Brown Sound Introduction notes

The Van Halen Brown Sound is one of the most sought after sounds in Rock guitar..  Many have the opinion that we at JFRocks.com have nailed the tone, and we prove that on the countless Van Halen-style based guitar lesson example tracks that we produce for our Van Halen-style guitar lessons, in particular our popular "Vh'izing Cover Songs" & "Vh'izing Original Songs" online guitar lesson series'. 

All that said, the Van Halen Brown Sound is a key element and obvious first step in sounding like Eddie Van Halen.  Let me first say that you don't need to go out and buy a bunch of expensive equipment or even have exactly what Eddie uses to get a really good VH Brown sound.  Just some basic equipment and some common sense analysis of what the Brown Sound actually is should be all you need.  Through some song examples (see right side of this page) and some basic EQ formulas I'm going to share some tips with you here on this page for dialing in a good Brown Sound.  I'm going to keep this page very simple and to the point, you can elaborate on your own.

Now as a disclaimer let me just say that the best I can do is offer you how I get the sound and ask you to keep in mind that there are many variables that affect one's guitar tone such as, the climate you live in, the strings you're using, the room you play in, yada yada the list goes on and on.  Any settings I give are simply suggestions and should be used as a "GUIDELINE" only.  Some tweaking of these settings will more than likely be required on your part.  With that, let's begin.  Also for those of you not familiar with my work at JFRocks.com over the past decade or my work in the entertainment industry over the past 2 decades there are a few song (mp3) links from JFRocks.com Van Halen-style guitar lesson content as proof of concept examples in the Vh-style song tracks section on the right hand side of this page.

Be sure to check out the Van Halen-style based guitar lessons on my main website.  In those lessons I teach you the style so that you can actually play like Eddie Van Halen, and hopefully incorporate some of his style into your own music and innovate off of it ideally.  It's not about actual Van Halen songs and you just playing VH covers, it's about the style.  As we've been proving for more than a decade at JFRocks.com, the Van Halen guitar style a great learning tool, it stands on its own and can be used to make your whammy bar attack, riffs, and solos even more expressive.

 Written by - Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino - JFRocks.com

** For the past decade JFRocks.com has been the internet's #1 Van Halen guitar instructional resource, attracting Van Halen guitar freaks by the 10's of Thousands each year who want to learn more than just how to play Van Halen songs, but rather gain a deep understanding of how Eddie plays so they can create and improvise using the style.  Beyond that and the point of the lessons is our never ending hope that students will innovate on Eddie's style with the knowledge they've gained.  Our fingers are crossed for the future of guitar.
 

Amplifier setup

I use a mixture of amps at JFRocks.com for the Van Halen-style guitar lesson tracks.  I use a classic Marshall JCM 800, and I also use the now very famous for its Brown Sound online a Crate GFX 212.  The GFX is a solid state amp which makes it better for the lower volumes used in recording, but not as great live as once you crank it much past 3 or 4 it loses a bit of its warmth.  Regardless of what type of amp you use the basic EQ settings given below should help you at least give you a good EQ foundation for your Van Halen Brown Sound.   Note that for the later Sammy era sound with Chorusing on it it's a good idea to raise up the mids a little bit beyond what's laid out below, which is more for the DLR era early VH tone, designed to be paired with the MXR Phase 90.

Bass EQ:  4 to 5 out of 10 ;  Treble EQ:  9 or 10 out of 10 ;  Mid EQ:  3.5 to 6 (depends on amp & guitar. 4 is a good start) ;

Presence:  4 to 6 out of 10 ;  Reverb:  Varies from 6 to 10 on most amps, the solos usually have more.
 

Guitar setup
 

• Hum-bucker pickups
  I used Duncan JB at the bridge and Duncan Jazz at the Neck.  I've been using them since the 80's and I believe that if it ain't broke don't fix it.  Really the Duncan JB rules for the Brown Sound in my book.
   

