Preset Building: Tone Crafting

and here's the result..

the TripTik Classic turned out to be the wrong choice for this..
it was a little too gainy..
so I switched to the TripTik Clean
and oh my god what a beautiful tone..

for pure clean tones and clean tones with a hint of drive the TripTik Clean is fantastic..
for my pure clean tones it'd be a tough choice between this amp and the Hiwatt Normal

but for the "hairy clean" thing we're looking at in here...
the JCM800 wins by a narrow margin

this is personal taste right...
the JCM800 hairy clean has [can't think over a better way to describe this.. lmao] "brighter hair"
so it's a little more obvious

the Trip Clean has "softer / darker hair"..
so that gain is there but is less obvious..

those of you that like it on the subtle side would fall for the Trip Clean
Clarky's and those of you that gravitate towards the subtle, and then completely miss will fall for the JCM800

very very tough choice this one was...
both had very appealing qualities..
but it was the JCM's slightly more aggressive quality that appealed to me [even though this is fundamentally a clean tone]
 
I think I'll stick with the Trip-Tik Clean. I like my ladies to have "softer / darker" hair. Clarkys gin up some wonderful sounds, but their taste in cleans is a bit too Day-Glo for your average Rex. :)

WHen you were experimenting wiht the Trip-Tik clean, what cabs did you like?
 
lmao.....

with the Trip clean I used my stock "go to" cabs..

4x12 Basket TV on the right and the 4x12 Basket AX on the left
the outcome is a little on the 'full-bodied' side..
but a little trim of the lower 3 bands of the amp:EQ page worked a treat..
it was also a little dark..
so a highish present setting and then back to the amp;EQ page to boost 2k and 4k..

I like those two 4x12 cabs...
they have a sort of big an' fat quality.. which leaves you with what I'd think of as being a more robust tone..
some folk like their cleans to be very crystaline and pretty..
to my ear I find those tones a little thin and brittle, so all you hear in the mix is either:
- this shrill chiming in the backgroud..
- or they need to be pushed to the front of the mix to cut thru and can end up a little overpowering..
so you hear too much or too little..
for my tastes.. the more robust clean tones can sit more solidly in the mix without having to vanish or dominate..

but then... it's all about your musical setting..
the nature of the song and it's instrumentation / orchestration at the time..
so there's no wrong or write..
maybe the thicker cleans simply suite the music I play more that the chrystaline sparklies..
 
right.... so now that I've found my amp / cabs combination
the next step will be to add some ambience to it..

perconally I like to get 'the room' from the cab block as it saves me loading two reverb blocks..
don't be afraid of jacking up the level of the reverb in the cab block

tip - screw it all the way up to 100% so the reverb [generated by the cab block] is really clearly heard..
then play with the other settings [room size etc]
get used to how they sound and what they do..
then dial in the 'room' and drop the level back down to a more realistic level

personally I like my cab placed strongly into a reasonably small room..
cos it feels nice and 'live' but lacks that 'reflections' [echos essentially] of a larger room..

play.. listen.. learn.. experiment..

note: you nail this before doing anything else because the cab: room effect is so subtle that further fx processing will mask it..
so like the mantra says..

nail the fundamentals first...
 
clarky said:
right.... so now that I've found my amp / cabs combination
the next step will be to add some ambience to it...
Click to expand...

Enjoying this public workshop Clarky! So you ended up using the JCM800 as your hairy clean...

For those of us that are following verbatim, how did you end up setting your Input Drive and MV for the JCM800?
We're talking about the cleanest this preset will get right?
 
MarkShrader said:
Enjoying this public workshop Clarky! So you ended up using the JCM800 as your hairy clean...

For those of us that are following verbatim, how did you end up setting your Input Drive and MV for the JCM800?
We're talking about the cleanest this preset will get right?
Click to expand...

I just have to unload the Axe from the car and get wired up to the studio..
then pop in 10.11..
then I'll take a look at the amp settings..

I love the JCM800 as a clean amp..
I think the tiny bit of grit it has actually makes it sound cleaner [and a little more "there"] in the mix..
 
