It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

[SeraphimTN]

I almost always run the Arion Tubulator with volume all the way up, kinda like a clean boost. It always sounded good, sounded under control. Well the stupid in me got the idea that amp distortion is always better so I turned the amp gain almost all the way up to where the feel was good and used the OD to add some crunch.........Big mistake, sounded cleaner at a lowish volume but when I jacked up for the show last night it was a nightmare. The added amp gain added some annoying feedback when I wasn't playing and the gain was uncontrollable compared to the previous setting! Moral of the story, if it isn't broke, don't fix it!! I'll be going back to the old setting.

 

[ElUnoAstuto]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

Man, I just discovered the joys of less gain last night! I'd been running the gain on my 5150 at 7, and it was really buzzy and fizzy, but the other night, I rolled it back to 5, and it just hit this magic sweet spot, crunchy, articulate, just sang. Anything past 5 loses dynamics.

BTW, I've got the craziest thread coming up Jacob, if you thought that 5150 deal was good, this next one is gonna' get me banned.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

I'm with you guys, it's amazing what happens when you hold back on the gain. I've knocked back the gain on my Pro Analog Power Driver and now there's a lot more dynamics in the tone when through my cranked Shiva. Before it the lead tone felt a bit "hard" and now it's got a lot more life to it.

 

[Axl H]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

I used to use alot of gain, now I dont use that much, although I do play my amp high enough so the OD comes from both Power-Tubes and speakers clipping

My preamp isnt very high up. I just pick very hard.

 

[spacecaptain21]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

Especially when you're using a cranked amp and not pedals, gain can be overwhelming. There's the sweet spot, but at least on my amp, if you turn it up TOO much (and I mean to like 10), it's all loose in the bottom end and not as sweet sounding. I find that with humbuckers, I like the amp to be on about 5 for a real Black Crowes-y, classic rock type of tone.

Oh and Tubulator rocks! Sounds so much better than pedals costing a lot more money for sure. If they put some good components in it (good box, switch etc.) it'd be awesome, even if they did charge more...

Gotta love cheap pedals! :smokin:

 

[Mephis]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

I paid for the extra gain stages and I'm damn well going to use them lol. I find that running a pedal into an amp ruins the dynamics (no I haven't tried your pedals rid, but I will eventually) in most of my experences.

I run 7-8 on the crunch channel and 7-8 on lead. Any lower and it feels like I'm losing the liquidyness to the leads. But considering I'm in standard tuning and have everything set up bright, it doesn't sound that gainy.

 

[lpmarshall]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

Once I moved from my Mesa to my Marshall I learned to play with less gain. Currently I put my gain at about 6-7 on the Splawn, but I'm running the Plexi voiced channel.

 

[cream123]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

i think i've hit my sweet spot w/ gain on 7 and the vol on 3-ish and the output(MV) on 2 or so. the bass up a bit above the treble and mids but the mjids is next and the treble is lowest. add in a semi hollow w/ a dearmond special design in the neck and humbucker in the bridge. everything on 10 on the guitar and both pickups on. but the 5-band EQ has treble up 3/4, upper mids at about 5/8-ish, mids on 19/32 . the lower mids down below about 1/4 lower mids on even. it gets a perfect sound. it's undescribable

on clean if i get the gain to about 8 w/ the volume on 6-ish. gets a nice bluesy breakup

so in short: for me, no i love more gain. for me, with the right settings it's more expressive with my nomad

 

[firebirdV]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

I agree with if it's broken don't fix it, but I think that experimenting and seeing what you like is good.

 

[ErikH]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

Yup, the joys of discovering the 2 faces of an amp. At lower volumes, it can seem there's not enough gain so up the gain knob goes. Then when ya crank it, the other face comes out and what sounded great before sounds horrid now and the gain is just too much and you find out real fast it needs to be backed down.

 

[ElUnoAstuto]

Re: It's true, don't fix what isn't broken!

yeah, but I play black metal!