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Van Halen 1 album tone


DarthHollis
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Cool patch, I grabbed it.  I really like how it cleans up with volume.  Sounds very authentic.  I had no idea his tone was that wet on one side.  I remember being surprised that his guitar was panned so hard to one side, but I don't think I paid any attention to how the verb was so drippy and panned to the other side.  Sounds a bit weird on it's own, but playing along with some jam tracks it slides right in and sounds great.  

 

The infinite hold thing is cool too. 

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Just had to mention "Van Halen I", eponymously named, has to be one of the greatest debut albums of all time. I remember after listening to that album when it first came out(about a 100 times), I knew guitar technique had been taken to a whole new level. It was almost depressing as prior to that album I felt that I was achieving some nominal level of proficiency on my instrument. Amazing virtuosity - not only the two-handed tapping but the incredible use of the whammy and the unique and profoundly melodic note choices Eddie made often doing multi-octave jumps. Whether you love or hate Van Halen, to me he changed the guitar landscape and was clearly one of the most innovative players of his era. Sorry to veer slightly off-topic with an album "review". Thanks for posting this preset and video!

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This is F-Ing brilliant! you really did your homework and critical listening. The "echoplex/octave" trick is an often overlooked part of Ed's rig. Granted it's only really used on Eruption.. but such an awesome bit of "special sauce."

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Thought I would share a video I did on getting the Van Halen 1 album tone.  I used just the Helix with no IR's and no other processing.

 

 

Very authentic tone recreation from a ground breaking studio album from 1978. All stock effect/amp models with very minor tweaks. This is what the Helix is capable of in the hands of someone that does their research. Nice job. 

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The only one to get it right! I always knew (or assumed), that he was using the reverb on one side of a stereo setup I've just never researched it. Great job! My only concern is your playing, I'm sure you could pick up any guitar and amp and sound like that :-)  Thanks again for the patch.

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Great job! My only concern is your playing, I'm sure you could pick up any guitar and amp and sound like that 

That is an excellent point on why a lot of players get disappointed with presets that are supposed to sound like their favorite rock star. I couldn't sound like EVH even if I took the guitar off of his neck and played through his rig. 

 

"Man, I downloaded this EVH patch, but it doesn't sound like EVH at all. This patch is crap"

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Thank you everyone.  The patch is not complicated and I barely changed any of the factory settings for the amp, cab or FX.  

 

Special thanks for the compliments on my playing.  I do think the player makes a difference.  

 

I made this patch for free and kept it simple hoping to show everyone how it can be done.  You don't need special IRs or to pay for patches.  Those things have there place and I have bought many IRs myself and I love them.

 

It makes me very happy that I can help some people.

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Cool patch, I grabbed it. I really like how it cleans up with volume. Sounds very authentic. I had no idea his tone was that wet on one side. I remember being surprised that his guitar was panned so hard to one side, but I don't think I paid any attention to how the verb was so drippy and panned to the other side. Sounds a bit weird on it's own, but playing along with some jam tracks it slides right in and sounds great.

 

The infinite hold thing is cool too.

It was done in the mixing process all instrument and the vocals went thrue the same reverb bus

Here is how it sounds https://app.box.com/s/qussk9gft06bmc2lqggother2ztx96hd

And the non bus guitar https://app.box.com/s/o1y4gh1ncrau6kyh4t7ds3axuejaxcog

 

As you can hear the volym on the reverb bus is way lower than the non bus guitar so getting that reverb to sound like the record you have to find the right volym on the reverb side so it blends nicely with the dry signal.

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  • 1 year later...

Thanks.  The loading into HX Edit seems to be an issue I saw it in the forums.  It only affects certain presets is seems.  Some say it related to a compressor.

Yes I am a happy HX Stomp user.  Still learning it.  Wish there was a document of recommended settings.  That may become my job!

Please send to jaburke4@aol.com.  I will also reach out to you on Facebook.  Thanks again for your sharing your ideas and even your presets.

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A *very nice* VH1 patch, DarthHollis. Thank you for sharing it :-)

 

I think what you did there is a great showcase for how good Helix really is. A simple chain, replicating what most people agree is probably what he did, and - there's the tone. Bang. No trickery, no frills.

 

And it's good to see someone else not diming the amp because 'that's what Eddie did'... Patches dialled in by ear are better than those dialled in by hearsay :-)

 

(Nerd-note: for Eruption, guitar sits centre-ish in the stereo mix, not hard over.)

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DarthHollis and people.  Thanks for the help but still not able to load this sound in to my Stomp.  HX edit doesn't like this one and a few others I have attempted to add.  Are you folks suggesting to open the preset in an text document and move some of the effects around? Any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

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18 hours ago, zosokun said:

will this work for HX Effects?

It won't because of the amp and cab but I can give you the FX settings.

 

Signal chain from left to right:

Script Mod Phase: Rate 1.5, Mix 50%, Level +1.0cB

Gray Flanger: Rate 4.0, Width 4.0, Manual 4.0, Regen 10.0, Mix 50%, Level 0.0dB

Transistor Tape Delay:  Time 218ms, Feedback 0%, Wow Flutr 3.6, Mix 13%, Level +6.0dB, Headroom 0.0, Trails off (this doesn't replicate the ending of Eruption, you have to use an expression pedal to help recreate that.

 

That's it for in front of the amp.  Only Plate reverb is used after the amp or pre-amp or however you want to say it.  The guitar was originally recorded raw to the left side of the stereo spectrum with a plate reverb on the far right of the stereo spectrum.  For most applications just put a plate reverb in your amp's FX loop.

 

Plate Reverb: Decay 5.6, Predelay 29ms, Low Cut 89Hx, High Cut 4.6kHz (don't be afraid to go higher), Mix 38%, Level 0.0dB.

 

I hope this helps you.  Thank you for watching my YouTube video.

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