Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

[2taall]

I have been pretty unhappy with my guitar for the past couple months. It is a 1995 MIM Strat with Duncan Humbuckers, Callaham Trem Block, and the cheap Mexican switch,pots, and electronics were replaced with Fender and Gibson parts. I just couldn't get a good sound out of the guitar. Finally, today I sat next to the amp and played around with settings. I found my guitar had a lot of Mids so I cut the Mids and boosted the Treble and Bass and this helped quite a bit. But what made the biggest impact was how I am now driving the amp. Before, I had the Volume knob cranked to 10 on the distortion channel and the Master Volume down around 2,3,4, depending on how loud I wanted it. I reversed this set up, so now I have the Master Volume cranked at 10 and the Volume on the distortion channel around 2,3,4, depending on how loud I want the amp. The Clean Channel also sounds better, The Gain control on it adds a bit of distortion and also controls the volume.

So try this out if some of you are unhappy.

[y2stevo]

Re: Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

what Amp are you using?

[greendy123]

Re: Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

Are you happy with the sound of the guitar unplugged? If you are I guess you just solved your problem. Any unplugged guitar that sounds good is guaranteed to sound good, but that all depends on the gear you have such as amps, pickups. After that its just quality gear and proper eqing to find your sound. That method suggested works pretty good for nice overdriven tones compared to pre gain saturated, "Bees in can" tone as Lew would say.

[ErikH]

Re: Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

You should hear the Mission Amps 18 watter set up that way.
It was enough to p*ss off the vendor across the isle.

Some amps just don't have good preamp distortion/overdrive and others do. My Marshall MkIII and the SL-X model that followed it both have great sounding preamp gain. Turn 'em up to get some power amp saturation mixed in and it's heavenly.

[2taall]

Re: Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

The guitar actually sound great unplugged. I even tilt my head towards the back of the guitar(so I don't hear the strings) and it's great.

This is actually a Marshall Dual Super Lead 201 combo amp, 20 WAtts. I might play around with it a bit more by adjusting the Distortion and Master volumes in all sorts of combinations to see what I can come up with.

Any suggestions?

[ModestCargo]

Re: Power versus pre amp distortion, big difference in sound.

I tend to play my DSL 401 at the point on the gain on the clean channel where it's fat and slightly edgy (sweet spot, i like to call it) and it falls right around 5 on the gain knob. Your 201 may be different - and I use PAF type pickups, vintage output.

On the overdrive channel I use OD1 and set the gain at 3, the volume at 5 or a little more, and the treble at zero.

Master volume NEVER dips below half, I don't like sterile tones.

Try some of those settings and tell me what you think - your 201 might have the equlvilant of my OD2 channel so if that's the case the overdrive gain would be set at one or 1.5.