# Need good "soloing" distortion



## goose (Jul 8, 2007)

hey, so if you have nothing but a big muff, and you wanna get a distortion that gives you the ability to do more solid sounding vanhalen soloing what pedal do you buy? please help. thankyou


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

You want a pedal to give you the sound of Van Halen? Not gonna' happen, the infamous 'brown sound' is in the amp. 

The "gives you the ability to do more solid sounding vanhalen soloing" confused me... a pedal won't give you the 'ability' to do Van Halen solos... but the first album was full of reverb if that's what you mean.

EVH mostly does legato, so are you saying the notes don't come out clearly? That's a case of improving technique...


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## famouspogs (Jun 9, 2006)

real question is why you would want to play like van halen. slower than most shredders, musically not very great and he was pretty sloppy live.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

There was a guy on this fourm selling a 'Real Tube' pedal (with proceeds going towards cancer research), but I couldn't find the link.

I have a real tube II preamp, and it will do almost anything from the 60's to hardcore metal. Very versatile so if your tastes change over time, you can dabble into another sound.


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

famouspogs said:


> real question is why you would want to play like van halen. slower than most shredders, musically not very great and he was pretty sloppy live.


His legato chops are pretty decent... other then that he's not much in the lead department. Some of his rhythms are pretty out there, but I love 'em. His tone is like no other... godly.


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## hoser (Feb 2, 2006)

try a ts-9
I've used one for years for lead.


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## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

famouspogs said:


> real question is why you would want to play like van halen. slower than most shredders, musically not very great and he was pretty sloppy live.


 When you get your own signature equipment and make tens of millions of dollars from your music..........then........ and only then will I stop laughing at this comment. Goose asked a question and you tear apart a guitarist that you will never come close to accomplishing what he did with guitar and music?


Anyways goose, Violation is kinda right. The brown sound even eludes Eddie today? Get the new Fender 5150 III and you will be 95% there! 
As far as pedals go, I have a Jekyl and Hyde pedal that can do a creamier smoother gain that sounds pretty good for Van Halen and I've heard good things about the Marshall Guvnernor but I've never tried it.


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## peter benn (Mar 29, 2007)

Maybe the left channel of a blonde Bassman.... ?


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## goose (Jul 8, 2007)

okay alow me to elaborate. i never said i wanna sound like van halen. or atleast thats not what i meant. actually, i personally have a jekyll and hyde, when i mix both channels together, it works great for that kind of soloing (doesnt sound like it, it just works). my buddy has got just a big muff for his main distortion. obviously dynamic solos arent going to really work there right? im going to buy him the kind of pedal that will help him achieve this for his b-day, no need to sound like van halen, just able to play solid sounding solos. this actually isnt about evh, my buddy just wants to solo properly! 

btw, eddie rules.


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

goose said:


> okay alow me to elaborate. i never said i wanna sound like van halen. or atleast thats not what i meant. actually, i personally have a jekyll and hyde, when i mix both channels together, it works great for that kind of soloing (doesnt sound like it, it just works). my buddy has got just a big muff for his main distortion. obviously dynamic solos arent going to really work there right? im going to buy him the kind of pedal that will help him achieve this for his b-day, no need to sound like van halen, just able to play solid sounding solos. this actually isnt about evh, my buddy just wants to solo properly!
> 
> btw, eddie rules.


I still don't get it, why won't a Big Muff work for solos? Gain shouldn't make a difference if you have good technique... but if for some reason he still needs more gain just get an overdrive pedal and use with the Big Muff.

Mixing two distortion pedals will likely give you mud and sound terrible... hell, even mixing the overdrive and distortion will probably sound pretty bad, lol. Overdrive pedal + tube amps overdrive = yummy.


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

*"You want the brown sound?"*

You want the brown sound? Eddie did it with Plexi Marshalls that had lower than usual plate voltages on the power tubes. When he got the Peavey endorsement for the 5150 I suspect he still ran his modified Marshall.

He had spread the rumour that he used a Variac to lower the line voltage into the amp but that was just yanking everyone's chain. You can't lower the power cord voltage without causing other problems inside the amp.

Anyhow, if you want that type of sound find yourself a Traynor YVM1 tube mixer/PA amp and bring it to me to mod. You'll still have to practice on your fingering but the amp will bring you VERY close!

More than that I'm not tellling! Ask Eddie!:smile:

:food-smiley-004:


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

5150/6505 can do it pretty good, you can get it with the Genz Benz El Diablo too... there's a video of it on YouTube somewhere I think.


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## goose (Jul 8, 2007)

damn it! i dont want the brown sound!


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## david henman (Feb 3, 2006)

famouspogs said:


> real question is why you would want to play like van halen. slower than most shredders, musically not very great and he was pretty sloppy live.