• Pure Nickel Strings
  The strings you choose to use are so freakin' important.  It never ceases to amaze me the strings people slap on their guitars just to save a buck, or because they like the pretty colors the packaging has.  It's a bit like putting econo-gas in a Ferrari and expecting to the get the full performance of the car.  I use Fender 150XL .009 1st string .040 6th string.  There are two sizes of 6th string, stay away from the .042 size for Van Halen applications.  Whatever brand you want to use is fine.  If you don't like Fender then buy another brand, it's really about player preference, but as far as strings go and the Van Halen Brown Sound, I highly suggest that you use PURE NICKEL, NOT NICKEL PLATED..  This is very important for getting the warmth you need for this sound...  For my money the inexpensive Fender 150XL strings that I use nail the tone perfectly on any guitar I put them on.  They are as far as I know the strings that Van Halen himself used to use back in the early days of the band.  That said, that's what I use and have been using as my main guitar string of choice for any and all types of music I play from Blues, to Jazz, to even Country stuff.  As a session player I have to do a wide variety of things and they're a damn good string and a very useful tip for anchoring your Van Halen Brown Sound.
   

• Floyd Rose
  Or some sort of double locking whammy bar system.  I prefer Floyds, and I prefer them to float, however it's not necessary for Van Halen.  In fact on his old Red and White Franken-strat the bridge actually doesn't float.  Note that I said, "I" prefer a floating bridge.  Never a bad idea to throw some Vai tricks in with your Van Halen.
   

• Remove the Tone Knob (Fact or Fiction?)
  Just a tip but I've found I get a fatter sound when I take away the load caused by the tone knob.  If you disagree or are not electronically inclined please DO NOT DO THIS!!  It's not a big deal or requirement of any kind.
   

• Pickups screwed into body (Do not misquote me)
  Now this is a myth that some claim I say screwing the pickups directly into the body of the guitar must be done for a good Brown sound.  I was reading some forum or blog I got a Google alert about some years ago, and someone as usual decided to misquote me either because they didn't understand what I said, or they can't read.  Either or, here's the deal.  The reality is I do screw the pickups directly into the wood of the infamous JFRocks.com White Custom Kramer.  I DO NOT do this because Eddie did it, or because I think it fattens the sound.  I do it because I don't have the mounting plates for my White Kramer and never have.  When I first got the guitar it was just a body and neck with no hardware, the routed out pickup slots in the body were fairly shallow so it was just an easy process to grab a couple screws and drill them into the body.  I suppose I could buy the mounting plates if I wanted to, but again if it ain't broke why fix it, plus I think the routing for the pickups is too shallow and was only begun, which means I would have to route the slots out deeper, and I'm a car guy, I'm not much for woodworking, nor am I very good at it.  Bottom line is the guitar sounds great, in fact I've had offers upwards of 10 Grand for it from JFRocks.com site fans, so other people obviously think it does too.  In the end my philosophy is always if it sounds good why screw with it.  The fact is screwing the pickups directly into the wood of your guitar body adds very little to the sound and isn't necessary, however it does tend to increase sustain a bit since the wood vibrations run through the pickup.  But as for fattening the sound, NO, not that I can tell..  I think the thicker than thick car paint and auto primer under layer that my White Kramer is painted with does more to fatten the sound than me having the pickups screwed into the body.  That thick paint adds a lot of warmth.  And this I know for a fact because I've played it with no paint, and a thin layer of paint, and in both of those instances it was nowhere near as warm as it is with its current car paint and primer setup.
  
  Guitar Detail of the JFRocks White Kramer I use for VH-style materials

Basic Bare-Bones Effects setup - (Just what's necessary for a great Brown Sound)

First off let's begin this section with a little MXR Phase 90 101 for those wondering what to buy.  In my opinion the best MXR Phase 90 to use for the VH Brown sound is the "Script Logo" model from the 70's.  The Script model as it's known will give you the best VH sweep.  The re-issue model sweeps a little too high for a true VH Brown Sound tone.  If you can't track one of these classics down on EBay or where ever, I suggest going with the EVH model and selecting the script mode using the button at the top of the pedal.  That said, the photo I have of the Phase 90 on this page is of the re-issue model as I cannot show any VH stripes without permission because they're trademarked.  The "Script" model will have the MXR logo and phase 90 written in script handwriting text, and it's usually a more burnt Orange color than the re-issue.  Script model photo
 

MXR PHASE 90:  Probably the most important effect for the early VH Brown Sound, a typical setting for the "Speed Knob" is either a 9 or 10 o'clock setting.  I typically will wire the Phase 90 into the FX loop of my amp so that it's after the pre-amp.  This is counter to what is conventionally done.  However, what this does is put the Phase 90 deeper in the mix of sound to give you the more authentic sounding Van Halen Phase 90, as opposed to putting it on the floor in front of the amp which gives more of a mushy sound which VH doesn't have.  Granted wiring the Phase 90 into the FX loop probably isn't how VH wired his up in the studio.  However, it's best to always keep in mind that at home you're trying to get the sound of a finished produced Van Halen studio recording..  That said, the real secret to the VH sound I get on recent JFRocks.com Van Halen style songs/guitar lessons is this little FX loop hookup suggestion.

