Van Halen in SA

Haven't posted for a while... I was pretty busy walking back from the Van Halen show in Vegas... Just to think. I must a took a wrong turn somewhere in West Texas.. Marfa, I think... Anyway, I ended up walkin' in LA for a while.... So I thought I'd do the Forest Gump thing & you know what... I ran & made it back home to SA Town just in time to score a couple more Van Halen tickets for the San Antonio show... and they were again fantastic!!! Not too surprising coming from a longtime Van Halen follower, but I guess you knew that cause I made this blog for the reunion. Anyway, Being that this was my second time seeing them I kinda knew the set by heart… As in the Vegas show Roth came out again w/ this big grin from ear to ear… He rapped about how he used to walk the streets of Vegas in the past & how he knew Vegas like the top of his mouth... " Roth said, "I Even Worked here in the MGM hotel.." where the show was held "& I even Got Fired Once.." He looked over to a guy standing in the front row & asked.. Where did you get fired??? Burger King. ???..." Anyway, back to the SA Show.. This time I was sittin' a lot closer. I scored a couple face value tickets by luck {Craigslist} & went w/ Ricko.. a good friend of mine. We had a freakin' blast... Wolfie was all business most of the show until Roth started messin’ w/ him.. Introducing him as, "The Meistro on the Bass"... I couldn’t wait to hear Ed’s solo & that was a big surprise.. Instead of the same intro solo.. He started w/ Spanish fly. What a delight. Everyone in the crowd stood the whole show.. showin’ Van Halen just how freakin’ happy we were to see them again.. 22 years long.. what a wait…

All members took solos.. Roth did his blue light special, “Ice Cream Man”…

Sin City - Vegas - Here I Is...

Sin City"... a term referred by the band AC/DC... as sung by the late Bon Scot... I'm goin' down.... to Sin City... I'm gonna win.. in Sin City... WIN I DID...

Well my friends. The day has come where I myself will be in the same room as Van Halen. I'm seeing Van Halen in Las Vegas. What a winning pair. Roth in the city of lights.. Eddie smokin' them cigarettes like he 's got another tongue... Well the day has come.

What is "Brown Sound"??? a dude aske me... Here it is Defined.

The brown sound is a legendary electric guitar distortion tone that musicians try to emulate using various effects pedals, tube amplifiers and modeling amplifiers. The term was coined by guitarist Eddie Van Halen to describe the sound of Alex Van Halen's snare drum, which he then attempted to emulate with his 100-watt Marshall amplifier running at full volume. Eddie would use a variac (a device that controls voltage levels) and run it at about 90 volts ac to the power input of the Marshall amp (normally the amp would have 120 volts input in the US; although the older Marshalls like Eddie's were designed in Europe with a 110 volt input rating)this allowed Eddie to lower the voltage input to his Marshall while allowing him to turn the amplifier's volume knob up all the way, this saturated the output tubes, without distorting the preamp tubes, and lowered the stress on the amplifier. Eddie would also use a dummy load on the amp output instead of going right to the speakers, then he would add his effects pedals (Eddie found the effects performed better this way) and then run the effects into a power amp usually an H&H V800 MOS-FET, then to speakers. He would set his Marshall Amp output resistance at 8 ohms and the dummy load at 20 ohms lowering the stress on the Marshall amp (the Marshall amp basically became one powerful preamp). This all helped to create his brown sound in conjunction with the single PAF pick-up and a high resistance volume pot he installed, without a tone control. Of course this was mainly his recording set-up; Eddies live setup was a little different. More than the appropriate number of user-submitted product reviews at the well known musician review websites claim that product X can replicate the Brown Sound perfectly.

Sources of the brown sound are frequently speculated upon, from the pickup Van Halen used on his "frankenstrat" guitar, possible modifications to the amplifier for more preamp gain, additional distortion from the phase 90 pedal, or simply studio trickery. However; Eddie admitted years later that the amp modification story was made up by him to increase his buddies repair business. No real modifications were done to his Marshall amp except once in a while Eddie would use a different rated output tube(s) that would saturate faster. Eddie applied the variac, dummy load, and power amp, along with his modifications to the guitar, and a few effects to get his Brown Sound. It should be noted that older Marshall Amps had a distinct sound to begin with and most guitarist used a lot of treble in the sound where Eddie did not.

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Who is the real Van Halen????

I love Van Halen! But I keep asking my self why is this tour taking place. Who is the real Van en??? Why David Lee Roth, Wolf Gang but not Sammy or Mike Anthony???? Taking a musician approach is this all about money or was Lee Roth the best prodigy to best channel Van Halen's artistic work out????

Whats wrong with Wolfie ???

Ever since Wolfgang was born I'm sure Eddie has always dreamed of seeing him up there on stage performing by his side... Well folks... that dream is now realty. You can see he's fillin' the role and shoes of Mike Anthony. Not too bad of a replacement. & yes at first... I was like most Van Halen fans disappointed Mike wasn't going on this tour joining Van Halen, but I'm just goin' with it to see what can develop.... So far, I'm seeing that it ain't that bad of a deal.

Now, that Wolf is pretty good up there let's see what kind of new music they can write together... With the young age & thought of Wolfie & the genius of Eddie... Roth doin' his Blusey riffs and a few WHaaa AAAhhhs now and then... The heavy backbone beat of Alex I think their new music will be pretty damm interesting...

In retrospect, Endless day & night sessions preparing during his Eddie's Rehab period. Wolf has gotten some pretty good instruction.. Just as Eddie did with early piano lessons and jam session with his dad.

Reunion Talk...

The Van Halen get together, AKA...Reunion is pretty special.... I went to a class reunion tailgater, and it was really great. They played some Van Halen Tunes, Police, & even Black Sabbath. I was having the time of my life.. I yelled, "Play Black Sabbath at 78 Speed MAN!!!!!..." Everybody
just rolled laughin'....

Van Halen Poll

Well the Van Halen Poll here on this blog is taking shape... The first Van Halen Band (Ed, Alex, Roth , & Mike) seems to be taking a large lead. I'm not surprised.. That was my pick. Here's the results so far. There is still 336 days left to vote.

*Question Asked: "Which Van Halen Group Do you think was the best?"

Results so far:

Eddie, David Lee Roth, Michael, Alex	29 (69%)
Eddie, Sammy, Michael, Alex	6 (14%)
Eddie, Gary Cherone, Michael, Alex	2 (4%)
Eddie, David Lee Roth, Wolf, Alex	5 (11%)

Vote on this poll
Votes so far: 42
Days left to vote: 336

If you haven't voted yet. See the Poll on the top upper right column. Thanks for everyone who has voted so far.