Your favorite mid to high gain amps that retain clarity on complex chords

kevinerror

Member
Just wondering what everyone's favorite amps are for this purpose. I tend to play a lot of stuff that's not the solid 'power chord' - lots of minor 7 type chords, lots of major 2nds.. just not a lot of the typical root + 5th. Typically these are a little higher on the fretboard/strings, so on higher gain amps (A 5150, for example, gain not cranked but up there for sure) tend to not sound great on these chords. A lot of times my desire for 'attack' or 'twang' causes me to push up the treble/presence, or the bright/definition - just less 'low end' going into the amps in general, I guess.. but then the clarity of those complex chords goes away. Without those boosts in the high end, it tends to sound muddy and I don't get the attack I want.

So - what are your favorite amps that handle this well without turning into a muddy mess? Or maybe it's not an amp - maybe an EQ or a drive or something else? What do you all like for this? Maybe this should just sound great on most amps already, and my pickups suck? What do you all think?

Cheers :)
 
Uber
Das Metall
FAS Moderns
Severe
Q-Rod

Drive block or EQ the low end down before the amp block. Low cut in the cab block.
 
5153 - all three channels can crank out some really good gain, and all three channels maintain good note separation. Blue channel probably has the largest sweet spot for it.
 
Comet Concorde

(pre-G3, have a broken arm and can't play right now. Can't wait to get back to it and bask in the G3 goodness.))
 
Nudge the Negative Feedback up a bit, and back the Tranformer Match down to 10-11:00 o'clock.
You need to make sure mids are up a bit and not overly scooped, most defaults are fine. Then bump up 1k and 2k a bit to get more definition. Seems to work on most amps for me. I play a lot of different voicing a a need clarity. As said above, increasing the dynamics knob a little bit helps too.
Good luck


Sent from my iPhone
 
Triptik
Uber (still gotta cut lows though)
BE/HBE
5153
VH4's

For a little less gain...
AC30Hot
Trainwreck Express
Badcat
Badgers
Dr. Z's

+1 to Barh's tweaks.
 
Best "real" amp I've heard for this is my Bogner uberschall, played through a tHd 2 12 open back cabinet - can crank the gain up and still get chordal clarity. I don't use this much anymore given the versatility of the Axe FX...but the vibe is really cool. Could never get that combination of gain and chord definition with my Mesa amps.
 
Is this problem easiest to view in terms of the actual chords, or the number of strings that are being played at the same time? For example, does it matter if you're playing a six-note jazz chord, or trying to play the typical grand barre chord, as the amount of distortion presumably has to be really low in order to make six strings sound reasonable at the same time? In my mind, the distortion has to drop down each time one permits another string into the chord, so I personally can't play chords with more than four strings at once. For example, a grand barre chord seems to have three copies of the root, and that's almost my quota right there, so I never play them! :)

This is a great point and something I hadn't considered. It definitely gets worse the more notes I play. I think perhaps I could use a scene controller for the amp gain as well for certain parts.. It makes total sense. More strings = more output, which means more gain, in a way. This is a great tip! Thank you so much!
 
I'm dealing with the same dilemma, so thanks for the thread!
When I think of what you're describing as "full chords", I hear Tymon (Exivious) as an earworm. You may want to grab some of his patches and see what he did (The XL patches are available, somewhere). Oh, and if you have an XL, please give us the specs on his patches so us FX II can use them LOL.
 
JVM
Uber
...
The best for that is to mix 2 amps. For example one with super high gain (usually will give you bass and highs) and one not especially high gain that focuses on the mids that will give you clear grain and definition in chords and note separation. Finding the right combination is a fun hunt :)
 
Atomica High. It's my go-to modern Marshall and despite a SLEW of quality contenders in the Axe-FX; it just continues to deliver.
 
JVM
Uber
...
The best for that is to mix 2 amps. For example one with super high gain (usually will give you bass and highs) and one not especially high gain that focuses on the mids that will give you clear grain and definition in chords and note separation. Finding the right combination is a fun hunt :)


yep thats one way ,Some thing like a Recto and an Jcm800 ..a lot of bands do that to one guy plays the classic 800 and the other has the Modern amp 5150 ,Mkv
 
It makes total sense. More strings = more output, which means more gain, in a way. This is a great tip! Thank you so much!
It's not so much that as, "More notes + higher gain = more (and stronger) intermodulation notes that have no harmonic relationship to the notes you're playing."

Power chords work for high gain because there are fewer intermod products, and they're harmonically related to the notes you're playing. The more complex the chord, the more of these "unhelpful" notes you get. That sets a pretty hard limit on how much clarity you can get.


You can sort of use amp choice and EQ to reduce intermod products in the same way that you can sort of use a chainsaw to cut your hair. :)
 
It's not so much that as, "More notes + higher gain = more (and stronger) intermodulation notes that have no harmonic relationship to the notes you're playing."

Power chords work for high gain because there are fewer intermod products, and they're harmonically related to the notes you're playing. The more complex the chord, the more of these "unhelpful" notes you get. That sets a pretty hard limit on how much clarity you can get.


You can sort of use amp choice and EQ to reduce intermod products in the same way that you can sort of use a chainsaw to cut your hair. :)

That's gotta be it. Maybe what I'm playing just has no place through a higher gain amp.

So many possibilities! This is all awesome.
 
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