Gift of Tone #13 - SYNYSTER GATES

[MAC1]

I am using Adam A5Xs and Syn’s signature guitar (custom-s) but his preset sounds very muddy / muffled through my speakers. Through my Lola Blue headphones it’s much more clear and overall sounds better. In general, this muddiness through my speakers is an issue I have with a lot of downloaded presets, which is very frustrating. Should I be buying different speakers to avoid these issues? Do I need to adjust EQ settings or tweak something on the back of the speakers? Really frustrating to hear people post presets with recordings that sounds totally amazing (Cooper Carter, Leon Todd, Others) and then through my speakers they do not sound anywhere close to as clear or awe inspiring, even with several different guitars. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

I am using Adam A5Xs and Syn’s signature guitar (custom-s) but his preset sounds very muddy / muffled through my speakers. Through my Lola Blue headphones it’s much more clear and overall sounds better. In general, this muddiness through my speakers is an issue I have with a lot of downloaded presets, which is very frustrating. Should I be buying different speakers to avoid these issues? Do I need to adjust EQ settings or tweak something on the back of the speakers? Really frustrating to hear people post presets with recordings that sounds totally amazing (Cooper Carter, Leon Todd, Others) and then through my speakers they do not sound anywhere close to as clear or awe inspiring, even with several different guitars. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

It's not fair to compare your speaker's sound in the room to what you hear through the headphones

They're just simply too different listening mediums, environment, frequency response, positioning variables etc.

1.) I would suggest acoustic/bass treatment for your room.

(Can be very costly to be actually effective)

Or...

2,) Learn to correct your speakers at the listening position.

(Lot's of youtube videos out there for tutorials using Room EQ Wizard, can be as simple as applying a Parametric EQ Curve correction to as complex as using an impulse response / phase correction curve )

And/or a mixture of both solution.

Each have their own pros and cons.

It ultimately comes down to how much money you're willing to spend or how much time you're willing to learn to fix the problem.


As for the presets not sounding like what you hear..

1. It's you playing the preset now not the demonstrator i.e. playing style is different.

2. What guitar they used (pickups, guitar action/setup , guitar part tolerances etc.. ) is not the same as yours.

Even if you got the same guitar model no two same model guitars will sound the exact same anyway even with the same player playing due to what I said previously...

3. User Error in not using the same firmware version as the demonstrator.

These are not all the possible solutions to your problems,

But it is a huge piece in the puzzle of what you ultimately perceive to what makes those guitar noises.

Hope this helps.

 

[MAC1]

It's not fair to compare your speaker's sound in the room to what you hear through the headphones

They're just simply too different listening mediums, environment, frequency response, positioning variables etc.

1.) I would suggest acoustic/bass treatment for your room.

(Can be very costly to be actually effective)

Or...

2,) Learn to correct your speakers at the listening position.

(Lot's of youtube videos out there for tutorials using Room EQ Wizard, can be as simple as applying a Parametric EQ Curve correction to as complex as using an impulse response / phase correction curve )

And/or a mixture of both solution.

Each have their own pros and cons.

It ultimately comes down to how much money you're willing to spend or how much time you're willing to learn to fix the problem.


As for the presets not sounding like what you hear..

1. It's you playing the preset now not the demonstrator i.e. playing style is different.

2. What guitar they used (pickups, guitar action/setup , guitar part tolerances etc.. ) is not the same as yours.

Even if you got the same guitar model no two same model guitars will sound the exact same anyway even with the same player playing due to what I said previously...

3. User Error in not using the same firmware version as the demonstrator.

These are not all the possible solutions to your problems,

But it is a huge piece in the puzzle of what you ultimately perceive to what makes those guitar noises.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, this is helpful. I was hoping that this was just a common problem with the Adam A5x's as opposed to the room I'm playing in. The difference is too meaningful to be purely driven by playing style or manufacturing differences in the Syn Gates Custom-S. Sounds like a room correction parametric EQ might be the easiest solution. Would you recommend that over going into the amp EQ block and tweaking stuff? I'll try to search around but if you have any tips/videos to share let me know.

 

[Shahar]

Thanks, this is helpful. I was hoping that this was just a common problem with the Adam A5x's as opposed to the room I'm playing in. The difference is too meaningful to be purely driven by playing style or manufacturing differences in the Syn Gates Custom-S. Sounds like a room correction parametric EQ might be the easiest solution. Would you recommend that over going into the amp EQ block and tweaking stuff? I'll try to search around but if you have any tips/videos to share let me know.

You’d be better off using the Global EQ, that way you don't have to fuck with individual presets.

 

[lair]

I am using Adam A5Xs and Syn’s signature guitar (custom-s) but his preset sounds very muddy / muffled through my speakers. Through my Lola Blue headphones it’s much more clear and overall sounds better. In general, this muddiness through my speakers is an issue I have with a lot of downloaded presets, which is very frustrating. Should I be buying different speakers to avoid these issues? Do I need to adjust EQ settings or tweak something on the back of the speakers? Really frustrating to hear people post presets with recordings that sounds totally amazing (Cooper Carter, Leon Todd, Others) and then through my speakers they do not sound anywhere close to as clear or awe inspiring, even with several different guitars. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Also important to note that’s listed as a live preset - so most likely built to play LOUD!

 

[Rex]

Also important to note that’s listed as a live preset - so most likely built to play LOUD!

This. A tone that's dialed in for live & loud is going to sound a bit dull at quiet volumes.

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

Thanks, this is helpful. I was hoping that this was just a common problem with the Adam A5x's as opposed to the room I'm playing in. The difference is too meaningful to be purely driven by playing style or manufacturing differences in the Syn Gates Custom-S. Sounds like a room correction parametric EQ might be the easiest solution. Would you recommend that over going into the amp EQ block and tweaking stuff? I'll try to search around but if you have any tips/videos to share let me know.

To each their own opinion about the amount of difference each part of the guitar signal path takes.

That’s fine, I can’t physically be there to observe and listen to your situation so can’t say anything in stone.

But a corrective EQ would have to go just before the output block of the speaker

I.e if your studio monitors is physically connected to hardware Output 1 , then in the digital signal path, a PEQ block would have to be right before the OUT 1 Block.

Be careful setting Global EQ settings, as you might forget they were there and compensate in a preset but to each their own

+1 to playing it loud since this specific synyster gates was presumably made for live use , you ideally would have play it loud to sound as intended ( i.e Fletcher Munson curve if you are not aware)


I recommend this video, explanations are nice and easy to understand