The Ultimate Amp Tweak Guide: "ML Method"

[ML SOUND LAB]

And one question about your method: Do you think it's better to do it with headphones or with speakers? With headphones you don't get feedback, with speakers you do. This will produce different results I guess.

Safe answer: use both. I've found that with speakers I tend to scoop the mids a little more than with my headphones even though I have both neutralized to be pretty much 100% flat through their range. I tend to recommend people to use headphones just because most people don't have rooms that resonate well... so it's safer to use neutral headphones just to be sure.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

I didn't use this method to make any patches, but one thing you said stuck in my mind when I watched the video, that you tend to turn the depth to 0 on amps.

Today, after flipping through a bunch of random amps, which I tend to do when I'm bored, my main patch didn't quite sound right, had some strange quality I couldn't really put my finger on (ear fatigue probably playing a part there). Sounds fine on fresh ears after not playing guitar for an hour or so though.

I tried doing what you do, pulled resonance down to 0 (it was at around 5, which most of my non-recto patches seem to be) and after some minor eq tweaks, it does sound much better, and that strange characteristic was gone - which apparently was just too much sub bass rumbling.

Depth is just one of those things I've always turned up on amps since I like a nice chunky palm mute. I love those 'breakthrough' moments where you figure out a new way to do things.

Yeah I'm right there with you. I loved my real life EVH 5150 with the depth knob quite high up. My band mate had a Rev G Dual Recto at the same time so I could make the EVH sound just like that Recto but tighter all because of that depth knob. But... that was all "in the room" as we like to say here on this forum. This room that I have at home is kind of designed to give me a full range meaning that I have a subwoofer that's super low in volume but extending that range. With that sub on I automatically hear that the depth knob is making my guitar sound looser and I like things punchy so that's why I turn it down.

When I made the ML USA Bass and ML SV Bass Cab Packs I really dove into getting my bass sounds professional so I went through all my favorite bass stems from bands like RHCP, No Doubt, A7X, Slipknot, Nirvana, Foo Fighters etc. and kind of realized that all the bass needs is space. Those "best bass sounds" that I had in my head were actually quite simple and the reason they sounded that good was that the guitars were allowing them that space. I feel like the depth knob is taking that space away and I'd rather have a tight bass track giving me that low end than a flubby high gain bass rumble that I get with the depth knob on high gain. It's just my personal preference though. There are plenty of bands that sounds really good where the guitar tracks are highly responsible for the low end of the mix like f.ex. Dream Theater.