Neeradj had asked about the Rivera Knucklehead 100W head at low volumes, and once I found out that you could remove the two inner EL34s and make the 100W head a 50 watter, I volunteered to post my impressions as well as some clips.
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: The first thing that I noticed about the head was that it got much darker sounding. Not in a bad way, but I could tell immediately that there wasn't as much wattage driving the speakers. There was much less dynamic range. It did, however, give the head a more modern sound, which I found interesting. Those of you going after a more modern, recto'd tone might want to try doing this. This is true for the clean channel as well as the gain channel. The other thing I noticed was that, even at 50W, the K100 is LOUD!!!! Like, lease-breaking loud through a 4x12.
RECORDING CHAIN: Here's what I used to record the clips:
GUITAR = Jem 7D in Bridge Position with DiMarzio Breed humbucker
CABINET = Rivera 4x12 top
MIC = Audio Technica Digital Reference 3700 condenser mic
MIC PRE/HARD DRIVE = Yamaha AW16G
AMP SETTINGS: I arranged the clips from lowest to highest gain, which is why I am laying it out with Channel 2 first:
CHANNEL 2
Volume 5
Treble 6
Middle 5
Bass 4
Master 3
CHANNEL 1
Volume 5/10
Treble 5
Middle 1
Bass 3
Master 3
GLOBAL
Input High Gain
Focus 10
Presence 5
THE CLIPS: http://twilightsongs2.tripod.com
Clip 1: Channel 2
Clip 2: Channel 2 with Ninja Boost
Clip 3: Channel 1
Clip 4: Channel 1 with Boost
Clip 5: Channel 1 with Boost, and Gain on 10 (Instead of 5)
Clip 6: Channel 1 with Distortion Pedal*, Gain on 5
* DISTORTION PEDAL USED was a Brotech Fatpipe Pro, which runs about $180 US ... this handmade distortion pedal is AMAZING! You will notice how the tone gets a nice compression to it, and the midrange gets even more harmonically complex ...
NOTE: There was no post EQ of any sort done to these clips. You are hearing them exactly as the mic captured them.
Anyway, I hope other people besides Neearaj find this educational.
ENJOY!!
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS: The first thing that I noticed about the head was that it got much darker sounding. Not in a bad way, but I could tell immediately that there wasn't as much wattage driving the speakers. There was much less dynamic range. It did, however, give the head a more modern sound, which I found interesting. Those of you going after a more modern, recto'd tone might want to try doing this. This is true for the clean channel as well as the gain channel. The other thing I noticed was that, even at 50W, the K100 is LOUD!!!! Like, lease-breaking loud through a 4x12.
RECORDING CHAIN: Here's what I used to record the clips:
GUITAR = Jem 7D in Bridge Position with DiMarzio Breed humbucker
CABINET = Rivera 4x12 top
MIC = Audio Technica Digital Reference 3700 condenser mic
MIC PRE/HARD DRIVE = Yamaha AW16G
AMP SETTINGS: I arranged the clips from lowest to highest gain, which is why I am laying it out with Channel 2 first:
CHANNEL 2
Volume 5
Treble 6
Middle 5
Bass 4
Master 3
CHANNEL 1
Volume 5/10
Treble 5
Middle 1
Bass 3
Master 3
GLOBAL
Input High Gain
Focus 10
Presence 5
THE CLIPS: http://twilightsongs2.tripod.com
Clip 1: Channel 2
Clip 2: Channel 2 with Ninja Boost
Clip 3: Channel 1
Clip 4: Channel 1 with Boost
Clip 5: Channel 1 with Boost, and Gain on 10 (Instead of 5)
Clip 6: Channel 1 with Distortion Pedal*, Gain on 5
* DISTORTION PEDAL USED was a Brotech Fatpipe Pro, which runs about $180 US ... this handmade distortion pedal is AMAZING! You will notice how the tone gets a nice compression to it, and the midrange gets even more harmonically complex ...
NOTE: There was no post EQ of any sort done to these clips. You are hearing them exactly as the mic captured them.
Anyway, I hope other people besides Neearaj find this educational.
ENJOY!!
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