The New Tone Thread

Greg...
I used to have a super reverb. They have the tremelo, reverb, and are 60 watts. If you play with a loud band 60 isn't too much. I know you said you wanted 12" speakers but 4 10s sound glorious on surf guitar IMO. Man, I loved that amp (silverface). I wish I still had it.
 
minerman said:
Ok here's a little clip I worked on today...The clean sound here wasn't recorded with the EVH rig, I can't even remember which it was honestly, but more than likely it was the DSL's clean channel...The dirty guitars here are:

SG > EVH LBX > G12-65 re-issue > i5 (There is reverb on these guitar tracks, but no eq)

Amp settings:

15w mode
Red channel

Resonance:..........2-3
Gain:..................2
Bass:..................8
Mid:....................5
Treble:................6
Volume:..............3
Presence:............2

Mix 9-2

I didn't have the amp as wound up as I'd like, but I'm still trying not to be overly loud a lot here...Once in a while I can get by with, but not for hours on end like I was doing before...While this tone isn't terrible/bad to me, I probably need to get it up to around 6-ish, as that's where the sweet spot is for this little amp...

Lemme know what you guys think...
Click to expand...

I that sounds pretty bad ass miner. The tone fits the song really really well. It's got a growl to it, it's saturated without being mushy or fizzy. Sounds like the hard rock tones that I've grown up with.
 
rayc said:
The quest for tone that requires new learning - of chords for me anyway!
I've updated, after some time practicing, my latest song.
I used my Epiphone Sheraton II this time for all tracks - as the humbuckers seem to get a better response from the little amp I'm using.View attachment 97870 View attachment 97871View attachment 97872
There're L & R track of 5ths, L & R tracks of the new chords shapes and a little bit of arp. in the verses.
Oh, for experiment's sake I've changed the verse to minor as the song doesn't have too much in dynamics.

How's the tone now that there's more top end via the chord shapes, more push from the guitar and the key difference?
Click to expand...

I can hang with unconventional use of major/minor chords in a progression. But I think that the weirdness is coming from either a tuning or an intonation problem. That major 3rd on a few of the major chords sounds pretty off and dissonant. Both when it lands on the G string and when it lands on the B string.

My rule of thumb when I'm tuning is that the G and B strings can be tuned anything BUT sharp. Not even a little bit sharp. I'd rather have them a tiny bit flat than even a hair sharp. And that's because I run into what I hear here: any time a major 3rd of a chord is on the G or B string, they sound really out of whack if they're at all sharp.

If your tuning is fine, then it might be time to look at the intonation. It might sound fine when you tune to an open chord in the 1st position but sound out of tune when you move to the 5th position, or 9th or 12th, or whatever. If it sounds great in one position but out of whack in the others, then that's a sign that it's time to change strings and intonate the guitar (or in my case, pay somebody else to do it because I fucking hate setting intonation).

I also get this sometimes if I'm simply pressing too hard with my fretting hand. That extra pressure will bend the pitch of some strings a little sharp. I do this sometimes when I'm barely hanging on in playing a phrase correctly. I tense up and start to white-knuckle the chords and start accidentally pushing things a little sharp.
 
jimistone said:
It sounds fantastic to me man.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I like your tones a lot Jimi, I dunno how, but you seem to capture the feel/vibe of the 70's rock thing in just about everything you do, so the compliment from you is really meaningful to me dude...

Tadpui said:
I that sounds pretty bad ass miner. The tone fits the song really really well. It's got a growl to it, it's saturated without being mushy or fizzy. Sounds like the hard rock tones that I've grown up with.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I found a patch cable that was crapping out on me a day or two ago. It was randomly doing it, so it was actually an accident I found that problem...

I'm liking this little amp more & more as I play through it...It does have way more gain than I'll ever use, so I'm gonna try some tube rolling in the next day or so, & if they make a big enough difference, I'll post the results...
 
'twas a good day arghh! :D

I'll get some pics.

They had a really good rock band playing next door that I was looking in on.
They were 3-piece with a frontman ..... bass player had 2 Augilar 8x10 cabs with some sorta big wattage amp ..... sounded great.

Guitar player had 2 full Marshall stacks with his fx's and presumably his head(s) in a rack off to the side.
I couldn't get a good look at it thru the drunk party people.

He sounded so-so .... a little scooped but not too much ...... it wasn't a bad tone ..... but it wasn't the glorious sound I'd expect ..... it wasn't at all present like it should have been.

After they finished I went in and looked ..... no heads ... got a sinking feeling.

He was using a Line 6 M13 into a Sansamp into a Crown power amp to drive those Marshall cabs! :facepalm:

:laughings:
 
Lt. Bob said:
'twas a good day arghh! :D

I'll get some pics.

They had a really good rock band playing next door that I was looking in on.
They were 3-piece with a frontman ..... bass player had 2 Augilar 8x10 cabs with some sorta big wattage amp ..... sounded great.

Guitar player had 2 full Marshall stacks with his head a fx's off to the side.
He sounded decent ...... it wasn't a bad tone ..... but it wasn't the glorious sound I'd expect ..... it wasn't at all present like it should have been.

