As close as it gets.....

[tubez]

After listening to and playing through a few different amps that claim to do the old VH thing including the splawn QR I think I have found what I consider the closest to old VH yet. And the winner is... vintageamps.com/temp/bg.mp3 The mojave Scorpion! Listen to the clip and judge for yourself. I don't mean to stir up any controversy comparing this to the splawn amps which sound great as well but I think this soundclip of the mojave is more old VH sounding... Enjoy.....

[VomHalen]

i don't want to get into it because there's mojave owners on this board and i mean no disrespect to them but with the splawn clips "what you hear is what you get"...that's not necessarily the case with the mojave amps...and why i sold my peacemaker and got the QR

[tubez]

Hi,

To tell ya the truth the peacemaker clips sound nothing like the old VH sound to me and none of the other Scorpion clips do either but some how he nailed ed's sound on that clip. I know the scorpion is supposedly a lower wattage peacemaker in any case that is the best representation of old VH sound I have heard regardless of what was truely used to get.

[Shawnee]

I love Eddie's tone BUT: It really cracks me up how insane people get over the old Van Halen sound. First off, Eddie's tone changed from recording to recording so which album is the correct "brown sound"? Or which song on that album is right because the tone varies from song to song to a certain degree. Because there were some recording tricks done on Van Halen 1, it would be almost impossible to get that sound straight from an amp. You might be able to nail Van Halen 2 since that is straight amp, but what about the recording studio nuances? You still have mikes, recording consoles, reverb units, and other variables to deal when comparing that tone to your guitar into an amp into a 4x12 in your bedroom. One guy says "this IS the brown sound" and another guys says that it's not even close. So how close is close enough? STOP THE INSANITY........ PLEASE! :-)
I would like to get something close but I like a little more compression and a little less treble. That's just me though. My point is that if I did NAIL the brown sound and everyone in the whole world agreed 100% that I did indeed nail it, that's not the tone that I would be happiest with. Weird huh?

[tubez]

Shawnee,

Its all in good fun.... and yes his sound was not exactly the same all the time but if you take the first album and say diver down which is a bit different you can still hear that rich warm breakup that most amps seem to lack. There are other good rock tones other then eddies but most are not quite brown like eds. Personally people should be trying to find their own tones though its very hard because most gear made these days is made to sound like vintage gear. Lots of plexi, vox and fender clones out there. Oh well, as long as people like the sound they have thats all that matters.

[Dirrty Craig]

I SOOOOO agree with Shawnee on this one. Theres a general "Brown" area of tone that we probably all like and anything in that area will get you there, expecially if you can actually play, which everyone forgets is the #1 factor in the way clips are presented.

Also, A friend of mine has a Peacemaker and is kicking himself for getting it. It was SOO damn expensive and he is totally bummed that he dropped the dough on it. I've had the luxury of hearing a Quick Rod right next to a Mojave Peacemaker, a Voodoo Wichtdoctor and a Soldano SLO,, and the Splawn sounded the best and the owners of those amps agreed. It was a nice feeling especially considering what they paid for those,, WAY overpriced.

[VomHalen]

dirrtycraig said:

I SOOOOO agree with Shawnee on this one. Theres a general "Brown" area of tone that we probably all like and anything in that area will get you there, expecially if you can actually play, which everyone forgets is the #1 factor in the way clips are presented.

Also, A friend of mine has a Peacemaker and is kicking himself for getting it. It was SOO d**n expensive and he is totally bummed that he dropped the dough on it. I've had the luxury of hearing a Quick Rod right next to a Mojave Peacemaker, a Voodoo Wichtdoctor and a Soldano SLO,, and the Splawn sounded the best and the owners of those amps agreed. It was a nice feeling especially considering what they paid for those,, WAY overpriced.

the QR OWNS...the mojave's don't have any channel switching/no effects loop/no solo boost/they're ridiculously expensive (which i paid anyway because i liked the clips)/ and the clips they have on the website aren't the amp by itself...

[Shawnee]

tubez- I know it's all in good fun. It's just funny because if you nail the "You Really Got Me" sound EXACTLY, then it won't sound like "Unchanied" anymore so it never ends! LOL.

Craig- You have a GREAT tone. Not exactly Eddie but it doesn't need to be and it suits your playing very well. I on the other hand can't get used to playing lead without that compression that my Boogie has. I'm a wanna be guitar player! I can play pretty good blues licks without it but the 80's rock stuff is killing me.

[Dirrty Craig]

Thats nice of you to say,, I consider my self to be a much better live player, so the clips are about half the story really. I've weened myself off of effects over the past 10 years by playing completely dry for so long. So when I switched to the QR, I felt right at home with it. Now I am forced to use a wah and MXR phase 90 for live shows so I added a really cool key component to my live rig, a VHT valvulator. This protects the QR tone and adds some compression which works great at the ear-splitting volumes my band plays at.

You should check into one, it may add that compression your missing from the Boogie.

edit: Oh, and I forgot, it powers my pedals including my Boss tuner.

[tubez]

Yes, the mojaves are overpriced as are most botique amps. If botique amps really sounded so much better then mainstream amps I guess it would justify the price difference. In any case that Scorpian sounds nice and brown to my ear. Would I pay $2600 for it? Well if I was a gigging musician and I thought it was the best sound to my ear maybe I would. For my bedroom hobby.. I don't think so. The splawns are a lot of amp for the money no question. My biggest problem with the splawn was the volume. It was very tempermental at low levels. I took a chance on an original naylor head which I never played before. I figure If I don't like it I will just throw it back up on the bay.

[VomHalen]

there's ways around that volume issue with the splawn...and that's with the master volume...try controlling that non MV scorpion ;D

[Shawnee]

Thanks for the info Craig. I'll have to check into the valvulator. I wish I had something to record with and I would lay down some tracks in 3rd gear for everyone to hear. My celestion G12H30's should be here tomorrow so maybe that will help my tone. I haven't even tried the solo boost yet so maybe that will add some compression. The amp sounds good but I still haven't gotten used to it yet. I could take some pictures of it though. :-)

[motrock]

Well, I guess I should put my 2 cents in here. I have both the Peacemaker and the Splawn Marshall. They both do the brown sound. Love them both! I got the Peacemaker so I could get the early EVH live tone. I was only interested in getting what I heard on the bootlegs, and I feel like I have got it with the Peacemaker. I have a power dampening mod that lowers the volume like a master volume. Works great! It does the old school thing great. The Splawn will also do the EVH thing. Just watch the Al Estrada video clips. I would rather play the Quick Rod just because you can channel switch and get great tones. I play the Splawn stuff more because of the flexibility.

I have no regrets about buying the Mojave Peacemaker or the 4x12. The best thing I ever did was discover the Splawn stuff! ;D Both great amps that I use for DIFFERENT STYLES OF MUSIC!

[motrock]

Let me say the the Marshall sounds great through both cabs. G12H30s in the Mojave and Eminence Redcoats in the Splawn!

[motrock]

shawnee said:

Thanks for the info Craig. I'll have to check into the valvulator. I wish I had something to record with and I would lay down some tracks in 3rd gear for everyone to hear. My celestion G12H30's should be here tomorrow so maybe that will help my tone. I haven't even tried the solo boost yet so maybe that will add some compression. The amp sounds good but I still haven't gotten used to it yet. I could take some pictures of it though. :-)

The solo boost will help that! It compresses it up very nice!