The New Tone Thread

Great sound, miroslav! I got bit by the pedal bug in the last couple of years too, after a couple decades of going straight in. It's kind of embarrassing how many I accumulated, but I only use a few. But yeah, 'just in case' :)
 
Hey guys, no toans today, I'm actually working on some of the songs this week, but I did trade around today, & got a new mic & pre....I traded my Line 6 POD X3 Live for a Carvin CTM100...it's a tube condenser mic, with a shock mount & pre-amp...I honestly don't use the X3L anymore, & haven't even had it turned on in a month or two now, so maybe the mic & pre will be something that I'll actually use...



I haven't even tried it out yet, but the trade deal is (with my nephew, so I'm not at all worried about anything) if I don't like it (or he doesn't like the X3L), or it doesn't work, we trade back...The only thing I don't really know about or like really is the cable/plug type that goes from the mic to the pre-amp, it's a 9 pin, MIDI looking thing, but again, the trade isn't final so it may go back....I'll post some more about it when I get time to actually try it out....I'm not sure if it'll handle high SPL's, so it may not be worth a fuck for guitar amps, but it may be a nice vocal or acoustic guitar mic....We'll see tomorrow, maybe even tonight after work, just depends on what kind of shift I have, & if I feel like fucking with it or not....

The X3L did cost more than the mic & pre when they were new, but, fuck it, I've had the POD for years now, & I actually don't use it at all...I tried to like it with my amps, but it sucked the tone so much any way I tried it (straight into the front of the amp, 4-cable method, using only the time-based fx in my amp's loops), I hated what it did to the sound of any of my amps....

Gotta run, 2 more shifts this week (maybe...not sure about Saturday...bastards...lol), & 2 more next week (Monday & Tuesday...), then, I get another little mini-vacation that I really didn't expect, but I'll damn sure take it....

See you guys!!!
 
Mainly due to this thread, I took the plunge into the Marshall brand. I ordered a DSL40CST (Sweetwater's deal where they swap out the stock Celestion 70/80 with a Celestion Creamback). I know it's not a tower of power like the 100W heads into a 4x12, but I'm really excited to receive it next week. I'll be sure to post some results here once I've had a chance to fiddle with it.

I got a little carried away and also ordered a Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb at the same time. Between the two, I should have every tone I could desire, right at hand.

I had to delay shipping so I could receive it after Christmas, but hopefully I'll be up and running (in my soon-to-be-finished studio, no less) by the first of the year.
 
Nice! I'm eager to hear that Creamback because I'm GASsing a little for some myself. Do you know which Creamback it is? Either way, Big upgrade over the 70/80.

Minerman, tube mic huh? See how much loud that thing can take. :D
 
Mainly due to this thread, I took the plunge into the Marshall brand. I ordered a DSL40CST (Sweetwater's deal where they swap out the stock Celestion 70/80 with a Celestion Creamback). I know it's not a tower of power like the 100W heads into a 4x12, but I'm really excited to receive it next week. I'll be sure to post some results here once I've had a chance to fiddle with it.

I got a little carried away and also ordered a Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb at the same time. Between the two, I should have every tone I could desire, right at hand.

I had to delay shipping so I could receive it after Christmas, but hopefully I'll be up and running (in my soon-to-be-finished studio, no less) by the first of the year.
awesome ...... I very much look forward to hearing that DSL/Creamback combo!
 
Cool tadpui - I'm really weak on the Fender side, so I'm jealous - also looking forward to hearing that speaker

Hey can you all help me choose between two pedals? I only have room for one on my board. I recorded two clips - one with a lick repeated twice for each of three conditions - dry, pedal 1, pedal 2, and the other with another lick played once further up the neck for dry, pedal 1 and pedal 2. I only have room for one of the pedals on my board - one's technically a "distortion" and one an "overdrive" but I've got them both set up the way I like and I can't make up my mind:

clip 1:
View attachment clip1.mp3

clip 2:
View attachment clip2.mp3
 
Cool tadpui - I'm really weak on the Fender side, so I'm jealous - also looking forward to hearing that speaker

Hey can you all help me choose between two pedals? I only have room for one on my board. I recorded two clips - one with a lick repeated twice for each of three conditions - dry, pedal 1, pedal 2, and the other with another lick played once further up the neck for dry, pedal 1 and pedal 2. I only have room for one of the pedals on my board - one's technically a "distortion" and one an "overdrive" but I've got them both set up the way I like and I can't make up my mind:

clip 1:
View attachment 90875

clip 2:
View attachment 90876
well .... not sure which i like better but I have no comprehension of what you mean about only having enough room on your board for one of them.
You don't even need a board at all ..... you only play at your house for recording purposes and don't have to carry them out to gigs so how could it make any difference?.
You can put however many pedals you want on the floor .... the idea that you can only have whatever will fit on your board makes no sense whatsoever ....... making them fit on a board ONLY makes sense if you're gigging and have to travel around with them wired up.
In your home studio you can use 20 pedals if you want and you can hook them up and remove them at will.
 