As far as usage goes.  The Phase 90 in the early days of Van Halen was used as part of the sound for both rhythm and lead parts. However typically it was brought higher into the mix for the solos (leads) with additional reverb added to enhance the sound and effect.  When using the Phase 90 for VH rhythms be sure you don't turn the knob much if any past 25% of the way up, and also if possible for less mushy results for the home based guitarist who doesn't have a sound engineer standing by I highly recommend you try my earlier tip of running the Phase 90 through your amp's FX (effects) loop.  In my experience and as is proven on countless JFRocks.com VH-style guitar lesson example tracks it really does clean up the mushiness of sound often associated with those using the Phase 90 for VH application.  Either way you hook it up and which ever way works best with your setup, the Phase 90 is a MUST HAVE for a good early VH Brown Sound.
 

MXR Flanger:  The second most important effect for the VH Brown Sound.  Unlike the Phase 90 I DO NOT typically suggest Plugging the Flanger into your amp's FX Loop.  Based on my experience the Flanger seems to work much better plugged in on the floor in front of the amp as you would most other effects pedals...  The two main settings are the "Unchained" setting and the more standard setting used on tracks like "Amsterdam" and  "Hear about it Later"...  see settings below.  It should be noted that the Flanger is generally used for specific riffs or tricks and sometimes solos in the VH guitar style..  While it is used on some main rhythm parts of some songs, its primary use is to create a large fat flanging effect on specific riffs or song parts.  Early VH tab books show the Flanger on all the time.  What happened was the transcriber got it mixed up with the Phase 90.  The Flanger and Phase 90 can be used at the same time.  In fact for "Ain't talkin' bout love" the main intro muted arpeggio part has Phase 90 on it, and then the single note tie in riff uses Flanger.  For the best sound on that as far as sounding like the record I always leave the Phase 90 on and just kick the Flanger on for that little transition riff..  Aside from the stereo sweep which was added in mix-down on Van Halen 1, it'll sound dead on perfect. 

Now if you have an EVH model Flanger, it will have an EVH switch.  That switch is simply a quick pre-set for setting #1 the "Unchained" setting.  My settings below will match that pre-set nicely if you don't have an EVH model.  Setting #2 the "Standard Setting" is my choice for "Amsterdam" and "Hear about it later" type applications.

Setting 1:  The "Unchained" setting
Manual = 51%
Width =   48%
Speed =  52%
Regen =  60 to 75%  ( I usually just eyeball the knob, and it ends up being about 70%"ish" )


Setting 2:  Standard Rhythm playing setting
Manual = 51%
Width =   48%
Speed =  52%
Regen =  25 to 40% max.  ( I suggest down the middle of that range at 33% )
 

MXR Stereo Chorus:  Though not really a Van Halen effect as far as one that everyone who's into Van Halen has, I've found through my own tinkering that the MXR Stereo Chorus is phenomenal for dialing in an amazing VH tone.  It's a great substitute even for the expensive harmonizer as well.  This is the ideal Chorus effect for the Van Hagar era sound and it doesn't break the bank.  As I said it also makes a great substitute for VH-style use of a Harmonizer.  I've found the MXR Stereo Chorus to be fantastic for getting those big later era Balance and even Human's Being-like VH tones.  For this type of sound omit the MXR Phase 90.  Like the Phase 90 though I also recommend running the stereo Chorus in the FX Loop of your amp.  But again to each his own, what works for me and my specific guitar and amp setup may not be ideal for your setup, so try both ways and figure out what works best for you.  Either way the settings below are a great guideline Chorus setting for the Van Halen tone provided your amp EQ is set properly and your guitar is setup properly.

Standard setting:
Bass =       40%
Treb =         60%
Intensity =  40 to 60% - depends on the specific song sound
Width =       25 to 60% - depends on the specific song sound
Rate =        10 to 25% max.

** Obviously there are other effects that can be added such as some light overdrive if your amp's isn't great, or some compression, or even delay but I'm keeping it simple here.  What's laid out above is really the bare bones easy to configure recipe for a GREAT VH Brown Sound.
 

  JFRocks.com & Guitarist Jeff Fiorentino Van Halen style Music & Lesson Links