No. 0071978·hard-rock·5 blocks
Eruption
The 'brown sound' that changed rock guitar forever. Eddie Van Halen's tone on the debut Van Halen album is a Frankenstrat with a single humbucker through a Marshall Plexi 1959, reportedly powered through a variac to lower the voltage and achieve a thick, compressed, harmonically rich overdrive at manageable volumes. An MXR Phase 90 adds a subtle swirl. The result is a warm, singing sustain that is neither too clean nor too distorted — it sits in a magical sweet spot that responds to every nuance of Eddie's playing.
Van HalenSignal path · input → output · 8 blocksLive values · Line 6 Helix
Guitar
EVH Frankenstrat
Pickups
single
Tuning
bridge
Strings
standard
Volume Pedal
Deluxe Comp
Script Mod Phase
Brit Plexi Brt
4x12 Greenback 25
Dynamic Plate
Tilt
Volume Pedal
← Volume pedal
Pedal
100%
Deluxe Comp
← Light studio compression
Threshold
-32dB
Ratio
2:1
Knee
6dB
Attack
38s
Release
200s
Mix
40
Level
0dB
Script Mod Phase
← MXR Phase 90
Speed
0.5Hz
Mix
100
Brit Plexi Brt
← Marshall Super Lead 1959 (1977) powered through a Variac at ~85V
Drive
7
Bass
6.5
Mid
5.5
Treble
7
Presence
6.5
ChVol
6.5
Master
10
Bias
6.5
BiasX
5
Sag
8
Hum
5
Ripple
5.5
4x12 Greenback 25
← Marshall 4x12 with Celestion G12M-25 (Greenback) speakers
LowCut19.9Hz
HighCut20100Hz
Level
0dB
Pan
0.5
Delay
0
Dynamic Plate
← Subtle studio plate (Sunset Sound)
LowCut150Hz
HighCut8000Hz
Mix
15
Decay
1s
Level
0
PreDelay
20ms
BassFreq
100
BassBoost
0
VarDelayAmpl
0.5
Damping
4500
MatrFreq
0.3
Tilt
← Tilt EQ (global brightness)
Tilt
0.5
CenterFreq
1000Hz
Level
0
Engineer's note
File 007
The 'brown sound' that changed rock guitar forever. Eddie Van Halen's tone on the debut Van Halen album is a Frankenstrat with a single humbucker through a Marshall Plexi 1959, reportedly powered through a variac to lower the voltage and achieve a thick, compressed, harmonically rich overdrive at manageable volumes. An MXR Phase 90 adds a subtle swirl. The result is a warm, singing sustain that is neither too clean nor too distorted — it sits in a magical sweet spot that responds to every nuance of Eddie's playing.
— Eddie Van Halen
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