The New Tone Thread

antichef said:
I know next to nothing about Mesas - there's a guy around here who plays a Lone Star something (head and cab, not a combo) and sounds really good in a classic rock way.

Bob - what Vox thing were you using?
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I've gone thru a succession of modelers but the most recent was a Vox Stomplab .....
I liked the idea that it'll fir in a guitar case and it'll even run off batteries so it's a great emergency unit.
And for only 80 bucks it's a steal .... even I could afford it and I was very broke at that time.

However ..... it can't stand up to me.
:laughings:
I work a lot and one of the footswitches went out and it would only scroll downward.
But for light studio use ...... if you want some inexpensive decent sounds it's ok.

However, having said that, the RP360 is only 70 bucks more and it smokes the Vox.
Ok ..... back to diddling around.
 
It's cool to hear someone like you endorse the Digitech pedal. I've been using an RP-something for a long time now and really like what I can get out of it 80% of the time. I feel like it's very close to using a real amp in that you've got to spend a lot of time tweaking knobs to get a sound you're looking for.
 
Alritey then .... this is in the spirit of tone exploration so I'm not doing multiple takes ..... you get the first sucky thing that comes out.

But I did want to put up a few clips before I crashed 'cause I'm busy tomorrow .... so I took the first things I played while distracted 'cause I'm still listening myself to hear how I need to tweak the sounds.
The playing is godawful ...... and out of tune too ....... it's just a treat all the way around. :)

But it does give you an idea of how it sounds.

Since I'm learning this machine as we go, and I'm still in my earliest editing and it'll take a month or two of gigs before I have it just like I want it .... I think I'll post clips along the way.
Might be interesting to have a record of the progression of my tones.

Tonight is literally my first actual 'sit-down and work on it' time .... and you can't use the factory presets .... they're terrible .... so your sounds will only be as good as you make them.

I'm finding these kinda dark sounding .... however I almost always have a bass-cut on a guitar modeler into the PA ..... but I do want some more sparkle so I'll have to fix that.

For these I have it in 'stomp' mode ..... which means I have a base sound and three footswitches that I can assign 3 of a zillion stompboxes to.
Tonight I set up two presets in 'stomp' mode. You can have 99.

The clip that's dirty all the way thru is based on a '68 Plexi with a TS808/delay/'verb.
I like how it has good note definition ..... lots of modelers 'mush' things together. But this has some presence to it.
I need less gain on the base sound I think though ..... I want more crunch and less gain at the front of that clip.

The clip that starts out clean is based on a Twin with some sorta distortion I liked and a delay and a chorus.
A good sustainy clean and a fairly realistic stompbox giving you distortion over a clean amp.

It's the RP360 direct into a Teac DR-05 ..... no EQ'ing
Any fx are in the RP360

And don't forget ..... this thing is only 150 bucks so it's less than a tenth the cost of a Kemper.
No way it's gonna do anything as well ........ but I think it has pretty high bang-for-the-buck value.
 

Attachments

  • KAMPA _0461.mp3
    2.8 MB · Views: 18
  • KAMPA _0464.mp3
    3.4 MB · Views: 21
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Well done miner. My soldering is shit too. My wah wah is actually a little intermittent since I replaced the switch and converted it to true bypass. I have a loose wire on the switch.
 
ShanPeyton said:
JDOD! I dig your style man. I hear faint traces off that 90's Sunderland melodic punk rock era. I actually name dropped a band called Broccoli in here the other day and this latest tune from you actually has their feel they had for some of their songs. I dig it.

r.
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That's actually a Boss DS1 into a clean amp too. Dunno why but it was sounding good that day, albeit with the level a bit low. It's probably why it also sounds a bit early 90's. But then everything I write sounds early 90's.
 
I'm really curious in having a listen later at home, Bob!
I find that most presets everywhere suck even on things like the Kemper. Weird phenomenon.
 
Lt Bob: sounds pretty good. Definitely useable live. Nobody is ever going to notice the difference.
I think that this is also a case of good playing making a tone sound like more than it is!
 
JDOD: Meant to comment earlier dude, but you clip sounds pretty good....The song itself reminds me of a 90's rock song that I can't think of the name of...Good job dude...
 
Yeah Bob, sounds a lot better than I expect from a modeler - especially one that's basically a pedal. I suppose if you're sold on big back-breaker-amp sound (like I am, and your Mesas can't be lightweight), and there's any validity to the proposition that it can be OK to sacrifice some tone for the convenience and portability of a smaller rig, then you're headed toward these small modelers like it or not. I think your RP sound is better than what I can get out of my tortured Blues Jr. (which is a tube amp, of course, just doesn't sound very good to me), and it's a great deal lighter weight.

My son and I went in on one of the older Vox modelers - tonelab SE maybe, for purely practical reasons when we're playing in a band that does not feature guitar (something that neither of us do these days - he has moved on to bagpipes and I play mostly in guitar bands), and I guess I would still use it for that. I think if it had better A/D and D/A conversion, it might sound better, but if it's in the background, it's fine.

But what's the deal with dozens and dozens of horrible factory pre-sets? Same on the Vox I have. A real distraction at best.
 
