What happened to the 'secret' pedal thread ?

[Good Guest]

Lots of contradictions ....yer telling me you don't hear a phase90.....EVH didn't use an EP3...no such use of a MXR 6 band..No ge 10...no flanger nadda and all those pedals by themselves are quite capable of remarkable feats by themselves like turning a plexi inside and out..much less together and with multiples ...possible it's all for show , but highly unlikely.

But I agree a tricked out well tuned and plexi is fantastic but with effects it just doesn't work..other methods have to be used to take advantage of the effects and play at reasonable volumes ..BUT true, a tricked out effectless plexi is IT...

[mr.twistyneck]

You do pretty well with the C mod ...if it were meant for you to have the carrot dangler mod it would be disclosed if not by me by guess who?

plexivanhalen says he's figured it out too...maybe work on him...actually he is not the only one either ...get that old noggin

worken...

That's nice. Once again, kindly disclose. Thank you!

I'm here to share best practices, and you are too, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned this in the first place, or repeatedly naysay other member's guesses. Share.

[T.J.Fuller]

the word secret pedal or THE pedal is where tempers start flaring around here....

maybe for the sake of keeping things civil , look at it from this point of view.

Ralle's tone is a great example - obviously he has tweeked his amp to the point of it having this amazing VH voicing.

no denying that.

now take his best clip and match it against , let's say Young and Wild from the Warner Bros demos.

It is obvious Donn Landee wanted to capture VH burning thru the tunes they prepared live and to tape.
there isn't any studio magic on these demos.

Ralle has stated this is the tone he is shooting for ( correct me if I'm wrong )

So what is wrong with trying to voice an era correct pedal or pedals for voicing a little more grit or high end bite
into the equation.

right or wrong , secret pedal or not , it all part of the journey.

a Boss OD1 ain't it .... a I banez TS808 ain't it ...

pedals used by Page, Beck, Rick Derringer, Billy Gibbons leave clues to what Ed is thinking tone-wise then.

anyone read the recent Ronnie Montrose quote he made before he died about Van Halen...

he told someone about Ed coming up to him and telling him that when VH went into the studio they were adamant
about being recorded like Montrose.

every guitar player mentioned Page, Beck,Montrose, Derringer , Gibbons and others ALL had some pedal in the studio.

the biggest issue about this whole debate is WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WAS REALLY USED ON VH 1

the pedal board live is a different story - and VH1 is night and day different tone than VH2 ...why ???

we swap pick ups like crazy .... why not try voicing some pedals for some variety around here , it will either help some
get closer or maybe not.

try it all .... make notes ..... move to the next element ...... home echo chambers in the back yard, stripping the tolex off your cabinets etc.

[dazzlindino]

.

[T.J.Fuller]

I used NTE 123

someone here once said NTE wasn't a good brand ??

I got them from Mouser , I always use transistor sockets , so I can switch , rotate or replace

I thought they sounded fantastic , I just hope I can get mine up and running again within a week , so I can
provide a proper clippage .... for vh style clips.

sucks ... 3 day weekend but, so much family stuff on my plate !

[MrBeasty]

seems to be a maxed out marshall....dont think anyone doubts that
with something really sweetining the top end.....

Actually, I am starting to wonder. He might not have been as loud as I have always thought.
I think the front-end boosting may be the key to this dealio, more boosting than we ever tried until now.
That would explain why PAFs and a regular stock Plexi would work.

[vh junkie]

I am running the known vintage chain... only difference is the PB... everything gets much closer as you let it get loud... I don't think any kind of pedal is needed for most of the sound; but I want to see what the extra push would do for some parts. I have some stuff coming that will help.

BTW The BC109s were in the schem but never seen in the actual pedals right? If you are talking about a diff animal, please PM me...

[guitar007]

You do pretty well with the C mod ...if it were meant for you to have the carrot dangler mod it would be disclosed if not by me by guess who?

plexivanhalen says he's figured it out too...maybe work on him...actually he is not the only one either ...get that old noggin

worken...

That's nice. Once again, kindly disclose. Thank you!

I'm here to share best practices, and you are too, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned this in the first place, or repeatedly naysay other member's guesses. Share.

I agree with twisty. This is a builders forum. It's time to be a Good Guest and share. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain (pun intended).

[T.J.Fuller]

supposedly there were 3 versions of the Sola Sound Overdriver -

the bc109 schematic version ( the schematic heaven version ) is the best version for less of that fuzz thing and more true overdrive, unless you go to far with controls and then you are clearly in a fuzz teritory.

maybe this why some of the youtube demo's are off - a germanium transistor will be way off the mark.

and I agree 100% vhjunkie with what you just said - but, a little more hair , edge or grit - treble bite
maybe all it takes to put someones already stellar clip over the top.

[vh junkie]

Have you actually seen/played a BC109 version? My research indicates they never existed... do they?

[T.J.Fuller]

no I have only built the one on the schematic heaven website.

seems like the pedal builder sites and forum sites always add change or some tweak.

I would like to do that on my own.

I stayed 100% to the posted schematic but, I was un-able to find bc109 transistors on Mouser site so I just went with NTE
because, I had a dumble preamp schematic that used the same NTE123 transistor , so I thought what the hell ...NTE123.

you maybe right , seems odd to post an original schematic and never use original intended part ???

[vh junkie]

After seeing how wildly the TIS58s varied in the EP-Free circuit(only 1 in 5 was usable)... I went with the big bucks for a clone, which purports that each individual device is separately biased... we will see whats inside/up...

[rgorke]

After seeing how wildly the TIS58s varied in the EP-Free circuit(only 1 in 5 was usable)... I went with the big bucks for a clone, which purports that each individual device is separately biased... we will see whats inside/up...

Sort of explains why some say, "my EP3 Echoplex is key to my tone" while other, "Mine doesn't do much." I bet a good one boosted, sounds real good.

[MrBeasty]

I use the Clinch FX EP-Pre and does a fantastic job. You set it for unity gain as well as pretty good volume boost. Either way it filters your signal in a very cool way.

[somethin'else]

I use the Clinch FX EP-Pre and does a fantastic job. You set it for unity gain as well as pretty good volume boost. Either way it filters your signal in a very cool way.

That's about all I need too.
The perceived distortion has to be in the aggressive attack, re: VHI.

(I'm personally having a hard time justifying chasing down a magic chip) I just need to shred and woodshed and get my chops up.