After they finished I went in and looked ..... no heads ... got a sinking feeling.

He was using a Line 6 M13 into a Sansamp into a Crown power amp to drive those Marshall cabs! :facepalm:

:laughings:
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Oh gawd NOOOOO!!! Hahahaha, what a waste of a good set of cabinets!

It entertains me to no end imagining you in pirate garb playing the crap outta your guitar.

Oh and Greg:
I spotted this just now on Reverb: https://reverb.com/item/2874993-sennheiser-421-ii
An MD-421 in great shape for $100 less than new. Mmmm? Just outside of Dallas. I'm not saying, I'm just saying :D
 
Minerman,
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas mate. I'm happy to hear what you have to say & to give your ideas a whirl.
Tadpui.
thanks for the detail.
There're two likely problems... my tuner is playing up - it won't settle and jumps around no matter which guitar I'm using and I'm having some trouble with my left hand - my ring finger slowly gets pulled down and onto strings by a tendon problem so I fight to push it back and end up pressing REALLY hard with the other fingers. It's more likely the tuner, yep my ears aren't good enough, and my inability to tell when things are a bit out but, additionally, I'm unable to play power chords for more than 5 minutes without the ring finger giving me the finger.
I tried again today - following Greg advice but also tweaking tone - I added a preamp in front of my tiny amp as the little thing seems to not have much scope or subtlety. I used a pre set up to emulate the pre in a Fender Bassman and that seemed to result in a better tone but, alas, the same tuning/finger/problem as yesterday so I didn't annoy anyone with the grating aspect.
 
Price Change?

Tadpui said:
Oh and Greg:
I spotted this just now on Reverb: https://reverb.com/item/2874993-sennheiser-421-ii
An MD-421 in great shape for $100 less than new. Mmmm? Just outside of Dallas. I'm not saying, I'm just saying :D
Click to expand...

I just looked to see if I could score this and the price is like$265 .... must have gone up.
Oh.... wait.... all I saw in your post was $100 bucks and I thought... NOW were talking.... now that I look again.... "Less than NEW!"
oh well.... dream on...
 
Lt. Bob said:
He was using a Line 6 M13 into a Sansamp into a Crown power amp to drive those Marshall cabs! :facepalm:

:laughings:
Click to expand...
Lol. What a waste. You know what drives Marshall cabs and doesn't sound scooped and thin? Marshall heads.

Tadpui said:
Oh and Greg:
I spotted this just now on Reverb: https://reverb.com/item/2874993-sennheiser-421-ii
An MD-421 in great shape for $100 less than new. Mmmm? Just outside of Dallas. I'm not saying, I'm just saying :D
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks for the tip, but I'm not that hellbent on getting a 421 yet. I do plenty fine and dandy with the mics I currently have. The 421 is great but it's a one-of-these-days kind of thing. I'm actually going out today to murder some Fender amps with my Hallmark Mosrite and I'm gonna see what's up.
 
rayc said:
Minerman,
Thanks for the thoughts and ideas mate. I'm happy to hear what you have to say & to give your ideas a whirl.
Tadpui.
thanks for the detail.
There're two likely problems... my tuner is playing up - it won't settle and jumps around no matter which guitar I'm using and I'm having some trouble with my left hand - my ring finger slowly gets pulled down and onto strings by a tendon problem so I fight to push it back and end up pressing REALLY hard with the other fingers. It's more likely the tuner, yep my ears aren't good enough, and my inability to tell when things are a bit out but, additionally, I'm unable to play power chords for more than 5 minutes without the ring finger giving me the finger.
I tried again today - following Greg advice but also tweaking tone - I added a preamp in front of my tiny amp as the little thing seems to not have much scope or subtlety. I used a pre set up to emulate the pre in a Fender Bassman and that seemed to result in a better tone but, alas, the same tuning/finger/problem as yesterday so I didn't annoy anyone with the grating aspect.
Click to expand...

Get the Boss tuner app for your phone ray! Works pretty well, and free. And let me know if I can help with the guitar playing - although, absent your exact guitar and amp, I doubt I'd be able to match the tone.
 
So today me and the Hallmark tried out some amps for surf-punk madness.

Supros....all of them...bad ass, but their reverb and tremolo aint all that great. The cranked drive sound kills though. Kills! But, they're not that loud. I had them literally cranked and they're not loud enough for my needs.

AC30...I found one for 800 bucks which is pretty killer for a hand-wired AC30 Greenback 2x12 combo....but it doesn't sound very surfy. The trem and reverb are good, but it just didn't have *that* sound. I'd like to go get that amp though just to have it.

Verious Fenders - Twin, Super, Custom Deluxe, Deluxe. I tried a 1974 Super Reverb, and it sounded awesome clean, but it had a problem with the reverb (seemed like a microphonic tube) and the losers at GC wouldn't let me crank it. Lost sale for them. I was ready to buy. Then I tried a Twin. Awesomely loud, great verb and trem, too clean. Vibrolux! This one sounded fantastic. Good cranked drive sound, great reverb and trem..not loud enough. Same with the 68 Custom and 65 DR reissue. They all sounded great, but they just weren't loud enough. Ugh. I think that Super would have been the one. Fuckers.
 
