The New Tone Thread

[Track Rat]

As I get older, I find myself gravitating to cleaner amp sounds in my quest for "tone". I've really fallen in love with an old Ampeg GS-15R. It has a character that I've never heard in an amp. It's opened my ears to more subtle differences in pick ups in different guitars. This is hard to articulate but it's like the sound of a Strat in position 2 or 4 in a clean amp. That particular "bark". The Ampeg really pronounces those differences with Humbucking type pickups that I had never noticed as even being there. I REALLY love the sound of a Les Paul style guitar (solid body and two humbuckers) with the neck pickup or neck and bridge selected. That sound is just so creamy and has this particular "bark".
I've also made a small mod on the amp. I put the negative feedback on a footswitch so it can be lifted so the amp can get nasty. Very nice.

 

[antichef]

I don't know that one.
Got any links?
I am pretty intrigued by the Orange line of guitar amps.

I guess you wouldn't know it because it's really the TH100. I'm such a computer geek I lapsed into my old VT100 terminal days, I suppose.

When I get off my ass to record these, I'll post a clip. Or really several, because it's got a pretty broad range of usable sounds.

As I get older, I find myself gravitating to cleaner amp sounds in my quest for "tone".

Me too - I'm definitely getting older, but it might also be because I've tried to record really distorted sounds and realized that most of what I thought was good in my room sucks, and that when I put my ear where the microphone is, which I apparently never did, I can even hear the suckage without recording. Who knew?

The controls on that TH100 allow you to go deep into suck-land, btw, (cranking the gain and the "shape" on the dirty channel) but that's no big deal.

 

[Greg_L]

I was thinking about Mick Ronson when I was screwing around last night.
I recorded it at the end of practice and I couldn't push the strings anymore,
so it's a tad flat.

My fingers hurt.

Lol. Too much delay! You need a half-cocked wah in there.

 

[Greg_L]

Hey tone thread.

So here is the original tone check:




Here is the revision:




And here is another one that i just made that i have sort of fallen in love with. I may end up using this one frequently weather anyone likes it or not. I just like it.

Yeah I think third is the best. See how it works in a mix.

 

[Telegram Sam]

As I get older, I find myself gravitating to cleaner amp sounds in my quest for "tone". I've really fallen in love with an old Ampeg GS-15R. It has a character that I've never heard in an amp. It's opened my ears to more subtle differences in pick ups in different guitars. This is hard to articulate but it's like the sound of a Strat in position 2 or 4 in a clean amp. That particular "bark". The Ampeg really pronounces those differences with Humbucking type pickups that I had never noticed as even being there. I REALLY love the sound of a Les Paul style guitar (solid body and two humbuckers) with the neck pickup or neck and bridge selected. That sound is just so creamy and has this particular "bark".
I've also made a small mod on the amp. I put the negative feedback on a footswitch so it can be lifted so the amp can get nasty. Very nice.

Yeah, I'm going to be peppering this thread with a few videos by well known artists demonstrating pickup positions. I think that neck pickups are pretty poorly understood by a lot of folks and have big tone potential.

Also clean sounds tend to let the sound of the guitar come through. When I hear a heavily distorted guitar now, I have to wonder if the player really knows what they are doing. I think Greg just uses amp and guitar, and even though it has killer gain, the tone is still pretty clean. AC/DC uses relatively clean tones for all their stuff, if you listen to it, the intensity and aggression comes from technique, while the tones are quite clean (and well really good, too).

Sooner or later I'm going to try to get my head around "negative feedback."

 

[Telegram Sam]

I have a tone that is signature for my stuff (thin, jangly, single coil open chords, manic hamonics ), but I need a good meaty break up tone to play over/accentuate the riffs without burying the jangle so I'm stalking Greg's tone comments all over the site.

I would like to hear an example of your signature tone.
Can you post something up?

 

[Telegram Sam]

I guess you wouldn't know it because it's really the TH100. I'm such a computer geek I lapsed into my old VT100 terminal days, I suppose.
When I get off my ass to record these, I'll post a clip. Or really several, because it's got a pretty broad range of usable sounds.

Please do. I was just watching a bunch of Orange Amps youtube demos. I really like those amps. That TH100 is the bomb.

 

[Lt. Bob]

Please do. I was just watching a bunch of Orange Amps youtube demos. I really like those amps. That TH100 is the bomb.

you want a Tiny Terror?

 

[Greg_L]

I think Greg just uses amp and guitar, and even though it has killer gain, the tone is still pretty clean. AC/DC uses relatively clean tones for all their stuff, if you listen to it, the intensity and aggression comes from technique, while the tones are quite clean (and well really good, too).

That's exactly what Greg does, or tries to do. Just a guitar and amp and moderate gain. I like gain, but not "metal" gain. I like overdriven tones that still let notes and chords ring through. None of the stuff I play or listen to is super high gain shit. I'd rather cruise with moderate gain and just play more aggressively. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like the simple one-channel Marshalls so much. They're not high gain, but they get up there, and when you play like you're mad they sound tough as shit.

