Trying To Get A Good Tone

[09 BB King]

Below is my gear. I tweek and I tweek and nothing satisfies me. I just want a killer overdriven/distorted tone I like. I am just a bedroom rock star and want to sound change. Also a good slapback echo setting. What are you guy doing for good overdrive?

__________________

'57 Gibson ES-225TD with original P-90's
'09 Gibson BB King Signature Model with original Gibson 490's
'11 Gibson Les Paul 60's Tribute with Seymour Duncan Slash pups
'10 Gibson SG Faded with a Gibson Tony Iommi pup in the neck and a Gibson Angus Young pup in the bridge
'05 Fender American Series Strat with Fender Eric Johnson pups
'07 Fender Highway 1 Telecaster with Fender Texas Special Pups
'12 Warmoth Jazzmaster with Seymour Duncan JM Antiquity pups
'00 Martin D-15
'95 Fender American Standard Jazz Bass with original Am. St. pups and a Warmoth neck
'11 Fender American Special Jazz Bass with original Am. Sp. pups and a Fretless Warmoth neck.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 with Weber 12F150 Ceramic Mag Speaker
Fender Extention Cab 1x12 with Weber 12F150B Ceramic Mag Speaker
Acoustic 1x15 B100 Bass Amp

Boss TU-2 Tuner
MXR Dyna Comp
Dunlop Crybaby
MXR Distortion +
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
MXR Phase 90
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss CH1 Super Chorus
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay

 

[jcthejester13]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

I run an SD antiquity loaded Jazzmaster through an EHX Big Muff Germanium4 and Big Muff NYC Pi and into a Fender 65 Twin Reverb and 59 Bassman for my overdrive and dirt sounds.

 

[Gunny47]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Crank dem amps past bedroom levels! You have a lot of really nice gear. There are definitely great tones to be had if you let your amp breath a little.

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

I admit I do have some nice stuff. If I had a bigger house I would crank it to 12. Fender HRDlx's go to 12 one past 11. 3 on my amp in my Man Cave is plenty loud. I usually have my Dyna Comp on all the time at 11 O'clock or 3 O'clock to compress the hell out of it. My Blues Driver is on 12 O'clock for Gain and the Distortion + is usually on 9 O'clock for Distortion. I still have yet to find a Great Flange sound I like. I have a Chorus setting I like. The Phase 90 is easy. One knob either more or less phase. Trem is easy. The Delays and Echos aggravate me.

 

[mwalluk]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Buy a Marshall

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Had two Marshall's and didn't like them. If I was going to buy and amp now I would get an Egnater Tweeker or a Mesa Transatlantic or an Orange Tiny Terror.

 

[Mattr4president]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

That is a lot of gear for a bedroom rocker. I use to have a whole floorboard of effects and now the only thing i use is a NS2 and I crank my amp. Simple and dumb. Now you're case may not be mine but what I found is that I obsessed about tone to the point of it driving me nuts. I payed less attention to my playing and song writing. It can be debilitating to become tone obsessed. In my case i needed less tweaking and more rocking. Start with you speakers or amp and work it from there. Get a solid core then add to it.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Tone is in the hands.

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

I did re-speaker my amp and I like my amp and it sounds way better than before, and 40 watts is plenty loud for me. 40 watt to 100 watts is not that much different. You need to increase 10 times whatever wattage you have now to make it twice as loud. Most people think a 50 watt amp is half as loud as a 100 watter and it is not true. I know pros have an entire studio and engineers at there disposal to make them sound good. I have some nice axes and decent amp and stomp boxes. Maybe my room is to small, maybe the acoustics are bad, but I just never get a good tone that I wanted to write down the setting so I can remember them. Maybe I am to picky?

 

[Bludave]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Part of your tone woes are due to the fact that you are not cranking things a bit. My wife continually tells me I play to loud. Haha.. I think that's a good measurement! I don't think I play any louder then I ever did, I just think she has gotten older!


What kind of music are you playing? That is a big key to getting advise. If you are playing metal well then you need something more aggressive, if you are playing blues you need something with mild overdrive!

 

[DankStar]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

why did you buy the hot rod deluxe if you don't like the sound? (sometimes amps sound better/different in the store). If you don't like it, sell it. Find something you like by testing. there's so many amps w/great OD built right in these days - the ones you mentioned, blackstars, jet city, fender modellers, 3 sizes of vox night trains, etc. no sense battling with an amp you don't really like.

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

I do like my amp, and I got it for a steal. I was just saying if I had to do it all over again, I would buy a different amp. Why are tube amps so expensive any way. After I bought my amp I got new tubes for it cause I had no idea how long they had been in there. So I heard about Euro Tubes and I think I bought JJ tubes for it. The whole matched set of 5 tubes cost less than $100. So why is a 50 watt solid state amp $250 and a 50 watt tube amp about $800 to over a grand. Is there that much of a difference in the amount of parts that go into it. Are pygmy umpa lumpa's assembling them with rare electronic parts that hand crafted by leprechauns?