...unlike the vast majority of shredders, eddie:

1. can play excellent rhythm
2. is innovative
3. knows when to shut up and let the song breathe
4. has killer tone

-dh


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2007)

david henman said:


> ...unlike the vast majority of shredders, eddie:
> 
> 1. can play excellent rhythm
> 2. is innovative
> ...


+1. Even the radio-friendly stuff like Jump is slippery as hell and just right in the pocket.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

The secret to a good solo tone for shred is digital delay. Of course its set very low so you dont know its there, but it thickens up everything if you set it up properly.........


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## goose (Jul 8, 2007)

god... i wish i had never mentioned vanhalen..... thanks to those few of you who actually did help though


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## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

goose said:


> god... i wish i had never mentioned vanhalen..... thanks to those few of you who actually did help though


Ha ha! 

What kind of amp is your friend using?


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## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

Agreed on Van Halen, awesome player, leads were perfect on the early stuff and rythmically he was always "fun and greasy" which I love. Great tone too. As for his lead skills, they don't blow me away but they were some fine chops no doubt about it. As for sloppiness live, most people are when they have had a few lines of coc in them, half a bottle of jack, and no sleep. Stones

And yeah, all those guys love to add delay to their lead tone.. you need it.. also masks a bit of sloppiness.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

Kapo_Polenton said:


> And yeah, all those guys love to add delay to their lead tone.. you need it.. also masks a bit of sloppiness.


But then shredders run the signal thru a frequency delay which magnifies all their mistakes, and thats another part of the shred tone. There aint no masking in shred........


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## Robboman (Oct 14, 2006)

goose said:


> ...the ability to do more solid sounding vanhalen soloing what pedal do you buy? please help. thankyou


Buy a compressor pedal. Put a nice comp in front of the Big Muff and dial it in. No, this won't get the "brown sound", but you didn't ask for that... you asked for "solid sounding vanhalen soloing". If two-handed tapping is involved, you want the tapped notes to be almost as loud as the picked notes. Compression can do that.


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## erikm5150 (Mar 3, 2006)

get a MI audio crunch box


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## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

well I must say....I love my visualsound jekyll and hyde...


when you engage both sides, you have an amazing soloing distortion which lets you sustain for a very long time.


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Delay... you play fast enough it just sounds like you're harmonizing notes. So you drop the delay time and it won't really make a difference in the tone (ask Yngwie!). Only time I use delay is if I'm playing 8th notes and I want them to sound like 16th notes... like playing with the volume knob at the same time. 

Covering mistakes... the only way is if you pile on the reverb, which your tone then goes to shit (MAB anyone? Lol). Delay won't do it, it'll just repeat the mistake.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

If you pile on reverb, you wont hide mistakes. Show us some hidden Dick Dale mistakes...............


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## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Dick Dale... surf music? Pretty much all tremolo picking? Wow... you can really mess up there... 

I know Yngwie has said he'll add some reverb to his live tone to cover up simple mistakes. Example being when he does legato, though rare, he's said he'll accidently pull off too hard and hit the string below it and it'll give it that annoying muted sound. Dimebag Darrell said the exact same thing... and his leads were more often then not, all legato. I'm sure that's the reason MAB did/does it too... just listen to '2x Again', ton of reverb when he played it live.

I just turned it on, even a fair amount on the original recording.


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2007)

Robboman said:


> Buy a compressor pedal. Put a nice comp in front of the Big Muff and dial it in. No, this won't get the "brown sound", but you didn't ask for that... you asked for "solid sounding vanhalen soloing". If two-handed tapping is involved, you want the tapped notes to be almost as loud as the picked notes. Compression can do that.


I second the compressor but try it after your OD. Whole new world of singing sustain.


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## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

I think compressors sound great but have never owned one fearing that i would become too reliant on it and how it is in fact easier to use it to mask mistakes in picking attack.. a good example for me is how Yngwie's tonehas gone to the dogs since he began using more of it... he was great 1980 to say 89..and then it all went to $hit... maybe the tone changes or same ol harmonic minor shred without purpose. He wore great shirts though! like an aristocratic pirate ARRRRRRRR


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Kapo_Polenton said:


> ... he was great 1980 to say 89..and then it all went to $hit...


I don't think so, just listen to this. :wink:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NK25tqXSdqI


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## Kapo_Polenton (Jun 20, 2007)

lol, yeah seen that one and the Petrucci one.. classic stuff! (because it is sooooo true) :bow:


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

you want a good liquid lead tone?

not a ton of gain, a fair amount of mids, and the neck pickup (or a nice blend of neck and bridge if you have LP-style controls).

having an amp up to the task helps too, probably a bit more than pedals . a touch of reverb, delay, and chorus might not hurt either


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