Thanks David & Lt Bob,
That makes a third problem - I don't have a "smart" phone.
I have a different/spare tuner but am conscious that they all vary somewhat and wanted to stay with the just one for the project. I suppose I can retrack the bass if they're out.
This is the spare tuner I have to learn to use properly...planet-waves-ct-04-chromatic-pedal-tuner-free-delivery-1355-p.jpg. I think I also need to train my errant finger to bend and get out of the way rather than hover and slowly descend. David, I'll take you up on the offer at some stage.
 
Lol. Ray! I'm sorry buddy but those are the worst tuners ever! Lol. In fact, just today my buddy returned the one he just bought because it's finicky and shitty. The guys in my guitar-gig band use them and they're constantly fighting with them. Planet Waves strobe. Blah. They're a pain in the ass. Their one good point - they're cheap. But you pay for it in other ways.

Man, Ray, you know I only say this because I care about your well being, so please...PLEASE! Find you a used Boss TU-2 or a Korg Pitchblack, or hell, anything other than that one.
 
Hell, even a Snark will do a pretty darn good job.

Anyways, Greg, sounds like it was a fun yet frustrating venture today. Is there maybe a pedal that would put a Twin where you want it?
 
Greg_L said:
So today me and the Hallmark tried out some amps for surf-punk madness.

Supros....all of them...bad ass, but their reverb and tremolo aint all that great. The cranked drive sound kills though. Kills! But, they're not that loud. I had them literally cranked and they're not loud enough for my needs.

AC30...I found one for 800 bucks which is pretty killer for a hand-wired AC30 Greenback 2x12 combo....but it doesn't sound very surfy. The trem and reverb are good, but it just didn't have *that* sound. I'd like to go get that amp though just to have it.

Verious Fenders - Twin, Super, Custom Deluxe, Deluxe. I tried a 1974 Super Reverb, and it sounded awesome clean, but it had a problem with the reverb (seemed like a microphonic tube) and the losers at GC wouldn't let me crank it. Lost sale for them. I was ready to buy. Then I tried a Twin. Awesomely loud, great verb and trem, too clean. Vibrolux! This one sounded fantastic. Good cranked drive sound, great reverb and trem..not loud enough. Same with the 68 Custom and 65 DR reissue. They all sounded great, but they just weren't loud enough. Ugh. I think that Super would have been the one. Fuckers.
Click to expand...

I can understand they don't want a 60 watt tube amp cranked on the sales floor, but It looks like Guitar Center would have a treated room for serious buyers to crank an amp in.
How can a 60 watt tube amp be properly critiqued at bedroom volume?
I
 
Tadpui said:
Hell, even a Snark will do a pretty darn good job.

Anyways, Greg, sounds like it was a fun yet frustrating venture today. Is there maybe a pedal that would put a Twin where you want it?
Click to expand...

Probably, but not really necessary. I have a Weber Mass attenuator. I can crank a Twin all I want and just attenuate it. I just don't really wanna have to do that all the time and Twins are expensive. I like the used 68 Custom/65 Deluxe price range which hovers around $600-700. The Vibrolux was $1000. They just need to be a hair louder. I had them cranked today and they were not uncomfortably loud. Even my buddy Chris commented "That's it? That's all it's got?" And I'm not looking for Marshall stack loud, I just want that cranked Fender surf madness sound loud enough to work with my hard-hitting Bonham-loud drummer and bass.
 
jimistone said:
I can understand they don't want a 60 watt tube amp cranked on the sales floor, but It looks like Guitar Center would have a treated room for serious buyers to crank an amp in.
How can a 60 watt tube amp be properly critiqued at bedroom volume?
I
Click to expand...

Some GCs have an amp demo room, but this one didn't. But they did have a room inside of the acoustic guitar room, so I asked to go in there. They wouldn't let me. I had my own guitar and a wallet full of money, so I meant business. Nope, they wouldn't do it. They said I had to buy it and then return it if I didn't like it. I politely told the guy to go fuck himself.

I can go into the drum room and beat the shit out of their kits, but I can't crank an amp inside of a room within another room for 10 minutes. WT fucking F.
 
No experience with any of the mentioned tuners, but I do have a Snark & it seems to do pretty good...I had to replace the battery in it a couple months ago, but the original battery lasted for over 2 years...

Snark SN5X Clip-On Guitar-Bass-Violin Chromatic Tuner

The batteries I bought cost about as much as the tuner (3-pack was like $12, when I bought the tuner it was about $10), but at 2 years a pop, I should be good to go for 5-6 years, if the tuner holds up that long...:D

I think this little clip-on tuner does a pretty good job...

FWIW, I'd used software tuners (POD Farm, Amplitube, etc) for years, & they seem to do ok too...There are software tuners that are free if you dig around too...
 
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