Dirty Shirley/Friedman HBE

Max_H

Max_H

Inspired
So as I'm sure a lot of you guys know, these two amps are incredible. After creating patches for about 10% of the amps in the axe fx (there's a lot of damn amps, give me time :p) I've found that the Dirty Shirley and the Friedman models are simply awesome. What I truly enjoy about these ones is the "squish" when I'm playing a power chord. The amps respond in this really cool way that I find it hard to describe.

My question is: What is it about these amps that provide that super pleasing "squish" or "bloom". I'd like to apply the same concept to a few of my other rhythm patches.

Edit: For more information, I run the preamp eq at around 10 oclock for bass mid and treble and rely more on power amp distortion for my grit. Master vol running at 3 oclock or so. No other effects except a very mild reverb.
 
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FractalAudio said:
You've got the MV set high so the squish is due to the virtual power supply sagging. The Supply Sag parameter allows you to adjust the amount of sag to taste. The B+ Time Constant parameter controls the response time of the sag.
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Fantastic info, I'm going to try messing with these parameters when i get done with work.

As I've been messing with different amps i think that that squish is what pulls me to certain amps. Wonderful of this unit to allow such customization.

Thank you so much
 
FractalAudio said:
You've got the MV set high so the squish is due to the virtual power supply sagging. The Supply Sag parameter allows you to adjust the amount of sag to taste. The B+ Time Constant parameter controls the response time of the sag.
Click to expand...
Forgive a beginner question but I'm curious about something.. I tried running the HBE's master volume at 7, 6, and finally kept it at 5 with my input drive between 4 & 5. It just seemed to compress a lot. I wasn't really getting the squish the OP was talking about. Could I have missed something?
 
I find I like the HBE better with the MV up about halfway. It's such a gainy amp that it's got a nice amount of gain and compresses nicely without having to crank the MV up all the way, and with MV down a bit it gives a tighter sound. For single-coil guitars, I'll run a TS9 in front of the amp with the gain all the way down and volume up. Lately, I've been using a DOD 250 preamp (real, not modeled) to give the HBE a little more juice and it works nicely.
 
Max_H said:
Fantastic info, I'm going to try messing with these parameters when i get done with work.

As I've been messing with different amps i think that that squish is what pulls me to certain amps. Wonderful of this unit to allow such customization.

Thank you so much
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That's what I like about the Friedman amps as well. The sag, which effectively describes the voltage drop of the power supply, when a lot of current is drawn at high MV settings (primary resistance of the power supply, rectifier tubes, resistors in the supply network..). The Dirty Shirley has a rectifier tube, which induces a higher voltage drop than comparable diode rectifiers.
 
I get a very pleasant 'squish feel' with the Plexi treble, by increasing the sag a bit, lowering the B+ setting slightly and lowering the transformer match, all together. Then add an overdrive to add gain..with delay and reverb to taste, close to Malmsteen tone, with a strat
It's like adding life into an amp which reacts to your playing and makes you play far better than you would otherwise!
Edit: Though his thread is for other amps, but I mentioned what worked for me. I'm curious to try them on the Shirley and HBE
 
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slash07 said:
I get a very pleasant 'squish feel' with the Plexi treble, by increasing the sag a bit, lowering the B+ setting slightly and lowering the transformer match, all together. Then add an overdrive to add gain..with delay and reverb to taste, close to Malmsteen tone, with a strat
It's like adding life into an amp which reacts to your playing and makes you play far better than you would otherwise!
Edit: Though his thread is for other amps, but I mentioned what worked for me. I'm curious to try them on the Shirley and HBE
Click to expand...

Oooh I'll try this with the plexi treble tonight. Although i only have splittable humbuckers I'll see what happens
 
spbahm said:
Forgive a beginner question but I'm curious about something.. I tried running the HBE's master volume at 7, 6, and finally kept it at 5 with my input drive between 4 & 5. It just seemed to compress a lot. I wasn't really getting the squish the OP was talking about. Could I have missed something?
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Perhaps a difference in guitars? Perhaps i don't know what i truly mean by 'squish', but i do know that it sounds fantastic to me. That's all that really matters eh? :3
 
Max_H said:
Perhaps a difference in guitars? Perhaps i don't know what i truly mean by 'squish', but i do know that it sounds fantastic to me. That's all that really matters eh? :3
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I completely agree. The amp is fantastic, one of my go to amps for rock. I'm always looking for tips on the never ending tone quest and that's why I had the question.
 
Max_H said:
Perhaps a difference in guitars? Perhaps i don't know what i truly mean by 'squish', but i do know that it sounds fantastic to me. That's all that really matters eh? :3
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I think I do know what you mean by squish. It's what I'm after also. I want 'Bouncy' leads. Bouncy and squish hmmm nice.
Having said that I've tried only once or twice to mess with the sag but didnt have any luck getting squish.
I must have been using a less squishy amp at the time.
 
spbahm said:
Forgive a beginner question but I'm curious about something.. I tried running the HBE's master volume at 7, 6, and finally kept it at 5 with my input drive between 4 & 5. It just seemed to compress a lot. I wasn't really getting the squish the OP was talking about. Could I have missed something?
Click to expand...

Oddly enough.... I find that keeping the master in the 10-11 o'clock range(3-3.5 on the dial) and cranking the Input drive up to around 3 o'clock(7.5-8 on the dial) and setting the Input level at 0.50 has made some AMAZING squishiness!!! I do find that I have to cut the bass down to 9-10 o'clock, mids around noon, and treble cranked to 2-3 o'clock(7.5-8 on the dial).....but that could be due to the cab IR choice I am using(Ownhammer 212 Orange M25+V30.
 
I think guitarist's colloquialisms get confusing hahaha.

ssmorga78 said:
Oddly enough.... I find that keeping the master in the 10-11 o'clock range(3-3.5 on the dial) and cranking the Input drive up to around 3 o'clock(7.5-8 on the dial) and setting the Input level at 0.50 has made some AMAZING squishiness!!! I do find that I have to cut the bass down to 9-10 o'clock, mids around noon, and treble cranked to 2-3 o'clock(7.5-8 on the dial).....but that could be due to the cab IR choice I am using(Ownhammer 212 Orange M25+V30.
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I'm sure cab choice must have something to do with the difference. When i get a laptop I'll be bombarding this forum with sound clips so maybe we can all figure out what i mean haha. \m/
 
Since beginning this thread I've been messing with sag a lot on all my presets. I might be going overboard because i love that parameter. It's absolutely more noticeable with some amps over others.

HarrySound said:
I think I do know what you mean by squish. It's what I'm after also. I want 'Bouncy' leads. Bouncy and squish hmmm nice.
Having said that I've tried only once or twice to mess with the sag but didnt have any luck getting squish.
I must have been using a less squishy amp at the time.
Click to expand...
 
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