Tube Amp or maybe just a new pedal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter arcadeko
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arcadeko said:
I am strongly leaning towards this thing plugged into my clean SS channel
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Is that that kind of sound you are after...that thick, ultra-distorted tone? If that's the tone, then go for it. It will be great for that heavy metal vibe, though I didn't really hear anything more from that pedal other than the one flavor...even when he changed some of the knobs around, it was pretty much just the same kind of ultra-distortion that is pure metal. You mentioned punk and alternative music...I don't really hear that in this pedal.

I really hate how it sounds on leads in the high notes (4:40)...very synthetic/buzzy sounding.
 
It is probably more punk influenced alternative or something. It's definitely not metal. I don't even know wtf it is :) It has rock and punk influences. But we are still developing a sound. Here is a couple of our "in progress" songs from the mixing clinic.







I actually kinda like the guitar tone overall - maybe I don't need to do anything :P
 
It's got that Brit punk vibe.

I would actually pull back on some of the distortion...and take some of the mud out of it. It will sound even more aggressive, instead of mushy and dark.
 
The replies you have gotten in this thread have all been good advice. Here's my 2 cents worth.

The guitar and amp are for making sound, pedals are for tweaking it. If you like the sound of your rig without pedals but it doesn't do something you need, shop for pedals. If, after spending some time experimenting with the controls on both the guitar and the amp, the rig naked doesn't get you most of the way there, save your duckies and upgrade your amp. Many guitarists have wasted a bunch of money on pedals trying to fix a sound that couldn't be saved.

You said you kinda liked the sound of your Frontman. Play through some amps and see if you still feel that way. If you do, stay with it. Everything about tone is personal. Don't let people tell you what to like.

Because good tone is personal, you have to try out amps and pedals for yourself, and take your time doing it. Impatience gets really expensive on this road.

Good luck to you.
 
Milnoque said:
Impatience gets really expensive on this road.

Good luck to you.
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Dude you are so right - I have bought, and then turned around and sold, so much gear because it wasn't really exactly what I needed. Luckily I am usually patient enough to find the best deal on something that when I sell it I usually get most of my money back.

I finally got some money form selling some stuff on ebay and I checked out some amps - nothing jumped out at me so I am just going to wait it out till I find something that really impresses me. Besides I like testing out pedals at the music stores :)
 
arcadeko said:
Dude you are so right - I have bought, and then turned around and sold, so much gear because it wasn't really exactly what I needed. Luckily I am usually patient enough to find the best deal on something that when I sell it I usually get most of my money back.

I finally got some money form selling some stuff on ebay and I checked out some amps - nothing jumped out at me so I am just going to wait it out till I find something that really impresses me. Besides I like testing out pedals at the music stores :)
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you're being wise.
There's SO much stuff out there and a lot of it is very good.
I have about 70 pedals ...... I pretty much like 'em all for one reason or another. Got 14 amps and 15 gits ....... I like 'em all.
And I could double the size of my gear list with absolutely no problem.
So take your time if money's tight and buy stuff that has what wifey and I call the 'ooh' factor.
We only buy stuff that makes us go "Ooh" when we try it out.
If it has no 'ooh' factor then we pass.
We even apply this to things like houses ..... not that we'll ever buy another but still, the principal is a sound one.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I have about 70 pedals ...... I pretty much like 'em all for one reason or another.
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HTF can you decide which one to pick...? ;)

I thought I was getting crazy...my pedal count is only around 3 dozen, and only 7 amps...but I have you beat on guitars - 21 (counting my sitar and pedal steel) :D

Isn't it a wonderful sickness! :)

And all women know to buy are shoes and handbags! :laughings:
 
c7sus said:
Where did he say he's playing punk rock? :confused:
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Way at the beginning.

