I'm wanting to create a cascading effect......

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

Sorry, that's very vague and artsy fartsy of me to say. I've got this tone with delays and I want the amp to naturally distort by how hard/soft I'm playing. When I play soft I want the amp to sound nice and clean and pure but when I increase my pick attack I want the amp to sound a bit more driven and slightly distorted. I also want the delays to be affected by it. Here's the preset in question

 

[chris]

I also want the delays to be affected by it.

What does this part mean?

You might consider putting an Envelope Controller on Input Gain or Trim, and not all amps can go clean to mean the same.

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

What does this part mean?

You might consider putting an Envelope Controller on Input Gain or Trim, and not all amps can go clean to mean the same.

I want the delay repeats to distort a bit.

 

[chris]

I want the delay repeats to distort a bit.

Additional distortion? Or just repeating what the amp does?

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

Additional distortion? Or just repeating what the amp does?

Repeats on what the amp does.

 

[chris]

Repeats on what the amp does.

Ok the delays would do that by definition.

 

[Corinthian]

There are more complicated ways of achieving this but I'd start with a non-master-volume amp and see if you can get the requisite amount of range from the amp itself. Komet and Trainwreck amps (Comet and Wrecker in the Axe-FX) are known for being able to go from clean to overdrive just through picking dynamics and guitar controls so those would be the best ones to try.

If your delay is after the amp then it'll repeat the sound from the amp, whether it was distorted or not. If you put it before the amp then it'll combine with the direct signal to determine how distorted it gets.

 

[J.C]

Seems like you are looking for more gain in your delay then you are feeding it. Have you had any luck with the BBD? They tend to be a little more noisy, could get you closer.

 

[JoKeR III]

Since it doesn't appear you're talking about using a lot of gain from the amp, you may consider placing the delay before the amp block. This will add more drive to the delay repeats when you pick harder.

The attached preset has changed the amp to the Nuclear Tone, Channel C, and placed an Analog Stereo delay, Channel C as well, in front of the amp with the same settings as your Ambient Stereo. Is this any closer to what you're looking for?

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

Since it doesn't appear you're talking about using a lot of gain from the amp, you may consider placing the delay before the amp block. This will add more drive to the delay repeats when you pick harder.

The attached preset has changed the amp to the Nuclear Tone, Channel C, and placed an Analog Stereo delay, Channel C as well, in front of the amp with the same settings as your Ambient Stereo. Is this any closer to what you're looking for?

No, but still a cool preset!

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

Seems like you are looking for more gain in your delay then you are feeding it. Have you had any luck with the BBD? They tend to be a little more noisy, could get you closer.

Tweaking as I type this. The BBD set at 10% feedback gives me real aural pleasure.

 

[Rex]

If you dial in a moderate amount of distortion, most of the amp models will distort more when you spank the strings harder.

If you place the Delay after the Amp block, its echoes will be the echoes of the amp, which means that more distorted sounds will have more distorted repeats.


Or are you looking for something different from that?

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

If you dial in a moderate amount of distortion, most of the amp models will distort more when you spank the strings harder.

If you place the Delay after the Amp block, its echoes will be the echoes of the amp, which means that more distorted sounds will have more distorted repeats.


Or are you looking for something different from that?

I actually got pretty darn close and it sounds like this. Tell me what y'all think.

 

[Rex]

I actually got pretty darn close and it sounds like this. Tell me what y'all think.

That's a really nice tone, but I find that dynamic picking is awkward with this preset. If you pick too lightly, there's no sound at all; as the strings ring out, notes cut off abruptly. At first, I thought that you had a really aggressive gate dialed in. Then I saw that you tied Input Drive to the envelope follower. Also, the volume gets much louder as you pick harder. This makes it hard to blend well with the rest of the band.


There are a couple of ways that you can make this more fluid:

1) In the Modifier window, raise the Min value until the sound doesn't die out with light picking.

2) My favorite: lose the Input Drive modifier altogether. The amp model you've chosen is capable of going from crystal-clean to quite dirty, just by how hard you pick. Find the sweet spot with the Input Drive that will put you right in between those two extremes with moderate picking strength. If you want to exaggerate the jump into heaving picking, experiment with the Input Dynamics parameter.

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

That's a really nice tone, but I find that dynamic picking is awkward with this preset. If you pick too lightly, there's no sound at all; as the strings ring out, notes cut off abruptly. At first, I thought that you had a really aggressive gate dialed in. Then I saw that you tied Input Drive to the envelope follower. Also, the volume gets much louder as you pick harder. This makes it hard to blend well with the rest of the band.


There are a couple of ways that you can make this more fluid:

1) In the Modifier window, raise the Min value until the sound doesn't die out with light picking.

2) My favorite: lose the Input Drive modifier altogether. The amp model you've chosen is capable of going from crystal-clean to quite dirty, just by how hard you pick. Find the sweet spot with the Input Drive that will put you right in between those two extremes with moderate picking strength. If you want to exaggerate the jump into heaving picking, experiment with the Input Dynamics parameter.

Where can I find the Input Dynamics parameter?

 

[Rex]

Where can I find the Input Dynamics parameter?

In the Amp block. In the — wait for it — Dynamics tab.

 

[Rocketsurgeongeneral]

In the Amp block. In the — wait for it — Dynamics tab.

Hahaha, my bad. There's a lot of knobs here. I'm not even sure where to begin.

 

[Rex]

Hahaha, my bad. There's a lot of knobs here. I'm not even sure where to begin.

No worries. The place to start is with the basic amp controls: Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume (Input Drive), and sometime Master Volume.

Know that most of the amp models can already do what you're looking for. Example: pull up the FAS Lead 1 factory preset. Pick it as lightly as you can. I mean fairy-dust light. It's clean and clear as a bell. Now spank out a chord like you mean it. Pure rock'n'roll.

 

[fractalz]

Sorry, that's very vague and artsy fartsy of me to say. I've got this tone with delays and I want the amp to naturally distort by how hard/soft I'm playing. When I play soft I want the amp to sound nice and clean and pure but when I increase my pick attack I want the amp to sound a bit more driven and slightly distorted. I also want the delays to be affected by it. Here's the preset in question

Look in the dynamics tab. Turn on some compression. Switch the type from output to feedback.