Really need help identifying trouble frequency

T

torkolort

Inspired
I've been struggling with this forever now. Lower notes I play sound so undefined, over-processed, distorted and muffled. I've always felt it's a low end issue, so I've tried everything to tame it but it doesn't help. It feels like the gain is very unevenly distributed. When the lower strings sounds way too distorted, the higher strings can be very clean, almost as if there's not enough distortion.

This applies for all amp and cab sims, although the intensity varies. What I'm looking for is that aggressive and punchy rhythm tone, which I'm not even close to as it sounds more like a guy trying to sing with a potato in his throat.

Here's a clip:



Played the same part twice, first is the USA LEAD 1 amp and RECTO 2 + SM57, second is the USA IIC+ amp and CALI + SM57. The settings are identical:

Drive - 7.01
Boost - Off
Bass - 1.89
Mid - 6.73
Treb - 6,26
Bright Off
Presence 3.31
Master Vol 3.07

Depth 0.00
Damp 5.00
Sag 2.01
Warmth 0.00
Thump 0.00
Low cut 100hz
Hi cut 14khz

Does anyone hear what I'm talking about??

I've tried:
- Different cabs including RW and OH
- PEQs with ridiculously high low freq block after cab, after amp, before amp, as first block.
- Ridiculously high low cut in amp block
- Higher damp setting
- Some advanced page settings (without knowing what exactly I'm doing)
- Global EQ
- Drive block
- Filter

I'm wondering if this is caused by some middle frequency that I'm unable to identify. I've experimented alot with PEQs to try finding the spot without success.

:(
 
need some more specifics,
1.what pickups
2.is the front input turned up enough
3.what is the hieght setting of your pickups(how close to the strings)
4.what are the global EQ settings(-12db at 63hz,-12 at 8khz all else flat works for me)
5.what firmware(11?)
 
1: DiMarzio D-Sonic/Air Norton.
2: Front input at 2 o clock.
3: Recently had my JP6 checked by a guitar tech because of this, and he said there was no need for height adjustment.
4: Currently flat, have tried -12db at 63hz, has no effect..
5: Standard, FW11.
 
It seems like whatever I do with the low end, it doesn't help anything. Which I find confusing, because it gets more and more audible the lower notes I play. Palm muting sounds horrible, especially on frets 5-9 on the low E and A.
 
almost sound like the middle pickup is on or it's a dying battery, but you aren't using actives....

did you try another guitar to see?

how about trying a compressor in front with a drive block? or a multi-band compressor?
 
with the para eq, turn the gain up in band 2 and sweep across the spectrum until the frequency pops out- then cut
perhaps you have tried this- but that would be my approach
 
hmmm....might sound really stupid, but is the guitar volume all the way up? or is the pot good? I had a strat that sounded like that once, and it turns out the tone controls were sucking out the tone (no pun intended!) :eek: I removed them from the circuit entirely, and the strat became a fire breathing dragon! :eek: I still use that same strat today, and even with a metal band sometimes!
 
i would go with one of the modern high gain sims.the USA lead1 and IIc+ both have their tonestack in the preamp.which is great for a rounder sound,not so much for tight agressive riffwork.those amps are naturally "Mid" heavy which is why they have GEQ's.hence the classic "V" notch to suck out all those mids.with out it those real world amps honk like a goose with a stick up it's ass.
 
I would go to the Marsha Sim and play with the gain, EQ'ing and cab choice, I get really tight and defined tones with that sim using my PRS.
 
@Jon
It does both sound and feel like I use the the neck pickup and have the tone control down. But I do use the bridge pickup and both volume and tone controls are maxed. Switching to neck pickup and turning down the tone control makes it sound even more terrible. But maybe there could be something wrong with the pot, I'm not sure if I'm qualified enough to figure it out and fix it myself. However I have tried with another guitar and it's still there, but maybe not as prominent.

@Mike Snider
Instead of turning up the gain, I turned it way down and sweeped through to hear if it disappeared. The closest I got was somewhere between 250 and 500 but I need to cut so hard that the tone in general becomes way too thin and totally useless. I'll try your suggestion with turning up the gain first and maybe find the trouble spot.

@RDeraz / Sixstring
I've tried simulating the v-curve with both PEQs and GEQs but I just can't tame it. I chose this simple basic patch without any EQing to get the natural sound of the sims and amps so maybe someone could point anything out of the ordinary. I have heard clips of aggressive and tight rhythm tones from the usa lead and IIC+ and it's generally that type of sound I'm after. So it doesn't make any sense that I'm only able to get muffled honks out of them, at least with the bright pickups I have.

I've thought I might have accidentally set some weird global setting that could cause this, but I have tried the factory reset without any luck. Could there be anything in there that would been reset by this which might cause this behaviour?

Thanks all!
 
Try a PEQ in front of the amp and cut some at 125Hz.
But more important: work on you playing technique...!!!
 
Try adding some bass on the amp sim. If you find that you need to tighten up from there...try a boost.
 
Have you tried lowering the lf resonance parameter in the advanced menu in the amp block ? - this sometimes work better for me than lowering the bass.
Have you angeled your pu so that there is more output on the low strings ?
 
merlin17 said:
Try a PEQ in front of the amp and cut some at 125Hz.
But more important: work on you playing technique...!!!
Click to expand...
Tried that, it doesn't tame it.
This isn't a technique issue. Yes it does sound horrible and sloppy, the point was to show how the lower notes just spew out regardless of how I play.
 
It IS a technique issue. Synchronize your right and left hand, pick clearly (the bass strings maybe nearer to the bridge), damp everything that gets in the way and it will sound right.
 
Tubiflex said:
Have you tried lowering the lf resonance parameter in the advanced menu in the amp block ? - this sometimes work better for me than lowering the bass.
Have you angeled your pu so that there is more output on the low strings ?
Click to expand...
I probably have tried it. I just don't understand why I should be needing to tweak those advanced parameters in order to get a half-decent rhythm tone. I can get really nice lead tones, just never rhythm.

The pickup angle was something I thought of and I asked the guitar tech about that but he said there should be no issue there.
 
I'd also try lowering the bass side of the pickup, the magnet interference with the strings could be part of the problem.
 
merlin17 said:
It IS a technique issue. Synchronize your right and left hand, pick clearly (the bass strings maybe nearer to the bridge), damp everything that gets in the way and it will sound right.
Click to expand...
Ahhh....I need to synchronize my left and right hand and pick clearly. What a revelation!!!

Yes the recording sounds horrible, but the POINT of it was to show the sound of the tone, not to play a nice piece of music so I put no effort into it. Maybe it was a bad example. I do know how to play the guitar, I do know how it is supposed to sound, and I do know that there is something wrong. It's very likely I am DOING something wrong, but the ISSUE for me is not the technique, it's something about my setup that's causing this.

I'd also try lowering the bass side of the pickup, the magnet interference with the strings could be part of the problem.
Click to expand...
Now that's something I need to consider. Might take it back to guitar tech and see.
 
Hey, I'm just trying to help, it's not my intention to make you down or something.
Play it as good as you can and post the result of that and we can take it from there.

Regarding the pickup height: just take a screwdriver and lower it, no need for a tech.
 
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