Mutron - Q-Tron envelope filter

rp911

rp911

Inspired
I'd been using an Ultra for years with my Grateful Dead cover band ... direct to FOH. I just switch to the AxeFX 2 and started over from scratch ... here's what I came up with for the envelope filter Garcia was famous for ... the Mutron 3, although I dialed this in a little fatter sounding.

This is my band doing a (sloppy) version of Estimated Prophet on Saturday ... first time I busted out the 2. Spent all of 2 days dialing it in ... LOL

http://leftyguitarsonly.com/vic/envelope.mp3

Thoughts welcome.
 
Happy to share ... except my 2 is with the band's gear and I can't plug it into the computer right now. The patch is specific for a guitar with an onboard effects loop, but the parameters are pretty simple ... double reverb, power amp sim off, bright on, presence jacked up a bit, a tape drive in front of the amp block to dirty it up a little, large spring reverb and a JBL E-120 cabinet IR (that should be floating around here). This mirrors, more of less, the gear Garcia used from the late 70s till the early 90s.

As far as the envelope itself, it's not hard to set up, set the frequency minimum to 200 and the maximum to 1900 or so (this is how the original Mutron was) ... tracking is around 7.5. From there it's just a matter of using the envelope to modify the frequency. I did a lot of tweaking to the midpoint, slope and offset to dial in how it opens and closes, that's very specific to different guitars so what works with my guitar (unity gain buffer and DiMarzio DualSound middle pickup single coil) won't necessarily work with yours. I set it to open easily on the high frets and then control the low frets with my touch.

When I can get the unit in front of me I will give some more exact values.
 
Way cool! I've been having a bit of trouble getting the Mutron sound...can't wait to try these settings. Also, being a lefty, I found the domain on which your mp3 was hosted pretty intriguing. Is Lefty Guitars Only your shop?
 
It is, Bill ... I keep about 40-50 higher-end lefty acoustics and electrics in stock. I will at least post some more detailed settings on that envelope filter today if I can get to where the gear is and power it up.
 
Great tone and playing.. still enjoy listening to the Dead from time to time.
Would like to see the "more details" on your Mutron block..
 
rp911 said:
Happy to share ... except my 2 is with the band's gear and I can't plug it into the computer right now. The patch is specific for a guitar with an onboard effects loop, but the parameters are pretty simple ... double reverb, power amp sim off, bright on, presence jacked up a bit, a tape drive in front of the amp block to dirty it up a little, large spring reverb and a JBL E-120 cabinet IR (that should be floating around here). This mirrors, more of less, the gear Garcia used from the late 70s till the early 90s.

As far as the envelope itself, it's not hard to set up, set the frequency minimum to 200 and the maximum to 1900 or so (this is how the original Mutron was) ... tracking is around 7.5. From there it's just a matter of using the envelope to modify the frequency. I did a lot of tweaking to the midpoint, slope and offset to dial in how it opens and closes, that's very specific to different guitars so what works with my guitar (unity gain buffer and DiMarzio DualSound middle pickup single coil) won't necessarily work with yours. I set it to open easily on the high frets and then control the low frets with my touch.

When I can get the unit in front of me I will give some more exact values.
Click to expand...


So when you say patch specific to onboard effects loop..could i use this cheap Jerry version?

Liger - PHRED instruments
 
There are a number of other guys out there making replicas of Jerry's guitars, but they're mostly in the *many*-thousand dollar range... Phred is by far the least expensive that I've seen, but I don't know anything about their quality. They look pretty nice for what they are... an affordable version of Tiger. From what I can tell he's made it pretty authentic with the wiring and switching along with the look. I'll bet it would do the trick to get you in the ballpark tonewise. My question would be about build quality and such. May be great, but just don't know.
 
Sorry, man ... don't check in here that much. I think you can put the right electronics in a Phred guitar (I had it all in a Strat at one time) although you won't get quite the same meaty tone without the heavier woods (cocobolo and maple).

All this stuff is on my AX8 but my equipment guy has it right now.

But a couple Youtube clips ... one with the envelope, couple without.





 
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