EVH Tone - Pickup Roundup

[StuntDouble]

That's cool Phil, but IMHO, the MM 1300/"Fool's Riff" clip and the hidden pup" clip both smoke it. It's like you're bracketing the target with those two clips. I think when you try it with the A8 mag in that Mightymite, it's gonna be "it". I just don't hear it in the single coil clip; some things sound right, but other aspects don't. I've tried as assymetrical wind from H.O, and it was great but not as close as the Mightymite or even my old Dimarzio Distortion for VH1. It does VHII about as well as any other pup I've heard though...8.7K assym wind A2.

It seems to me that all of Ed's talk about how he liked the sound of old PAFs and was trying to acquire them came after VH1. That could be a good reason his sound changed as much as it did, and why it was smoother and less gainy. Why would Ed hack up the bridge position of the franky if he just wanted to use a single coil there in the first place; unless it was for live use and he used a strat or P90 equipped guitar in the studio? There again though; the strat stuff on FW stands out like a sore thumb, when compared to the rest of his tone on that album; your clip sounds more like "OFOTD" tone to me.

Also, if the trick was in the wiring, then he could've done that with a standard strat and nobody would have been the wiser as to what was really going on with his guitar. It seemed like he was going out of his way to use a humbucker in the frankie, unless it was just for live use. I think the key to getting it to sound right is the single coil in the neck position; it just sounds right to me.

[ZeroCool]

I keep listening to the eruption and ITO iso track and can't figure out how it sounds so spongy yet sharp and clear. Could these have actually been played with a hollow body guitar? On another note, I grabbed a super 70 P-90 a couple months ago and finally got around to putting it into an ash strat with vintage tremolo. It sounded weedy and twangy as hell, picking up any kind of string buzz present and amplifying it horribly. I raised the strings as much as I could but will have to shim the nick to eliminate all the buzz. I finally hooked up the mxr 6-band and was able to dial out the twanginess somewhat and boost the bass which had interesting results, it sorta has that sponginess now that I was looking for yet it has that very cool bight and a soaring tone. Hmmm, I think this deserves a little more experimentation. Edward did say that he had to use "fuzz boxes" to make his single coil strats sound good, so perhaps this is what he meant. Seems like you can pump in more bass from the p-90 to the amp with the 6-band with out muddying up the low E string which always seems to be the case with PAF's. I also want to try this with a Lindy Fralin vintage hot bridge pickup. This just never ends.

Humbucker: Low Output, Unbalanced Wind, A2 = [Spongy]
Plexi Boosted : Sharp clear Tone

Maybe?

[Blix]

My favorite is my MotorCity Custom Pickup. Its not the 2nd Degree Blackbelt! According to Wade at MotorCity, this pickup is much closer to the EVH tone. He told me the he didn't gear the 2nd Degree Blackbelt for a Van Halen tone. He did something with cut A2 magnets and winding it for the magnets. Don't know what that means... but it smokes! 85.k is the output!

I guess that's the pickup coming my way, the Black Iron, he says it's a Angel Dust revorked for an A2 magnet, it will be interesting...

[vanhalen5150]

My favorite is my MotorCity Custom Pickup. Its not the 2nd Degree Blackbelt! According to Wade at MotorCity, this pickup is much closer to the EVH tone. He told me the he didn't gear the 2nd Degree Blackbelt for a Van Halen tone. He did something with cut A2 magnets and winding it for the magnets. Don't know what that means... but it smokes! 85.k is the output!

I guess that's the pickup coming my way, the Black Iron, he says it's a Angel Dust revorked for an A2 magnet, it will be interesting...

85K or 8.5K ? That would look like a junkyard crane magnet Motrock!

[Ed Hunter]

I have had very good results with the duncan 14k ceramic custom for the VH I franky tones. I tried the DSD but like the custom more, it sounds closer to me.

[nitro]

Who would you compare the Dimarzio Super Distortion to the Seymour Duncan Custom.

[Ed Hunter]

Who would you compare the Dimarzio Super Distortion to the Seymour Duncan Custom.

the duncan custom is a more P.A.F sounding than the DSD. it is like a duncan 59 only more muscular and more aggressive. I tried the Custom-custom first and it was too middy and lacked the sizzle and sparkle i wanted.

