Using a tubescreamer

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chamelious

www.thesunexplodes.com
Just wondered what everyone does in this situation, i use a TS7 as part of my distorted sound, so to go back to my "clean" sound i have to hit the TS7 and my amps channel switch as well. Major pain in the arse when you're trying to sing at the same time and almost impossible for some of the shorter sections of our songs.

Usually i just compromise and use the horrible ac/cd shit crunch sound you get with the Ts7 on my clean channel, i switch it off for the longer clean bits. Does everyone else do a dance on pedals? Always wondered what bands like Killswitch engage do, as i know they use tubescreamers in front of their amps.
 
You will need one more amp in this case and an A/B switch. Or you have to have and amp that sounds clean, but gets overdriven to the required extent when "warmed up" with a tube screamer.
 
vijsolo said:
Or you have to have and amp that sounds clean, but gets overdriven to the required extent when "warmed up" with a tube screamer.
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Don't think such an amp exists for my required level of saturation. What i really need is an amp that has enough gain without needing a tubescreamer, i just wondered what other people do :)
 
chamelious said:
Don't think such an amp exists for my required level of saturation. What i really need is an amp that has enough gain without needing a tubescreamer, i just wondered what other people do :)
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Out of morbid curiousity, what are you playing through, where you need a tube screamer to get KSE levels of saturation? :lol:

I occasionally use a Tube Screamer with my Rectifier. There's really two schools of thought on how you want to do this, but generally guys either leave the gain ALMOST at zero and crank the level to the max, and set tone to taste, or (what I usually do when I use it) set the gain to about unity, and add just the slightest hint of crunch with the drive - say, 1 to 1.5-ish.

The idea is you're not using the TS as a gain boost as much as you are a pre-eq that also slightly changes the mix of even and odd harmonics. It rolls off a little bit of bass, which helps tighten up the low end of a high gain tube amp.

Set this way, it really isn't a huge deal if you leave it on for clean passages, as unless you're running your clean gain awfully high, you're only really adding the slightest bit of "grit" to your sound.

EDIT - option #2, actually, look up Bodenhamer Electronics and once he starts taking orders again (he fell off the face of the world for a while, leaving a backlog of orders that caused a fair amount of drama. As it turned out, he was more or less justified - he fell down a couple stairs carrying an armful of glass windows, with predictably nasty consequences, and is only just now able to function normally again), and buy a "Bloody Murder" rackmount OD. If you're using any kind of MIDI switching, you can turn the thing off with a relay, so that it automatically shuts off when you go to your clean channel, and comes back on when you go to your dirty. It just might be a couple months yet before he's selling them again. I have a "Chaos Mod" TS9 from him, and I can say he does VERY nice work.
 
Cheers dude. Im using an ashdown fallen angel. And yeah i use it pretty much how you describe, rolling off a bit of bass, tighten it up a bit. I'll check that guy out.
 
Hmm. I've never actually played a Fallen Angel, but as I understand it's not exactly a gain-challenged amp... Are you really trying to add an additional gain stage with the TS, or just use it as a bit of a pre-EQ? If so, try backing off your gain on the pedal and the clean channel, you totally should be able to balance it against the clean channel so that it's still a fairly clean tone.

Then again, I've never been one for pristine clean sounds anyway...
 
I set up the volume on my tube amps so they almost start to distort. Then I leave my 808 on most the time, just use my volume control on my guitars for clean, crunch and solos. Again you have to use a good tube amp, 15 to 25 watts for small clubs and you really do not need any more than 50 to 60 watt amp for any gig.
 
Could you run an A/B-Y box as a channel switcher instead?

Guitar >> Y
A output >> clean channel
B output >> TS7 (on full-time) >> dirty channel
 
I play almost exclusively on my amp's crunch channel, with the preamp gain dialed down to 9:00 or 10:00. This gives a mostly clean sound that breaks up when I play hard. That services as my clean tone. Then I have my TS9 set with everything to 12:00 and I kick that on and it elevates the tone to a classic rock n' roll kind of tone. If I want to play heavier stuff (I don't do metal so heavier stuff to me isn't so heavy) I put the TS9's drive dial to 3:00 and I get lots of good gain out of it. For solos and even more saturation, sustain, and sensitivity, I use a boss CS3 with the level and sustain all the way up. It basically acts as a 2nd overdrive stage. Great for soloing.