JCM800:
input drive = 3.00
bass = 4.00
mid = 5.00
treb = 6.00
comp = 10%
fat / brt / sat / boost all off
pres = 6.00
depth = 2.00
mstr = 3.00
spkr: low freq = 80.0Hz
EQ page:
125 = 1.00
250 = 1.2
500 = -3.6
2k = 2.5
4k = 2.0
all other bands = 0.00

cab [stereo]:
cabL = factory 102: 4x12 basketweave AX mix panned hard left
cabR = factory 103: 4x12 basketweave TV mix panned hard right
mic=none for both
room level = 35%
room size = 6.0
hicut = 7778
motor drive = 1.0
all other settings standard

and so far there is nothing else in the grid
 
Alright, can't wait to try these settings! The versatility of the JCM800 at full FRFR room volume really surprised me!
 
a very under-rated amp is the JCM800..
I think it's due to the association with your average metal-head..

without being particularly clever you can get some great tones on the cleaner end of the spectrum

lil' note:
when I record my hi-gain riffing guitars, I pan them hard..
around the centre of the mix, I'll throw in a JCM that's moderately cooking..
it's low in the mix so it kinda acts as a centre of gravity for the hotter amps out in the wings..
felt but not heard
 
I've got my clean. Still the Trip-Tik. Master dimed, Input Gain at 0.83, tone at defaults.

Cabs are 1x12 Deluxe Tweed Mix and 3x10 Vibrato King Mix. A bit cliché, but sounds nice.


This is a departure for me. I usually play my cleans with tapped coils, but I'm dialing this in for humbuckers. I like your (clarky's) JCM800 patch, but it's got more crunch than I prefer on clean tones. You know me. :)

I also have the lush 'verb I dialed in for your morphing thread, but I'm thinking about hanging that up. I play in some very reverberant spaces, and I have to be careful about adding more.
 

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Rex - just tried your preset...
it's really nice.. I like it a lot..
neck pup sounds nice and chimey
bridge pup has just the smallest hint of grit in the highs..
if you cut the lows just a little and push the 2k and 4k bands a little, and then use your neck pup you get a great funk tone
EDIT: my trusty Hiwatt now has a major contender in the wings.... you've really made me think with this one..

it's certainly less aggressive than my preset..
with mine, if you drop the drive to 2.00, it's remarkably close to yours but with a little more hair, hi's and less lows..
 
clarky said:
Rex - just tried your preset...
it's really nice.. I like it a lot..
neck pup sounds nice and chimey
bridge pup has just the smallest hint of grit in the highs..
Click to expand...
Thanks, clarky. I'm particularly liking what the bridge pup does on the low strings.



clarky said:
if you cut the lows just a little and push the 2k and 4k bands a little, and then use your neck pup you get a great funk tone
Click to expand...
I'll try that.


clarky said:
it's certainly less aggressive than my preset..
Click to expand...
Imagine that. :)
 
clarky said:
if you cut the lows just a little and push the 2k and 4k bands a little, and then use your neck pup you get a great funk tone.
Click to expand...
I just tried that, and you're dead on (knew that already, dincha? :) )

Try it with bridge and neck together. It really snaps.
 
clarky said:
with mine, if you drop the drive to 2.00, it's remarkably close to yours but with a little more hair, hi's and less lows..
Click to expand...
Ooh, I like it. I can see some definite uses for that. For now, though, I'm sticking with mine. It suits my mood at the moment. :)
 
the killer thing in all this is really getting to know what things sound like..
all amps can create a variety of usable tones..
and so it's obvious that there are many great choices that would fit a specific situation..
but with so much choice, which one do you choose??

for me it's always about the attitude of the song / band that guides my choices
 
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Reactions: Rex
Love both these tones, the Triptik and the JCM800. My Tele sounds fantastic with JCM800 in particular...

Also I've jumping ahead on the crunch/solo side of things a bit... The Plexi 50 High is so effing bad ass, my bass player, my tech and myself all stared at each other in utter dis-belief! After a moment or two of jaw-dropping silence, we all agreed - time to sell the Marshall head!! What a box, this AF2!
 
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