Tight & Loose switch or a clearer high gain?

[REDD]

Some amps have this feature and I really like it. I struggle with getting a Clean yet high gain punchy sound and have been for a long time. Could be because of my previous amp background experience of growing up with solidstate amps and only owning a handful of tubes amps that never got me what I wanted. Does anyone have a method or advanced perimeter they adjust to achieve this? I use the cut switch a lot and lately I turn down the PI Bias on some amps and it seems to help a little. A contradiction in terms to say clean yet distorted I know but that's what I'm after. Not a clean amp mixed with a crunch amp but one with less fizz/breakup and loose bottom that has that tight razor sharp crisp biting attack. I'm so close with this new firmware using the Angle Severe but I want to know if there is a certain feature that I can use to get closer. After turning all the advanced knobs my ears get to where they can't tell the difference anymore. Thanks

 

[2112]

Speaker/IR choice is massive when dealing with fizz and sizzle, along with the cab high/low cut.

 

[StickMan]

I find that increasing negative feedback results in a "tighter" distortion most of the time. That would be the first place I'd go.

Also, the RAT distortion pedal uses a very abrupt clipping mechanism, which tend to lead to a tighter distortion also. IMHO, the AxeFX RAT drive block emulates this quite well.

So I'd put the two together, increase the NF on the amp block and then put a RAT drive in front of it, with the drive set fairly low to get a bit more distortion without getting woolie.

 

[dpeterson]

try messing with preamp and poweramp hardness.

 

[REDD]

Speaker/IR choice is massive when dealing with fizz and sizzle, along with the cab high/low cut.

I was actually just going through my Ir's and getting some good results, thanks man!

 

[REDD]

I find that increasing negative feedback results in a "tighter" distortion most of the time. That would be the first place I'd go.

Also, the RAT distortion pedal uses a very abrupt clipping mechanism, which tend to lead to a tighter distortion also. IMHO, the AxeFX RAT drive block emulates this quite well.

So I'd put the two together, increase the NF on the amp block and then put a RAT drive in front of it, with the drive set fairly low to get a bit more distortion without getting woolie.

I will try this, thanks man!

 

[Wolfenstein98k]

Recto IR, Cut switch if necessary, lower Master Volume setting, and lower Supply Sag (for that solid state, punchy rather than spongy feel)

 

[REDD]

I was using the Shimmer drive before and love it but I did a few new things today and I think I finally have got what I've been trying to achieve. I went back to the Tubescreamer with the gain all the way down and lowered the master volume a little and took out just a hair of the mids in the main graphic eq but not much. Th biggest thing that helped was moving my CLR'S up in our rehearsal room. They were back about a foot in front of my monster wall of KRANK cabs and I had put some foam under the back of them to give them a steeper angle. I took the foam out from the back of the CLR'S and moved them up and it's much tighter. I don't know if being too close to my wall of cabs caused the problem I was having or maybe the CLR'S having their backs raised was causing some resonance issues but I think I've got it nailed. I'll know for sure tomorrow when I crank them back up after giving the ears a break tonight.

 

[Perdikament]

Put an EQ before any gain/dist and take out some low end, this will keep the distortion nice & tight & non-fuzzy/fizzy then add an EQ after after the Amp to add the low end back in, this will give you the nice chug & crush your face in that we all love.
Oldest trick in the book, but the one that always delivers!

 

[Will Schut]

Dial Crunch back to zero, takes away some abrasiveness but retains power.

 

[REDD]

Put an EQ before any gain/dist and take out some low end, this will keep the distortion nice & tight & non-fuzzy/fizzy then add an EQ after after the Amp to add the low end back in, this will give you the nice chug & crush your face in that we all love.
Oldest trick in the book, but the one that always delivers!

I had the best results with an EQ after the amp and I'm having really good results, thanks for the tip!

 

[Perdikament]

When you guys say put an eq before or after the amp, what kind of eq are you talking a out? A GEQ or PEQ?

Generally I prefer PEQ's because they can be made much more precise. A lot of times what I will do to find the problem frequency and really nail it down is narrow the Q all the way down then Boost the Gain way up and slide the frequency back & forth & you'll hear it stick out like a soar thumb. Then you widen the Q a bit and bring down the gain a bit and kind of figure out how wide of an total area you're dealing with that you need to make your cut.
So, if you're getting a not so tight chug because it's getting too muddy, you take a little low end out before it hits the Amp and then after the Amp you add it back in to bring the low end back up to even your EQ curve back out. There you try a GEQ see if it works, and that's not to say a GEQ wouldn't work on the front end either. It's just what I prefer. I've just always liked PEQ's

 

[PRSfreak4]

I'm so close with this new firmware using the Angle Severe but I want to know if there is a certain feature that I can use to get closer.

That is my favorite high gain amp in the FAS lineup by far. Mainly because you can use your volume pot on your guitar to control almost precisely what you're after.

Try backing off your volume knob a bit on whatever guitar you're sending the signal to. The ENGL sim is super versatile in that way, set it to like 1/2 or 3/4 and play with it from there, super cool tones from it.

 

[Rex]

Ok, I need to study up on PEQ's, I don't fully understand the parameters.

Frequency is what frequency the filter is centered on. Gain is how much you're boosting or cutting those frequencies. Q is how wide the filter is.

 

[barhrecords]

Ok, I need to study up on PEQ's, I don't fully understand the parameters.

Think of it as a "one slider" graphic eq where you can change the frequency of the slider.

The gain is equivalent to moving the slider up and down.

In addition, the "Q" control lets you adjust how many adjacent frequencies are affected by the gain increase or decrease. A narrow Q affects less frequencies to the "right and left" of the center. A wide Q affects more.

Narrow Q looks like a "spike" and wide Q looks like a "hill".

Graphical EQ's sometimes change their Q based on the slider position. For example, it might get narrower at big + or - values and wider with less gain.

Or a graphic eq can be a "const" Q. Where no matter where the slider is, the Q is fixed (and can't be changed by the user either).

 

[Perdikament]

Ok, I need to study up on PEQ's, I don't fully understand the parameters.

It'll help when you look at the graph in Axe Edit or in another program that graphs out a PEQ. Just raise or lower the gain on one of the bands and then play with the Q & Freq adjustments.. it'll be easy to visualize & hear what it's doing.