Reason for disliking my C30...

[Twitch]

I think that the reason I might not be enjoying my Classic 30 very much is my lack of skill in EQing. I know how I want the amp to sound, and have heard from reviews/forum members that it can do exactly this, but I just don't know how to achieve these tones. Does anyone have any tips or know of any good lessons/articles on setting the EQ on an amp?

(also feel free to leave your favorite Classic 30 settings in here)

Thanks

 

[rspst14]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

Before we can give advice on setting the EQ, we need to know more about what type of sound you're looking for, and the guitar and pickups being used with it. There are some killer mods that can be done to the Classic 30, check out www.blueguitar.org if you're interested in that. I modded my Classic 50 to Blueguitar specs, and I like it much better than when it was stock.

Ryan

 

[Twitch]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

Guitar is a standard mexi fat strat.

Overdriven tone I'm looking for is like Claptons blues tone, just slightly broken up to the point where you can tell its overdriven, but you can still play double stops/blues chords w/o having them sound harsh.

Clean tone - think SRV clean. Lenny/Riviera Paradise/Little Wing

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

from my experience-
(on dirty channel)
mids=crunch
treble=spikiness
bass=thickness (or boominess, if your amp is so inclined)
the same holds for clean, but mids seem to add definition (crunchy cleans don't really work, do they)

I'm not familiar with classic 30s but...
for clapton, roll back treble a bit, plenty of mids (but not too much) and a decent amount of bass to make the deep "singing" tone. Add gain until it just starts giving you a bit of crackle

for srv... uh... sorry, I haven't listened to too much srv... (FLAME ME!!! I need it)
slade

 

[B2D]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

You know what I think you should do? Run the amps controls through their full range in a variety of combinations. I do this with tube amps I'm not familiar with tonally to find their "sweet spot" for what I like. Someone's else's settings may be of use but ultimately you're gonna want your own version of that sound.

If you're looking for a Clapton-esque tone I'd concentrate more on cranking the amp up to the point of power tube distortion than anything else.

 

[badco33]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

I get some great tones out of my classic 30. I did mod the speaker and added some JJ tubes but I got good tones out of it before the mods.

I don't have my amp in front of me but I think the controls go from 1 to 12 on the C30 (maybe they wanted to out do Spinal Tap). I generally back off the bass, I keep it at 4 or so, I crank the mids to about 8 or 9 and the treble is set at about 7. That usually gets me to where I want and then I just dial in the gain that I want. Most of the time I have the post gain anywhere from 5 to 8 then I will use my BD-2 or my SD pickup booster pedal for a boost. I get a great blues/rock tone that covers ZZ Top to Thin Lizzy. If I adjust the gain I can get more traditional Texas Blues. I usually keep the clean channel at the same settings but may use my boss chorus for a good clean tone.

I absolutely love this amp and for the price it is great. I think you should just play around with the controls until you find what you like cause the sound you want should be there it's just a matter of finding it. The mods help but you should be able to find a really good sound without them.

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

Here's a link to the Classic 30 manual http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pdf/man/m_481360.pdf

on page 7 they have suggested settings for Rock, Metal, Blues and County.

That should give you a starting point.

 

[NT02]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

The tone of the Classic 30 depends greatly on how loud you're playing it. The trebles kill, in a bad way, when it's cranked. While it can be overly bright, it produces some exceptional rock and blues tones, especially when miked. Here are my general settings after JJ tubes, all using dirty channel. I generally set it to rock and then use my guitar volume/tone knobs to get bluesy goodness:
1. General rock tone- gain channel, pre gain=7, post gain=3-5, bass=7, mid=4-6 treble=6-7
2. Loud rock tone, bump the post gain to 7, bass to 8, mid to 6 treble down to 5-6.
3. Metalish - same as #1 but, pre at 10-12, mids down to 4, treble might reach 8
4. Singing lead tone, hit the boost switch and mess with your guitar knobs, or mids to about 8, treble down to 6, bass up to 9.

All of this is with a Les Paul using Antiquity neck and Seth Lover bridge. Reverb to taste. I love the reverb on this amp much more than the Fender Hot Rod DeVille I had. I like everything about this amp more, actually, except for how it can get buzzy and shake the tubes, but I've remedied that.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

The tone of the Classic 30 depends greatly on how loud you're playing it. The trebles kill, in a bad way, when it's cranked. While it can be overly bright, it produces some exceptional rock and blues tones, especially when miked.

That's where the Blueguitar mods come in handy...they warm up the amp and allow a little more low end through.

Ryan

 

[NT02]

Re: Reason for disliking my C30...

Yeah, I've downloaded the blueguitar mods, but haven't had the time to get a game plan together. I'm still using the stock speaker, thinking this will be my next upgrade. Thinking about either the Celestion g12h30 or Eminence Private Jack (Green Back). Then, after that, I'll get that boost workable and upgrade the tone stack. I'm in no hurry, though. I installed JJ tubes and found them to be less gainy but more musical than Groove Tubes. The JJ's with my new pickups really opened up a lot of detail and articulation in my playing. These baby steps are working for me.