[nitro]

I dont think,I could be wrong but I dont think the Duncan custom was out in 1977-1978 for Ed to have used,the Dimarzio Super Distortion was.

[Ed Hunter]

I dont think,I could be wrong but I dont think the Duncan custom was out in 1977-1978 for Ed to have used,the Dimarzio Super Distortion was.

you are correct the custom was not around back then but nonetheless it sounds very old VH to me. try one and hear for yourself. if you set it away from the strings a good distance it sounds amazing for the VH I tone

[vanhalen5150]

As far as the DSD's go keep in mind that they had 2 versions. One was 13-14k and others were 7-9k. However, they both provide the same output.

[wired]

My favorite is my MotorCity Custom Pickup. Its not the 2nd Degree Blackbelt! According to Wade at MotorCity, this pickup is much closer to the EVH tone. He told me the he didn't gear the 2nd Degree Blackbelt for a Van Halen tone. He did something with cut A2 magnets and winding it for the magnets. Don't know what that means... but it smokes! 85.k is the output!

I guess that's the pickup coming my way, the Black Iron, he says it's a Angel Dust revorked for an A2 magnet, it will be interesting...

That's what he told me too. I asked him what he felt was the best pickup for old school VH? He said the Black Iron was "it" in his opinion. I asked about the Blisster Bucker and he laughed, said it was made up on this forum

So I just went ahead and bought 2 Fender EVH Wolfgangs instead

[nitro]

Do some of you feel the the EVH Replica pickup has some muddyness to it due to the alnico II magnet,the Duncan custom custom in my opinion is the same pickup as the EVH Replica pickup same magnet and dc resistance.

[flex5150]

Just on the Sin pickups thing, This may have been covered in another thread, however,.... I just order 1 of the evp's off ebay came very quickly (to Australia) was the wrong colour , got in touch with Chris, asked me to hand over $25 for post and pack (which I was happy to do) and sent me another in the correct colour. Pretty good service me thinks and the quality is great. Dont ask me about sound yet im getting too confused reading all these threads,

Which brings me to Comment number 2.

Is there some where on this forum that fruns through all the different alnico and ceramic magent characteristics or can some one post them based around 10 and 14 k buckers.
I have a heap of magnets here and dont know what sould go where.

Cheers

[Blix]

Do some of you feel the the EVH Replica pickup has some muddyness to it due to the alnico II magnet,the Duncan custom custom in my opinion is the same pickup as the EVH Replica pickup same magnet and dc resistance.

When I got my EVH Frankenstein humbucker, I first recorded a small clip with the Custom Custom, replaced it with the Frankenstein and recorded the same clip again. The clips are 99% identical, the EVH was maybe a hair warmer and cleaner because of the deguassed magnet, but I had to A/B the clips over and over until I could hear a difference really. So yes, I do believe they are pretty much the very same pickup. I personally don't think they are really muddy, but they are more the 1984 sound than VH1 for sure. EVH using a Super Distortion on some songs on VH1 sounds plausible too me.


Can't wait to try the Motor City Black Iron, hopefully it will ship sometime next week

[Ed Hunter]

Do some of you feel the the EVH Replica pickup has some muddyness to it due to the alnico II magnet,the Duncan custom custom in my opinion is the same pickup as the EVH Replica pickup same magnet and dc resistance.

When I got my EVH Frankenstein humbucker, I first recorded a small clip with the Custom Custom, replaced it with the Frankenstein and recorded the same clip again. The clips are 99% identical, the EVH was maybe a hair warmer and cleaner because of the deguassed magnet, but I had to A/B the clips over and over until I could hear a difference really. So yes, I do believe they are pretty much the very same pickup. I personally don't think they are really muddy, but they are more the 1984 sound than VH1 for sure. EVH using a Super Distortion on some songs on VH1 sounds plausible too me.


Can't wait to try the Motor City Black Iron, hopefully it will ship sometime next week

Is there any way you could post that clip of the comparison? as for the DSD didnt ed use a mighty mite screamer(M-1300) which does have the same specs as a DSD? my duncan custom is a 14K pup as well with the same wire gauge as the dimarzio and mighty mite but the duncan has a smaller ceramic than those other two. i really like the custom for the VH 1 tone.