Amp model suggestions for worship music (rock)

luthier42

luthier42

Member
Hey gang! I've been dreaming about picking up A FRFR wedge since I picked up my XL last year, but it's not in the cards yet. Generating tones has been a bit difficult since I play at church with IEMs and the ones I have (UE4s) are far from flat. I'm planning on spending some time tomorrow morning with a friend who's got a great home studio setup trying to tweak a few good tones, but I'm looking for a little direction. Too many options to go thru. I'm kinda hoping you guys can point me in the direction of a handful of models to check out tomorrow so that I don't freak out from option anxiety. I'm interested in Vox-ish and probably plexi-ish tones for worship music (Hillsong to Brewster). Thanks.
 
AC-20 dlx is your friend! I use it with a stereo cab panned center with the ac 30 siliver and blue mix it's. Us low cut to tame some of that low end and I high cut around 6k. For plexi tones you have more choices than you will ever know what to do with. I personally say try out the Carol Ann stuff. Not exactly plexi but I love it. The UE4's should be pretty cool. Where in FL are you?
 
For Vox-type tones, my absolute favorite is the Matchless Chieftain (Boutique 2 model). It can get pretty dirty pretty quick though, so another great option (also a favorite of many others) is the Morgan AC20 Dlx. That one stays fairly clean, but can get some really unique breakup. The new 1959SLP Model is awesome, especially the jumpered one. Really great rock tones. Also check out the Two Rock Jet 35 (Two Stone J35 1&2). It's more overdriven, but it just sounds so good.
 
Check out he AC-20DLX amps and the Matchless DC-30. Both great amps to build P&W presets from.
I've also been working with factory preset 140 (on the MKII) which is based on the "Boutique 1" amp.

I'm also using the Badcat Hotcat ("Hot Kitty" Factory Preset) for really driven stuff. Such a harmonically rich overdrive!
I basically took the factory preset and backed the gain down a touch.
 
Jbmetal said:
For Vox-type tones, my absolute favorite is the Matchless Chieftain (Boutique 2 model).
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Yep, the preset I mentioned is based on Boutique 1; same amp, but without the boost I believe, so not quite as gainy. Still a nice broken up tone that can be pushed further and responds well to pick attack.

I've been leaning on amp X/Y states with the Y state dialled in with more gain. I'm finding it to sound a tad better than using drives out front.
I also nearly keep the "mid boost" drive pedal on all the time, which I sort of used to do with my "real" tube rig. It just adds a bit more push in the mid range that helps the guitar punch through the mix a bit more IMO. Kind of gives me the same effect my always on Klon(e) used to do.
 
brokenvail said:
AC-20 dlx is your friend! I use it with a stereo cab panned center with the ac 30 siliver and blue mix it's. Us low cut to tame some of that low end and I high cut around 6k.
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I use a stereo cab too but pan them hard left and right so FOH gets two separate "mic feeds". We mic our amps with two mics, so the two XLR cables are already there, just run them into the back of the Axe Fx :)

Do you do your high and low cut in the CAB Block, or with a PEQ?
I see most people using a PEQ, but I'm trying to save that for clean boosts and I'm not sure why the built in function in the CAB Block isn't used more?
 
brokenvail said:
Where in FL are you?
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I'm between Orlando and Daytona.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I've been using a Pod XT Live for the last 6 years or so and the Axe is a huge upgrade, but it responds way different (in a good way) and I'm just having a hard time dialing things in with so many other pieces of gear coloring my tone. Unfortunately we're running the system in mono so I don't really get any of the great stereo benefits.
 
luthier42 said:
Unfortunately we're running the system in mono so I don't really get any of the great stereo benefits.
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You don't need to have stereo. I don't have any stereo effects or anything like that.

What the stereo cab does is provides the FOH engineer with two "mic feeds". I try and pick one mellow sounding IR and one brighter IR.
They can then blend those at the desk to get the best tone in FOH, just like dual micing a real cab would yield.

