Why Your Amp Doesn't Sound Like Our Amp

[mwd]

Super interesting article.

 

[Mott]

I hope this thread ultimately ends up in the Tech Notes section. Great read!

 

[GLiDE BPM]

Best thing out of all this... I pick a model/cab close to what I'm looking for and tweak away until I find my tones!

So freaking much to choose from you could spend a lifetime!

 

[gitfruit]

Even better thing out of all this: I save my go-to preset to another slot, throw in another Marshall instead of my beloved Plexi 50 Hi, throw in 2 Leon Todd cab mixes, do NO tweaking at all and it sounds glourious!

 

[TSJMajesty]

Something as simple as the length of an instrument cord can effect the way an amp sounds and behaves. The most important thing is that it sounds good to you.

Yeah, but you may think it sounds good, until you hear it sounding better, but until you do, you wouldn't know it. You know what I mean? It's what you don't know, that you don't know.

 

[Sleestak]

Something as simple as the length of an instrument cord can effect the way an amp sounds and behaves. The most important thing is that it sounds good to you.

I used a late 80s (possibly early 90s) PRS in the studio for while, and it had the "sweet switch" on it. I always referred to it as the "fifty feet of instrument cable" switch That thing was magic.

 

[TSJMajesty]

I used a late 80s (possibly early 90s) PRS in the studio for while, and it had the "sweet switch" on it. I always referred to it as the "fifty feet of instrument cable" switch That thing was magic.

I have an 87 with the "sweet switch." What exactly does it do?

 

[TSJMajesty]

So you model an amp based on the design intent, but how do you determine the default settings for factory presets (or should I start a new thread?)

 

[effulgent]

feel like this article should be pinned!

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

Pin This please

 

[TSJMajesty]

Pin This please

And add it to the Manual. S'il vous plait.

 

[cardinal]

At the risk of someone's wrath, I've had as many as three 2204 heads at once and three Rev F Rectos at once, and all of them were identical as far as I could tell. Small sample size, but I've just not noticed high variability among amps of the same kind.

 

[AminorZmajor]

This is just one of many reasons I have been Fractalized for quite a while.

 

[Sleestak]

I have an 87 with the "sweet switch." What exactly does it do?

I have been told by a PRS rep that it was intended to be a better version of a "treble bleed" circuit. The design is supposed to imitate the Fletcher Munson "loudness" curve by introducing some kind of a fixed filter / EQ circuit. As a binary on / off circuit, it is interesting, but can't accommodate for all of the subtleties of the actual F-M effect. I don't know why they stopped putting that switch into guitars; it's possible they were able to integrate that effect directly into the pickups / electronics. PRS switching is pretty complex I've never owned one, as the models that appeal to me would cost me a kidney or something.

 

[wtfoley3]

You’re pretty smart, you know that?

 

[Zedhed]

I love the fact that I can randomly pick an amp model, pair it with a cab and before long create a tone that I really like.
Would my settings match the real thing? Probably not but I couldn't care less.
If it sounds good, it is good.

 

[JayCM800XL]

Usually most of Cliff”a tech explanations go way over my head.
This post though, appeals to my real life experience with tube amps and as such I totally agree with its premise.
That’s why I never ask for guidance about achieving tones and instead use ears/feel to make the best out of the tool at hand.
I might inquire about rigs, routing or most recommended products for certain applications.
In short, for the inexperienced, a real tube amp is not a program, an algorithm...it’s just as unique (or ordinary) as the guitar (or player) playing through it.
Only you know the sound in your head.

 

[Stratoblaster]

This thread should be stickied/pinned above (or in Tech Notes, etc.) so it's 'right there' for all to see. While this subject has been broached several times over the years and the same points articulated, it seems to keep coming up again and again and this writeup/explanation is the most thorough and detailed yet..the definitive, exhaustive answers to fully inform a user as to why this is.

 

[Corinthian]

I have been told by a PRS rep that it was intended to be a better version of a "treble bleed" circuit. The design is supposed to imitate the Fletcher Munson "loudness" curve by introducing some kind of a fixed filter / EQ circuit. As a binary on / off circuit, it is interesting, but can't accommodate for all of the subtleties of the actual F-M effect. I don't know why they stopped putting that switch into guitars; it's possible they were able to integrate that effect directly into the pickups / electronics. PRS switching is pretty complex I've never owned one, as the models that appeal to me would cost me a kidney or something.

IIRC you were more right in your "50 feet of cable" description. It was created when Carlos Santana switched from long cables to wireless and didn't like the change in tone. The sweet switch was designed to have an effect similar to the capacitance of a long cable (though IIRC it doesn't work through capacitance).

 

[RackAddict]

With that being said, I would definetly hope that there will be a remodeling the mesa rectifier.
Dont get me wrong, I love my axe fx 3 and its modeling and many amps, but I just feel the rector models are a bit flubby on the low end. But then again there has been a high variance in the way the rectifier amps sound over the many models released over the last 20-30 or so years that its been around.
but those rectos from the 90s used by all the nu-metal bands I find were what defined the ultimate rectifier. I think the dual and triple. They all had this very fat sound thats hard to describe. And were as tight as that kind of fatness could possibly sound.
Then mesa basically butchered the circuit.