Miking my new amp

BTW, I did back off the tone controls on both guitars to get there, so there is at least ONE difference. Still get the fizzy noise at the top that I'm unfond of, but if that's normal to the amp, I'll have to live with it.
 
BroKen_H said:
BTW, I did back off the tone controls on both guitars to get there, so there is at least ONE difference. Still get the fizzy noise at the top that I'm unfond of, but if that's normal to the amp, I'll have to live with it.
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Those LP clips sound pretty bad. I think you're using the amp or the guitars wrong or something. Les Pauls sound great, AC15/30s sound great, combined they should sound great. Your Hamer clips sound decent to me. The LP, not so much.

The AC amps have a normal and top boost input. Which one are you using? I would think a Les Paul into the top boost on an AC 15/30 would sound killer. In fact, I know they do. Treat the channel volume like "gain" and the master as a master vol, or vice versa. Dime the master vol and just trickle in some channel volume. You have to work with the preamp and power amp in combination on an amp like that. Then tweak your tone controls and tone cut for bright/dark.

Is yous an actual AC15, or one of those weird "valve reactor" things?
 
No sir. The amp has two inputs, but the do the same thing. No different markings to designate and they both sound the same. Top boost and Normal both work all the time on this amp. It is an AC15C1.
You are singing to the choir, btw. I thought this LP would be the cat's meow, but the Hamer sounds better on all levels (except clarity of the pickups). Very hard to find any good tones with the LP and then add the problem of trying to mike and play and track in the same space. Anyway,
That combo should sound better, unless it has to do with the LP "High Performance" model pickups...
The LP actually sounds better itb now than it has, but maybe I should brighten up the tone controls again. It seems to be doing a lot better at "what's in the room is in the box"...
 
I'm looking at pics of an AC15C1....and it has two inputs - normal and top boost. It's pretty identical to the classic AC30, except the 15 has only the two inputs instead of four. Does yours have that? Two inputs?

In "regular" AC amps, they are independent channels. Normal has volume, top boost has volume and EQ. Is yours like that?
They are definitely not the same.

And the master vol is combined with tone cut. Does yours have that?

I was playing an AC30 last weekend and liked it so much I almost bought it on the spot. I know they sound good, and yours is supposedly just it's little brother, so I'm just trying to figure out what gives and why you're having so much difficulty getting good tones from a good guitar plugged into a good amp.
 
Yes. Been using the Normal channel. But possibly not all the time. Could be why things were sounding different and bad at times and better at others (like this morning) There's part of that operator error... Couldn't read those labels till I just looked up a picture online and saw it there and then looked at my amp again. Have stared at that a couple dozen times looking for what they were talking about two inputs. Don't have a clue why I couldn't see it until just now. :facepalm:
ANYway, moving forward. I'm using the Normal for the tones I pushed this morning. Mine does have the tone cut (no tone controls beside that.)
 
BroKen_H said:
No sir. The amp has two inputs, but the do the same thing. No different markings to designate and they both sound the same. Top boost and Normal both work all the time on this amp. It is an AC15C1.
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??? One of those inputs should say "normal," the other "top boost." And those two channels sound very different to my ears.

Edit: Okay, I see you covered that.
 
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BroKen_H said:
Yes. Been using the Normal channel. But possibly not all the time. Could be why things were sounding different and bad at times and better at others (like this morning) There's part of that operator error... Couldn't read those labels till I just looked up a picture online and saw it there and then looked at my amp again. Have stared at that a couple dozen times looking for what they were talking about two inputs. Don't have a clue why I couldn't see it until just now. :facepalm:
ANYway, moving forward. I'm using the Normal for the tones I pushed this morning. Mine does have the tone cut (no tone controls beside that.)
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Lol. Dude. I'm now convinced that there's nothing wrong with your guitars, amps, or mics. It's you! :laughings:

But for real, seriously, no joking around, start all over from scratch. Forget everything you've already done and start fresh. Clean slate.

Try the top boost this time for your dirty humbucker sounds. Use the top boost channel volume for the gain, and the master vol as, well, master vol. Dial in the channel's treble and bass, and fine tune with the tone cut.
 
Okay, listened to your clips. I think your problem starts with diming the channel gain while setting the master volume low. Try it the other way around. You don't have to dime the master, but get it up there so that your power section is giving a damn. Try starting at 2:00. Then dial in the channel gain until you're hearing the amount of distortion you want. In a mix, you may want less distortion than you think. However, you do want to be tracking pretty loud.

Any pedals? Put them away until you can reliably track a good tone straight in.

I have couple of hours to track guitars this afternoon. I'll break out the Les Paul and give it a go.
 
Lol, okay, yes, now you're getting somewhere. That is much better and you're in the ballpark now.

Now it's just a matter of dialing it in. Well done.
 
...and just imagine my surprise when a Les Paul came out consistently darker in tone than a super strat with bright Seymour Duncans. :facepalm:

Well, if nothing else, I've been good for a laugh, here. :)
 
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to help me through my lack of experience. I'll keep working at it. :)
 
I think you'll find the magic in juggling the top boost channel volume against the master volume and tone cut. Use those three controls to give some here and take some there. You'll hear the goodness.
 
Without pushing the Normal volume, I don't seem to get a lot of bite. Master at 4:00 and Normal at 2:00 gives me a kind of a Brian May-esque tone. EDIT: I did add a touch of chorus to one side of the clip...

It's Late
 
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That's not too bad. The normal channel is gonna be more mellow than the top boost channel. If bite and snarl is what you're after, plug into the top boost.
 
Okay, so recap: normal channel (which I'd been using all along) is hard to get dirt on, but really tears up when you do. Better for clean tones (especially bright ones). Top boost (found it!) gives me the dirt. I'll start working with all the guitars now and see what's good at what.
 
BroKen_H said:
Okay, so recap: normal channel (which I'd been using all along) is hard to get dirt on, but really tears up when you do. Better for clean tones (especially bright ones). Top boost (found it!) gives me the dirt. I'll start working with all the guitars now and see what's good at what.
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That's probably about right, except "normal" shouldn't be exceedingly bright. It will get thick and crunchy when pushed, but being bright would depend on your definition of bright. I wouldn't say it's bright. Top boost should be the more aggressive of the two channels. It will probably be brighter and have more flexibility.
 
It's better but I'm not yet hearing the chime. I don't know how much of that you're looking for, but it's kind of what these amps are known to do.

I've been tracking guitars for a new song this afternoon and decided to do everything on the Vox--good idea or not. I used the Tele and the Les Paul. Experimented with the top boost channel for the first time. The normal channel was suiting the Tele better. The LP definitely likes top boost. I was getting some Don Felder tones. I'm liking everything that comes out of this amp.

I don't get why you're having trouble getting distortion on the either channel. At the levels I was playing and I think you have been too, this amp wants to break up. On the Tele parts, I was looking for a clean, chiming sound with just a hint of breakup. I got that by cranking up the master, dialing in enough channel gain to get distortion, then dialing back the guitar volume. All the tones knobs still straight up. I'll figure out what those do later.

That tube rattle! I had the back panel off last night and checked for tightness. I'd be willing to bet the culprit is one of those metal retaining clips vibrating against a tube.
 
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