A few things regarding high gain tones.

FantomasXD

Inspired
Hey guys,

In my quest to make some brutal (sigh) tones i have come across a few things that get you in the ballpark pretty quickly.
Many of you may already do this i'm sure (i am still reasonably new to this machine) but I'm hoping it will help someone.
I am also hoping to receive a few tips off other people who have made some nice tones.

Here goes...

1. Drop in Amp of your choice
2. Drop in Cab of your choice
3. Adjust master volume of amp to 9.00
4. Adjust the drive to taste (i start at 5.00)
5. Adjust the XFormer Match parameter in Amp Dynamics. (i take it in between 0.400 and 0.500) This really seems to bring the sound to life.
6. I then adjust the Damping in Amp Power to taste (another parameter i have noticed can bring a tone to life)
7. In the Cab section i adjust the speaker size from 1.200 to 1.300. This seems to make the tone come alive also.
8. Drop a drive in front of Amp and adjust the level to 10.00 and back the drive off. This tightens up the sound quite nicely. I use t808 Mod.
9. Then i mess with Thunk, Presence, Depth, Character and Pick Attack to taste.


I realise this may be stating the blatantly obvious to some people, but coming across the XformerMatch has really opened up my tones and i wanted to share.
Hopefully someone can teach me a thing or two also as i am still trying to create some nice quality tones.

Thanks for your time.
 
I wouldn't put master to 9 on modern high gain amps, but that of course depends on what amp you use and what tone you're after.
 
Would you dial it back a bit and put the drive up or?
The interplay between Input Gain and Master Volume is a fundamental part of your tone. Play with both of them early in the tweaking process. As powerful as Xfrmr Match is, you'll really find its sweet spot after you've got Gain/Master sorted out.

High-gain tones usually benefit from more preamp distortion and less power amp distortion. If you've been running high-gain amps with MV at 9, you can tighten up your sound by backing off on Master and making up the difference with Gain. It's common to run MV between 2 and 4 on high-gain amps .
 
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The interplay between Input Gain and Master Volume is a fundamental part of your tone. Play with both of them early in the tweaking process. As powerful as Xfrmr Match is, you'll really find its sweet spot after you've got Gain/Master sorted out.

High-gain tones usually benefit from more preamp distortion and less power amp distortion. If you've been running high-gain amps with MV at 9, you can tighten up your sound by backing off on Master and making up the difference with Gain. It's common to run MV between 2 and 4 on high-gain amps .

+1
 
Damn. I seem to have had it all wrong then. i always thought that having the master volume cranked that's how you get the balls to the wall sound. I'm going to try that and see how it goes. Thanks for your reply man. Like i said i'm still new to this so i enjoy the constructive criticism. I love this machine and i want to get the most out of it i can. The forums are a great help. Cheers
 
Damn. I seem to have had it all wrong then.
Nope. You got much of it right. :)


i always thought that having the master volume cranked that's how you get the balls to the wall sound.
That works for low- to mid-gain tones, and amp sims whose original amp has no master volume knob. In those cases, high MV can make the tone nice and fat. But with high-gain tones, the "fat" turns into "flub," and it bogs down the tone.
 
That works for low- to mid-gain tones, and amp sims whose original amp has no master volume knob. In those cases, high MV can make the tone nice and fat. But with high-gain tones, the "fat" turns into "flub," and it bogs down the tone.[/QUOTE]

Mate... You have changed everything for me.. The sound i am getting now is waaaaay better! I can't thank you enough for this. It should of been one of the first things i tried to mess around with but like i said, i thought cranked master would be the way to go. It sounds so much more focused and tight now as well as being high gain. You sir are a great man indeed!
 
Nope. You got much of it right. :)



That works for low- to mid-gain tones, and amp sims whose original amp has no master volume knob. In those cases, high MV can make the tone nice and fat. But with high-gain tones, the "fat" turns into "flub," and it bogs down the tone.

Mate... You have changed everything for me.. The sound i am getting now is waaaaay better! I can't thank you enough for this. It should of been one of the first things i tried to mess around with but like i said, i thought cranked master would be the way to go. It sounds so much more focused and tight now as well as being high gain. You sir are a great man indeed!
 
with a hi-gain amp like the 5153Red, VH4 ch4 or Herbert ch3 you really want the MV way down in the 2.5 to 4.0 area
you want all that dirt but you still need to keep it tight

let the preamp do all the work..
use the cut switch

don't be afraid to dial in low input-drive settings 3.00 to 4.50 but use the brt, sat and boost switches to turn up the heat
also, don't be afraid to use the amp's EQ page to carve the voicing
a small cut in the 500Hz band is good
and if your cab choice really works with the lows and general voicing but is a little dark overall, push the 2k and 4k bands
amp:spkr page, dropping the Low Freq down to the 60Hz to 80Hz area can help tighten the lows if they're getting in the way

and...
get real fussy about your cab choices..
they are the difference between being fizzy or boomy.. or kickin' serious ass..
the 4x12 basket Green, TV and AX are solid choices
 
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yip - many (but not all) of great metal sounds on record were recorded with very low master volume. sometimes as low as 1.5 or so.
of course it all depends on what you're aiming for.
 
Mate... You have changed everything for me.. The sound i am getting now is waaaaay better! I can't thank you enough for this. It should of been one of the first things i tried to mess around with but like i said, i thought cranked master would be the way to go. It sounds so much more focused and tight now as well as being high gain. You sir are a great man indeed!
Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together? :)

It's great that you discovered Xfrmr Match. It really is one of the secret weapons in the Axe arsenal for making your tone tight or squishy. I'll bet you've got it closer to 0.8 or 0.9 now. :)
 
Users here have been a huge help in the "art" of tweaking out huge high gain tones for me. Keep your eyes and ears open! I've learned a metric shit ton in just a few months....:encouragement:
 
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