VIDEO From Van Halen I to 1984 (PATCHES INCLUDED)

Danny Danzi

Power User
Ok, I'm no VH even though I play in a VH tribute band on the side. It's just that...a "tribute to VH". So, don't be mad at me for not playing like Eddie. LOL! You guys do it better than I do, trust me , I know! :p

And yes, I play in a weird tuning and I know what you see doesn't look right. I'm a weirdo, what can I say. LOL!!

As promised, here is the video and the patches. These are bundle files, so hopefully the cabs load with each preset.

Full video with me playing in it:

Video of just AX8 talk explaining the presets:
 

Attachments

  • VanDanzi 1-84 I.syx
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  • VanDanzi 1-84 II.syx
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Just one thing that I forgot to mention....

I've been playing around with the definition knob in "preamp" inside the amp. The lesser value will cut a little of that brightness out of a sound, giving it a more lazy, tube type looseness without the harsh brightness we sometimes get out of the amps....if you get my drift? Mess with it on some of your other amps, I think you'll hear what I mean once you mess with it.

I took quite a bit out on these VH patches and noticed I didn't have to do this in my XL+. The reason was due to us having impedance options in the XL+ which I have altered for my personal taste. So the "lesser definition" sort of compensates for the sound I got from my XL+. I couldn't understand why my AX8 sounded a bit brighter than my XL+. When I compared the presets and made a mention in another thread, it was brought to my attention that the impedance change I made is what made the difference. So I had to go on a mission to find out what we could alter in the AX8 to make it sound like the XL+ without totally hosing the sound.

It's not just a treble thing to where you can just remove treble. I'm hearing something else. To me, that something else was to lower the definition while comparing to my XL+ preset and to my ears, I can't hear a difference now. I know why some of you AX8 guys complained that the tone didn't quite sound like my XL+ tone when someone converted it for you. This should be a little closer. Of course, guitar and playing come into play with sounds like these. If you play like Randy, you ain't gonna sound like Eddie. LOL! Enjoy!
 
You just had to come and post this video just when I'm seriusly considering buying an AX8!!!! I think it's time to put my old gear for sale! Can you just post a comment of each patch and what songs you use them for?
 
You just had to come and post this video just when I'm seriusly considering buying an AX8!!!! I think it's time to put my old gear for sale! Can you just post a comment of each patch and what songs you use them for?

Umm....I've given you a video showing what the thing can do as well as an explanation as to what each scene and pedal press does. Would you like me to play for you also? :p LOL!
 
Hey Danny.... have you tried these live yet? btw.... Freakin Great Work man.... dangggg!!!

Thanks! The only live stuff is what you see in the video. I've not played a show with my VH band since January, I believe....so I just now started playing the VH stuff to get my chops ready for a show in August. I didn't have my AX8 until a few weeks ago, so it's not been out of the studio yet. So what you see me doing in the vids is the only live stuff to date. I honestly didn't go back and fix anything....it's the AX8 in actual real time. The video cuts in and out per song due to time constraints, so they are cut down only due to time and me not wanting to bore the living heck out of you guys.

As I said in the video though, I do recommend creating actual presets instead of using scene mode for these particular patches unless of course you have a good method within scene mode. I found it a little too much to remember....press F2 once to get ready to change a scene....press again during a solo to change back....it's a little different than what I'm used to on my MFC.

That's not a bad thing and hey, I'm the first to admit that I'm not really very good with using the Fractal stuff like Chris, yek, Rex. Ian and some of the other monsters on here. I'm a "sounds guy" more than a "how to". When I read the stuff they are doing on the beta forums, my head spins. I'll NEVER know how to use these things like those dudes. Ever see Yek's vids with his crazy pedalboard setup? Between him and Chris, those dude's are beasts! ;)
 
Thanks! The only live stuff is what you see in the video. I've not played a show with my VH band since January, I believe....so I just now started playing the VH stuff to get my chops ready for a show in August. I didn't have my AX8 until a few weeks ago, so it's not been out of the studio yet. So what you see me doing in the vids is the only live stuff to date. I honestly didn't go back and fix anything....it's the AX8 in actual real time. The video cuts in and out per song due to time constraints, so they are cut down only due to time and me not wanting to bore the living heck out of you guys.