If I really, really need that "next level" distortion, I'll use my amp's boost channel with no other overdrive added. And another great setting is my amp's clean channel with the channel volume all the way up and the master all the way up. It's a Black Keys kind of classic rock meltdown sound (like "Have Love, Will Travel" off of Thickfreakness).

So I'm sure that my methods aren't all that useful to you since I'm not after a metal sound. the closest I come is Black Sabbath, Randy Rhoads, and a few of the hair metal tunes I remember from high school. Those are all on the cruch channel with the TS9's drive at 9:00.
 
Cheers guys, but as Tadpui has noticed, im not really after the classic rock crunch or whatever, its about beefing up the distortion channel of my fallen angel. The Fallen Angel sounds wank with its preamp gain on full- it sounds acceptable with the gain on around 1 o clock and the TS7 gain on around 11 o clock.
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Then again, I've never been one for pristine clean sounds anyway...
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This is the thing. I like mega clean, and saturated distortion. Its why in the long run, i need a better amp. Carvin V3, Peavey XXX, Bugera 333xl. Those are my options in order of budget.
 
You might try a line 6 spider valve before you decide...only amp I've ever seen that can do everything well. You might find a better amp for one specific tone, but if you need it all in one amp this is the one.
 
mr.anderson said:
You might try a line 6 spider valve before you decide...only amp I've ever seen that can do everything well. You might find a better amp for one specific tone, but if you need it all in one amp this is the one.
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Really, no.

I've never been a fan of the Spider series, so I'll admit that I was predisposed to dislike them when I first fired one up. But, I was surprised to find I really dug the clean channel - after screwing with it for 15 minutes, I was kind of excited to check out the distorted sounds.

The distorted sounds were dry, sterile, overly compressed, and lifeless, like every other Line6 Spider I've played. I was seriously let down. A Spider Valve will be a downgrade from a Fallen Angel, for sure.
 
chamelious said:
Cheers guys, but as Tadpui has noticed, im not really after the classic rock crunch or whatever, its about beefing up the distortion channel of my fallen angel. The Fallen Angel sounds wank with its preamp gain on full- it sounds acceptable with the gain on around 1 o clock and the TS7 gain on around 11 o clock.
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Is this for recording or for live performances? If it's for recording, then cranking your preamp gain all the way up is probably the reason that your distortion needs "beefing up" in the first place. Too much gain is just going to make a recorded guitar sound thin, tinny, and robbed of all dynamics.

Beefing up heavy guitar is more about creating layers of less distorted guitars and less about creating a single layer of over-distorted guitars. Back the preamp gain way back from full (that 1:00 position you mention sounds better for a reason) and try recording 2 tracks of that, pan them wide in the stereo field, and see if that yields a heavier sound. All that preamp gain just serves to make a guitar indistinct and grainy in the mix. Even the V3, the XXX, or the Bugera are going to sound pretty terrible on record with the preamp gain maxed out.
 
Tadpui said:
Is this for recording or for live performances? If it's for recording, then cranking your preamp gain all the way up is probably the reason that your distortion needs "beefing up" in the first place. Too much gain is just going to make a recorded guitar sound thin, tinny, and robbed of all dynamics.

Beefing up heavy guitar is more about creating layers of less distorted guitars and less about creating a single layer of over-distorted guitars. Back the preamp gain way back from full (that 1:00 position you mention sounds better for a reason) and try recording 2 tracks of that, pan them wide in the stereo field, and see if that yields a heavier sound. All that preamp gain just serves to make a guitar indistinct and grainy in the mix. Even the V3, the XXX, or the Bugera are going to sound pretty terrible on record with the preamp gain maxed out.
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Live. Teaching how to suck eggs unfortunately but thanks anyway!
 
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