Wolfgang Van Halen and his band Mammoth WVH recently made their debut performance opening for Guns N’ Roses and, as it turns out, he took to the stage with one pretty impressive rig.
Not only was Wolfgang wielding a collection of gorgeous electric guitars for the gig – including a pair of ES-335s and a Wolfgang Custom – he was also blessed in the pedalboard department, revealing on social media that he was in fact using his late father’s own rig from 2012.
“Fun fact,” wrote Wolfgang on Twitter. “It was gonna take too long to build a pedalboard from scratch (because we started late in rehearsals) so my ‘board is the same one my dad had/made/used for the Cafe Wha? Show in 2012, because he needed a smaller one. Happy it’s with me.”
A close-up shot accompanying the tweets revealed a multitude of EVH-branded pedals on the 'board, including the MXR 5150 Chorus, MXR Flanger and MXR Phase 90.
These line up alongside two other EVH pedals – a Cry Baby wah pedal and an EVH-branded channel selector – as well as an EarthQuaker Devices Afterneath Enhanced Otherworldly Reverberator, Boss Digital Delay and Snark tuner.
A separate tweet revealed Wolfgang’s six-string choices for the four-month tour, and reported that he cycled between a Gibson ES-335 ‘59 Reissue, Gibson ES-335 Trini Lopez with a modified bridge, Wolfgang Custom and a yet-to-be-seen Stealth 5150 Series model, which Wolfgang says he “loves”.
The concert at which Eddie Van Halen debuted the streamlined rig was a surprise performance that occurred on January 5, 2012, at New York's ultra-compact Cafe Wha?, which preceded Van Halen’s A Different Kind of Truth tour that kicked off later that year.
EVH was joined onstage for the hour-long, super-intimate set by drummer Alex Van Halen and singer David Lee Roth, the latter of whom was about to release his first full studio album with the band since he left in 1985. A young Wolfgang Van Halen was also present to hammer home the basslines.
The rig sounded as good then as it did when Wolfgang pulled it out of hibernation for his own concert, as EVH used it to rattle through the raucous riffs of You Really Got Me, Ain’t Talkin’ 'Bout Love, Panama and Jump, which served as the set’s finale after the crowd joined in unison for a unanimous ‘Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!’ chant.
Not a bad 'board to take on tour, in fairness. Not bad at all.