 

[Greg_L]

I'm gonna post up some tone maybe tomorrow with this wah pedal I got for free. I'm not sure I like it and I think it might have something wrong with it.

 

[Telegram Sam]

you want a Tiny Terror?

Are you kidding?

You have an extra?

 

[Telegram Sam]

I'm gonna post up some tone maybe tomorrow with this wah pedal I got for free. I'm not sure I like it and I think it might have something wrong with it.

You have a crybaby, right?
Is that the same one?

 

[Telegram Sam]

That's exactly what Greg does, or tries to do. Just a guitar and amp and moderate gain. I like gain, but not "metal" gain. I like overdriven tones that still let notes and chords ring through. None of the stuff I play or listen to is super high gain shit. I'd rather cruise with moderate gain and just play more aggressively. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like the simple one-channel Marshalls so much. They're not high gain, but they get up there, and when you play like you're mad they sound tough as shit.

Do you like the JTM45?

 

[Lt. Bob]

Are you kidding?

You have an extra?

I have one ..... it's not what I need for small gigs and I have plenty of amps and no money to get something else.
I'll take what I paid for it which is 3 bones. .... well, and shipping.
If you have any interest or want to haggle PM me.

 

[Greg_L]

You have a crybaby, right?
Is that the same one?

Yeah it's a Cry Baby, but it's a "Dimebag" model - LOL. I never would have bought it myself, but it was free so I took it. I think it's got a problem though. The sweep on it is kind of weird.

Do you like the JTM45?

Not particularly. I mean, yeah of course I like them, but it's not the right amp for me. For me to use one of those it would need to be modded for more gain and it would need a master vol added. Or I'd have to run a boost in front of it because they don't naturally get enough gain for me. A lot of people think of those early Marshalls like the Plexi and JMP as vintage high gain amps, but they aren't. By today's standards, they're not even close to high gain. Many of the hard rock and metal sounds from the 70's and early 80's came from those amps, but they also boosted the front end with something. Even into the 80's with the famous JCM800, those hair metal guys boosted the shit out of their front ends with something. 800's don't have that much gain. Hell, even Angus boosted the front of his JTM45 with his wireless unit.

That's one of the things I like about my particular 900 model and why I was drawn to it. In it's natural state it's like a hot rodded 800 - it even shares the same circuitry and gain structure as the two channel 800's - but with an added secondary gain control if I need more. No pedals necessary, unless I want to, and with the right guitar it will do a pretty chimy clean all the way to Slayer metal. So far I haven't needed that second gain for anything, but you never know when I'll wanna let my hair down and put some spandex on.

 

[Telegram Sam]

That's what I thought.
I want a 50 watt marshall with a master volume, but I would like something a bit special , too

 

[Telegram Sam]

I have one ..... it's not what I need for small gigs and I have plenty of amps and no money to get something else.
I'll take what I paid for it which is 3 bones. .... well, and shipping.
If you have any interest or want to haggle PM me.

That's great Bob.
I have a 15 watter already, I think I am going to go for like 50w if I get another amp.

 

[Greg_L]

That's what I thought.
I want a 50 watt marshall with a master volume, but I would like something a bit special , too

The JCM800 I used to use is a 50w, and it's a monster. It's been modded by someone for more gain and it's loud as fuck. Great sounding amp. Keep in mind that the 50w isn't really any noticeably quieter than a 100w. They'll both knock walls down. The 100w versions have more clean headroom, but with a master vol it's not that big a difference.

Have you heard a Marshall Class 5?

 

[Telegram Sam]

I was thinking about it and this occured to me:
Would you say that standing two 50 watt amps side by side
is similar volume to one 100 watt amp?
This would seem to explain by analogy why doubling the wattage
wouldn't double the volume...

 

[Greg_L]

I was thinking about it and this occured to me:
Would you say that standing two 50 watt amps side by side
is similar volume to one 100 watt amp?
This would seem to explain by analogy why doubling the wattage
wouldn't double the volume...

I think two 50w amps blaring side by side would be considerably louder than one 100w. If you have two amps putting out 110db or whatever it's gonna be way louder than just one amp putting out the same. The reality is that the perceived volume difference between a wide open 100w and 50w is something like only 3 db. It's not even really noticeable. The biggest difference between the two wattages is how they react to being pushed. A 50w will collapse in on itself and go into power tube saturation meltdown sooner than a 100w will. A 100w will stay cleaner sounding longer as the volume goes up. In both instances both amps will be very loud. I do know this from my own experience though: after having two of the same amp - one a 50w and one a 100w - the 100w feels way more powerful than the 50w did through the same cab and speakers. The 100w is not appreciably louder than the 50w was, but the percussive punch that comes from the 100w is considerably more substantial than the 50w. You can literally feel the power in the room.