The New Tone Thread

[RAMI]

Miner,

I'm digging "Volume 3". I like those semi-distorted tones.

I love the feedback on "Volume 5".

Don't hear much of a difference between "7" and "Dimed", but they both sound nice and chunky/beefy.

None of those tones sound like Eddie Van Halen.

 

[Greg_L]

Roots by SMP - Reference 1

hopefully the link works for you guys.

I think this is really pretty good for the single notes and octave riffs. Sounds raw but articulate. I'm not crazy about the flubby mute sound. But that's just my personal preference. Overall I think it's pretty rockin. Good to see you back in here.

I took it down in the Clinic because that place really is a waste land now, unfortunately.

Funny, there are about 7 or 8 people that don't hesitate to send me a PM or an e-mail every time they fart, cough, or sneeze to ask me how it sounds, but they're too self-absorbed to take a listen to anything. From now on, no more helping people privately. I got no problem helping someone out, I can talk music all day. But when it turns into a "I don't have time for you, but I have no self-respect so I won't hesitate to send you an e-mail or PM to ask you to help me", I say fuck you.

So anyway, feel free to ignore this. I'd just rather get the opinions of the people that hang out here than in the Clinic at this point.

MONKEE ME MONKEE YOU

Yup, you aint wrong. It's a epidemic of self-centered takers and people that can't figure out anything on their own or even fucking try things out. It's pitiful.

Anyway, your mix sounds real good. One of your better songs IMO. Seems like it applies to what's going on nowadays. My only nits are I think the snare is a little less distinctive than you usually pull off. It's got pop and some body, but occasionally it sounds a little muffly, woofy. It might be an overhead phase thing. At times it kind of sounds like it drifts off center a bit, which leads me to believe it's a phase thing somehow. My only other nit is the wacka-wacka guitar parts could be louder to me. They're there and I like em, but I'd like em wacka'ing a little more into my ear holes. Toms sound great. Guitar tones are all great. Vocals are superb. Great job overall.

Ok, here's a few tones from the new (to me, I got it used in a trade) EVH LBX 15w head through my 4x12...

Signal chain:
SG > EVH > GB > i5 (raw tracks, no trickery in the daw)

Amp settings:
15w mode (it's got a 1/4 power switch that's supposed to take it down to about 4 watts)
Blue Channel (this is supposed to be the crunch channel, & the red channel has more gain...)
Resonance: 0
Bass: 5
Mids: 5
Treble: 5
Presence: 5
Gain: 1
Volume: Starts at 3, then goes to 5, 7, & finally 10

EVH Vol 3

EVH Vol 5

EVH Vol 7

EVH Vol dimed

These clips do sound a little boxy to me, but I could probably fix that messing with the amp's eq & using just a little resonance. I just set everything to "5" for a baseline on how the little amp responds to the power tubes being pushed...Another thing is the amp's eq is really responsive & just the slightest turn of the knobs makes a big difference...Other than that, I ain't got no more excuses....

I like this little amp a lot so far, & don't let the 15w thing fool you. No, it's not a 50/100w Marshall, but it's pretty damn loud for such a small amp...

Lemme know what you guys think....

Minerman! Yeah that's a far cry from your Marshall tones. They're not bad to me. They do have that no-headroom low-mid crunch to them. You can't get away from that with a low watt amp. It's kind of shocking that that is with the gain only on 1. I'd like the low end a little tighter. But I think your louder clips sound better. Vol 7 and dimed. Vol 3 and 5 seem a little tame compared to the louder clips. Vol 7 and dimed sound pretty cool to me.

Let's hear the high gain mode.

 

[minerman]

Miner,

I'm digging "Volume 3". I like those semi-distorted tones.

I love the feedback on "Volume 5".

Don't hear much of a difference between "7" and "Dimed", but they both sound nice and chunky/beefy.

None of those tones sound like Eddie Van Halen.

Thanks dude, this ain't no Marshall, but it's got it's own thing going on, & I like it...BTW, I couldn't sound like Eddie Van Halen if my life depended on it....

