The New Tone Thread

The tone quest for me was always about my sound at home in the studio - definitely not on stage. When I was gigging I used Vox Valvetronix original series. Some would say they sound like ass (I disagree but for sure they aren't Marshalls) but for club gigs they were perfect and not stupid expensive. Onboard effects with a big ass foot controller so no stompbox/cable nightmare to deal with and you know what? The crowd don't have the first fucking clue. I could dial in every tone and effect combo I needed for a full 45 song gig close enough to fool the rubes and it actually sounded pretty decent. I went straight to the PA and had two stage monitors. The only extra shit in the rig besides wireless was a Crybaby and a talkbox.

Having said that I always wanted to gig with a Marshall and a 4x12! The closest I got was way back in the day with a Musicman Fender Twin clone but I always got told to turn it down.
 
I've been away for the last week or so, I've got some catching up to do on tones!

Just arrived today: JHS FireFly Fuzz that I ordered about 5 or 6 weeks ago. They were delayed, waiting on chassis and circuits for it. They finally got all stocked, built it, and now its here. I'll post some clips of it in action once I get it figured out.
 
Sky Blue Lou said:
The tone quest for me was always about my sound at home in the studio
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Yeah man, I'm not really chasing tones while I'm jamming with these guys, but of course I wanna sound as good as I can...

The biggest thing for me last night was (other than my playing...) trying to get the 2 channels at a happy medium point where they'd both sound decent...

Sky Blue Lou said:
The crowd don't have the first fucking clue.
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I've saw some pretty wild things while on stage man......:laughings:.
 
The crowd does have a clue if it sounds bad though. There's all kinds of good, but bad is just bad.

For me, I just try to sound good within the realm of Marshall sounds. I try to use a tone appropriate for the song being played. I don't try to sound Fender-ish or Orange-ish or Mesa-ish. I don't need a huge palette of sounds. I play originals so there's nothing for anyone to compare them to. I hear the differences between Marshall models and I'm happy to to live in those subtle nuances that most people don't even care about. I always get good compliments, but really, I should sound good. For the amount of time and money I've invested, it would be a travesty to fuck it up. And really, a good Gibson plugged into a good Marshall is pretty fucking hard to fuck up. If you fuck that up, just stop and switch to bass or something.
 
Greg_L said:
I should sound good. For the amount of time and money I've invested, it would be a travesty to fuck it up. And really, a good Gibson plugged into a good Marshall is pretty fucking hard to fuck up. If you fuck that up, just stop and switch to bass or something.
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you'd be surprised though ..... I hear guys coax crap sound out of good gear a lot.
 
Lt. Bob said:
you'd be surprised though ..... I hear guys coax crap sound out of good gear a lot.
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Ha, I believe you. I hear it too, and IMO it's almost always too much gain. I knew this one guy, good player, he played Flying Vs through Marshall DSLs. Kind of hard rock/classic metal music. Good player, good guitar, good amp. The problem...he ran everything through a digital effects thing into the amp set clean. His sound was hollow and thin and had no clarity or articulation. It was just a wash of white noise. This guy managed to sound like shit through great gear. And he was so nice. No one ever had the heart to tell him he was fucking up his sound.
 
ShanPeyton said:
Could be worse miner dude.

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Believe it or not, I've played a couple gigs with one of those amps years ago....This was when I'd sit in with just about anyone who asked, & a local band called me up, told me all I needed to bring was my guitar...Showed up, & that's the amp they had for me to play through...It was mic'd up though, & I had my own monitor right in front of me...Yes, I thought it sounded like shit, but the crowd actually loved it that night, so go figure...lol...Same thing with another band that I ended up playing with for a few years, same thing with the people at the bar too, they loved it....The 2nd gig was pretty much an audition thing though, ended up buying a Valvestate 100w head & 2 of the VS 4x12's that showed up at my place a few days later, just in time for my first "real" gig with that band...

We ended up playing 47 weekends out of 52 the first year I was in that band, & practiced every Wed evening...
 
That power supply Greg suggested finally arrived so I can now connect my DS1 to my HM2 for jealousy inducing pedal tones.
 
Guys!

It begins. . .

1 and 2

If you see anything right off the bat, let me know! :thumbs up: Also the rooms are pretty bare in terms of treatment, but for this exercise i am not sure how much that will matter? Thoughts? Sounds to follow!!! All my guitars need new strings except for a late 70's Ibanez PF350 i FINALLY just restored to a playable condition so i will be using that for this after noon. I'll chuck a picture of that up here too shortly.
 
Cool Shan, I do see a couple things you might wanna move though...you mightwanna take the cover or whatever that is off the top of the amp head, it'll build up heat over time dude...and move the lamp/whatever off the cab, if you get that thing crankin', it won't stay there long...other than that, it's record, listen, repeat...
 
@Miner: I moved all that stuff right after i snapped a few pictures!!! My thoughts exactly about that lamp. Good Eye!.

While setting things up this afternoon it occurred to me i had no clue where the frig to start? So any guidance in that department would be good. I decided i'd first try to zero in and find which of the four speakers will be the best results. I have an SM57 pointed dead on centre right on the cloth. Using the Bright Channel. I believe it is Channel Number 2. Again the guitar is a Ibanez PF350 1 2 3

Bottom Left
Bottom Right
Top Left
Top Right

Master - 4
Treb - 5
Mid 5
Bass - 5
Gain - 4

I am sure there is a perfectly valid reason why i am finding that the two bottom speakers seem to have a more full, muddy tone as opposed to the sort of more nasally tone of the two top speakers?

I guess in hindsight i should have grabbed a few clips from right at the edge of each speaker in a 12, 3, 6, 9 o'clock positon in addition to the on centre but i guess if i am just trying to weed out the best speaker maybe keeping it simple like this is the best?

I already see where this is headed :facepalm: Any suggestions? Guidance?
 
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