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Eddie Van Halen didn't make any compromises when it came to gear that bore his 'EVH' brand, and he felt strongly that his name always be associated with gear that would last.
Eddie was a notorious tinkerer with his guitars and amplifiers long before he became famous. Once he had experts and resources at his disposal, Eddie became even more comprehensive with the ways he crash tested his signature models.
In a new interview on Chris Shiflett's Walking the Floor podcast, Wolfgang Van Halen recalled his dad's method of putting new amplifiers through their paces if he wasn't on the road when a new prototype arrived.
"I'll never forget when my dad was developing the 5153 amp," Wofl said. "Every time he got a new model of it, he would go into the studio, crank every knob, plug a guitar in and just sit it on the ground and leave it feeding back over the weekend to make sure it wouldn't blow up (laughs).
"Really, like you could be down at the house — because the studio is on the property — and you could hear a faint [high-pitched] 'Eeeeee.'"
Wolfie is pretty sure that the neighbors couldn't hear the racket. He recalls some days being confused as to where the noise was coming from.
"It's funny," he continued. "As you open the door you could slowly hear it get louder and louder until you're in [the studio] and you realize it's just feeding back with all the knobs pinned. But that's where the whole crash testing thing came from."
Earlier in the conversation, Wolfie confirmed that he is currently developing a signature semi-hollow 'EVH' model guitar for himself. He says he's currently testing out the prototypes on the 'Young Guns' tour with his band Mammoth WVH.
Listen to the full conversation here via iHeartRadio.
Get all the 'Young Guns' tour dates here.