Eddie Van Halen's Pedals and How YOU Can Use Them

Among his other unforgettable traits and talents, the late Edward Van Halen is best known for his scintillating solos and unbelievably rich and dynamic tone. In this video, Sweetwater‘s Nick Bowcott sits down with an assortment of EVH-approved pedals from MXR and Dunlop, guaranteed to infuse your sound with the essence and aura of one of music history‘s legendary hard rockers.

0:00 – Intro
2:24 – MXR EVH Phase 90 pedal
3:35 – Edward's Phase 90 setting
6:07 – Why EVH liked the Script logo MXR Phase 90 so much
7:25 – MXR EVH Flanger
10:38 – MXR EVH 5150 Chorus pedal
12:06 – Dunlop EVH Cry Baby Wah
13:08 – MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive pedal
15:14 –Reverb - an important ingredient on "Van Halen I"
16:47 – Echo/Delay - another important ingredient in EVH's sonic recipe
19:12 – Wrap-up & Ed's steak analogy
20:34 – Thanks for watching
20:54 – Play-out

#Sweetwater #MXR #Dunlop

[sweetwater]

Channel your inner EVH or create a whole new sound, all of the essential building blocks are here! Push the auditory envelope with more pedals like these by hitting that subscribe button!

[edwardglyons]

Timing couldn’t be better. I’m just about to assemble my pedal board with these exact EVH pedals. Thanks heaps!

[BlackCatBonz]

Nick, I just want to tell you that you are one of my favourite guitar players. I listen to the entire Rock You to Hell album from front to back about 4 times a month. You have an amazing ability to tell a story with a solo that many guys do not.

[nlrproductions]

Just thinking about it. Eddie in the early days wanted to keep his tone and tricks secret, just look at the frankenstrat going from the black and white to the iconic red, black and white look. When these pedals came out, I wondered if Eddie giving up the ghost in a way to the fans. The last great gift if you will. Eddie was a great guitar player and I miss him. Thank you EVH!!

[JohnnyBeane]

Edward is the greatest!!! Love the Dunlop line of EVH effects!!!

[howUdoin]

Nick, once again, you hit it out of the ballpark!!!! As always, I thoroughly enjoyed this video!! Being such a huge Eddie fan myself, I definitely want to go out and buy these pedals immediately!!! Thanks again!!

[AdventureswithRoger]

I love Nick’s videos! I too lived the 80’s/90’s golden age of hard rock, and could absolutely identify with trying to nail Ed’s tone.

Back in the day, I read the guitar magazines (there was no internet), and found Ed was using a Phase 90: first pedal I bought after a distortion pedal. But it didn’t sound right. It was a block logo instead of script, and it was great for Nazareth’s “Love Hurts”, but nothing Vanhalen. The block logo phase 90 is not subtle at all.

I own the MXR Echoplex, and yes, it belongs in front of the amp. I also own the anniversary red (instead of white) EVH flanger and also bought the EVH chorus when it came out. It’s a good chorus, but it wasn’t doing much more than the modulation I already had. For a fact, no guitar stores ever stock them, so all you can do is buy one and try it, to see if it gets you where you wanna go. On Eds last pedal board, that I saw at least, was a light blue MXR Chorus.

The one pedal missing, that any serious Vanhalen follower should have, is a Mooer Pitch Box (MPS1). Set on -2 detune, it nails the Hagar era sound that I could never figure out. It’s a jewel at around $56 on eBay. I don’t know how that little mini pedal recreates that wide sounding effect with only one speaker from my combo.

To recreate the first VH album style reverb, I use an MXR Reverb pedal. They aren’t cheap, but do the job and aren’t a one trick pony. You get a VH jam space that compliments the echoplex delay, a cathedral size space for intimate solos, and it does this amazing synth-like fill that takes arpeggios to the next level.

[bardicdad]

Thank you for the wonderful review of Eddie’s sound.

[brianwatson]

Love Nick Bowcott's demo's he's a class act ! 👍

[josephlarson]

This is the best video I’ve seen on pedal order. For Christmas my wife got me the last two pedals I needed. The chorus and the echoplex. Thank you for the details.

[DukeHard]

I really appreciate the effort that went into this video.

[CollectingwithCool]

that book down by the white guitar on the left is an amazing read...as I was reading it I would play the songs they were talking about and it played out like a soundtrack...came to tears several times and saw a more human side of a lot of the guys involved in VH...nobody is perfect but this book felt like a fitting final note to Edward, the man, the musical genius, and the gear innovator who loved to destroy things to get what he wanted out of them. I will forever be grateful for having his music, amp, and guitars...you don't have to like VH songs but Ed deserves all the credit he gets.

[simply]

Not an EVH pedal, but try a Eventide Micropitch or Boss PS-6 to get some Van Hagar "Balance" tones with the detune feature with a bit of dual staggered delay.

[TheKitchenerLeslie]

The last album and his use of the whammy pedal is sadly overlooked. I really love that album -- it was like he was on the verge of a new level.

[mattbrumit]

I found myself wanting to like this video about 5x in the course of watching it. I wish this guy did all the demos. Well done.

[qwertyytrewq]

Can’t remember if I commented already but thanks for this video Nick. I loved it. And I go back and refer to it constantly.

[Krullmatic]

When Ed did the hand rubbing on Atomic Punk, he didn't rub it faster at the one part. He had is delay on a fast slapback, and clicked it off and on accordingly. I saw it in a Music is Win video, where Tyler talks about and demonstrates that. No wonder I had trouble playing Eddie's music. He only used an effect for a few seconds in between chord changes a lot of the times. Amazing!

[CorvetteStingRayLane]

Awesome information about the pedals that Ed used. Thank you very much!

[ER-yqlc]

"I'm guilty of doing that" LOL I've been listening to Best of Grim Reaper this week and it seems like every solo starts off with a dive bomb! Love it! Interesting to see the features added to the EVH pedals over the standard offerings, I think many of these would be useful on any kind of music.

[Goober_]

A few days ago I bought a Phase 90 and it's perfect for Van Halen tone even though it's the only pedal I have