Nice! I'm eager to hear that Creamback because I'm GASsing a little for some myself. Do you know which Creamback it is? Either way, Big upgrade over the 70/80.

Minerman, tube mic huh? See how much loud that thing can take. :D

My Traynor has 2 of the 70/80 in it, and I've never been too impressed. But I've also never swapped speakers in an amp before, so I couldn't definitively say what they add or subtract from the overall tone of that amp. That amp gets a little "farty", but since I've had a HotPlate on it for most of its life, I haven't heard the speakers pushed beyond their capacity for a long time now. The power section of that amp has lived on "10" for most of its life. When I saw that there was a speaker upgrade on the DSL40 available from Sweetwater, I had to jump on it.

Oh, and also based directly on your recorded tones, I grabbed an Audix i5 to pair with my SM57, just to see what I might be able to capture with it. I swear that I'm putting the kids of Sweetwater's sales staff through college this year...



Cool tadpui - I'm really weak on the Fender side, so I'm jealous - also looking forward to hearing that speaker

Hey can you all help me choose between two pedals? I only have room for one on my board. I recorded two clips - one with a lick repeated twice for each of three conditions - dry, pedal 1, pedal 2, and the other with another lick played once further up the neck for dry, pedal 1 and pedal 2. I only have room for one of the pedals on my board - one's technically a "distortion" and one an "overdrive" but I've got them both set up the way I like and I can't make up my mind:

clip 1:
View attachment 90875

clip 2:
View attachment 90876

The differences are subtle, but I prefer clip 2 on a quick listen. It has a little more snarl to it. clip 1 had a little more dynamics to it, which is always nice for feel while playing, but that was also due to the playing behind the amp...it was a more dynamic example.

Is this for a lead tone, or a chording/rhythm tone? It's always a little unpredictable how those little dissonances in a chord can make or break a distorted guitar tone. Some pedals and preamps can handle it smoothly, some can't.
 
The only thing I don't really know about or like really is the cable/plug type that goes from the mic to the pre-amp, it's a 9 pin, MIDI looking thing, but again, the trade isn't final so it may go back....

What's your concern...?

It's pretty much a standard cable for multi-pattern tube mics....it lets you switch polar patterns via the PS unit.
You should be able to hit that with about 130 dB SPL...though honestly, condenser mics don't make the best guitar cab mics, but that's not saying it will sound bad.
They just tend to pic up way to much high-end compared to a dynamic or ribbon...so they can accentuate the "hash", especially when in the crunch zone...but you should definitely try it out, and you may just have to find the right position, which may not be the same one you normally use with other mics. Also, don't forget the knob on the PS....every postion will sound different, going from Omni to Cardioid to Figure 8.
That said....it's probably a decent vocal mic and for all kinds of other stuff.
 
miro:
What's your concern...?

I'm just a noob with mics dude, had no idea about it, I thought all mics just had the XLR thing......:facepalm:.

It's pretty much a standard cable for multi-pattern tube mics....it lets you switch polar patterns via the PS unit.
Again, had no idea dude, I am pretty anxious to try it out, & I'll post my findings tomorrow, clips if I think they sound good...I was just pretty tickled to be getting another mic/something new (to me) that I'll probably use, I didn't even look at the pre-amp, just a glance & thought the position switch was a gain knob....hahaha


You should be able to hit that with about 130 dB SPL...though honestly, condenser mics don't make the best guitar cab mics, but that's not saying it will sound bad.
They just tend to pic up way to much high-end compared to a dynamic or ribbon...so they can accentuate the "hash", especially when in the crunch zone...but you should definitely try it out, and you may just have to find the right position, which may not be the same one you normally use with other mics. Also, don't forget the knob on the PS....every postion will sound different, going from Omni to Cardioid to Figure 8.

The online PDF manual says the max SPL for this mic is 127 db IIRC, so you were pretty close dude...

And on the high-end thing, the cheap condenser mics I already have do pick up a lot of the fizz, & I expect this mic to be the same, probably even pick up more...we'll see...

I'm actually pretty excited to try this thing out, I might be in for a disappointment like the Randall ISO cab though....:laughings:.

Of course, I won't be able to position the mic like I would a '57, but I may be able to find some good/different tones with some different mic placements & using the different polar patterns.....


That said....it's probably a decent vocal mic and for all kinds of other stuff.

Right dude, I was thinking it'd probably be a good vocal or acoustic guitar mic....again, we'll see...

anitchef: I really can't tell much of difference in the clips dude, maybe the Gerg will be able to hear something that I don't, both the clips sound fine to me, but they both sound pretty similar...

tadpui: Congrats on the new Marshall dude, should be the same as my DSL100, only about half the power...should be more than you'll ever need too, as my 100w version of that amp is one loud mother-fucker....If you play live with it, it might be a pain to dial the 2 channels in where they kinda sound alike, the red channel is way brighter than the green, just so you know...On the Creamback speaker, they're supposed to be a high-powered version of the Greenback, so it should sound pretty good...
 
well .... not sure which i like better but I have no comprehension of what you mean about only having enough room on your board for one of them.
You don't even need a board at all ..... you only play at your house for recording purposes and don't have to carry them out to gigs so how could it make any difference?.
You can put however many pedals you want on the floor .... the idea that you can only have whatever will fit on your board makes no sense whatsoever ....... making them fit on a board ONLY makes sense if you're gigging and have to travel around with them wired up.
In your home studio you can use 20 pedals if you want and you can hook them up and remove them at will.

He does play out live. The Flying Monkease! :D

Antichef.....based on your clips, I think I like pedal 1 better. I really like the dry tone best, but when you kick on the pedals, I liked pedal 1 better than pedal 2. Pedal 1 kicked in some raunch, but it didn't seem to be over the top. Pedal 2 seemed a little too dirty to me. But it's really close. Both sounded fine.
 
My Traynor has 2 of the 70/80 in it, and I've never been too impressed. But I've also never swapped speakers in an amp before, so I couldn't definitively say what they add or subtract from the overall tone of that amp. That amp gets a little "farty", but since I've had a HotPlate on it for most of its life, I haven't heard the speakers pushed beyond their capacity for a long time now. The power section of that amp has lived on "10" for most of its life. When I saw that there was a speaker upgrade on the DSL40 available from Sweetwater, I had to jump on it.

Oh, and also based directly on your recorded tones, I grabbed an Audix i5 to pair with my SM57, just to see what I might be able to capture with it. I swear that I'm putting the kids of Sweetwater's sales staff through college this year...
Haha, yeah I've been spending a bunch of money too lately. I really like the i5. It's smoother than the 57. I love the way it pairs up with my 57. I use the 57 as my "bright" mic and the i5 further out on the speaker. Works good for me.

So do you know which Creamback you're getting? There are two of them. There's a M-65 which is supposed to be very Greenback-ish, and a new H-75 which is supposed to be like the G12H-30. Either should kick some ass.
 
Thanks guys - yeah, I do gig -- not nearly at the frequency of Lt. Bob. But... probably unlike Bob, my band usually only plays one set along with other bands, and so I have to get on and off in a jiffy. A robust and well conceived pedal board is indispensable, I'm finding - a couple of gigs ago, I had a cable issue and got no sound - but I didn't find that out until I was standing in front of the crowd with about 90 seconds to go before we started - wound up tossing the board and going direct (the way I usually played for years, actually) which was fun, but I don't want to do it again. I switched to George L cabling since then and haven't had an issue.

minerman - I just worked on a bunch of songs where the guitar player (not me) recorded his Fender Twin with a tube mic - actually it was my TnC 6802T from the group buy a few years ago (modified quite a bit) - I lent him the mic for vocals, not thinking he'd use it on the amp, but the recordings were really good -- I wound up using them over the SM57 tracks he was recording simultaneously.
 
Thanks guys - yeah, I do gig -- not nearly at the frequency of Lt. Bob. But... probably unlike Bob, my band usually only plays one set along with other bands, and so I have to get on and off in a jiffy. A robust and well conceived pedal board is indispensable, I'm finding - a couple of gigs ago, I had a cable issue and got no sound - but I didn't find that out until I was standing in front of the crowd with about 90 seconds to go before we started - wound up tossing the board and going direct (the way I usually played for years, actually) which was fun, but I don't want to do it again. I switched to George L cabling since then and haven't had an issue.

minerman - I just worked on a bunch of songs where the guitar player (not me) recorded his Fender Twin with a tube mic - actually it was my TnC 6802T from the group buy a few years ago (modified quite a bit) - I lent him the mic for vocals, not thinking he'd use it on the amp, but the recordings were really good -- I wound up using them over the SM57 tracks he was recording simultaneously.
my apologies ...... I actually was just skimming thru and thought it was a post from minerman who does not gig ...... that's why i couldn't figure out what the problem was.
But having room for just one more pedal is a real issue when you have two you like.