Minerman! Yeah that's a far cry from your Marshall tones. They're not bad to me. They do have that no-headroom low-mid crunch to them. You can't get away from that with a low watt amp. It's kind of shocking that that is with the gain only on 1. I'd like the low end a little tighter. But I think your louder clips sound better. Vol 7 and dimed. Vol 3 and 5 seem a little tame compared to the louder clips. Vol 7 and dimed sound pretty cool to me.

Let's hear the high gain mode.

Yeah Greg, I knew when the DSL went bye-bye & I got this what I was in for, but, I can make this work in my songs dude. Most people don't even care, except folks like us...

The little amp does have a lot of gain, lots more than even I would use. I like the fact that I can get power tube saturation with it, & not vibrate shit off the walls, but, it ain't no Marshall. That's ok though, as it'll work until I can get another one.

The eq was totally flat on these clips too dude, & the tone stack is real responsive/sensitive, just the slightest turn makes quite a difference in the sound. On the low end, I could probably jack the bass up a little, & add just a hair of resonance, that might make it sound a little bigger, but I already know it's not gonna have the punch/balls the DSL had. But again, that's ok, with some better tweaking of the amp, & better mic placement, I can get some good sounds out of this little thing & I've actually got less than $400 in the amp...It's basically brand new...

I'm tickled to fuckin' death with my new computer too man, it's unreal how fast this thing is. I paid about $700 for the tower (which came with a shitty mouse & keyboard), an extra hard drive (that I've already installed in the case), & a little external case for my old hard drives, so I can transfer projects/files/whatever over to the new pc.
Specs for the new pc are:

Dell Inspiron 3847 Desktop
Windows 7
Intel Quad Core i7-4790
16 gb ram
2tb hdd (OS drive)
1tb hdd (audio drive, installed myself)

I want to stay with Windows 7 as long as I can, I know Windows 10 is the "new" thing, but I like W7 pretty good, & know everything I have works with it, so it just made sense to stick with W7...So far, this computer is blazing fast, & whisper quiet, we'll see how well it holds up in the long run though. My last pc lasted over 6 years of daily abuse, & I've learned quite a bit about 'em, so hopefully this one will last as long or longer...


The little drive enclosure uses usb 3.0 & is blazing fast, I transferred all my songs/projects from the old hard drive that I needed to finish & it took no time to copy 'em over. For $20, I highly recommend this, here's a link:

Mediasonic ProBox Drive Enclosure

 

[JDOD]

Shan, I reckon your track sounds great, sounds like it'll be a really cool song. The tone sounds great, although I agree with some of the others about the low E palm muted bit. Could work and sound good when you have a bass in there too or it could turn into a flubby mess. You'll find out! I normally track guitars with a scratch bass line already laid down actually.

RAMI, cool song, the transition to the middle bit is really smooth now and the guitar playing is good, really tight when the harmonies come in. I agree with Greg, about the percussive playing though - could be a bit louder.

Miner, you're getting some great tones out of that amp already even though you've not fucked with the EQ yet. Maybe you'll stop missing your Marshalls when you've got it fully dialed in.

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks dude, this ain't no Marshall, but it's got it's own thing going on, & I like it...BTW, I couldn't sound like Eddie Van Halen if my life depended on it....



Yeah Greg, I knew when the DSL went bye-bye & I got this what I was in for, but, I can make this work in my songs dude. Most people don't even care, except folks like us...

The little amp does have a lot of gain, lots more than even I would use. I like the fact that I can get power tube saturation with it, & not vibrate shit off the walls, but, it ain't no Marshall. That's ok though, as it'll work until I can get another one.

The eq was totally flat on these clips too dude, & the tone stack is real responsive/sensitive, just the slightest turn makes quite a difference in the sound. On the low end, I could probably jack the bass up a little, & add just a hair of resonance, that might make it sound a little bigger, but I already know it's not gonna have the punch/balls the DSL had. But again, that's ok, with some better tweaking of the amp, & better mic placement, I can get some good sounds out of this little thing & I've actually got less than $400 in the amp...It's basically brand new...

