Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

A forum for discussing the Vypyr series amplifiers, Sanpera footswitches and share settings
Johnny Roxx
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Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Johnny Roxx » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:21 am

Well since I'm pretty much obsessed with tone (and this new amp) I decided to see how close the Vypyr 30 is to Eddie's original Plexi head. What I did was an A/B comparison on my PC with the early Van Halen demos from 1976-1977 and the samples I recorded with my amp yesterday. The reason I picked the early VH demos over the first LP is that his tone on the demos is pretty much just the head alone without much FX etc. It's a pure, clear recording of the original Plexi Head. So what I found is this;

The 6505 GREEN on the Vypyr when EQ'd correctly comes extremely close to the Plexi Head. It's amazing. I actually think the Vypyr sounded better and fuller when I listened to both back to back. The 6505 Red was way too hot to emulate the early Plexi tone though.. The Vypyr's "Plxi model" tone was very close too but I preferred the 6505 in the Vypyr to get that sound. It has more punch and balls to it. The key to getting that tone with the Vypyr is trial and error with the EQ section and also the gain. Ed's head did not have as much gain as people think, it was more in his picking attack and in his hands. Hope this little Plexi EVH review helps people in getting that tone. Here's a starting point;

6505 Green
Tb Scmr setting 1(minimum) & 5 (12 noon)
Pre Gain almost full
Low 1pm
Mid 11am
High 12 noon
Post Gain 1pm

RogStratPlayer
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Location: New Braunfels, TX

Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by RogStratPlayer » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:48 am

Hey Johnny those settings are awesome! I used them on my Vypyr 75 and oh man does it sound good! I added a little delay and reverb (a la "aint talking bout love"), and tweaked the eq just a little, and I have to say you've nailed the tone. I would've never thought to use the 6505 green with tube screamer to get that tone.

thanks for sharing!

-Rog

Johnny Roxx
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Johnny Roxx » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:15 pm

RogStratPlayer wrote:Hey Johnny those settings are awesome! I used them on my Vypyr 75 and oh man does it sound good! I added a little delay and reverb (a la "aint talking bout love"), and tweaked the eq just a little, and I have to say you've nailed the tone. I would've never thought to use the 6505 green with tube screamer to get that tone.

thanks for sharing!

-Rog
Thanks man! I've spent a lot of time over the years sitting in front of my 4X12 cab each time I get a new head, tweaking the tones etc. Haaaa! I actually do that cause that's what the microphone is going to hear. I added some delay and reverb to that setting as well and it's damn near close if not better than the VH1 1978 tone. On the early demos he has (what seems like) way less gain. I had to adjust the pre-gain on the Vypyr to around 12 noon to get it.. I LOVE the 6505 green sound. The Tube Screamer just gives it a little more "OOMPH" and added mids it needed to achieve Ed's old tone. Glad you like it!

Another note; I just A/B'd the Vypyr 30 with my Hughes & Kettner Matrix solid state head. The Vypyr blows it into the water! and I like the HK stuff a lot.. Here is my list of gear;

EVH 5150 III head
Peavey Vypyr 30
Hughes & Kettner Matrix 100 head
Laney 2x12 cab
Vintage Celestion 30 - 4X12 cab (1986 speakers)
Custom 4X12 cab with standard Celestion (1983) 30 watt speakers
3 OLP guitars with Duncan JB's in 2 and Dimarzio ToneZone in 3rd
BC Rich Warbeast w Duncan JB
BC Rich Avenge SOB w/ Duncan JB
Washburn Idol guitar completely stock
Pedal board with various stuff, Digidelay, Phase 90, Tuner, Boss SD-1
Alesis MicroVerb used in FX Loop of EVH 5150 III

D-String
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by D-String » Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:14 pm

Hey, this sounds pretty dead on. Thanks for posting!

