somehow always sounds exactly the same even though I've used a number of different amps and, more recently, the AxeFx to do it.
 
Tubescorcher said:
I had read that Eddy tracked that solo direct through a boss ds-1 into the mixing console. It doesn't sound anything like his normal miked brown sound of that era. I'd try not using an amp block.
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I've never heard that ?!?

Where did you read it ... ?
 
Boss used to distribute a little booklet with every pedal (maybe they still do?). In it there was an example setup diagram for each pedal demonstrating how a particular artist used that pedal to record a particular solo or song. For the HM2 - Heavy Metal pedal, the solo was Eddie's Beat It solo and iirc the diagram showed only three things. Guitar, HM2 and a mixing desk! I have no idea how true to life that is, but I think the HM2 is the pedal he used.
 
tgunn said:
Boss used to distribute a little booklet with every pedal (maybe they still do?). In it there was an example setup diagram for each pedal demonstrating how a particular artist used that pedal to record a particular solo or song. For the HM2 - Heavy Metal pedal, the solo was Eddie's Beat It solo and iirc the diagram showed only three things. Guitar, HM2 and a mixing desk! I have no idea how true to life that is, but I think the HM2 is the pedal he used.
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I see that type of stuff all the time, doesn't mean that's what he used to record it with ....

There's a whole epsitle thread over at the Metroamp forum that says he used a solid-state Hartley-Thompson amp that he borrowed from Allan Holdsworth.

There's a couple of guys that claim their fathers knew each other, etc; One guy even traced the timeline of when Alan was in LA recording one of his albums that Eddie produced .... Evidently it all matches up ?

It could be true, it could all be snake-oil .... Regardless, whatever he used, it's definitely an argument for "the tone is in the fingers" ....
 
R.D. said:
tgunn said:
Boss used to distribute a little booklet with every pedal (maybe they still do?). In it there was an example setup diagram for each pedal demonstrating how a particular artist used that pedal to record a particular solo or song. For the HM2 - Heavy Metal pedal, the solo was Eddie's Beat It solo and iirc the diagram showed only three things. Guitar, HM2 and a mixing desk! I have no idea how true to life that is, but I think the HM2 is the pedal he used.
Click to expand...

I see that type of stuff all the time, doesn't mean that's what he used to record it with ....

There's a whole epsitle thread over at the Metroamp forum that says he used a solid-state Hartley-Thompson amp that he borrowed from Allan Holdsworth.

There's a couple of guys that claim their fathers knew each other, etc; One guy even traced the timeline of when Alan was in LA recording one of his albums that Eddie produced .... Evidently it all matches up ?
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Wow, people really put in the hours on this one. FWIW, Guitar Player magazine had a cartoon about this particular session several years ago.
My memory might be playing tricks on me but the way I remember it, Eddie did show up with a single pedal (HM2) and played a couple of takes while MJ was there co-producing (with a mask and a monkey on his back in the cartoon). In the end Eddie's pay for the gig was $0. I have no idea how factual that is, but those are two sources I can remember - the Boss booklet being the other.

I'm not betting my life on this though. I don't think it's the pedal that gets the tone anyway...
R.D. said:
Regardless, whatever he used, it's definitely an argument for "the tone is in the fingers" ....
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That's exactly it. Or maybe it was his rental car ;)
 
tgunn said:
FWIW, Guitar Player magazine had a cartoon about this particular session several years ago.
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I remember that cartoon as well ..., but I don't remember the reference to the BOSS pedal .... And given the whole thing was kind-of a spoof on the situation, I wouldn't take it too seriously ....
 
I've got one of those old Boss Heavy Metal pedals. It's got more fuzz than the sound of that solo to my ears.

I went back and re-listened, he might have been overdriving an 1176 compressor into distortion + whatever he was using for amp / pedals.

But the HM pedal can do a mean Neil Young Live Rust'ish tone when it's in front of a Fender Twin or Bassman.

Richard
 
It was done using the Hartley Thompson solid state amp. Pete Hartley lives in my hometown in Sheffield and is a bit of a legend. Allan Holdsworth used to use one and Eddie either borrowed that or sourced another one. All around the time EVH was trying to get Holdsworth signed to Warner Bros etc
 
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