Plexi cleaning up with volume knob

scottp said:
Yea, earlier this week I got everything dialed in at home playing along to the mp3 songs for this weeks service.
At practice Thursday night and my tone was SO treble heavy I couldn't believe it.

In my case I was using the 50W 6CA7. The main culprit was the bright capacitor. Default is 4999 pF.
I had to turn it down to 80 to make it useable.

To make sure the FOH wasn't sending me a poorly EQ'd tone I did an A/B comparison this morning.
AX3 Direct out to my in ears vs. the monitor send to the ME-1. The sound was just the same.
I made it through the service but I was not comfortable with the tone, and it affected my playing.

This is with my Tremonti. It doesn't have a treble bleed. Back at home, I tried a strat with a treble bleed, but the pickups were not right for the tone I am going after.

I also tried the gain enhancer on the Dynamics tab for output compression.
While I could get some difference in tone, it seems like its going to take a while for me to understand how to go back and forth to get it working properly for me, if I can.

All that to say maybe a treble bleed on the Tremonti will be a step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

Try the 100w Plexis. They tend to have more headroom and will be both a bit thicker
and clean up better. Also, check the headroom meter in the Authentic Amp Tab and
see that it is responding below 0.0 as you roll volume back on your guitar and/or pick
lighter. If not, drop the Drive down some and compensate with a Level increase to taste
for your overall volume.
 
Bman said:
How hot it the bridge pickup? For me, I like a hotter bridge pickup and a low output front pickup to help with the cleaning up w/ the volume thing. I try to dial in where I have a T808 in the chain but not engaged. It's there for when I need more juice OR when I want a fluid neck pickup tone. I also use a control switch to bump the pre-amp boost so I get a little more than the added gain the T808 gives when I switch to that scene. But I have a treble bleed in all of my guitars except a couple that I don't play and the newer addition, EVH Frankie replica (that guitar is it's own 'thing')

It's funny....I wanted the Fractal so I could have a multi channel amp type rig. And of course I have all of that at my disposal. But I'm always trying to dial it in where I can clean up with the volume. I guess I like the playing dynamic of blues to shred but it limits my amp selections. I probably need to 'move on' and expand my 'amp' vocab. @Blix mentioned the 800 #34 does well too and I agree.
Click to expand...

I thought the same way. It was a dream come true to have almost any tone I want at the push of a foot switch and I thought I'd use the Axe-Fx like that all the time. I've come to realize that it sounds more musical when my tones have continuity. There are definitely musical contexts in which going from sparkling clean to a totally gained out modern tone are appropriate, but most of the time that is not the case for the music I play.

In a way if feels lame to use a the Axe-Fx as a single channel amp (with effects of course), but it is still way more practical than dragging a traditional tube amp / pedal board setup. To approximate the virtual rig I'm using in the Axe-Fx I'd need a pair of microphones, a vintage Marshall 4x12 cab, a vintage Marshall 50W plexi head, a few drive pedals, a few delay pedals, a rotary sim of some kind, and a programmable pedal switching system like a Boss ES-8 or a VooDoo Lab GCX. That's a lot of gear to schlep.
 
OrganicZed said:
I thought the same way. It was a dream come true to have almost any tone I want at the push of a foot switch and I thought I'd use the Axe-Fx like that all the time. I've come to realize that it sounds more musical when my tones have continuity. There are definitely musical contexts in which going from sparkling clean to a totally gained out modern tone are appropriate, but most of the time that is not the case for the music I play.

In a way if feels lame to use a the Axe-Fx as a single channel amp (with effects of course), but it is still way more practical than dragging a traditional tube amp / pedal board setup. To approximate the virtual rig I'm using in the Axe-Fx I'd need a pair of microphones, a vintage Marshall 4x12 cab, a vintage Marshall 50W plexi head, a few drive pedals, a few delay pedals, a rotary sim of some kind, and a programmable pedal switching system like a Boss ES-8 or a VooDoo Lab GCX. That's a lot of gear to schlep.
Click to expand...

 
OrganicZed said:
I've come to realize that it sounds more musical when my tones have continuity.
Click to expand...

To that end, more of my presets for single songs are taking a lesson from Neil Young and his amp/rig tech. I am more frequently using the AxeFX3 as an overqualified 'Whizzer' to twiddle knobs on a single amp model and/or switch seamlessly from one to another gainier, but related amp tone via a Mixer block.

This week has mostly been spent with 'the Whizzer' directing Howard Dumble's 'Hot Rubber Monkeys'....

OrganicZed said:
That's a lot of gear to schlep.
Click to expand...

As one who used to run wet/dry/wet in the '90s with a preamp, a slaved amp, and FX in the rack, I can, with authority, say that you are 110% correct, sir....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom