Blankenship VARIPLEX In Action....Clips!

[carbz]

Something must be wrong with me cause everytime a clip gets posted that supposedly "nails" the early VH sound IMO they all fall short including this one. Yet everyone else feels different. It just sounds like a typical high gain over fuzzed amp to me. Not bad but certainly not early VH. Where's the brown? It just doesn't sound rich and warm with that nice articulate high end sizzle that ed's had. Playing is good though.. Again back to the drawing-board.

[ericb]

Originally Posted by carbz

Something must be wrong with me cause everytime a clip gets posted that supposedly "nails" the early VH sound IMO they all fall short including this one. Yet everyone else feels different. It just sounds like a typical high gain over fuzzed amp to me. Not bad but certainly not early VH. Where's the brown? It just doesn't sound rich and warm with that nice articulate high end sizzle that ed's had. Playing is good though.. Again back to the drawing-board.

NOthing wrong with you. I feel exactly the same way . I posted on it at first that it's really easy for many guitarists to get close to that tone with MANY setups and then I deleted my posts , as I didn't want to offend anyone. But this time I'll leave this one up... I still say it's very easy to get close to that tone for many of us. The rest is in the fingers, forearms, the technique and the soul. This amp btw has killer features and I'm sure it's another great amp amongst many great amps out today . Btw, if you guys haven't heard John Z , the poster here, play, check out his skills.. I haven't heard him live, as I live on the wrong coast, but the clips on the internet are KILLER. (the guy who posted here, not the clips on this thread)

ERIC

[carbz]

Eric,

There are tons of great players out there. There is some dude Ralley 500 that posts on some forums. Another VH nut and he has gotten closer IMO then anyone I have heard. Sometimes I think the production of the VH records is a big reason his guitar sounds the way it does? Who knows, but no-one has really been able to capture that sound the way it sounds on any recording I have heard. Anyways I stubbled across an amp a few weeks ago on this forum called a "Sommatone". I went to his website and checked out his amps. I absolutely loved the overdrive clip. I wouldn't say its the Van Halen sound per say but its real "Brown" to my ears! It aint cheap though...

[John Ziegler]

Originally Posted by gomez1856

Sounds great John!
I swear I'm gonna make it out the Baked Potato soon to see ya!
Hope everything's going well.....
BTW... I'm playing at The Barrel in Sherman Oaks Sat night if you wanna swing by!
Rick

thanx for the kudos and head's up rick.
everything is rockin along as usual...monday nights are more slammin than ever!
also VOLTO! is hitting @ the baked potato in a few weeks too.
so i look forward to catching up with ya one of these days.

as far as the Variplex getting whatever kind of tone....
i've played it and heard it live and in the studio too.
i have owned and still own some awesome original marshall plexis...
and i think the Variplex an amazing sounding plexi-based amplfier that can get all sorts of wonderful sounds,
be it with the variac and/or the 2 channel options.
if YOU don't think some internet mp3 sounds like van halen and isn't "brown" enough....that's totally cool.
there's more than a ton of clips that i personally don't think sound like what others describe them to be.
just like people's playing skills and overall perceptions of things in general when it comes to art/music,
everyone''s ears are different too.
at the end of the day...it's just another little clip on the web,
simply something to possibly get someone's attention to delve further...
nothing more than that.
so if ya dig it, check it out....and rock on!

choice!

[ericb]

Originally Posted by John Ziegler

thanx for the kudos and head's up rick.
everything is rockin along as usual...monday nights are more slammin than ever!
also VOLTO! is hitting @ the baked potato in a few weeks too.
so i look forward to catching up with ya one of these days.

as far as the Variplex getting whatever kind of tone....
i've played it and heard it live and in the studio too.
i have owned and still own some awesome original marshall plexis...
and i think the Variplex an amazing sounding plexi-based amplfier that can get all sorts of wonderful sounds,
be it with the variac and/or the 2 channel options.
if YOU don't think some internet mp3 sounds like van halen and isn't "brown" enough....that's totally cool.
there's more than a ton of clips that i personally don't think sound like what others describe them to be.
just like people's playing skills and overall perceptions of things in general when it comes to art/music,
everyone''s ears are different too.
at the end of the day...it's just another little clip on the web,
simply something to possibly get someone's attention to delve further...
nothing more than that.
so if ya dig it, check it out....and rock on!

choice!

Great post.. If this amp was called the Eddie in a box clone, I'd take issue with it, but it's not.. We all can play loads of styles with those tones. THanks for the post and the clips

ERIC

[ericb]

Originally Posted by carbz

Eric,

There are tons of great players out there. There is some dude Ralley 500 that posts on some forums. Another VH nut and he has gotten closer IMO then anyone I have heard. Sometimes I think the production of the VH records is a big reason his guitar sounds the way it does? Who knows, but no-one has really been able to capture that sound the way it sounds on any recording I have heard. Anyways I stubbled across an amp a few weeks ago on this forum called a "Sommatone". I went to his website and checked out his amps. I absolutely loved the overdrive clip. I wouldn't say its the Van Halen sound per say but its real "Brown" to my ears! It aint cheap though...