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Oh, forgot I mostly play Rock. Going to see the Drive-By Truckers in two weeks for the 6th time.

 

[Strat111]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

There is nothing wrong w/your amp. It is not my taste, as I am an old Marshall Super Lead type of guy, but you do need to crank the amp. In order to do it in your man cave, you need to find yourself a good (and I do mean good) amp tech, and have him install a true master volume in it for you. Then you can turn up your pre-amp and/or your volume to 8 - 10, and use the master to control your actual volume. You will find that you will not need your compressor much, as the sound will automatically be fat. In fact, you may not need any of your distortion effects. Then you can use your modulation & delay effects to color your sound. You have a lot of great equipment. I hope you get to be happy with it all.

 

[~Vintage~]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Below is my gear. I tweek and I tweek and nothing satisfies me. I just want a killer overdriven/distorted tone I like. I am just a bedroom rock star and want to sound change. Also a good slapback echo setting. What are you guy doing for good overdrive?

__________________

'57 Gibson ES-225TD with original P-90's
'09 Gibson BB King Signature Model with original Gibson 490's
'11 Gibson Les Paul 60's Tribute with Seymour Duncan Slash pups
'10 Gibson SG Faded with a Gibson Tony Iommi pup in the neck and a Gibson Angus Young pup in the bridge
'05 Fender American Series Strat with Fender Eric Johnson pups
'07 Fender Highway 1 Telecaster with Fender Texas Special Pups
'12 Warmoth Jazzmaster with Seymour Duncan JM Antiquity pups
'00 Martin D-15
'95 Fender American Standard Jazz Bass with original Am. St. pups and a Warmoth neck
'11 Fender American Special Jazz Bass with original Am. Sp. pups and a Fretless Warmoth neck.

Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 with Weber 12F150 Ceramic Mag Speaker
Fender Extention Cab 1x12 with Weber 12F150B Ceramic Mag Speaker
Acoustic 1x15 B100 Bass Amp

Boss TU-2 Tuner
MXR Dyna Comp
Dunlop Crybaby
MXR Distortion +
Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
MXR Phase 90
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss CH1 Super Chorus
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay

I found your problem:
















You need more Gibsons & Fenders

 

[09 BB King]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

I will try to find an amp tech in my area and talk to him. Thanks

If my wife would let me get more guitars I would get an Explorer, a Firebird, a Jaguar, a P Bass, a LP Standard, an ES-175, an L-4, an L-5, a Flying V, an EB-3, a ES-335, a sweet PRS and the Gretsch that Malcom Young and Brian Setzer play.

 

[Diego]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Simplify. Plug straight into your favorite amp with your favorite guitar. Just those two and nothing else.

Stay for a week or two like that, and try to squeeze the most out of that.
You'll find new sounds in your hands, and not from this or that box.
Try different cabs maybe, but keep the signal as pure as possible.

It will take a while. But it's worth it, you'll find a foundation, a tonal ground-zero.
That's what you're missing.
I don't despise pedals, but we can get a bit lost on them sometimes,
and I do believe that if you can't get a good base tone from your amp,
then it's no good for you and it should make way for something better.

Hope this helps.

 

[KBliss]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Im surprised with the gear you have- I use an overdrive with a real 12ax7 tube, (JJ swapped in) that i find satisfying, especially w/ the "Blues driver on 10". but it's ture, i dont find dirty channels on combos very satisfying.

What happens if you use the Bd-2 & Mxr:- into a Fender clean channel, preamp for room db, say 1or 3, master on 7,--- the Mxr distortion pdl: vol.way Up!, distortion on like 2or
3, and maybe the bd2 for tight attack? Cuz ive driven fender hot rods, blues jrs, peavey classic 30s , voxs etc this way & get THE tone everytime, at almost any volume, BUT it's
true as said above- the sweet spot is always just a little too loud at home.


Anyways, i think if you tweak slowly,with lots of pedal output vol, youll get what u want want w out deafening. Else, you need a hot
Plate/ variac,
but i Doubt it!! PlanZ, if all else fails, look into pedals w/ preamp tubes (Sey Dunc!, Blackstar, Radial Tonebone. I love my Jj in an Ibanez tubeking but i dont ultra recommend it for its shortcomings)

 

[KBliss]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

Btw, BBKing sez," i just turn the amp's master volume up to ten and use my pot for volume!"

You can def goose the signal juice to drive the tubes into that RAWK w out the neighbors hearing it, nor see your tongue sticking out if yr doin it right. (*but not nec. with compressor on)

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Trying To Get A Good Tone

play the normal channel on between 8 and 10 (or between 9 and 12, I forget if that one goes to 12) depending on pickups, with no pedals. Run the presence below half and then set all the EQ knobs to zero. Dial up the mids until it gets the body you want, then dial up the bass until it starts to make less and less of a change (might be as low as 3 or 4), and then dial up the treble to taste, an then knock the treble back a notch. Then readjust your presence to suit.

Tell me that sound doesn't kick butt for blues and classic rock. If you don't like the sound after doing that, you should switch amps.