I'm tickled to fuckin' death with my new computer too man, it's unreal how fast this thing is. I paid about $700 for the tower (which came with a shitty mouse & keyboard), an extra hard drive (that I've already installed in the case), & a little external case for my old hard drives, so I can transfer projects/files/whatever over to the new pc.
Specs for the new pc are:

Dell Inspiron 3847 Desktop
Windows 7
Intel Quad Core i7-4790
16 gb ram
2tb hdd (OS drive)
1tb hdd (audio drive, installed myself)

I want to stay with Windows 7 as long as I can, I know Windows 10 is the "new" thing, but I like W7 pretty good, & know everything I have works with it, so it just made sense to stick with W7...So far, this computer is blazing fast, & whisper quiet, we'll see how well it holds up in the long run though. My last pc lasted over 6 years of daily abuse, & I've learned quite a bit about 'em, so hopefully this one will last as long or longer...


The little drive enclosure uses usb 3.0 & is blazing fast, I transferred all my songs/projects from the old hard drive that I needed to finish & it took no time to copy 'em over. For $20, I highly recommend this, here's a link:

Mediasonic ProBox Drive Enclosure

Lol. I have no idea what any of that stuff means. People talk about hard drives and SSDs and i-cores and I'm like an old lady staring at her VCR blinking 12:00. I am in the absolute stone ages when it comes to computer specs, computer building, computer parts, computer fixing, computer using, computer anything. I don't even know how to type something out like a letter and print it. No idea. Computer technology passed me up some time in the late 80s.

 

[jimistone]

minerman....
I like the guitar sounds. It's really a decent sounding amp IMO. It's amazing how well defined it stays even when dimed out.

 

[jimistone]

RAMI....
man, that song kicked ass in every way possible. Great recording, great mix, great arrangement, killer performances, cool song, great lyric.
I really enjoyed the listen!

 

[jimistone]

Shan...
I think the guitar, playing the single notes, sounds real good. The one doing the chucka chucka palm mute seems too thick in comparison...but it's really hard to judge it without the other instruments.

 

[RAMI]

Anyway, your mix sounds real good. One of your better songs IMO. Seems like it applies to what's going on nowadays. My only nits are I think the snare is a little less distinctive than you usually pull off. It's got pop and some body, but occasionally it sounds a little muffly, woofy. It might be an overhead phase thing. At times it kind of sounds like it drifts off center a bit, which leads me to believe it's a phase thing somehow. My only other nit is the wacka-wacka guitar parts could be louder to me. They're there and I like em, but I'd like em wacka'ing a little more into my ear holes. Toms sound great. Guitar tones are all great. Vocals are superb. Great job overall.

RAMI, cool song, the transition to the middle bit is really smooth now and the guitar playing is good, really tight when the harmonies come in. I agree with Greg, about the percussive playing though - could be a bit louder.

RAMI....
man, that song kicked ass in every way possible. Great recording, great mix, great arrangement, killer performances, cool song, great lyric.
I really enjoyed the listen!

Thanx a lot, guys. Greg, I tuned my snare down a bit for this one. Has less pop, you're right. I thought it sounded more rock this way, but I might have sacrificed a bit of crack. I'll try to find a happy medium.

I'll definitely get those percussive guitar parts up. I like them too.

Thanx guys.

 

[Greg_L]

Are you still using the supraphonic?

 

[RAMI]

Are you still using the supraphonic?

Yeah. Still trying to find its' sweet spot. I was tuning it too high since I got it. Then I realized that I'm trying too hard to make it sound like my other snare that does sound good tuned high. So, I've been tuning it down. I think it sounds better now than when it's tuned high, but I'm still working on it.

(I see they deleted my thread in the Clinic. That's a good thing. I asked them to close it. Deleting it's even better))

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah. Still trying to find its' sweet spot. I was tuning it too high since I got it. Then I realized that I'm trying too hard to make it sound like my other snare that does sound good tuned high. So, I've been tuning it down. I think it sounds better now than when it's tuned high, but I'm still working on it.

(I see they deleted my thread in the Clinic. That's a good thing. I asked them to close it. Deleting it's even better))

What heads do you have on it? What snare wires?

I find, for me, tuning the top head pretty tight and keeping the bottom head pretty low gets me a nice crack with a lot of body on my Supra. Like the Back in Black or a Bonham snare sound. That to me is the go-to snare sound for rock and roll. I use 30-strand wires too. Works for me.