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drinsanity
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by drinsanity » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:10 pm

Great call on this one. Even the default settings on the 6505 Green have an early VH vibe to them.
Delta Blues 210
Vypyr 75 (w/Hellatone 60)
Sanpera II

Johnny Roxx
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Johnny Roxx » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:25 am

I agree! I like the 6505 green by itself too. That's actually my preset #1. My preset #2 is the 6505 green w/ the Tb scrmr. Both of those sound the best to my ears. Love the plexi model too. The XXX, the JSX, Rec etc ALL sound amazing but they are too "Metal" for what I'm doing. Nice to have them ontap though. Most versatile amp ever!

Irish 120Tuber
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Irish 120Tuber » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:22 am

Very nice tone, love it bro thx for shari ng

jgilvey
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by jgilvey » Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:05 pm

No phaser?

Johnny Roxx
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Johnny Roxx » Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:08 pm

jgilvey wrote:No phaser?
Sure, you can add it but I bet it won't sound like a Phase 90. Might come close though. The settings I gave are for the TONE of the original Plexi head Ed used in the early days.. not the effects

jgilvey
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by jgilvey » Thu Mar 05, 2009 6:47 pm

Gotcha...thanks for figuring this out! If you come up with a cool phaser setting I'd love to hear it. :) Wonder what they modeled their phaser on?

snowjay
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by snowjay » Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:51 am

Just last night I was playing with my Vypyr 15 (not comparing to anything just going from memory and what sounded good with my playing) and came up with almost these exact settings. My differences are pregain is just over 12noon, low around 11-12 and mids 12-1 and it sounded pretty good to me and I'm bypassing the effects for now. When I get home tonight I'll have to try some of these other settings.

For months I had been trying to work with the 6505 RED channel but it was always just too noisy for my playing even with the pregain backed off and I never really gave the GREEN channel much of a chance until last night. It instantly became my #1 preset.

Johnny Roxx
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by Johnny Roxx » Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:03 am

Same here. I've been messing around with the red channel for some time now to no avail.. It's just too noisy no matter what I do with it. The green channel is amazing though and I use it the most out of any of the amp models. I'm gonna try your settings later today.
snowjay wrote:Just last night I was playing with my Vypyr 15 (not comparing to anything just going from memory and what sounded good with my playing) and came up with almost these exact settings. My differences are pregain is just over 12noon, low around 11-12 and mids 12-1 and it sounded pretty good to me and I'm bypassing the effects for now. When I get home tonight I'll have to try some of these other settings.

For months I had been trying to work with the 6505 RED channel but it was always just too noisy for my playing even with the pregain backed off and I never really gave the GREEN channel much of a chance until last night. It instantly became my #1 preset.

jds22
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by jds22 » Thu Mar 26, 2009 10:32 am

jgilvey wrote:No phaser?
I have A/Bd my EVH MXR90 with the Vyp and it gets very close.

On the Vyp use the stompbox, knob 1 around 9 o'clock, knob 2 around noon. It's very close to the MXR.

Heading down to my basement right now to try those 6505 settings.

snowjay
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by snowjay » Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:51 pm

Johnny Roxx wrote:Same here. I've been messing around with the red channel for some time now to no avail.. It's just too noisy no matter what I do with it. The green channel is amazing though and I use it the most out of any of the amp models. I'm gonna try your settings later today.
I thought it was me since I've only been playing a year and am still finding my technique (it still is probably some of that as well).

I tried the tube screamer settings tonight. I had to back of the mids when I used that and also turned down the drive a little for my playing, but it sounded good and a little fuller. It's going to be my preset #2. :D

jds22
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Re: Eddie's Plexi tone Vypyr 30

Post by jds22 » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:35 am

Ok I tried the settings. Very nice. Plenty of gain without being over the top and the TS really addes some tightness to the low end.

Now the problem I ran into is this, since I'm using the TS I can't use the phase or flange stompbox when needed. :evil:

So what I did was tweak the 6505 red channel to get is sounding as close as possible to the 6505 green + TS. It's not quite the same, that TS really tightens things up, but it's pretty close.

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