Don't be afraid to crank the tube bias!

M

mniel8195

Inspired
I have found a that cranking the tube bias is a great tool for high gain amps, by raising it to taste or all the way on some models and lowering the master volume you can get extreme metal tones. I have also found by doing this i can keep my gain around 5 and 6, i was trying to go up to 7 for my distortion and crunch but the amp models would just crap out on me.

So my rules for any newcomers looking for brutal tones

1. Keep the gain at 5 at first, check to see if the boost is usable or not, i find that it will make the tone more satchurated and is often not need.
2. Use a od before the amp, my main od is the 808, gain 0 and level between 7-10
3. add treble to a preset before using the presence. Most of my patches are set to noon = 0 The presence control can actually deplete the quality of bottom end in the patch.
4. I know i have asked this alot and its a big topic, "how to get tight bottom end" The best way to do this is just to lower the bass on the patch.
5. mess around with the tube bias you may find you like it cranked.
6. Mess around with advanced perameter like sag and depth last has always worked best for me.

These rules apply best to me because im using a 4x12 cab and seymour duncan blackouts. I find that i dont have to use any advanced eq the majority of the time.
 
Hey man, thanks a BUNCH for this post.

I don't have a ton of time to tweak my high gain patches, and they have been leaving me flat lately. I am excited to try these suggestions. :cool:
 
I also raise the bias on the tubes usually to between .65-.7 the other thing I do is lower the Sag substantially and increase the B+ value in the amp geek page. Raising the B+ value in the AXEFX works just like on a real amp and tightens the amp up quite a bit. If you're trying some of these techniques on an existing patch don't be surprised if you have to go back and tweak the EQ settings on the amp a bit.
 
+1

I actually crank the tube bias on my presets as well.
It just ads a certain feel to my high gain tones that fits my playing style....I don't know the science behind it....in this case, I just trust my ears.
 
At one point when I owned a Triple Rec, I used 6L6 tubes but set the bias switch on the back to the EL34 setting. That was done inadvertantly during a load-in one day, but it sounded awesome so I left it that way running the bias hotter.

Playing with raising the virtual bias in the Axe-FX has been on my agenda lately. I need to work with it some as I don't have to worry about burning up tubes anymore.

D
 
+1 on this post!

I bumped up the bias to .65 on all my gain patches & the Axe "felt" just like my Diezel Einstein.......This thing gets more amazing every day! :D
 
dk_ace said:
At one point when I owned a Triple Rec, I used 6L6 tubes but set the bias switch on the back to the EL34 setting. That was done inadvertantly during a load-in one day, but it sounded awesome so I left it that way running the bias hotter.

Playing with raising the virtual bias in the Axe-FX has been on my agenda lately. I need to work with it some as I don't have to worry about burning up tubes anymore.

D
Click to expand...

That's funny you say that. I had a dual rectifier and I did the sane thing one day by accident and it sounded amazing I was just afraid to leave it that way lol. Any idea what an equivalent bias setting would be for that in the axefx?
 
Couldn't give you an exact bias setting, but my guess would be somewhere in the .7-.8 range. I remember hearing that the Mesa's bias was extremely cold in the 6L6 mode, but quite warm in EL34 mode. Mess around with it and see what you come up with. If I still had my Dual Rec I would check it with my bias probe, but alas I sold my Dual Rec to upgrade to the AXE.
 
trubasser6778 said:
Couldn't give you an exact bias setting, but my guess would be somewhere in the .7-.8 range. I remember hearing that the Mesa's bias was extremely cold in the 6L6 mode, but quite warm in EL34 mode. Mess around with it and see what you come up with. If I still had my Dual Rec I would check it with my bias probe, but alas I sold my Dual Rec to upgrade to the AXE.
Click to expand...

Same here, my Dual Rec is gone and I can't check the bias settings anymore - here is what I found anyway :

These setting are in the "6L6" mode
Rectifier mode in spongy setting with 5U4's = 16mA which is VERY cold so you can imagine how cold a 6L6 would be!
Rectifier mode in bold setting using 5U4's = 18mA which is still VERY cold.
Solid State mode in spongy setting = 28mA still cold.
Solid State mode in bold setting = 32mA still a little cool.

These setting are in the "EL34" mode
Rectifier mode in spongy setting with 5U4's = 44mA which is actually just getting out of crossover distortion and sounds very good.
Rectifier mode in bold setting with 5U4's = 50mA nice an aggressive with great dynamics.
Solid State mode in spongy setting = 78mA now this is getting some heat in the tubes and the dynamics are spectacular but this is running pretty warm.
Solid State mode in bold setting = 88mA this is getting up to about 80% of max dissipation and will shorten the tube life about 10 to 15% and the tone will start to "brown" but it's a lovely sound!
Click to expand...
(from http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-n.htm)
 
You got to be careful tweaking the bias, it could shorten the life of your tubes or your output transformer thus damaging your amp severely..... :mrgreen:

Isn't it nice to be able to dig into any of 50+ amps and if you accidentally 'mess something up' it doesn't break anything? And you don't have to worry about getting shocked or paying a tech to do it. Heck you don't even have to know what you are doing, just reset it to default. :!:

Hell, I don't even need a screwdriver.
 
i've been expreimenting with the BIAS parameter recently and find i'm loving it around 0.6 - 0.7 on high gain amp sims. Really beefs up the juice :D
 
BrianCarroll said:
trubasser6778 said:
Couldn't give you an exact bias setting, but my guess would be somewhere in the .7-.8 range. I remember hearing that the Mesa's bias was extremely cold in the 6L6 mode, but quite warm in EL34 mode. Mess around with it and see what you come up with. If I still had my Dual Rec I would check it with my bias probe, but alas I sold my Dual Rec to upgrade to the AXE.
Click to expand...

Same here, my Dual Rec is gone and I can't check the bias settings anymore - here is what I found anyway :

These setting are in the "6L6" mode
Rectifier mode in spongy setting with 5U4's = 16mA which is VERY cold so you can imagine how cold a 6L6 would be!
Rectifier mode in bold setting using 5U4's = 18mA which is still VERY cold.
Solid State mode in spongy setting = 28mA still cold.
Solid State mode in bold setting = 32mA still a little cool.

These setting are in the "EL34" mode
Rectifier mode in spongy setting with 5U4's = 44mA which is actually just getting out of crossover distortion and sounds very good.
Rectifier mode in bold setting with 5U4's = 50mA nice an aggressive with great dynamics.
Solid State mode in spongy setting = 78mA now this is getting some heat in the tubes and the dynamics are spectacular but this is running pretty warm.
Solid State mode in bold setting = 88mA this is getting up to about 80% of max dissipation and will shorten the tube life about 10 to 15% and the tone will start to "brown" but it's a lovely sound!
Click to expand...
(from http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-n.htm)
Click to expand...

excellent thanks! :twisted:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom