Woodshed Ep 42- How to recreate the 90's Eddie Van Halen guitar tone!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- Hello Music Lovers! Welcome to the very first Woodshed episode of 2021 and I wish you all a happy New year!
I wanted to start off 21 by showing you guys how to nail that 90's Van Halen tone without having to buy 3 amps and cabs and tons of gear! I discovered this as a very happy accident! You can purchase the tone patch on my website or Patreon page! Cheers!
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The 90's Eddie's tone, specially the Balance one is one of the best things I've ever heard
absolutely
Thank you! Think that record has some of the best rock guitar sounds ever recorded
Here's a $400 amp nailing Eddie's 90's tone (circa 1992) closer than anything I've heard. No Axe-FX, no wet dry wet, no fancy sh*t, just a cheap BS combo amp in a music store that sounds great. Don't laugh, watch the video.
th-cam.com/video/40LhydoXY8A/w-d-xo.html
Same amp, but a 2x12 version, doing a great job getting the early VH tone
th-cam.com/video/16Gd7aEyfHU/w-d-xo.html
You don't need expensive gear, just a good ear and good hands.
I can't agree more 👍
It's my favorite Van Halen Sound.
The moody vibe of the Balance record made me and my friends part ways with VH. The Balance sound, however, astounded us-especially on Amsterdam and Balachiterium-two tracks that could’ve easily been on the 5150 record.
I know Eddie's tone on VH1 is supposed to be the "holy grail" rock guitar tone, but absolutely nothing beats that glassy, ballsy, thick 90s sound he gets and this captures it perfectly!
thanks Tony!! such a great comment, yeah couldn't agree more. beautiful thing about EVH is he gave us so much...
It's just a testament to the guy's genius that he created *two* completely different tones that are both among the greatest ever.
Ryan Maziarz absolute fact.
Both IMHO are THE benchmark for badassery
Fair Warning.
Early EVH tone is worshipped, and it's GREAT. But man, when I get in the car and crank up Humans Being or Fire In The Hole. Chill bumps!
Aaaaand its a 10!!!!!
emailed you the patch ;)
Uncle Ben
i know it's quite randomly asking but does anyone know of a good website to stream newly released movies online ?
@Jaziel Jesse I watch on Flixzone. Just google for it =)
@Emmanuel Francisco Yup, have been watching on flixzone for since april myself =)
I was able to dial these settings with my HeadRush. It was good, but something not quite right. Took a break, went back with headphones, noticed my output was set to mono. When I switched to stereo and hit a chord, it was like the floor dropped out and the most LUSH VH tone flooded the room. Thank you so much Andy!!!!!
"i don't wanna take up too much of your time here" feel free to take up more of our time, this was great!
I haven't listened to those albums in years. Totally nailed the tone, it took back to listening to those albums in my bedroom back in the 90's.
Damn brother, you nailed that tone and it was far simpler than I thought it would be. Literally one of the greatest tones ever created. Ed was just brilliant.
Holy shizzel Andy! I literally just recorded one of the tunes off this album with my band and we debated how to get THIS tone! You are genius.
30-40 years later (depending on which tones you are going for) and we are STILL trying to replicate Eddie's tone. Bear in mind we are getting info from all points on the planet now due to the internet, and getting that "Brown Sound" still isn't a gimme. Long live the KING!
Part of what complicates the problem, is that Ed's tone went through a series of evolutions, rather than revolutions from his first widely released album, in '78, through the turn of the century. Ed swapped a LOT of gear out, and is widely known to have experimented with various pedals, amps, mic setups, etc. What we heard from '78, is nothing near what we were hearing during the "Sammy" years, particularly with the advent of "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" and "Balance".
Now. Add to THAT bit of knowledge, the fact that ALL of us, hear every tone differently, from everyone else... PERCEPTION is the key here. Nobody ever hears two played notes, the same way. This is why everyone's idea of "Brown Sound" is something a tad different. I think that a piece of gear is priceless, if it lets you get that tone, and puts your own unique spin on what is being widely sought after.
Nobody is ever going to sound like Ed... but few folks have gotten so close that it's almost scary. Pete Thorn. Walt Grace. I think that today, there are more guitar players that understand the basics of HOW that tone was achieved... and largely because Ed himself was more forthcoming on how he'd done it "back in the day" with pedals, and then by re-engineering this or that tube amp, and understanding signal path. Ed was the King, because he was never afraid to tear into a piece of gear, and re-engineer it, to HIS precise need. That was the Ed gift, that most people overlook. That man was a picking genius...but he was also a WORLD class tinkerer. Although he had no engineering degree, he read texts on electronics, and could read schematics. So he went about pedal and guitar mods, with an eye for improvement, and getting that signal processed in a way his ears told him was "sweet" or "Brown".
It's funny, I grew up in the 90's and I remember back then people were critictizing Ed that his tone wasn't as good as it was on the early records lol.. One wasn't better than the other just different.. Both sounded incredible. Great job Andy on nailing his tone he had back in that era.
EVH forever!!
It’s a crying shame van halen didn’t give us more after balance but Im eternally greatful that we got them at all . Absolutely genius .
Van Halen 3 was released in 1998.
@@endezeichengrimmVH3 is mid bro
@@emimartt1068 What?
Glad to see that it can work also on FM3 and ....I went even further by adding a 80's style Chorus between the pitch shifter and Del1 and ...then you can fly. Thank you very much for your sharing ... I've been mucking around this sound for ages :-) well done indeed.
Wearing headphones for this video was epic. Love this sound Andy!
thanks dude!! yes headphones are a must for listening to this one
I just received my FM9 after a fairly lengthy wait time... and I love it. After using 2 x100 w Marshall Super Leads in stereo for years, I could pretty much duplicate any sound with my rig. But after a rather steep learning curve when first firing up the FM9 I can now do the same, and then some! But that's why these units are so good... their control and versatility.
Thanks for the EVH sound... you nailed it. I duplicated Ed's sound(s) with the Super Leads and a HUGE rack full of outboard gear when needed, but am not familiar enough with the FM9... so thanks for walking it through. I have my own sound, but am playing in a cover band now just for a few bucks and lots of fun, and this will come in handy for the EVH covers.
A lot of people seem to "feel" Eddie used way too much "grease" on his rig starting with 5150, but I disagree. It was Eddie... how can it be said it was too much when that is what he wanted?
Obviously Ed didn't need the processed, wet sound to play... he got by just fine prior to the Eventide and the rest of his gear before 5150. But he liked it... and no one sounded like Ed.
Put on some headphones and listen to 'Source of Infection' on OU812 (as one example)... it will turn your head around. It's so dynamic and unique it will almost make your head spin in sections. When anyone hears EVH, they absolutely know it's EVH because of that trademark tome/sound.
Thanks again, Mr. Wood... the FM9 is providing loads of fun and incredible versatility for me... without the weight and space of my long-time live rig.
I also purchased 2 Line 6 Powercab 2x12 pluses, running in stereo, and it's awesome. I get that live "In-the-Room" sound, which I was concerned about when trying the FM9. The cabs have great stereo widening settings and with 2 of them the sound is huge. I've tried miking the Powercabs and it sounds better than straight through to the console (the sound tech agrees). With some tweaking they sound exactly like my 4x12 Marshall cabs.
Thanks again for the tips.
Love Ed's 90's era tone the best! Great video!
Just listened to it in the 🚗. Sounds huge! I think people forget how cool the 90’s VH tones actually were. Thanks Andy. Cheers!
Well done Andy! My favorite guitar tone of all time was Eddie's Balance sound.
This is exactly what I was looking for. Andy! Rock on, sir.
I am a casual player of 20 years and can't imagine how you've learned all these amazing tricks. Killer work as always man!
You’re like a mad scientist of sounds !
You carry the creative torch that Eddie kept well hidden.
P.S I heard VH opened for Nugent. Well, Ted tried out his gear in curiosity. Secretly. Lol.
Ted was baffled how he couldn’t sound like this new gunslinger ! Perplexed !
Thanks Man ....It's AMAZING ...The BEST TON ! With RESPECT and LOVE from PARIS !
Wicked tones! Biggest smile of my day right here...
Damn!!!! That's pretty fkng close
Aka, nailed it!
Superb underlying tone and fun effects. Long live the king.
thank you my friend
Lovin it Andy!! Still remember this from the MTV awards. Thanks for all the awesome content and inspiration and just great practical advice for a fellow music lover. Cripsy High Five Bro!
crisp high fives amigo
Andy you and Rick Beato are the 2 greatest channels on the internet ! Thank you brother 🙏
Your _Cool Quotient_ is off the charts! Great tone! Great chops!
