The_Kid
Experienced
I have presets....like all of us......I love them, then hate them...tweak them, love them then hate them....
The most recent batch I took a different approach and really tried to dial in some additional amps to help cover some of the inadequacies of the tones I was using. For instance my presets for my current show would use a clean amp, a Matchless, JCM800 and Diezel. While that covered the range of gain structures needed to make songs sound decent enough for FOH, I found little nuances of each group that I didnt like from a playing feel standpoint for certain songs. Which sent me on an exploration mission (seems like everytime I go through this I find an amp or two more that add something, but lack something else) and led me to adding a few more amps. At this point I've reached about 10-12 amps or so that I use for various things. I enjoy creating sounds that somewhat mimic the songs I play and think it adds to the audience experience (your mileage may vary, and that is fine).
So...here I am again...I've started experimenting with pre-EQ'ing my presets to help cut through the mix better. Now I'm using Ownhammer IR's, and they sound great to me, and I know I can experiment with different IR's which will dramatically change the tone as well....but again...its a feel thing mostly...I can EQ and tone shape well enough. With the pre-EQ'ing, i've dialed in some great rhythm sounds for the songs I play...and was happy with them....til I tried to build lead tones off them....
So...being that I have a week and a half til next show...thought I'd take opportunity to maybe seek some help on some starting spots.
Things I do not want:
block Levels
AMP EQ (unless you turn bright switch on/off and adjust to compensate, or tweak any Geek parameters that change the 'feel' of the tone)
Cab Settings
What I AM looking for:
Drive block settings (when used as a boost to an amp, also include Amp settings in relation to drive block)
Amp Gain/MV/geek settings that affect the feel of the amp
Starting tones I'm looking for are the following:
Clean Amp ( I get the EQ to sound like I want, and it feels brittle..this really shouldnt be hard with the amps available. I've used Shiva/Twin/Brown...ugh)
Gritty Amp (clean with some breakup after taste)
Light crunch type amp (I hear this as an older Aerosmith type tone, think Sweet Emotion Verse tone or something slightly grittier)
80's JCM800 tone (I always play the riff to Round & Round when I play for this type of tone)
Slash type rhythm ( I know he is a bit more on the thinner side, but his live tone rocks...and a tone like the intro riffs on the track Halo on his Apocalyptic Love cd is what I hear)
Mesa type tone - I like the tone on Stone Sour's song Tired.
Mesa type tone - Metallica Enter Sandman is what we play (I like his live tone better than the rhythm tones on albums, but I'm game for some suggestions here as I've heard good clips of all of them)
Part II
Like I said, I've come up with some decent rhythm tones EQing wise...just the feel is gone. On that note, Part II is some help with input trim/gate/gain settings. I seem to struggle with this as well.
I have EMG's in my guitar...going to a Sennheiser wireless into my Axe...direct to FOH.
I have input trim set at about noon, and typically only hit 2, maybe 3 lights on the input. I know the 'tickle the red' theory, and try to subscribe to it....but then run into noise/gain/gate issues.
What I'm looking for here is just some basic gate/drive/amp drive/master vol settings (dont care about EQ as its signal/noise level i'm concerned with here).
I think with my settings I've got:
input trim - noon
gate for boosted jcm800 patch threshold -68db, 2.8ish ratio, higher attack, lower release....
I do understand the concept of use your ears....which is great when your ears have real world experience with some of this stuff. Sometimes there is too much to consider and take in when adjusting things and its easy to get lost in knobs, parameters and the treasure of this unit. I'm not asking for handouts as I said, I can eq my own sounds...just trying to compare tones and find out if i'm 'out of whack' with some settings as some of them are more extreme that what would seem needed. I appreciate any help...I dont expect anyone to answer all of this...or any of it...but thought I'd reach out as I'm just frustrated with again having to start from ground zero to build a permanent library of sounds I can use and just be happy with.
Thanks for participating!!
The most recent batch I took a different approach and really tried to dial in some additional amps to help cover some of the inadequacies of the tones I was using. For instance my presets for my current show would use a clean amp, a Matchless, JCM800 and Diezel. While that covered the range of gain structures needed to make songs sound decent enough for FOH, I found little nuances of each group that I didnt like from a playing feel standpoint for certain songs. Which sent me on an exploration mission (seems like everytime I go through this I find an amp or two more that add something, but lack something else) and led me to adding a few more amps. At this point I've reached about 10-12 amps or so that I use for various things. I enjoy creating sounds that somewhat mimic the songs I play and think it adds to the audience experience (your mileage may vary, and that is fine).
So...here I am again...I've started experimenting with pre-EQ'ing my presets to help cut through the mix better. Now I'm using Ownhammer IR's, and they sound great to me, and I know I can experiment with different IR's which will dramatically change the tone as well....but again...its a feel thing mostly...I can EQ and tone shape well enough. With the pre-EQ'ing, i've dialed in some great rhythm sounds for the songs I play...and was happy with them....til I tried to build lead tones off them....
So...being that I have a week and a half til next show...thought I'd take opportunity to maybe seek some help on some starting spots.
Things I do not want:
block Levels
AMP EQ (unless you turn bright switch on/off and adjust to compensate, or tweak any Geek parameters that change the 'feel' of the tone)
Cab Settings
What I AM looking for:
Drive block settings (when used as a boost to an amp, also include Amp settings in relation to drive block)
Amp Gain/MV/geek settings that affect the feel of the amp
Starting tones I'm looking for are the following:
Clean Amp ( I get the EQ to sound like I want, and it feels brittle..this really shouldnt be hard with the amps available. I've used Shiva/Twin/Brown...ugh)
Gritty Amp (clean with some breakup after taste)
Light crunch type amp (I hear this as an older Aerosmith type tone, think Sweet Emotion Verse tone or something slightly grittier)
80's JCM800 tone (I always play the riff to Round & Round when I play for this type of tone)
Slash type rhythm ( I know he is a bit more on the thinner side, but his live tone rocks...and a tone like the intro riffs on the track Halo on his Apocalyptic Love cd is what I hear)
Mesa type tone - I like the tone on Stone Sour's song Tired.
Mesa type tone - Metallica Enter Sandman is what we play (I like his live tone better than the rhythm tones on albums, but I'm game for some suggestions here as I've heard good clips of all of them)
Part II
Like I said, I've come up with some decent rhythm tones EQing wise...just the feel is gone. On that note, Part II is some help with input trim/gate/gain settings. I seem to struggle with this as well.
I have EMG's in my guitar...going to a Sennheiser wireless into my Axe...direct to FOH.
I have input trim set at about noon, and typically only hit 2, maybe 3 lights on the input. I know the 'tickle the red' theory, and try to subscribe to it....but then run into noise/gain/gate issues.
What I'm looking for here is just some basic gate/drive/amp drive/master vol settings (dont care about EQ as its signal/noise level i'm concerned with here).
I think with my settings I've got:
input trim - noon
gate for boosted jcm800 patch threshold -68db, 2.8ish ratio, higher attack, lower release....
I do understand the concept of use your ears....which is great when your ears have real world experience with some of this stuff. Sometimes there is too much to consider and take in when adjusting things and its easy to get lost in knobs, parameters and the treasure of this unit. I'm not asking for handouts as I said, I can eq my own sounds...just trying to compare tones and find out if i'm 'out of whack' with some settings as some of them are more extreme that what would seem needed. I appreciate any help...I dont expect anyone to answer all of this...or any of it...but thought I'd reach out as I'm just frustrated with again having to start from ground zero to build a permanent library of sounds I can use and just be happy with.
Thanks for participating!!