c7sus said:
Tell Neil Young he can't get gritty sounds out of a Deluxe 5E3 circuit.
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If you can have Sal Trentino modify yours, you too can sound like a carefully executed fart. That's taking a $2K+ amplifier and making it sound like a Peavey. It sure ain't Beano tone (not that Clapton used a 5E3, but hopefully my point is made). I doubt arcadeko wants to spend $2K or $3K to sound like a Peavey Bandit with a blown speaker.
 
ranjam said:
If you can have Sal Trentino modify yours, you too can sound like a carefully executed fart. That's taking a $2K+ amplifier and making it sound like a Peavey. It sure ain't Beano tone (not that Clapton used a 5E3, but hopefully my point is made). I doubt arcadeko wants to spend $2K or $3K to sound like a Peavey Bandit with a blown speaker.
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Ha I remember when the bandits first came out! Had to have one ...... gave it up quick though.
 
Lt. Bob said:
For really cheap that little Bugera sounds decent even thru it's crappy little 8" speaker and you could run it into other speakers (like the one in your Frontman)
Plus you can turn it down to 1 or 1/10 of a watt.
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Got to really agree with the Lt. here on this one.
Have you got to check on this at GC Wes?
 
miroslav said:
Are you saying 5E3 amps sound like that when driven harder...?
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No. Once it's been modified; and to what extent we'll never know. I've actually tried to talk to Sal once or twice, and found him very 'uncooperative'. Not that I wanted him to go ahead and give away 'secrets', but not even a hint as to where he's coming from philosophically, when it comes to tweaking the amp circuit. Why mod a perfect amplifier? Did you tweak any capacitor values? Did you tweak the split-load phase inverter? Did you tweak the bias resistor? You get the idea. I don't care about the silly motorized potentiometers, I was more interested in knowing if the 'circuit' remained stock. I'll never know, but it sure doesn't sound like a tweed Deluxe. You'll get more from Larry Cragg, his guitar tech, but Larry doesn't know the circuit per se. All he can tell you is that he knows it runs hot enough that if he doesn't have fans on the output tubes (that were changed to 6L6's), the amp has been known to blow up. Oh, and plus the Deluxe is blended on stage with an old Magnatone and a transistor Baldwin amplifier. So I don't doubt you're hearing less Deluxe than you'd think.
 
This is the 5E3 amp I'm talking about. It's a Tungsten Crema Wheat. I have one that started out as the Tungsten Cortez (his first 5E3 design), but was then modded over to most of the the Cream Wheat guts (his refined 5E3) which has even smoother tone, and holds off a tad more before really breaking up hard. So I call mine the "Crème Cortez", since it's somewhat of a hybrid. :cool:

Adam Palow/Tungsten Amps is now considered one of the top three builders of the classic Fender circuits, and he's added some of his own flavor/mods to them. Check out the website for his other models:

TUNGSTEN Amplification







 
Milnoque said:
The guitar and amp are for making sound, pedals are for tweaking it. If you like the sound of your rig without pedals but it doesn't do something you need, shop for pedals. If, after spending some time experimenting with the controls on both the guitar and the amp, the rig naked doesn't get you most of the way there, save your duckies and upgrade your amp. Many guitarists have wasted a bunch of money on pedals trying to fix a sound that couldn't be saved.
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I think this is a really good bit of advice right here in reference to your original question. Sums it up pretty well I think.

Happy hunting!
 
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edit: er I forgot how to use BBcoding.... this was a reply to 'tell that to neil young'

if i remember correctly, he's got all his 5e3's all over clocked and he uses a shit tonne of effects.
 
I tried about 8 different amps and about 4 pedals. The best sound I got was the Blackstar HT-Dual pedal through a clean SS amp channel. It's an expensive pedal ($250 list) but it sounds awesome. So thats what I went with. Found it on-line pretty cheap and got the store to come down to $240 out the door :) -

I even tried the Blaclstar 5watt Combo amp which has the exact same controls as the HT pedal, but the pedal through the SS fendar amp sounded better to me -
 
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