What’s even more amazing is that the primary source of Ed’s phenomenal tone on Van Halen’s entire 2015 tour was a single amp head-an EVH 5150 IIIS. That signal path forms the core of Ed’s sound, which is subtly enhanced and given added body and dimension thanks to his wet/dry/wet setup where delay-processed signals are routed to 4x12 cabinets on the left and right. While the racks of gear at stage left-Ed’s side of the stage-look intimidating and complicated to the average music fan, Ed’s rig is brilliantly straightforward and simple, with a fundamental signal path that consists of guitar to pedals to half-stack amp. It’s very likely that the reason for that is because his sound is also the best it’s ever been, and thanks to the iron-clad reliability of his rig all he has to think about is playing.Įd’s guitar tech Tom Weber and Wolfgang’s bass tech Jim Survis-both experienced road pros who have worked on previous Van Halen tours as well as with numerous headlining acts for decades-both humbly comment that the rigs remained trouble-free for the entire tour, something that neither can recall ever happening before on tours with other artists. Van Halen fans who attended the band’s 2015 tour unanimously agreed that Ed’s playing is better than it’s ever been. As the Van Halen family-Ed on guitar, his son Wolfgang on bass, and brother Al on drums-roar into an instrumental version of “Light Up the Sky,” the entire backstage crew gathers to watch, and even the venue workers, who moments ago were hastily preparing for the evening’s events, stop in their tracks to listen.
This point is driven home during soundcheck for Van Halen’s show at New York’s Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.