Incoming practice/recording NAD..

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Vs. my 15W Goldea tube head + Laney 2x12 w/ V30's (single mono track)

Did'nt want to chance an impedance mismatch disaster by hooking up the Creamback cab as well...though I doubt much would've gone wrong in 5< mins..

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Ibanez S Series (S520BBS) w/ my Laney SS 60W head & two Cabs (Laney 2x212w/ V30's & 1x12 Cab w/ Craemback 65) ~ Neoclassical Ballad (Kerry KIng style..)

Yesterday I was jamming with this setup before lunch & it sounded absolutely amazing cranked in the room. It's insanely loud (Laney head) too...60Watts is 60Watts ...no kidding

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Also I just discovered something after I recorded that clip. While this amp sounds great & feels great, it was always really noisy when idling , like, a lot of hum (50hz). I thought it was maybe bad grounding in the amp or a dirty poweroutlet but It's even louder through the two linked cabs I'm using now than my Vox 1x12 w/ a Redback I had it hooked up to earlier.which is kinda irritating to be honest.

So I thought I'd just take a proper look at the back see if anything was loose or something

Well, I just discovered it has a 'ground-lift' slider switch at the back..so I flipped it. Did'nt really have high hopes cuz they often do nothing, but damn!! Everything has gone dead silent....as in no ****ing noise at all...even on the highest gain settings! And the tone is hella better too. It was great before though w/ a tendency to sound a bit brittle in the highs. But now it's even thicker (like insanely thick & meaty) /feels smoother, the highs are incredible and it's just phenomenal to play tbh...

This blows away the little Soldano SS head I tried a couple of years ago.. Makes it sound like a toy while this bad boy on the other hand actually sounds like a large tube head pretty much..and yes, it is shockingly LOUD \m/



EDIT: Ok, so after playing it a while there's still a bit of noise (acceptable for a gainy amp) but it's like 80% quieter now.

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First clip after flipping the switch. Laney SS head into my Creamback cab (mono track):

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Also found/edited a pretty sweet Recto patch on my Hotone Pulze. Time to move on fromthe neoclassical ballad though. Ballads can be fun but after a while all the tasteful restraint gets to me....yeah, some whammy helps but even that can only take it so far..

Funnily enough, the Pulze also had a grounding 50hz (60hz in the US) buzzing issue whicjh was due to it coming witha two-prong Euro plug (they have the third/ground prong in the wall outlet, not on the plug) for the power cord. All the buzz disappeared after I switched it to a standard three prong Indian power cord/plug so it was properly grounded.

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New track with the Recto model/amp. I edited it a bit by ear but I'm not sure what I did...still it sounds pretty cool.
One problem I do have though is with the overall feel of all the amp models. They're all a bit stiff/edgy/choppy and I'd like to dial in a bit of smoother compression/roundness from them (esp. for tapping....it feels like i hve to fight it for that.) Pretty sure there's some kind of Global setting that can do what I need, in fact I watched a YT tutorial a wile ago that mentioned three "Gobal" edge/crispness settings to adjust response. I can't find it now though , always happens when you need something

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I decided to try recording using the amp as an interface. Easy as pie to set up. I think this is the way to go!

Once I have the edginess/stiffness issue sorted out I think this could be my most hassle-free, quick & awesome sounding recording solution ever

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Switching between the Recto lead patch & a harmonizer patch (Andy Larocque-ish lead tone). It (harmonizer) sounds much better in stereo but I forgot to load a stereo track in Reaper...so..

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5150 patch (slightly edited to taste) ..pretty sweet. Headphone out to DAW (stereo)

I think using the headphone out & using the amp as an interface sound pretty much the same. I should try mic'ing both speakers and recording them in stereo next

[Phantasmagoria]

Laney SS + 1x12 Creamback M cab - Amp's Ground-lift switch ON vs. OFF. Apart from getting rid of most of the idling buzz, flipping the Ground-lift switch also makes the tone thicker smoother and a bit darker..