My mesas are 55-65 lbs.
I actually don't mind that at all ..... it's just that on some of my gigs there's a lack of space and on some you get easier mix-control with a modeler 'cause you're mixing from the stage.

For any gigs where an amp is a better choice I still go with that ..... I would never use a modeler on a band gig for example .... only solo stuff.
And even on solo stuff if it's a place where I can use an amp I will ................ but some gigs ... meh.

I am fussy about my sound though so while I think the RP sounds acceptable I still have work to do to get it where I want it.

As for presets ...... how can it be that none of these companies can find someone to program a decent sound?
I don't understand it.
 
JDOD - listening now. Sounds good - I like the level of the drums. At 1:22 the stereo image collapses very briefly to the left - not sure if that's intentional. Do you plan on adding vocals?

Minerman - that looks cool - I think I lost the plot when it comes to the function of that pot, but anything that makes it more versatile sounds like a good thing.
 
antichef said:
Minerman - that looks cool - I think I lost the plot when it comes to the function of that pot, but anything that makes it more versatile sounds like a good thing.
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The amp originally had a trimpot inside, called the "Pussy Trimmer", it controls the amount of gain the amp has, it's just basically an overall gain knob. My amp is about 5 years old now, but the newer ones already have that feature on the back panel, so I just did it myself....When cranked all the way, it's obviously too much in 80's/modern mode (the way I run my amp anyway), but it is pretty useful in regular/plexi mode to get a little more gain going without being too overly loud. All the clips I've posted with that amp the trimmer knob was set at halfway, but since messing with it the last day or so, it definitely changes the sound, plus kinda tames the fizz & grainy-ness at certain settings...

Really simple mod, all I actually had to do was drill a hole in the plastic plate, the whole was already there in the chassis, then swap out a pot, again really simple...

Here's a before/after shot:



 
antichef said:
JDOD - listening now. Sounds good - I like the level of the drums. At 1:22 the stereo image collapses very briefly to the left - not sure if that's intentional. Do you plan on adding vocals?

Minerman - that looks cool - I think I lost the plot when it comes to the function of that pot, but anything that makes it more versatile sounds like a good thing.
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Thanks for listening. Not noticed that but then I've not heard the sound cloud version. I will re listen and check. I will be re recording when I finish writing it though. Doesn't need much more, I like to keep them pretty short.

Hope to add vocals eventually although the next mission is live drums. I've arranged wirh a mate of mine for him to give a few tracks "The Full Danny Carey " when he gets time. He's busy with his work, two young kids and drum teching though so it may be some time!
 
Cool - JDOD - looking forward to the next version.

Minerman - that's some pretty heavy gauge wire to the pot - what's the voltage rating on the pot, or is it really much juice going to it?

Just realized I owe you guys a clip of the greenbacks - forgive the slop:

View attachment actually-2015-06-09-greenbacks-JMP-SM57.mp3 (note - I posted the wrong file at first :( )

1971 Marshall JMP 50 watt lead
presence: 0
bass: 7
middle: 8
treble: 4
Volume I: 6
Volume II: 6

and *here's* the JCM800, which I at first erroneously called the JMP:

View attachment 2015-06-09-greenbacks-JCM800-SM57.mp3

1986 JCM800 2204 50 watt
presence: 0
bass: 5.2
middle: 7
treble: 3.5
master: 6.5
pre-amp: 10

(in both cases) -> 4x12 Mojotone cabinet with 1990s Greenbacks -> SM57 at 90 degrees almost touching the grillcloth halfway between the edge and center of the speaker -> API 3124+ -> Lynx Aurora 16 -> Logic

= 20 seconds of antichef almost getting the cops called again
 
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Boob - Those clips sound pretty damn good - especially for a stompbox modeler. Pretty impressive. I have an old Digitech RP300a somewhere and it sounds like total ass.

antichef - That kicks ass. I love that sound. Well done dude. That's some proper old school angry Marshall sound. I'm gonna try my 50w Plexi reissue with those settings and see how it sounds. I suspect it won't be as good. What guitar did you use?
 
Crap - I knew I'd forget something. It's a Gibson SG Supreme, 2004 vintage. '57 classic bridge pickup 10 vol 10 tone

Thanks man! And thanks for sending me on the Greenback quest - really does make a dramatic difference

(edit: you stay dry? It pretty much hasn't rained here at all) (editedit: just started raining - oops)

edit edit: double darn - that was actually my JCM 800. I waited too long and got the clips mixed up. I'll straighten things out here in a minute... done.
 
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miroslav said:
Don't you mean the amount of fuzz that the amp has...?
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If that's what you wanna call it Miro, technically, yes, it controls the amount of od/distortion the pre-amp section has...

antichef said:
Minerman - that's some pretty heavy gauge wire to the pot - what's the voltage rating on the pot, or is it really much juice going to it?
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Lol, that's the only wire I had dude, that's speaker wire I used to re-wire my cab back in the winter...If you look in the pic, where the black/blue wires have the tape on 'em, you can see the size of wire that was on the trimpot wheel originally...

Cool clips man, out of all the speakers I have, my Greenback is my favorite...
 
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