Guitar overdriving amp.

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Dunder XIII

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I have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp. When I plug-in my ES-335 (Gibson..), I always overdrive it. The only way, it seems, that it doesn't distort is by lowering the volume of the guitar and the amp (very low). I also always overdrive my POD (I can't get a clean sound out of it, but a separate thread convinced me that it might be a hopeless case). When I plug a stratocaster, I'm ok (but of course, its only single coil pickups :P).

I'd like to get a clean jazz sound out of my amp at reasonable volume, should I try something else or is there an unknown problem?

Thanks!
 
have you tried EQ?...there is probably a fairly narrow band of frequencies causing the distortion...get one of those EQ stomp boxes--i.e. boss--and try cutting a few dB in the mid or upper mid range...let us know if this works...
 
I didn't actually get an EQ stomp box, but I plugged my guitar in a digital portastudio and tweaked the EQ from there (it has a pretty good parametric bass/mid/treble EQ). I then fed the amp with the output. That's for testing..

I found that lowering the mid on the amp had some effect on the distortion, but the mids cut from the console didn't have much effect. What I found though, is that by setting the bass cutoff frequency to about 175hz and dropping the dB level I cleared the distortion. Unfortunatly, this also cut the bass sound which is kinda what I wanted as a jazz sound :P

That's pretty much what I expected though, I always thought that distortion came mostly from bass. I might be wrong, I really don't know..

I'm thinking that the Hot Rod Deluxe is pretty good for blues, but wasn't meant for jazz and high input from humbuckers (well.. keeping it clean). Again, I might be wrong as I don't know much about amps.

Thanks for your answer!
 
Does your guitar have active electronics(use a battery)? Guitars with onboard preamps have a real hot signal. Anyway, have you tried using the "second" input jack? This is an attenuated input and will decrease the gain.
 
Oh yeah, I forgot: you can also experiment with substituting lower gain preamp tubes such as 12AT7 or 12AU7 in place of the 12AX7. Also, since the Hotrod Deluxe only has 1 speaker, you may be getting some speaker breakup, have you tried using an auxillary speaker?. A high power handling speaker such as a JBL or Electovoice will produce more clean volume than stock speakers. I have the Hotrod Deville with the 4 10", on a clean setting (yes, I use a Strat) it will stay clean to a volume where your ears start to hurt. I use a preamp and plug into the second jack.
Humbucker guitars have a lot more low and low mid frequency content than a strat and this will have an effect on any amp's ability to produce loud clean volume: the lower the frequency, the more power is needed to reproduce it. A very "warm" jazz guitar tone needs a lot of amp to produce a loud clean tone.
 
It does not have a battery ;-) Only standard gibson wiring. Its also a hollow body guitar, which might account for some extra bass signal I guess :P

I tried the second input and it does help a bit, it gives me more volume range. As for the preamp tubes and the speakers, I will try this once I get my hands on the stuff. It seems like a good idea. Thanks ;-)
 
How close are your pickups to your strings? The closer the pickups are to the strings the higher the output of the guitar. The pickups may be too close and the signal may be to much for the inputs on your gear. Maybe try backing the pickups away from strings with the height adjustment screws and playing it through your gear again. This may or may not solve the problem, but it's woth a try.
 
good idea Uladine...spending the cash on a good instrument is mandatory...there are plenty of things you can set up on quality guitars...but, take the guitar to a good luthier--this is always best...every time I go pick up my gibson from the one person I let work on it, I'm completely blown away at the results...this guy is really good though--he's 74 yrs old, started out in his twenties making violins and cellos...this is the guy you gotta find--he could be up-town, but, he's probably in the old neiborhood...ask the right people where he is, and I'm sure you'll find him...
 
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