Plexi Treble "ice picky"?

rtcook

rtcook

Experienced
I like the Plexi Treble amp in 5.0, but I'm used to the Plexi1 amp in the Ultra. The Plexi Treble amp seems to have highs that hurt my ears. I don't know if this is called "ice picky" or not, but all I know is it was not present in the Ultra version of this amp. It may be more true to what a real Plexi sounds like, but I would like to get rid of this without sacrificing the tone if that makes any sence to anyone. Sorry for the poor non-technical description. Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try and get what I am looking for other than just turn the treble down? I am using a real tube amp with real cabs. No FRFR. Sims for both are off as well as the speaker drive.

Thanks,

Roger
 
Well I'm using frfr but I engage the treble boost and then roll the knob back to 3-4. I then go to the advanced page and set the high cut freq to about 6-8k.
Seems to help. Are you using a very bright guitar to begin with?
 
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I am using a Kramer Focus 1000. Things like setting the high cut freq and other advanced things like this are what I would like to try. I'll give it a shot. I like the treble boost, but is still seems to give me the ice picky highs. There's probably several other things to try, but I am not sure what. Still new to this advanced tweaking.

Thanks,

Roger
 
I use the plexi treble almost exclusively, but then, i use the mid and neck pups also mostly. Never got anything close to ice picky with it, though...in any firmware. Using studio reference monitors.
 
Well, I only have a humbucker bridge and it is not a hot pickup. 9.2K I believe. But, I am using a real tube amp and cabs, not FRFR. I still think this makes a difference. Like I said, I did not hear this before in the Ultra version of the Plexi with the exact same equipment. But, Cliff did make the amp more realistic and I think this might be a characteristic of a real Plexi. I'd just like to tone it down some. It hurts my ears. I'm gonna have to do a bunch of fiddling with the settings to see if I can accomplish what I want. Was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with a amp/cab setup. I know its fixable, just have to find it.
 
How high are you running the gain? If you're running the gain higher, try turning on the saturation switch in the advanced page and then backing down the gain.

I think the treble boost is important with this amp. It completely changes the gain structure.
The amp does start to get a little muddy if you try and run it as a high gain amp. That's why I like the saturation switch. Mellos out the tone a bit I feel
 
I would suggest turning your power amp sim back on unless you're really pushing the tube amp.
 
boltrecords said:
How high are you running the gain? If you're running the gain higher, try turning on the saturation switch in the advanced page and then backing down the gain.

I think the treble boost is important with this amp. It completely changes the gain structure.
The amp does start to get a little muddy if you try and run it as a high gain amp. That's why I like the saturation switch. Mellos out the tone a bit I feel
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.
 
rtcook said:
What do you mean by this statement?
Click to expand...

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With regard to the OP, you might want to try adding a parametric eq block and doing a sweep to find the offensive frequencies, then narrow the Q. I do this all the time, with the ultra, and the II, as I have somewhat sensitive ears and those ice picky sounds really bother me.

Insert a PEQ block
Set one of the higher bands to boost or cut with a medium Q
If you set it to boost, adjust (sweep) the freq control and listen for when the ice picky sounds become really unbearable, then switch it to a cut and see if it it helps
If you set it to cut, adjust the freq till you hear the ice pickiness reduce, and adjust the Q to find the right spot.
When you find the offensive frequencies, adjust the degree of cut to taste.


You may find more than one freq to be offensive. Also, note that too high or too low a Q sounds unnatural. Adjust to where it sounds right.

I use this all the time, and it works wonders.
 
I've actually had some success just using the tone knob on the guitar - something that I typically never touch. If I happen upon a preset that's a little too harsh - I've just been rolling the tone knob back a bit - and that's worked fine - at least so far. Still in the infantile stages. :)
 
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Yes, I also use the tone button on the guitar to reduce the ice pickiness, something that I also almost never touch otherwise! :lol

I do it more live tho, as a quick fix, but the solution is to fix the patch properly eventually.

Using the tone control is also useful to tame the sound and bring back the bite just as quickly with the roll of a knob.
 
This trait is what can make the plexi work well for switching between the warmer neck pickups vs. a more cutting tone towards the bridge position. Works really well when you have a tone knob wired for the bridge only on a strat to allow you to go from neck to bridge while maintaining some balance. Just food for thought..

I actually warm the plexi treble up just a bit to dial it in for use on my Nocaster's bridge pickup- then roll down just a hair on the tone knob on the guitar for most playing and roll it to ten when I need to cut.
 
jon said:
With regard to the OP, you might want to try adding a parametric eq block and doing a sweep to find the offensive frequencies, then narrow the Q. I do this all the time, with the ultra, and the II, as I have somewhat sensitive ears and those ice picky sounds really bother me.

Insert a PEQ block
Set one of the higher bands to boost or cut with a medium Q
If you set it to boost, adjust (sweep) the freq control and listen for when the ice picky sounds become really unbearable, then switch it to a cut and see if it it helps
If you set it to cut, adjust the freq till you hear the ice pickiness reduce, and adjust the Q to find the right spot.
When you find the offensive frequencies, adjust the degree of cut to taste.


You may find more than one freq to be offensive. Also, note that too high or too low a Q sounds unnatural. Adjust to where it sounds right.

I use this all the time, and it works wonders.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I will give this a try. May take me some time, since I have never done this before, but I will work through it. Appreciate the help!

Roger
 
I have actually found that turning the master down and readjusting the gain almost fixed things for me. The master is was on 10 as a defalult and my Ultra patch was 8.5. The gain I adjusted to taste and I'm in the ballpark now, but there's still something missing....
 
Quick way to adjust the distortion character of the plexi is to adjust bright cap value. It can radically change the amp from dark to ice picky.
 
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