Wow....I have been trying to figure out how to do this for awhile.....I even bought a 3rd studio monitor,thinking that’s what I needed....and it works,but I just got my AxeFXIII a couple of months ago,and wanted to just do a simple,no extra stuff,W/D/W patch.....Thanks for this....I just subscribed....
Learned a lot from your approach on this Andy! Thank you for taking time to do this!
Sounds awesome! His 90s tone was great!
Awesome thanks Andy, got close to this tone on my Axe-Fx but will definitely try this. Thanks man sounds amazing!
I love the Balance tone and also the VH1 tone. Those who ignore the later sound forget that EVH never thought that VH1 was the pinnacle and happily walked away from the older tech, with which he did make magic, into the newer tech, with which he made bigger sounding magic:) Cheers.
monster playing and tone brother inspiring
Excellent job Andy! Sounds immense.
Awesome, as usual. Loved the drill. Keep up the great work, Andy!
That was a great tutorial, love the results you got and of course the playing is stellar. I keep trying to get that tone with one amp and the fractal fx8 for effects only, but yours is the best
Thanks Tom. I’m gonna recreate this in Axe-8 today and post it for sell.
I follow all the steps with my Fm3 and Sounds Badass!!! Thank you!!!
Epic tone. Well done.
That sounds big and badass! Great video man! Thanks!
Man, that is perfect! Always wanted to get that tone- thanks so much! Hope to catch you at the OC sometime soon
I think Runaround was played on a Tele.... break out that AW signature model! Great vid BTW .. sounds great.
Well....that was eye opening !! Just a great help for a guitarist of my abilities !
Sounds great! Really nailed the tone. Kudos!
Reminds me of Shawn Lane's signal from the REH video. 3 amps 2 delays. Epic tone. Rock on Sir!
Oh man... if someone who could play... could make a modern version (digital foot pedal) of Shawn Lanes tone 😬
im gonna try this tomorrow, thank you, Happy Birthday in HEAVEN EDDIE!
The 1988-90 Hamer slammer pickups will get you there, DiMarzio's take on the Duncan JB, somewhere between an SH4 and a PAF PRO, and what Steve Blucher brought and Eddie picked out for the Ernie Ball EVH prototypes
awesome video Andy!!thank you for sharing
Ah man!! That sounds amazing! Great job!
Thats awesome Andy!
Damn, Andy is amazing!!!
great stuff, thanks Andy
Thanks for posting. Sounded dead on!!
The palmer pdi-03 was also used as a splitter. The heads speaker out goes into and out of the palmer and I to the "dry" cab. Now, the palmer pdi-03 also has 4 line outs......you would then take 1 or 2 of those line outs, go into your effects and then to a power amp. Out of the power amp you would run 2 cabs for the "wet"
The Royer 121 was released in 1998, and is a relatively new mic to hit the scene. 421’s, 160’s. If you get enough local 57’s in the area, they also impart bottom, a few 57’s on a 4x cab reveal a lot. 121’s are well received by notable engineers, would love to have a few.
i am running my axe-fx II xl plus into two power amps into 6 1x10 marshall speaker cabs loaded with eminence redcoat ramrods 75w speakers. left stack of 3 cabs top left wet, middle left dry, bottom left wet. top right wet, middle right dry, bottom right wet. output 1 on axe-fx is dry signal going into one power amp feeding dry middle cabs. output 2 on axe-fx is feeding second poweramp stereo left and right top and bottom cabs wet. you can real time adjust the wet level/mix with output knob 2 on front of axe-fx and adjust dry level/mix with output 1 knob. my signal chain in axe-fx is much different than what you have shown also. i have run mine wet dry wet for a few years and sounds awesome. i can go into more detail on how its done if your interested. what i am talking about here would be more for a live set-up as opposed to straight into a cpu.
i believe this is the video that helped me finally figure it out. th-cam.com/video/nAs55Kscy7g/w-d-xo.html
yeah that's similar to how I would do it to if I was using cabs etc. but this was all about using only 1 piece of gear, direct to FoH or a daw.
Killer job Andy!!!
That is brilliant Thank you very much for your time, I was using 3 rack units to get that same tone..
any axe fx can do this. even the little axe 8!
Your video is awsome!
Congratulations!
I love crankin Poundcake!!
This is so awesome! I’m gonna try it on my Helix!
Excellent...Thanks a lot!!!
Thank you Andy
Dude you save me a lot of time! I have a different amp sim software but will try your approach. 🤘
Kind of dreamy and edgy at the same time. Fantastic tone!
WOW WELL DONE
Sounds as close as your gonna get. Great job!
