robbieg Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 Hey guys! I recently purchased a Marshall MG250DFX new from a musical store and i've been playing around with it. What i am trying to achieve is the "Eddie Van Halen" brown sound sort of..... The guitar that im using is a Mexican Fender Stratocastor. I know that eddie did not use the single coils like i am with this guitar, but is there anyway i can still come close to achieving something similar to that sound? And what do you guys suggest settings for, for a HUGE heavy metal (like death metal) band? Thanks, Robbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 (edited) Hey guys! I recently purchased a Marshall MG250DFX new from a musical store and i've been playing around with it. What i am trying to achieve is the "Eddie Van Halen" brown sound sort of..... The guitar that im using is a Mexican Fender Stratocastor. I know that eddie did not use the single coils like i am with this guitar, but is there anyway i can still come close to achieving something similar to that sound? Edited June 24, 2005 by GodBlessTexas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 Put a Seymour Duncan Hotrails in the bridge position Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sepultura999 Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 I have tried the metal zone, metal master, pro co rat, and uber metal. Asking here which pedal is better could lead to a war. it's best for you to go to a store, tell them you want to compare the metal zone, metal master, pro co rat and uber metal, and if you're lucky, they'll give you all of them to try at once lol. If that doesn't work, just do it one at a time and play with the knobs now and then. I own a digitech metal master and it is a great pedal that covers all the bases. I like the uber metal however i bought my metal master before it was released, and even if it was released at the same time, i wouldn't have dished out another 20+ bucks for it. It's nice but i find the metal master more up my ally, and if i want a noise gate, i'll get one seperatly. Personally. I find boss metals to lack a bit. Like i said, go in with your guitar (or use a guitar there that's the same model as yours), find your amp in the store (marshall mg) and try the pedals out. If you use another guitar, you may not get what you expected in the end. -Jamie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 People will probably disagree, but I don't think that the uber-heavy distortion should actually come from having your pedal cranked up to the max and using a "maximum-distortion" type pedal or even amp. Aggressive sounds come from your style of playing (palm muting, picking style, attack) and from having the notes punch through. That means having a cleaner sound than you'd think. Of course, you DO still need the right kind of distortion (rectified or Marshall sounds work fine) since an overdriven Tweed sound still won't do it. My point is simply that people turn their tone into mush by putting too much distortion and mid-range 'scoop' which, although intuitive, ultimately weakens your sound. I have gotten good Eddie sounds with the Behringer GDI21 that I picked up, and I've gotten some very capable metal sounds as well. Right out of the box, the GDI21 didn't give me much for metal tone, but once you've used your amp's EQ section, you're in better shape. I personally feel that the amp you already have will get you Eddie sounds, and the right technique will get you at least partway into metal territory. Turn your gain/distortion up to about 2/3 (but no more than 3/4!). For the metal stuff, I believe that amp has a "contour" knob, which you should turn up to about 3/4; either that, or give a gentle cut to the mids (don't totally scoop it or you'll end up with flaccid "And Justice for All" tone) and boost to the bass. For Eddie zone, give treble a boost, mids a boost, and bass neutral or slight cut. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 (edited) Hey guys... yes a Seymour Duncan is fine ok, but also a Marshall Plexy, a Variac and.... a MOSFET power amp!!! Of course a 4 X 12 cabinet too. Maybe so you could achieve the Eddie's sound!!! I can't find a link where it is explained all the Eddie's gear. There's a lot of confusion around Eddie's sound generating by himself (for his admission) to do a favour to his friend working at amp shop. However there you can find his gear. If I find it I will post. To reply to your question, truly, I don't believe with your gear you can achieve that sound. For me it's simple impossible Edited June 25, 2005 by gun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GodBlessTexas Posted June 24, 2005 Report Share Posted June 24, 2005 Hey guys... yes a Seymour Duncan is fineok, but also a Marshall Plexy, a Variax and.... a MOSFET power amp!!! Of course a 4 X 12 cabinet too. Maybe so you could achieve the Eddie's sound!!! I can't find a link where it is explained all the Eddie's gear. There's a lot of confusion around Eddie's sound generating by himself (for his admission) to do a favour to his friend working at amp shop. However there you can find his gear. If I find it I will post. To reply to your question, truly, I don't believe with your gear you can achieve that sound. For me it's simple impossible ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 The "Brown Sound" is predominately tube power amp distortion, but I doubt that even buying Eddie's personal setup is going to make you sound like a Van Halen recording (unless you've got Ted Templeman in your closet). That said, I've heard a couple of guys who get pretty close with a Tube Screamer and a modded Fender Champ pushed to the brink of destruction. Go figure! Seriously, this obsession with duplicating somebody's recorded (meaning compressed, EQ'D, and otherwise enhanced) guitar tone is not healthy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3Va1L Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 First, you aint gonna get a metal sound with a strat. The only way i could think of would be for you to change your bridge pickup for something like a JB jr. or a lil' 59... what's funny is that my Boss metal zone gives a very nice non-metal sound! I can get almost the same sound than Santana in "black magic woman" with it lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 I hated my Metal Zone and sold it off for $30 CDN. Well, that and it wouldn't work off just a battery. Something (probably easy to fix) was wrong with the switch or a connection. Worked fine off a power supply, though. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perhellion Posted June 26, 2005 Report Share Posted June 26, 2005 Seriously, this obsession with duplicating somebody's recorded (meaning compressed, EQ'D, and otherwise enhanced) guitar tone is not healthy! ← I get the "why duplicate somebody else" part --- get your own sound, EVH already got that sound, BUT I've always wondered why (assume for discussion here, you are EVH) you couldn't duplicate the compressed, EQ, enhanced tone for yourself. If you (as EVH) played "I'm the One" and wanted the sound coming from your speakers to be the sound of VH1, would this be possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted June 26, 2005 Report Share Posted June 26, 2005 i use a visual sound Jeckel and Hyde overdrive/distortion pedal. best $150 I spent in my life. You can get any sound imaginable out of this peal. And the best part is you have 2 channels so you can have 2 different tones in one pedal. Be it blues or really heavy rock, I always can get the sound I want and it always sounds better than the distortion you can get from a tube head. I actually bought it out of neccessity. I use a Carvin ValveMaster Head. The clean channel is the best I've ever heard, but the distortion channel is s***. Now I'm all grins. I sound like a visual sound rep. don't I? ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted July 3, 2005 Report Share Posted July 3, 2005 I like the visual sound stuff, but the owner is a Jack Arse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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