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Wolfgang Van Halen named his favourite head and cab “Noel and Liam” after the Gallagher brothers
“It’s a British connection,” says Wolfie.
Image: Scott Legato / Getty Images
We’ve all heard of the Gallagher brothers – and the shots the pair have fired at each other over the years, but here’s a ‘Noel and Liam’ duo you probably haven’t heard of, courtesy of Wolfgang Van Halen.
In a new interview with Guitar World, the Mammoth WVH frontman discusses some of the gear involved in the band’s latest album Mammoth II, diving, in particular, into the main amp used on those guitar tracks we hear on the record.
“It was the EVH 5150 III 50-watt 6L6 that I used for the Taylor Hawkins Tribute show at Wembley Stadium,” says Wolfgang. “I ended up using it for both of the tribute shows – we did the second show at the LA Forum in the middle of recording. I named the 50-watt head Noel and the cabinet is Liam.”
The reason, as the rocker explains, is quite a bit less dramatic than one might imagine.
“Because I played them at Wembley and because Oasis played there,” he says. “It’s a British connection. And the cabinet makes the noise. [Laughs]”
“That amp/cabinet and the SA- 126 were the winning combo on this album. That’s also what I have with me on tour all the time, which is why we sound so good.”
Asked if EVH amp engineer James Brown had worked his magic on the 5150, Wolfgang reveals that it’s actually “straight up bone stock with no mods.”
“Anybody can buy the stock amp at a store and get that same thing that we had. It’s attainable,” he adds. “I call it ‘special’ because I used it at those tribute shows, and in the studio there’s a certain something special about the way it sounds and records. It just seems right, and it matches everything well.”
Also in the interview, the young Van Halen opens up about the surreal experience of using his dad’s old gear while recording Mammoth II, saying, “It was like having my dad right there with me”.