Evhgearguide
The Magic Marshall Plexi Amp
For the first eight albums, Ed relied on a 100-watt Marshall Super Lead. Speculation about its unique tone has never ceased – and EVH wasn’t keen on giving away his secrets. At one point he said it had been modified by Jose Arrendondo, but he later retracted this (though not before every guitarist in LA visited Arrendondo’s workshop). Amp guru John Suhr serviced it in the 90s. He said it was almost entirely stock, with minor variations
from the Plexi schematic that were not unusual for Marshalls of the time.
Dunlop Echoplex
EP-3 Delay
This tape unit gave 300ms of delay which, when run into the front of the amp with a single repeat, created the rhythmic echoes on 1978 single Ain’ttalkin’’bout Love. But its magic was its preamp, which warmed
the tone even when the effect was switched off.
Variac Variable Power Transformer
Ed once said that he used a Variac to increase voltage to his amp, but this will do nothing good for your tone and will likely blow your mains transformer. He later admitted using it to lower voltage, creating more power tube saturation at manageable volumes.
Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo
While Floyd Rose was developing his locking tremolo system, he brought prototypes to Eddie for feedback. The ‘bumblebee’ guitar pictured on Vanhalenii [1979] had an early Floyd Rose without fine tuners, which were Eddie’s idea. Ed was frustrated not to be named on the patent.
5150 Amp
As Ed tired of the Plexi’s tone, he tried hot-rodded Marshall designs from Suhr and Soldano. He ultimately developed the 5150 with Peavey (and later Fender), which boasts five preamp valves for vastly more gain and ‘American’ sounding 6L6 power valves.
MXR Phase 90
Most of the solos on Vanhalen [1978] are goosed by a script logo Phase 90, set at around 9 o’clock. The phasing sounds cool, but the real secret was how it boosted mid frequencies, helping solos stand out.
MXR 117 Flanger
In [1981 single] Unchained, EVH kicked on his flanger for the chugging low notes of the riff, and on Ain’t Talkin’’boutlove he uses it just to emphasise the C-B-C phrase. The EVH signature flanger has a button that reportedly gives Eddie’s exact settings.