Clean gain starts to distort at 5

[DesertRose]

Hiya people

The amp's a Marshall and the clean starts to distort at 5. Any way to cut that out ? Like let clean be clean even if the gain is at 10. There is a master volume also, if the master volume goes too high, the gain gotta be low otherwise it will sound like distortion.

I hope you guys know whadda mean.
How to get the clean be just clean even at 10 ? Change the tubes ? Speaker ?

Thanks

 

[wixedmords]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

That is the knock on most Marshall's. The clean channel isn't that clean.

What model Marshall?

 

[DesertRose]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

DSL 401

Thanks
Need to solve this case pretty urgently

 

[chill]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Turn down the guitar volume or use lower output pickups.

Turn up the master so the clean is as clean and loud as you want, then roll off your tone knob until the overdrive has the right amount of treble.

Marshall's site says the 401's clean channel overdrives for a throaty blues distortion as it is turned up, so you may be fighting the design itself.

 

[wixedmords]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Turn down the guitar volume or use lower output pickups.

Turn up the master so the clean is as clean and loud as you want, then roll off your tone knob until the overdrive has the right amount of treble.

Marshall's site says the 401's clean channel overdrives for a throaty blues distortion as it is turned up, so you may be fighting the design itself.

+1

Plus move your pickups further away from the strings.

It just isn't a company that builds cleans.

 

[itbepopples]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

What pickups are you using? are you using the volume knob on the guitar?

 

[Forbes]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Yer i guess its just a marshall thing, i get it also, i actually quite like the tone it gives, but it is annoying if you want a crystal clear clean tone. With the Invader selected its hard to get a clean tone out of it at all! Switching to a single coil makes a huge difference to me, so if you are usuing high-output pups you could get a bit more clean tone out of it that way.

 

[Davey]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

#1.. turn the gain down. WAY down.. if the gain is at 10 it's quite heavily distorting the signal

#2 make the amp sound clean and turn the master volume up to where it's just sliiightly distorting (then use overdrive pedals to boost it into oblivion)

#3 split the humbucker if you dont have a single coil in the guitar. that will reduce the input signal

#4 use the guitars controls to lower the output aditionaly and control the trebble with the tone pot

#5 .. tubes will distort at a point, no matter what you do. it's how they are designed. if you want a pure clean amp, get a fender. marshalls wont give you that sparkly clean tone ever

 

[DesertRose]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

What pickups are you using? are you using the volume knob on the guitar?

Using SD Alnico pro II

I guess I just gotta lower the gain as much as possible now.
The pickups are very much away from the strings already ever since its being setup
Thanks for all the input.
Does a JCM800 lead series combo have the sam problem also ? any ?

 

[greendy123]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

I got a high gain marshall, for my clean tones I just roll my volume on my guitar to about 5 or lower for a clean sound like the other guys suggested. Then you just crank the volume up for distortion. That's pretty much it. It's works pretty good for me even on my high output super 2 pickup.

 

[Imp]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

i have a DSL 401.. what you're experiencing is totally normal and exactly what the amp was designed for

try setting master (amp) volume higher + clean channel gain lower. this works for me, since the OD channel volume lets you balance things out!
otherwise, the only other solution is lower-gain preamp tubes.. should be easily sorted by the volume knobs though!

enjoy the 401!

tom

 

[Forbes]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Using SD Alnico pro II

I guess I just gotta lower the gain as much as possible now.
The pickups are very much away from the strings already ever since its being setup
Thanks for all the input.
Does a JCM800 lead series combo have the sam problem also ? any ?

Thats the amp i play through, and yes the clean channel also distorts easily.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

I'm definitely no amp expert, but you might try changing the power tubes to ones that give you more headroom. Try a higher rated Groove Tube. I imagine that a good tech could monkey with the electronics and raise the point at which the clean channel distorts.

Jeff

 

[Closed Eye]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Funny thing: my solid state Marshall MG250DFX's clean channel does that as well.

My amp is differant I guess because when I kick the master volume back a little (9, 8 at the least) the gain on the clean channel lowers substantially.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

if you havent put jj el84's in there you should, they are a more musical sounding tube than the sovtek that probably came in there and if you get new tubes you could get a higher rating (if you buy groove tubes EL84S variety) so the power tubes dont break up as soon but i dont think thats your problem.

if you threw a 12at7 in v1 you could probably get a little more clean headroom since it will lower the gain in the preamp.

like others said, to get the loudest clean you can, crank the master and bring the clean gain up to where i just starts to distort when you are playing hard

 

[Imp]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

the stock tubes are marshall branded.. they're no match for jjs or EH tubes though!

tom

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

also alnico II magnets seem to break up earlier than alnico V.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Just get a Fender and an A/B box...

 

[DesertRose]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

Thanks guys for the inputs.

How about EH tubes ? I can't get JJ tubes in my local store

 

[Imp]

Re: Clean gain starts to distort at 5

i have a DSL401 with EH tubes! i couldnt really describe how they differ tonally (i use pedals a lot) but they definitely make me think 'oh, this sounds nice' a lot more and keep my practicing, which is the aim of any gear i get i guess...

tom