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Hear About It Later — Van Halen1 / 2
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Hear About It Later Riff Guitar Tone Settings — Van Halen

Van Halen · 1980s · rock

studio

Original Recording

Guitar
Frankenstrat (custom-built Strat-style, maple neck, single humbucker, Floyd Rose)
Pickups
Seymour Duncan Custom-wound PAF-style humbucker (bridge position, direct-mounted)
Amp
Marshall Super Lead 1959 100-watt (modded, variac, EL34s) into Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12M speakers
Pickup Position
Bridge pickup (single humbucker, direct-mounted, volume rolled down)

Studio recording, 1981, Fair Warning album. Clean intro/riff section. No evidence of live rig or later EVH/Peavey/5150 amps for this era. Frankenstrat with single bridge humbucker, volume knob only, no tone knob.

Amp Settings

Mids
7
Bass
6
Gain
0
Reverb
0.5
Treble
6.5
Presence
6

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Tone Character

  • glassy and bell-like
  • bright and articulate
  • percussive attack
  • dynamic and touch-sensitive
  • no audible breakup
  • tight, focused low end
  • slightly compressed from amp
  • dry, no ambience
  • single-coil-like clarity
  • crisp pick definition

Notes & Caveats

  • ⚠️Gain adjusted to 0 for clean tone
  • ⚠️No direct source gives exact amp knob settings for the clean intro/riff of 'Hear About It Later'; settings estimated based on typical Marshall Super Lead clean setup, era, and isolated track analysis.
  • ⚠️No evidence of pedals or amp effects (chorus, delay, reverb, etc.) used on the clean intro/riff; all effects inferred from audio.
  • ⚠️Frankenstrat has no tone knob; only volume control available.
  • ⚠️Some sources list later EVH amps (Peavey 5150, EVH 5150III) but these were not used in 1981 studio recordings.
  • ⚠️If new evidence of effects or alternate amp emerges, update accordingly.
  • ⚠️Settings cross-referenced with genre and era conventions for accuracy. Eddie Van Halen's 'Hear About It Later' riff tone is classic 'brown sound'—crunchy but not overly saturated, with forward mids, tight bass, and smooth treble. The 1981 era used a cranked Marshall with moderate gain, mids pushed for cut, and minimal reverb, matching the dry, punchy studio sound.

Sources