Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love
Van Halen · Van Halen · 1978
The main riff is the Frankenstrat's single rewound Gibson PAF in the bridge position straight into a 1967/68 Marshall Super Lead with every knob on 10, tamed by a Variac at around 89 volts so the power tubes do the distorting. An Echoplex EP-3 adds a short slapback that makes the single guitar track sound bigger, and an MXR Flanger is stomped on just for the low-string fill at the end of each cycle. Tune down a half step, keep the mids up and the treble short of harsh, and play with the pick attack — the compression comes from the amp, not a pedal.
Where these numbers come from: the player said these settings themselves
Tuning
Eb standard (down a half step)
The record sits a half step (some sources say slightly less than a half step) below standard; the solo section was doubled with a cheap electric sitar, likely a Coral/Danelectro, which is not needed for the main riff.
Guitar
- "Frankenstrat" (Boogie Bodies body, Fender-style maple neck) · Rewound Gibson PAF (from an ES-335) · bridge pickup
Amp
Marshall 1959 Super Lead 100W (1967/68 plexi)
Eddie ran the amp with everything on 10 and fed it from a Variac at roughly 88–90V so the power tubes saturated at lower volume; the amp itself was essentially stock, despite his own earlier claims of Jose Arredondo mods. Total Guitar reports the Variac'd Super Lead driving an H&H power amp with the Echoplex EP-3 in between, while other accounts put the Echoplex simply in front of the amp — on a modern amp without a Variac, back volume/gain off to about 7–8 and keep mids up.
Pedals
- MXR Flanger · flanger · Manual, Width and Speed around 11–12 o'clock, Regen full; kicked on only for the low-string fill at the end of each riff cycle
- MXR Phase 90 (script logo) · phaser · Speed around 9 o'clock; on for the solo section, not the main riff
- Maestro/Echoplex EP-3 · tape echo (and always-on preamp boost) · About 300ms slapback, one to two repeats, low mix; preamp adds warmth and level even with echo off
Tone character
saturated power-tube crunch · forward upper mids · rolled-off top end · compressed, touch-sensitive attack · short slapback echo · flanged low-string accents
The riff is a two-finger Am/G arpeggio shape with a steady palm-muted picking hand, but the low-string turnaround needs clean staccato timing and a couple of pinch harmonics that have to speak on cue.
Want this on your own amp?
These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.
Adapt it to my gearSources
No published source — the settings below are estimated by ear.