So with that cleared up I have to agree with miro ..... they both sounded good to me but if really pressed hard I'd pick the first clip as slightly better.

And yes ..... a pedalboard can shut you down in a hurry if it doesn't work right ..... it's absolutely imperative that they're well built and work every single time you hook them up.

Your concerns are well-founded and I apologize again for just throwing out an opinion too quickly without bothering to know what the hell i was talking about!
 
Haha, yeah I've been spending a bunch of money too lately. I really like the i5. It's smoother than the 57. I love the way it pairs up with my 57. I use the 57 as my "bright" mic and the i5 further out on the speaker. Works good for me.

So do you know which Creamback you're getting? There are two of them. There's a M-65 which is supposed to be very Greenback-ish, and a new H-75 which is supposed to be like the G12H-30. Either should kick some ass.

Judging by the pictures on Sweetwater's site, it apears that it's the M-65. They don't actually list the specific speaker model # in the description for the amp. The pic of the speaker says the model number is G12 M, and it has a 65-Watt capacity. I'm a total speaker noob so I'm assuming that this is where the M-65 denotion comes from.
 
Judging by the pictures on Sweetwater's site, it apears that it's the M-65. They don't actually list the specific speaker model # in the description for the amp. The pic of the speaker says the model number is G12 M, and it has a 65-Watt capacity. I'm a total speaker noob so I'm assuming that this is where the M-65 denotion comes from.

Awesome, yeah that's the Greenback version. Very cool. Those are the one's I've had my eye on since they came out and so far everyone else is raving about them.
 
Judging by the pictures on Sweetwater's site, it apears that it's the M-65. They don't actually list the specific speaker model # in the description for the amp. The pic of the speaker says the model number is G12 M, and it has a 65-Watt capacity. I'm a total speaker noob so I'm assuming that this is where the M-65 denotion comes from.
I will be following with keen interest. On the Marshall side of things, I'm swimming in the standard 75s, which everyone hates. I've been eyeing alternatives for about two years now, but haven't done anything.


So with that cleared up I have to agree with miro ..... they both sounded good to me but if really pressed hard I'd pick the first clip as slightly better.
Pedal one is a Boss DS-1 that I converted to yellow LEDs (instead of whatever diodes it had) and in which I replaced pretty much every capacitor and some resistors, all without a clue what I was doing - the result is that it got really quiet (weird) and sounds very different, but I do like it, and based on everyone's input, it gets the job - thanks!!!! My only hesitation is that it would be the one non-true-bypass pedal on the board.

Pedal 2 is an Akai overdrive 3, something like that - I still highly recommend this one - it's got three modes, and additionally it has a bay door that lets you swap the op-amp easily, and even comes with three op-amps for you to use. They're pretty cheap, but I got mine on the 'stupid deal of the day' a while back for really cheap. I've got some far fancier (i.e. spendier) overdrive pedals, but these two are my current favorites.

Your concerns are well-founded and I apologize again for just throwing out an opinion too quickly without bothering to know what the hell i was talking about!
Dude, that's what I do on about 75% of my posts - keeps things interesting :)
 
miro:


I'm just a noob with mics dude, had no idea about it, I thought all mics just had the XLR thing......:facepalm:.

.....

And on the high-end thing, the cheap condenser mics I already have do pick up a lot of the fizz, & I expect this mic to be the same, probably even pick up more...we'll see...

OK...:D...I just thought that maybe the cable was messed up or something. Yeah, it's usually like that with tube mics with their own power supply. You still use the XLR from the PS to your preamp. :)

AFA the tones.....that multi-pattern knob on the PS is your friend. ;)
Try it at like 1:00-2:00....you get mostly cardioid, but you also start to bring in some of the back capsule, so it will pull some of the room in for you.

If the high-end is too fizzy....you might just need to go off-center a bit more than you would with a dynamic...or try it in combination with a close dynamic, and the tube mic about 2' back (and of course, play with the multi-pattern knob).
The preamp you connect it to will also make the difference, but I'm sure it's a decent mic.

Hey...at least you unloaded that Line 6 stuff...let's hope your nephew likes it. :p
 
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