Picking Loudness

rsvette12

rsvette12

Power User
Hi Guys

Quick question if I play soft or hard with pick control the guitar level is the same - not getting a lower volume when playing softer - not sure why thanks much
 
la noise said:
Check the headroom meter in your Amp block and then bring down the
Master volume until you get the kind of pick response you want. Use the
Level control to make up for any loss of volume you had when bringing the
Amp Master down.
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I think that has helped a bit play some more - thanks much
 
JoKeR III said:
It's a lot of guesswork and pretty much a shot in the dark when you don't include any information about the amp(s) you're trying or guitar(s) you're using.
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True I'm using a payware preset Strabala tweed twin with a single coil Ibanez S series guitar
 
Yeah, it's compression for sure. Big changes in input volume producing small changes in output volume. That's the definition of compression.

An obvious source of compression is, well, a compressor. But in the world of electric guitar, we have another huge source of compression. It's what we call distortion. When an amp or another circuit gets driven into clipping, that puts a limit on how loud we can get, because clipping happens when a circuit is driven to the limit. As we increase the gain, our quiet sounds get louder, but our loudest sounds can't get any louder. So quiet and loud start having the same volume.

When the amp is dialed in for heavy, brutal distortion, picking dynamics don't do much. But if you dial back into mid-gain territory, all those dynamics open up.
 
Hi, I just joined you and I'm very happy about it, I haven't been playing guitar that long for just two years but I'm looking to learn more about it. Thanks that there are places like this where I can talk to people about things that interest me!!!
 
Looking at the website, it's advertised as a Country preset which will typically mean more compression and the clip confirms it. If you've turned off or adjusted any compressor blocks in the effects chain, there is an Output Compressor in the Amp block in the Dynamics page you may want to look at to see if it's being used.
 
Rex said:
But if you dial back into mid-gain territory, all those dynamics open up.
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Or roll the guitar's volume way back and experiment.

"Clean up gain with the guitar" in the Wiki is applicable as picking lighter is equivalent to rolling back the guitar's volume, it's reducing the guitar signal to the preamp. Anything that boosts that signal beyond what the preamp or power-amp are designed to handle cleanly results in distortion.

When using a modeler people almost always have the volume lower because amps are too loud. Lowering the volume reduces the feedback which in turn lowers the gain enhancement. To compensate people raise the gain of the model but now when you roll off the volume it doesn't clean up as much because the gain is higher. IOW, to compensate for the reduced feedback the user increases the gain, say, 25% to get the same effective gain as the loud amp but when rolling off the volume the amp gain is still 25% higher so it doesn't clean up as much.
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When the original tube amp circuits were designed they targeted clear/clean reproduction of the sound. Blues guitarists needed more volume in clubs and turned their small amps to 10 to get more volume and got distortion because the amp circuit couldn't keep up, which people, the guitarists and fans, accepted as part of the sound of that genre. Rock and roll quickly followed suit, and as rock styles blended with jazz and country those players started adopting amps that could break up. Metal pushes that sound to an extreme but because amp circuits have been redesigned to accommodate the desire for more distortion, we quickly get to a point that the dynamics are lost due to clipping.

I try to adjust my distorted sound with one of my single-coil guitars, then when I use a humbucker-equipped guitar I can either pick more lightly or roll back my volume a touch using the guitar's volume or a volume pedal block set up ahead of the amp block.
I just saw this...

JoKeR III said:
Looking at the website, it's advertised as a Country preset which will typically mean more compression and the clip confirms it. If you've turned off or adjusted any compressor blocks in the effects chain, there is an Output Compressor in the Amp block in the Dynamics page you may want to look at to see if it's being used.
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Country players tend to use a lot of compression to keep their guitars at their favorite volume and make every note clear. The compressor would definitely cause this to occur.

That preset is based on a Tweed Twin which really compresses when pushed hard:
This amp doesn't stay as pristine clean at higher volume levels as the later Twin Reverb, especially when you play it with humbuckers. But it still has a lot of clean headroom. With single coils you have to crank Input Drive to get it into overdrive. And even then it doesn't distort a lot; compression increases and the tone gets fatter in a nice way.
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rsvette12 said:
I think that has helped a bit play some more - thanks much
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Cool. :)

It's the first place I look when I am not getting the picking responsiveness I want from an
Amp model or Preset. That headroom meter is super handy. I just sort of dial in the Master
Volume when I am picking and see if it responds to my variation in picking intensity. Makes no
sense to have the headroom maxed out, to me. That just means you will get the same volume
and gain no matter how hard or light you pick.
 
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