I don't get impressed too easily with anything to do with an Eddie clone person or Eddie clone amp. I'm 46 , probably somewhere around Eddie's age, and he came out when I was in High School.. MANY MANY of my guitarist friends at that point became Eddie clones. Most of the barband guys in the early 80's around here were Eddie clones or even took him 1 step beyond. That's way old hat for me. I never became one ,as 1st of all he played everything OPPOSITE the styles I got raised on , i.e. Santana, Hendrix, Clapton, etc and then when Eddie came out, I tried my hardest to break all the styles I had adopted (by then they were very boring to me ) and since all my friends were sounding like Eddie, I put together my own style! Anyway, I'm sure this is another kickass amp and any of us can play many more styles than EVH-style on it! ERIC

[lastwinj]

nails it, or so close it doesnt matter.

[carbz]

Actually after listening to the clips a few more times it kind of sounds close to some of the live bootleg VH stuff out there but it seems to be a little flabby on the bottom end. Overall its probably one of if not the closest sounds around to his considering nothing else was used but the amp. If the bottom end was a little tighter it would be real real close. The same issue with the David Bray mod. Nice VH voicing but too flabby on the the bottom end. I know I am real picky........

[John Ziegler]

slap a paf in an ash bodied/maple neck strat-scale length guitar with a tremolo and i wonder what would happen to the so-called flabby bottom end of the clips and how close it would be then?!? (as if it really matters)
also, with a little EQ, would you hear that "flab" if there were drums and bass happeneing in the mix too?
anyone who records know that things in the mix sound WAY different than they are perceived when soloed by themselves.

i just think the amp sounds and plays great, that's why i shared here....
and personally i couldn't care less if it sounds like VH.
in fact, i told dave phillips(the performer of the clips) that he played too much damn halen!
but he also did throw in some montrose and zep!

at the end of the day...do you wanna be the tracer...or the artist?

[trainwrecker]

Originally Posted by carbz

Something must be wrong with me cause everytime a clip gets posted that supposedly "nails" the early VH sound IMO they all fall short including this one. Yet everyone else feels different. It just sounds like a typical high gain over fuzzed amp to me. Not bad but certainly not early VH. Where's the brown? It just doesn't sound rich and warm with that nice articulate high end sizzle that ed's had. Playing is good though.. Again back to the drawing-board.

I think the amp sounds fantastic but I'd have to agree with the above, it doesn't really capture early VH. To my ears his early tone was a very "clean" distortion that is really hard to replicate. And I can hear it on his live bootlegs from the early days as well, so I don't really think studio processing had a great deal to do with it, IMHO. The closest I've heard is VHoholic's tone, don't know if his clips are still around. In any event kudos for a great sounding amp in any event.

[carbz]

Originally Posted by John Ziegler

slap a paf in an ash bodied/maple neck strat-scale length guitar with a tremolo and i wonder what would happen to the so-called flabby bottom end of the clips and how close it would be then?!? (as if it really matters)
also, with a little EQ, would you hear that "flab" if there were drums and bass happeneing in the mix too?
anyone who records know that things in the mix sound WAY different than they are perceived when soloed by themselves.

i just think the amp sounds and plays great, that's why i shared here....
and personally i couldn't care less if it sounds like VH.
in fact, i told dave phillips(the performer of the clips) that he played too much damn halen!
but he also did throw in some montrose and zep!

at the end of the day...do you wanna be the tracer...or the artist?

John,

Apparently the intention of this amps design was to focus/nail on the VH thing just in the fact that it has a variac attatched to it. When you see Variac you have to automaticly think EVH. Corrcect me if I am wrong? I agree with you that the isolated guitar will sound different then with the other instruments in the mix. Like you said it doesn't matter as long as it sounds good to whoever is interested in buying one which is the bottom line. To me it just sounds a little mushier then ED's old sound. I purchased a splawn 2 years because of all the hype about how it nailed the VH thing and when I plugged it in I said "well it does sounds good" but VH, "I don't think so". Many of the guys on the splawn forum think different.

[carbz]

Originally Posted by trainwrecker

I think the amp sounds fantastic but I'd have to agree with the above, it doesn't really capture early VH. To my ears his early tone was a very "clean" distortion that is really hard to replicate. And I can hear it on his live bootlegs from the early days as well, so I don't really think studio processing had a great deal to do with it, IMHO. The closest I've heard is VHoholic's tone, don't know if his clips are still around. In any event kudos for a great sounding amp in any event.

I have heard most of VHoholic's clips and they do sound very good but again not nailing it per say. I can get a similar sound to his with my naylor amp which is a little smoother and more compressed then Eds was. I would say VHoholic has a better VH touch then anyone else I have heard. He certainly has the hands and would probably sound just like EVH if he played on his rig..

[drbob1]

Originally Posted by michael.e

Can one safely use a variac [within reason] on any amp?

M.E.

It's not a great idea if you're looking to "brown" out the sound-he talked about running the amp down to 90v, which should mean the heaters are running at 4.5v or so, not the best for tube life. Also means that voltages in the OT are off, not sure what that does. All in all, if you're interested in the concept I'd look at getting a London Power "Power Scaling" kit, much safer...

[TungstenAmp]

Originally Posted by drbob1

he talked about running the amp down to 90v, which should mean the heaters are running at 4.5v or so, not the best for tube life.

I was talking to Roy about this amp a few days ago. While the above would apply to 99% of amps out there, Roy has designed this amp to deliver a constant 6.3v filament voltage, totally independent of the variac setting. Pretty cool!

[sinasl1]

It's true, there are lots of ways to get that sound...

http://music.mp3lizard.com/petethorn/

Check out the "VH revised" clip I did.. I think it's pretty close....