is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

[these_go211]

i'm curious how many of you, if noise/volume is not an issue, crank your tube amps to 10, ok, or 11 for what you think is the best tone. i ask this as i recently purchased a zvex nano amp. i've dimed the thing and it does sound great. but i found that when the volume is around 2:00 or so it sounds the best to me. crunchy, raw, but more defined. i've only had the amp for 2 weeks so i'm still learning about it. and i realize that tone is subjective of course. but i'm curious how many of you think that diming the volume on your tube amp achieves the best tone.

 

[Mephis]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

Completely depends on the amp. Both my classic 50 and 6505+ don't sound best dimed. They sound best right around 2-3 o'clock.

But, my champion 600 loves to be dimed.

 

[Mincer]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

on my mesa blue angel, if i am using 6v6 tubes, the best tone is about 4 on the volume knob (no master volume) and after it has been on a few hours, like the 2nd set of a gig. 6v6s will get really mushy sounding if it is really really loud. however, 4 on this amp is pretty loud too.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

i'm curious how many of you, if noise/volume is not an issue, crank your tube amps to 10, ok, or 11 for what you think is the best tone. i ask this as i recently purchased a zvex nano amp. i've dimed the thing and it does sound great. but i found that when the volume is around 2:00 or so it sounds the best to me. crunchy, raw, but more defined. i've only had the amp for 2 weeks so i'm still learning about it. and i realize that tone is subjective of course. but i'm curious how many of you think that diming the volume on your tube amp achieves the best tone.

In my opinion it is very amp specific. Some get a little too compressed and overloaded with the volume on 10. Others sound their best.

Luke

 

[thucydides]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

In my opinion it is very amp specific. Some get a little too compressed and overloaded with the volume on 10. Others sound their best.

Luke

Agreed. I would also say that at least some amount of "push" is desirable, even if that doesn't mean diming the amp.

 

[fingerace]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

Yeap, I agree with the rest...

Also some amps after some point, seem to get more gain instead of volume, so that's another factor. If you like crunch, you would want to dime it.

 

[Loserchief]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

It depends on the amp mainly. Some amps soubnd like ass when pushed too hard, some will be stellar.
Both my Engls do their best when cranked. Everything opens up, the mids become more musical and the whole sound becomes insanly heavy and crushing.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

These knobs really do go to 11:

 

[Axl H]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

It depends on the amp mainly. Some amps soubnd like ass when pushed too hard, some will be stellar.
Both my Engls do their best when cranked. Everything opens up, the mids become more musical and the whole sound becomes insanly heavy and crushing.

Yeah.

At room volume, my ENGL sounds not so good. Give it some cranking and its a totally different story

I like to find the sweet spot where is isnt dimed, but where there is both Preamp and Poweramp distortion to create on hell of a Chugga rhythm sounds.

 

[ksmith63]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

never turned my amp above 9 oclock. after that i cant hear the drummer so i've never actually needed to turn it above that. i have a feeling that my head would explode if i turned it all the way up.....

 

[Rushfan2112]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

Not at all. I'm playing clean/little bit of drive a lot more now, and that's nowhere near 12 on my amp.

 

[disturb]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

No

 

[LJ King]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

Only if max distortion is what you consider "best tone". But then again, most people using tube amps are looking for distortion over tone - they just confuse the definitions.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

tube amps sound best to me cranked but for as lot of amps diming them often results in a bad tone...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

Dimed....bah only very few amps sounds good overdriven, the rest are just wet farts.....
Besides clean warm tubeamps...(Homer voice)mmmmhhhhhmmmmm

 

[Gdntoneguitars]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

I don't think I'd hear much longer if I kept my 5150's dimed, but the head does sound better overall a little more cranked than does the 212 combo. My Laney seems to offer the warmest tones with a middle-of-the-road distortion, but the headroom opens up when pushed.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

I generally like most tube amps run on about 6 1/2 to 8. I hardly ever run em on ten or ...11. I don't usually like less than 6 on any tube amp...ever.

 

[firebirdV]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

I like the point between breakup and cleanish.

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

I like the point between breakup and cleanish.

Same here as well.

I like the option of being able to push it over the edge with either a boost pedal or putting it into the bridge position or diming the volume knob on the guitar or just leaning on it and playing harder.

Different amps do that at different times for me.

 

[emilio]

Re: is the best tone really with a dimed tube amp?

what is "dimed"?