My tone stinks.

Diego

Diego

New member
I've never been crazy about tone chasing, but it seems I've chosen the wrong gear.
I rarely practice or play much but good Lord, today I made things loud a bit and my amp sounds thin.
The mids and cut sit just right, but no body.
I know my room stinks acoustically as well. But I need a closed back 2x12 or something.
And maybe a head with more bass and thunder. F*ck.

Just venting.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Try playing only on the clean channel for awhile and work your tone and volume pots around ,find something different and out of your comfort zone.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Try to shake things up a bit with what you have.
- Try moving the amp to a drastically different spot. Maybe on a stand?
- Try some different picks.
- Try a familiar dirt pedal with your amp, but completely change how you EQ and balance the levels and gains.
- If you must buy sumpthin', spend wisely. Try to get something that comes with a free pig.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

If all that you have done is turn up your amplifier volume to a higher level without adjusting the tone controls, it will sound "wrong".

At domestic practice/recording level settings, it is often necessary to increase the Treble control setting to retain top end. With the amp running at concert sound pressure levels, this high frequency boost should no longer be necessary.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

well, you werent playing in a mix

does your gear match your playing style? Mine requires 50watts minimum and closed back!!!
 
Re: My tone stinks.

"Cheap crap" will get you where you want to go if you chose the right stuff & know how to use it...there's good cheap stuff & bad..same as with the higher end stuff.

If you look at The Trading Post, there's plenty of high-end boutique stuff on there going for half the buying price or way less...pedals, amps, guitars... the extra bills that stuff cost did'nt seem to fill that tone void so good for those sellers. In other words $$$ does'nt = contentment as far as tone goes....pretty sure of that.

Regarding your problem, don't be afraid to turn the gain up if your sounding thin at high volumes & use your ears to hit the sweet spot. Also, mids are your friend haha....too much or too little will kill your tone....turning up the treble a bit will give body/presence, too much will make things thin/shrill, same with the bass. Maybe your amp needs biasing?

As funkfingers mentioned, you will have to re-adjust the EQ when you turn it up...even minute adjustments can make a big difference.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

I feel like the tweaker 15 runs the 6v6 tubes very hot which causes things to become a bit compressed and squishy sounding, lacking BALLS. It's why I ditched mine, the DRRI I replaced it with had the sound that the USA clean channel wanted to be but with lots less compression and much more headroom. So if I used a guitar or a pedal that had it's own balls the amp could keep up.

I mean my OR15 doesn't have much "deeper" bass than a tweaker 15 but the signature orange "fuzzy" bass quality and the sheer loudness of the amp makes it seem very, very full, at least as far as 15W amps go. It smokes my friend's Haze 40. So that just goes to show that it might just be the amp and how it's built and voiced. You might like something different.

Like seriously, the DRRI put me in la la land with how much more bass thump I could get, and again it felt like it was just a matter of headroom and voicing that fit me better. Maybe you do just need a different amp?

The tweaker has a "mellow" quality that I liked at first, it sounded nice and full at low volumes, but as I cranked it it was harder to keep things sounding "great" not just "good". So many amps I tried after getting the tweaker just seemed kinda raw and ballsy when before I couldn't tell the difference. Was the tweaker amp designed to get bedroom tones at the expense of high volume fidelity? Is it just me?
When I bought my OR15 I made sure to crank it at least half way through a 212. It was magic... now I know. Buy the amp based on how it sounds when loud. If it sounds good when at low volumes too, then it's like icing on the cake.

edit: this is not to discount the other guys' advice. Mess with your EQ and gain settings. Start with the amp volume and gain up higher than you might think (most importantly the master, set it on 7 or 8/10 if possible), but start with the guitar volume and tone controls rolled down and then start rolling up the tone knob. Then fiddle with the amp EQ by ear. stick your EQ in the loop. If you try this for a month and don't come up with anything then it's probably not the amp for you.
 
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Re: My tone stinks.

Place.the amp in the bathroom
Everyone knows they sound better in there

And yea anything will get you there short.of an old Gorilla amp

The louder my Laney gets the bigger my grin
But I am easily amused

*(Sent from my durned phone!)*
 
Re: My tone stinks.

dont be afraid to change your volume/eq/presence and reverb drastically when you play different rooms and with different drummers/bassists etc. trust your ears not your eyes.
This is why simple rigs often rule over complex ones with two dozen presets.

Getting used to angling the amp up is also a good trick.
 
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Re: My tone stinks.

If the gear in your signature is current:

Get rid of the Screamin' Demon.

Try the JB8 in the Ibanez.

Guitar --> Jackhammer (low gain settings, just using it to push) --> Metal Muff with top boost off, set the EQ controls in the middle --> shape with GE7 --> plug into the effects return on the Tweaker.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Wow thanks for the tips guys!
Well, I think there's two things wrong for me here:

1) My music style is NOT for a open back 1x12 cabinet no matter what.
2) The tweaker 15 sounds excellent BUT not for heavy rock.

It's smooth, refined and a great amp. But not what I need. Right now I've got zero budget so I think I could sell my Allparts (never use it), the Egnater + cab and get me a manly amp.
And I'm not ditching the Screamin' Demon! Sounds great with the right amp. ;)

Oh, the Metal Muff and the DD5 are gone now. The Jackhammer is my #1 dirt pedal by far.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Diego said:
Wow thanks for the tips guys!
Well, I think there's two things wrong for me here:

1) My music style is NOT for a open back 1x12 cabinet no matter what.
2) The tweaker 15 sounds excellent BUT not for heavy rock.

It's smooth, refined and a great amp. But not what I need. Right now I've got zero budget so I think I could sell my Allparts (never use it), the Egnater + cab and get me a manly amp.
And I'm not ditching the Screamin' Demon! Sounds great with the right amp. ;)

Oh, the Metal Muff and the DD5 are gone now. The Jackhammer is my #1 dirt pedal by far.
Click to expand...

open back 112 tweaker combo for heavy rock??? :banana:

heavy rock??? ya,

you need to sell your soul and buy a used Orange 100 watt half stack!!! :headbang:
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Oh and since a few of you asked: I do have my GE7 in the loop. Tried everything there.
Whatever's good at low volumes falls to pieces when loud.
Less is NOT more in my situation. Yngwie would be proud...
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Do you use the Jackhammer on the OD setting or the Dist?
 
Re: My tone stinks.

OD with plenty of gain.
It sounds atrocious on distortion and I feel bad for anyone who has sold it without trying it in OD.
Goose the OD mode and it's better than any Boss distortion box I've tried.
 
Re: My tone stinks.

Knowing how easy I am to satisfy tonewise,
I think I could sell the Egnater + cab, buy a 2x12/4x12 and run the Cube 60 through there.
The Cube's no joke feeding large cabinets...
 
Re: My tone stinks.

back to the cube lolerz

if you know a 412 is in your future, you might just wanna hold on to what you have and save up for the 412 and make decisions then

I personally hate 412s since they dont fit in my Corrolla and ain't no one gonna help me move it up and down my apartment stairs
 
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