Tight sounding low-end

A

Andy1981

Member
Hi all! Just bought an XL and so far finding it amazing. Great sounds and so much easier to carry around!

I've managed to get some great clean/light gain patches together but when it comes to the more high gain stuff I can't seem to get rid of a mushy sounding low end. There are a lot of settings in the advance amp block that I'm not sure about but have tweaked, can't quite manage the tight low end I'm looking for though.

I'm realising that it would b a good idea to get to know how an actual valve amp works which would help me understand what all of the parameters do, but that's a task in itself!

Anyone have any pointers?

I'm using it with wedge or headphones depending where I am, I don't use a computer or record.

Thanks.
 
What firmware are you running? I had that in the older firmware but the latest firmware has gotten rid of the flubby mushy low end especially on my Les Paul's / humbuckers.
 
Mushy low end is caused by too many low frequencies from the guitar/signal chain going into the preamp/amp.

Try any of these separately or a combination of these together:

-Use a High Gain amp model that is naturally tight sounding, like the Herbie Ch3 model, and make sure Bright is on.

-Start by engaging the "Cut" control (bass cut) on your chosen amp block..this will remove some low end before it hits the preamp and will tighten the sound.

-Alternatively, place a Parametric EQ in front of the amp block and experiment with filtering out the very low frequencies. Depending on your tuning, you can filter out almost everything below 120 hz for example, which i believe is where the Cut control above is also set.

-The "Definition" parameter is a great tool for adding attack after you have filtered the low end out..try setting this to around +4 or +5 to add some bite around the 1-2k frequency area.

-The classic method...put a Drive block in front of the Amp Block and experiment with Tube Screamer style models, setting the Mid to around 1-2k and boosting this to taste, and experiment with low cut in the Drive block.
 
If you want a tight Brit 800 tone, make sure Bright and Cut are on, and experiment with the Definition control, and maybe tame some Treble and Presence on the amp
 
Some other things you can try along with the other suggestions above:

-use a PEQ block before the AMP block, set the PEQ to "Blocking", adjust the LF cutoff until you take out a bit too much low end, then adjust the "Q" parameter in the PEQ to dial in the low end back perfectly. You can then make any further adjustments easily using the amp Bass control since you've surgically chopped out the low end munge before it gets to the amp.

-reduce the "Dynamic Depth" a bit; this is an interesting parameter in that the harder you dig in to the boomy low strings it cuts off a bit more bottom, while retaining fullness when your playing lighter, on higher strings, etc.

-reduce the LF resonance in the AMP block speaker tab, and/or increase the resonant frequency in the same tab

-reduce the LF band in the AMP EQ. I love the Passive 5 Band EQ type here....

-use the Low Cut in the CAB block

-play with the Master Volume; when set too high on some amps the low end just 'melts'...

I generally use the PEQ method of reducing a really boomy amp right at the start of the chain, but sometimes in combination with the other ones; all depends on the amp, tone objective, and IR, and each technique can "dial in" and feel different too...just play around and you'll find something that works perfectly for your setup.

Also, go one click at a time when making parameter adjustments; a little adjustment yields the 'perfect' setting in most cases I find.
 
Last edited:
Luca9583 said:
Mushy low end is caused by too many low frequencies from the guitar/signal chain going into the preamp/amp.

Try any of these separately or a combination of these together:

-Use a High Gain amp model that is naturally tight sounding, like the Herbie Ch3 model, and make sure Bright is on.

-Start by engaging the "Cut" control (bass cut) on your chosen amp block..this will remove some low end before it hits the preamp and will tighten the sound.

-Alternatively, place a Parametric EQ in front of the amp block and experiment with filtering out the very low frequencies. Depending on your tuning, you can filter out almost everything below 120 hz for example, which i believe is where the Cut control above is also set.

-The "Definition" parameter is a great tool for adding attack after you have filtered the low end out..try setting this to around +4 or +5 to add some bite around the 1-2k frequency area.

-The classic method...put a Drive block in front of the Amp Block and experiment with Tube Screamer style models, setting the Mid to around 1-2k and boosting this to taste, and experiment with low cut in the Drive block.
Click to expand...

to add to this fine list....
turn the bass control down very low in the amp page: 3.0 or less
then go to the amp's EQ page and put it back by boosting the lowest 3 bands and making a 3dB to 5dB cut in the 500 band
 
If you're just cutting low end before the amp block, a filter block will do the job just as well as an EQ block.
 
Or simply use a different amp model.. the 800 is great, but hardly the tightest out there. If you want a modern tight distortion try the Diesel or Engle for example.
 
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