 

[RAMI]

What heads do you have on it? What snare wires?

I find, for me, tuning the top head pretty tight and keeping the bottom head pretty low gets me a nice crack with a lot of body on my Supra. Like the Back in Black or a Bonham snare sound. That to me is the go-to snare sound for rock and roll. I use 30-strand wires too. Works for me.

Oh, I got to try that. I do pretty much the opposite. I tune up the bottom and use the top for pitch, which is why I've been tuning it down. I also just have standard snare wires. I have an Emperor on top, which is thicker than an Ambassador. I've been using Emperors forever. I might give in and try Ambassador for once. I don't hate the snare sound, but I do struggle a bit with it still.

 

[Greg_L]

Yeah give it a try if you want. The cool thing to me about a Supraphonic is it will accept pretty much any kind of tuning. It just always sounds good.

I use a Remo Powerstroke 3 coated battter, Ambassador hazy reso, Puresound 30 wires. I use the 30 strand because my snare's the 6.5" deep version. I think deeper snares sound better with more wires. You lose some sensitivity with deeper snares so the additional wires bring the snap back. If yours is the 5.5" deep version, the standard 20 should be fine.

 

[RAMI]

Yeah give it a try if you want. The cool thing to me about a Supraphonic is it will accept pretty much any kind of tuning. It just always sounds good.

I use a Remo Powerstroke 3 coated battter, Ambassador hazy reso, Puresound 30 wires. I use the 30 strand because my snare's the 6.5" deep version. I think deeper snares sound better with more wires. You lose some sensitivity with deeper snares so the additional wires bring the snap back. If yours is the 5.5" deep version, the standard 20 should be fine.

I'll definitely give all that a try. I use a thicker skin than you on top, but a thinner one on the bottom, so there might be too much of a difference between my top and bottom skin.

I do have a 6.5 shell though, so I'll also try more snare wires. Thanx man.

 

[RFR]

I'm going to go possibly break a rule and post my song here. Only because it's a song that I posted here in its' infancy as I was working on it and got help on my guitar tones. It's now finished with real drums and vocals.

I took it down in the Clinic because that place really is a waste land now, unfortunately.

Funny, there are about 7 or 8 people that don't hesitate to send me a PM or an e-mail every time they fart, cough, or sneeze to ask me how it sounds, but they're too self-absorbed to take a listen to anything. From now on, no more helping people privately. I got no problem helping someone out, I can talk music all day. But when it turns into a "I don't have time for you, but I have no self-respect so I won't hesitate to send you an e-mail or PM to ask you to help me", I say fuck you.

So anyway, feel free to ignore this. I'd just rather get the opinions of the people that hang out here than in the Clinic at this point.

MONKEE ME MONKEE YOU

Whoo hoo another winner for my bootleg Rami album.!

I'm with Greg on the wanka wanka guitar parts needing to be a bit louder. But that don't matter. You got this mixing shit down.

 

[RAMI]

Whoo hoo another winner for my bootleg Rami album.!

I'm with Greg on the wanka wanka guitar parts needing to be a bit louder. But that don't matter. You got this mixing shit down.

Cool, thanx man. Wanka wanka is coming up for sure.

 

[RFR]

I'm heading out on a 9 hr road trip. Ill be listening in the car.

@ miner. All the tones sound pretty good. But I like 3 the best. The higher levels sound a bit "simmy" to me. 3 has some air and life in it. But still not bad at all. Going from new computer to putting up clips that fast...pretty good. Thats some dedication to the tone!

 

[RFR]

I'd send you a free copy....even if you asked.

Do you actually have hard copies, as in cds?
I'd buy one.

 

[RAMI]

Do you actually have hard copies, as in cds?
I'd buy one.

No, I haven't put together a CD in a few years. I figure that market is finished. I probably have enough new material for at least 2 CD's. Maybe I should take what I think is the best stuff and put together a CD and throw it up on CDBABY. Why? No reason. Not as if anyone buys music any more. But I do enjoy playing "fantasy rock star" and designing CD covers, art work, etc....Just for the fun of it. Maybe I'll do it, but every time I say to myself that I'll stop recording new shit, I have a new riff or song in my head and I HAVE to work on it.