Tone library / Van Halen / Ain't talkin bout love

Ain't talkin bout love amp settings — Line 6 Spider 2

The Van Halen guitar tone for “Ain't talkin bout love”, dialed in for a Line 6 Spider 2 with a PRS SE 245. Studio version, Van Halen I (1978)

Original rig

Frankenstrat (single bridge humbucker) → MXR Phase 90 → MXR Flanger → Marshall Super Lead 1959 Plexi (variac'd to ~90V, cranked)

Aggressive mid-forward crunch with vocal harmonic saturation, phaser swirl on rhythm, flanger sweep on bridge sections

Amp settings — Line 6 Spider 2

CHANNELCrunch (or 'Brit Hi Gain' model if available)

Knob	Setting (0–10)
Gain	7
Bass	4
Mid	7
Treble	6
Presence	5
Reverb	2
Master	5

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Guitar

PICKUPbridge TONE8 VOLUME10

Signal chain

01Spider 2 Built-in Phaser

Use the onboard modulation — set slow and subtle for the verse chug, this is the signature texture

Speed 3 · Depth 5

02MXR Phase 90 (RECOMMENDED — not currently owned)

RECOMMENDED — the Spider's built-in phaser gets you close, but a dedicated Phase 90 has the exact vocal sweep Eddie used

Speed 3

Why these settings

The Spider 2's modeling is voiced darker and more compressed than a real Plexi, so I dropped bass from 6 to 4 and pushed mids to 7 to recover that aggressive bark. Treble backed off to 6 because the Spider's digital highs get fizzy past 7. Your PRS 245 humbuckers are hotter than Eddie's hand-wound PAF-style pickup, so gain stays at 7 rather than pushing higher.

PRO TIPThe main riff's chunk comes from palm-muting right at the bridge saddles and attacking with downstrokes only — Eddie's right hand was practically on top of the strings. Roll your tone knob to 8 to tame the PRS's slightly brighter voicing and get that thick, vowel-like midrange.

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Song, artist and gear names are used to identify the tone being matched; ToneAdapt is not affiliated with or endorsed by the artists or manufacturers mentioned. Settings are AI-generated starting points — trust your ears.