Dude! I was using my Eventide Pitch Factor detuned slightly, with a blend of half and got close. But, yours sounds right on the money, less chorus-y than mine.
It's simple: I see Andy Wood, I click.
big crispy high fives to ya
I'd say there is the VH1 tone the Fair Warning tone and This Tone as my favorite dirty guitar sounds ever.
Same! Top 3 fav tones of all time
Mega like!!! Thank you so much for this Andy!!!!
Yep - that's the one!
This is absolutely cool.
Great job! Damn! You nailed it!
GREATTTT man!!! Awesome episode! thanks \m/
Hey Andy I did a tonemach of my 5150 100W EL34 for AxeFxiii.
If you are interested give me a shout
Well this is awesome. I just got rid of my digital rig, but I think Im going back to one. I currently have a Boss PS-6 and a Wampler Tape Echo Im trying to get this with my EL34 5150.
Great job man!
I’d say you nailed the tone.
Will have to try this on the Helix. Nice sound.
Those are, by far, the closest to replicating Ed's tones that I've heard yet. I was about to embark on trying for wet-dry-wet using my real amp/pedalboard, the Axe-Fx and UAD amp models, but this made all of that unncessary. Can't wait to take delivery of my Axe-FX III in the next few days (it should have arrived today if not for UPS Canada's utter incompetence)!!!
Thats just awesome
Thats awesome!
Andy Wood is the shit! 🤘🏼
OMG. Dude. This IS IT! This is the tone I've been wanting. The "Balance" album (The Seventh Seal) was always my favorite. That, and "Best of Both Worlds." I need to figure out what I need to do to get this. I have no software currently. I just use my Carvin V3 combo but it ain't cutting it.
any fractal unit can do this. that's all you need, from there monitors, PA or even headphones will take care of the rest.
@@andywoodmusic Excellent. I need to spend some time seeing how this all works. I subbed and now I'll see if you have videos on it for a newbie! LOL.
And, he says..."it's just a Shur Modern..."
Awesome stuff Andy, that's pretty spot on. To my ears I think Ed would mix in a bit more of the pitch,...but who knows. Sounds great! Man,...that AxeFX sound so good,......dammit. Must resist,.......
yeah the pitch changes from album to album. I was kind of loosely making the live "right here, right now" my overall reference, it seems less "pitchy" than say Balance.
Great job!!!
Awesome job! So easy to get lost in Fractal land... Great that your shared your thought process in crafting Ed’s tone.
Mark Ford man I almost didn’t make this public. For a minute I was like, nah this is too good I need to keep it close to the chest. But then I remembered being 18, and what I would have gone thru to have known this info. I would’ve killed a hundred men to have the ability to buy 1 piece of gear and get even in the ballpark of the Carnal knowledge era tone. So I decided to make this video and dedicate it to the 18 year old version of me. :)
Superb !!!!!
Nice!!!
Mark Day Guitar thanks mark
Nailed it
100% awesome!!
Nailed it!
Sorry I’m a little old school and still use pedals/tube amps but can someone explain what is going on with the “pitch block”, what is that doing? How can I duplicate that with a pedal? Eddie’s tone in the ‘90’s has always been my favorite.
hi John, no problem I can help. If you want to recreate this tone with a pedal it will need to be a stereo pedal, and be able to "detune" the left and right side. boss has a pitch shifter pedal, eventide has one, strymon etc. on your "wet(effects only)" cabinets you'll be pulling the left side down approx 9 cents and on the right side you be raising the pitch 9cents. this will add the depth and width to your sound. cheers!
Superb! Subscribed.
thanks mark
YES!!!! Dude!!! C'mon with it!!
dude, big high fives!!
Very Nice!!! Thank you : )
Ah, that's my favorite Suhr!
Awesome video Andy! I would have happily loaned you my EVH Wolfgang for this vid. I'd happily loan you my 5150 Kramer too but it's in need of a little work. You ever do anything like this in the future get in touch and I'll meet up with you somewhere in town and bring it to you.
Awesome! I have the BOSS 500 series pedals.
I should be able get close with the dual delay and pitch shift on my real deal amp.
2 amps are needed! Make sure you can send a dry signal “down the middle” like what I talk about in the video
@@andywoodmusic with the BOSS DD-500 (delay) and MD-500 (modulation) you can run dual delays and pitch shifts in stereo or mono.
While I won't be able to get the dead on wet/dry/wet thing, I can come close in mono.