As I said in the video though, I do recommend creating actual presets instead of using scene mode for these particular patches unless of course you have a good method within scene mode. I found it a little too much to remember....press F2 once to get ready to change a scene....press again during a solo to change back....it's a little different than what I'm used to on my MFC.

That's not a bad thing and hey, I'm the first to admit that I'm not really very good with using the Fractal stuff like Chris, yek, Rex. Ian and some of the other monsters on here. I'm a "sounds guy" more than a "how to". When I read the stuff they are doing on the beta forums, my head spins. I'll NEVER know how to use these things like those dudes. Ever see Yek's vids with his crazy pedalboard setup? Between him and Chris, those dude's are beasts! ;)

Yes...agreed!!! lol

cool cool.... I'm like you, as for still learning the Fractal way.... and one thing that I'm sure of.... a live Preset is a different one then a studio preset! I suck at building presets from scratch.... and I learn so much from looking at other peoples presets!!!

Thanks for you input here on the Forum... you are defiantly one of those members that I will take the time read the post if I see your name!!
 
Of course, I get all my gear out and play for an hour or so while the wife is out...put it all back up and THEN find this thread. Figures! :) ha

Awesome stuff as always, Danny! I still have a bunch of your old videos where you tried to teach me why doubling a guitar track isn't stereo. :)

Thanks for putting this stuff up and helping me work through it. You da man!

Wes
 
Of course, I get all my gear out and play for an hour or so while the wife is out...put it all back up and THEN find this thread. Figures! :) ha

Awesome stuff as always, Danny! I still have a bunch of your old videos where you tried to teach me why doubling a guitar track isn't stereo. :)

Thanks for putting this stuff up and helping me work through it. You da man!

Wes

Thanks Wes! I remember those vids lol! A lot of people think left and right recorded at once is stereo mostly because their interface says it is. ;) What they don't realize is, only effects used are in stereo, not the actual sound itself. We've been here before, haven't we? Lol! :p
 
Thanks Wes! I remember those vids lol! A lot of people think left and right recorded at once is stereo mostly because their interface says it is. ;) What they don't realize is, only effects used are in stereo, not the actual sound itself. We've been here before, haven't we? Lol! :p

You know you have a problem understanding recording concepts when Danny titles his video, "Fixing Wes." :) haha
 
As I said in the video though, I do recommend creating actual presets instead of using scene mode for these particular patches unless of course you have a good method within scene mode. I found it a little too much to remember....press F2 once to get ready to change a scene....press again during a solo to change back....it's a little different than what I'm used to on my MFC.

Quoting myself here because after further messing around, you gain nothing making each scene a preset. Sorry about that. You still have an extra button press on F1 to change presets and use effect on/off.

That said, we'd just have to come up with a custom pedal board assignment. Not sure how I would go about this having less buttons to press on the AX8.

On my MFC, I use scene mode but have the pedal board configured to change scenes 1-5 and all other buttons are elected on/off.

I'm trying to think how I would do it with this only having 8 buttons. OK, as I write this, I think I have a solution. We can probably do presets for each. Example, we have two currently....we can add two more with the 1984 tones so they are no longer mixed in the scenes of the others and would be their own entity.

I'm trying to eliminate pressing F1 or F2 as often as we have to now. So OK, check this out. You know the capabilities of these sounds now. The thing that gets used the most in the older Eddie stuff is the flanger.

Connect that to an expression pedal so you can leave F2 constantly lit, and you can just change through the scenes without having to hit F2 to get back into scene mode.

All the other scenes are already set up. Use a scene to turn on a delay like I already have it. For the 1984 sounds, nothing really gets turned off and on other than a delay here and there or the pitch block for drop dead legs.

I know it's probably not that big a deal to even talk about this, but having to remember to press F2 while having to turn effects off and on was a chore to have to remember due to how I'm programmed with my MFC and so used to it. I'm thinking too much on stage as is....one more thing to have to remember will make my head explode. Lol!
 
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