You can even simulate this in the Axe by running the stereo cab, but panning them both to center; so even if you send one XLR feed to the desk, you are essentially sending a mixed signal of two IRs. You can further simplify this by mixing the cabs in Cab Lab so you just have a single mono CAB Block which uses less CPU than the stereo CAB Block.
 
luthier42 said:
I'm between Orlando and Daytona.
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Cool, I am in lakeland

to be honest once you get an idea for how it works in your mix and you learn what color the other gear is adding you can almost make patches without even hearing them. I have a set of head phones that I have to use sometimes and I know that they are very bright because I know that I don't tweak my tone until they sound right with those headphones. I leave it bright because I know through my clr or a k12 or most FOH it is going to be correct. Same thing with gain, if it sound killer in the gain department on the headphones I know I have used to much. WIth the VU meters we can set preset levels without even hearing them. It is pretty cool stuff.
 
I'm using the wreck model a fair bit with a drive in front for extra oomph when I need saturation. Recently I added a fender twin patch to my rotation to give me some useful cleans. But even then I let it get dirty with some tape drive. I voiced that to work well with the split coil position on my PRS. First time I actually liked using that.
 
I use the 30W TB model for cleans, the 50W Plexi Treble for crunch (and a little beyond) and a Savage amp for dirtier stuff. My Strat works the best with the 50W Plexi if I turn the bright switch off and compensate with the presence. For a Brewster tone I actually prefer that model with the 6L6 tubes, and don't be afraid to roll off the highs. The IR is just as important, if not more important. Just experiment until you find something you like.
 
Lately, I have been using the Fas class a and the ssd drive in front. I have one preset per song, so I really spend some time listening to the character of the sound, and try to replicate the color of the amp. I get extremely close.
 
I like the hiwatt model with the hi power 4x12 ir, I get it right to the edge of breakup then use the ac booster for dirty rhythm or tube driver for lead. It's a little bigger sounder than a Vox so may not cut through as well if you play with a large band but is great if your the only electric.
 
sounds like you already have a general idea on where to go amp sim wise.


#1 - rule of thumb...you must tweak in your live setting and at live volume. That means book some time in your worship room with your sound tech. At home, use your best phones (not necessarily your IEM's) to get close and it'll cut down on the amount of tweaking you'll have to do in your sanctuary. Then for practicing & on Sunday's just "deal" with how it sounds in your IEMs...you want to make sure you're worshiping to the right audience of One! ;-)

#2 - use ultra-res IRs
 
Thanks again guys. We're using a Behringer X32 digital board which is way powerful. I plan on tracking a service in Logic off the board and then playing back and re-amping my guitar for final tweaking and channel EQ on the board, but there's just so many options (and I do have a real job) and I want to have a basic amp/ gain structure kinda set first. This gives me a short list of things to try which is exactly what I was looking for. I'd love to have a standard 5 scene patch that I can just duplicate for different songs with tweaked delays and such, but I'll have to get a real controller first. I'm still using my XT Live for that for now. If I get something I'm really happy maybe I'll post it. Again, thanks.
 
luthier42 said:
I'd love to have a standard 5 scene patch that I can just duplicate for different songs with tweaked delays and such, but I'll have to get a real controller first. I'm still using my XT Live for that for now. If I get something I'm really happy maybe I'll post it. Again, thanks.
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This is exactly what I do with my setup.
I use the same patch for pretty much everything and just save presets as song names.
I then load up the set-list via Axe Edit during the week and practice etc.

I'd recommend just sticking to one patch at the start for everything, until you really nut out how the amp+cab setup works in FOH and your mix. The main reason is that it is far easier to tweak one patch rather than trying to tweak every patch in your setlist.
Once that is dialled in, then start using it as a preset for songs.
 
DTownSMR said:
sounds like you already have a general idea on where to go amp sim wise.


#1 - rule of thumb...you must tweak in your live setting and at live volume. That means book some time in your worship room with your sound tech. At home, use your best phones (not necessarily your IEM's) to get close and it'll cut down on the amount of tweaking you'll have to do in your sanctuary. Then for practicing & on Sunday's just "deal" with how it sounds in your IEMs...
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Curious...why not use your IEMs? I would've thought you'd want your tone to sound great in your IEM's if they're good quality. I could understand not using them if they're iPod headphones or something..but a good set of IEMs seem to have a fairly flat response. Am I missing something on this one?
 
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