I purchased a book by Guitar World enititled, 'Guitar World Presents The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time' a little while ago. The writers of this book seemed to me to be VERY partial to EVH, claiming that he revolutionized the way the guitar is played(which is actually correct) and said that he 'is responsible for the best damn tone ever to rock this earth'. Now I know that everything is subject to opinion and I myself disagree with Guitar World's statement. But being that this claim about EVH comes from a reputable source and guitar magazine and not by just another regular, average guitar fan, I wanted to know if any of you guys would agree with Guitar World's assesment about EVH's playing and about his guitar tone being 'the best to have ever rocked this earth'. Or do you think that they are off the mark on this one.

EVH totally changed guitar playing. What he was doing was phenomenal at the time and still is. He took from what Jimmy page was doing but actually played acurately unlike page who was very sloppy constantly.

There is no best guitar player though; it's subjective and nobody has the best 'tone'. I prefer eddie hazel although i think van halen have amazing instrumentals; too bad they didn;t have a good song writer.

He had a great tone, but it's linked to a time & style that is not in vogue anymore. It's super-processed. Nowadays a more raw tone is in style. His phaser sound is something you don't hear so much of anymore.

I totally agree with antichrist that "best tone" is all in the eye of the beholder, though.

Eddie's in a bad place right now in terms of appreciation. People will come around again and recognize his place in the guitar world, though.

I think Eddie's "brown sound" is what put him on the map (besides his technique). I always loved his tone from the 1st 6 lp's. Lots of gain but still clean enough to decipher his playing. Been thinking about buying that "EVH" MXR Phaser pedal.

SPYZFAN1 said:

What's up brutha Spyz?! I've had the MXR Phaser for years! The o.g. one, not the one with Eddie's name on it. I love that pedal. But, I've always evoked more of a Ernie Isley vibe when I use that pedal. U know, "Voyage to Atlantis" type of feel? But, I'm withcha, u know I adore Edddie. He was to the late 70's and 80's what Jimi was to the late 60's and 70's.

When I use the MXR Phaser on my leads, I ALWAYS combine it with my fave DOD SupraDistortion pedal. That pedal is one of the best when it comes to that warm sustain and controlled overdrive at the same time. It's not too fuzzy like a Big Muff. It's a warmer and smoother tone.

blackguitaristz said:

Lots of people have lost sight of that. The guy started a new revolution on the guitar.

The guitar tone I like (and would love to emulate) happens on Voodoo Chile.
Not overly processed or distorted but BIG, FAT and distinct. From the intro to the last growl.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

I totally agree, except for me that would be Stevie Ray's version

I'm talking strictly tone, though

Actually, did you even mean (Slight Return)?

NDRU said:

Nope, the jam with Steve Winwood and Jack Cassidy.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

His tone sounds different on that song. Deeper. Do you think he used a Gibson maybe?

NDRU said:

I never thought about it. Maybe he's not playing through a Marshall.
Just took for granted that it was one of his Strats.
There are certain licks that say Strat to me by the way they sound.

It is a thick full-bodied sound which is why I like it so much.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Now I'm curious; I'll give a listen soon. Did you ever find your copy of band Of Gypsies?

NDRU said:

I ordered (and received) fresh remastered copies of...



...the "Classics"


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

carlcranshaw said:

Wow is this bad. Was DLR to wasted to walk or sing in key?

PurpleJam said:

EVH has cited Clapton as his main influence and Jimmpy Page for getting him interested in tapping. To me, all the guitar rags just state the obvious but one has to remember that they are trying to sell magazines first and then help musicians second. They can have all of the opinions they want but what do YOU think about EVH?

theAudience said:

I'm listening right now, and I'm pretty sure I just heard tremelo, at least. But the tone still sounds different than his normal sound.
[Edited 1/30/07 9:56am]

Slave2daGroove said:

Excellent point. I have always enjoyed listening to Eddie, especially on the first few VH albums(the entire Roth era). For some reason, during the Hagar era and beyond, I just did not find Eddie's playing to be as exciting or memorable.

I had also read something that some guy wrote about Eddie, that his main guitar influence was really Jeff Beck. He said that Eddie tried to fool people into thinking that Clapton was his major influence so that guitar players and just fans in general would not be able to decipher and peg his style down to where they could succesfully imulate it themselves or to find out where his real influence came from. Now I really have no idea about how this guy came to his conclusion, and I suspect that he could very well be talking and spouting off some major BS. But I think that its an interesting theory to bring up in this discussion about EVH.

Whenever I hear Jeff Beck's solo on Rod Stewart's "Infatuation", I always think of EVH. Though Eddie always cites Clapton as his biggest influence, I hear a lot of Jeff and the late, great Tommy Bolin (especially with the whammy bar) in Ed's playing. I loved Van Halen's first 6 albums, though David Lee Roth sucked live. EVH is such a cool rhythm player as well.

theAudience said:

Eddie kramar did not do a good job with remastering. They are highly compressed with the dynnamics squashed; this is most apparant on AYE;

Slave2daGroove said:

Well, I posted that for the guitar tone.

But here's Dave talking in another context.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...sl20wNNyN0

Now THIS is bad.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...arch=halen
[Edited 1/30/07 10:43am]

EVH has the ultimate rock tone - you can hear that in the quality of the equipment associated with him, especially the 5150 amp, which is now a real standard amongst rock/metal players. Its just a badass amp, and Fender are shortly releasing the 5150 III

The Brown Sound was great, but his tone around F.U.C.K was the ultimate for me. If you check out the live Right Here, Right Now set they released around that time, the tone on Poundcake, Judgement Day, Pleasure Dome etc is just immense - mega gain, but still totally tight and punchy, with great string-to-string definition. That's with the Music Man Axis guitar, through the 5150 I. In the future, that will be regarded as a combination as legendary and fundamentally great as the 60s Strat thru a Marshall Plexi, or Rickenbacker thru an AC30

Whuzzup Brutha B??..Good to see you..that's sounds like a happenin' combo w/ the MXR Phaser and the DOD. The "Voyage" tone is in there??..hmmmmm.You of course know that's one of my favorite tones.