Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

[Inkstained]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Heaviness comes from EQ, not gain.

Heaviness comes from turning all knobs clockwise, then slamming the door in the face of the cop who comes to pay a visit. That's heavy.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Heaviness comes from turning all knobs clockwise, then slamming the door in the face of the cop who comes to pay a visit. That's heavy.

True heaviness is head-butting the cop.

 

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

What does "heavy" mean to the pros out there ?


. . . skip to 00m27sec

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Turning down the gain is for those who have the balls to go naked.

Heavy is about intent, not sound. Sheesh, classical orchestras can do heavy without pedals or amplifiers.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I've noticed that the louder I play the less gain and treble I need. Maybe it's a tube amp thing, but I thin it's more of how your ears and brains process the sound. Sheer volume increases "heaviness" and with a lot of gain and treble it sounds like icepicks and mush. At lower levels I find I need a bit more of those. This is general and will vary by amp/player for sure.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

high gain amps/pedals/pickups are gonna be used by people that play that genre

I mean, death metal folks aren't gonna get an uber ultra extreme tone from a wimpy fender twin

and emo hipster dorks aren't gonna like the "fizz" and lumpy low end from a dual recto! ha!

 

[Grenade]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Well, you are what you eat, so I play through a Bassman 70.:bigok:

 

[Vengeance]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I've noticed that the louder I play the less gain and treble I need. Maybe it's a tube amp thing, but I thin it's more of how your ears and brains process the sound. Sheer volume increases "heaviness" and with a lot of gain and treble it sounds like icepicks and mush. At lower levels I find I need a bit more of those. This is general and will vary by amp/player for sure.

Pretty much spot on how I play. Sitting in my living room I don't mind more gain but once the volume starts going up the gain starts going down. Heck my 5150 sits at about 6 for gain, only amp I ever owned I thought the gain was a bit too much. My EQ tastes changed a lot once I started plying tube amps. Once I went tube it was like...I was once blind and now I can see.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I remember when I was 18 and just discovering this concept. I turned off my DS-1 and just played my Strat with CC in the bridge into my 68 Bassman and Sunn 4x12 cab and it sounded less distorted but much heavier.

Graveyard is getting more popular...they're pretty definitive of a heavy sound with a clean tone.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

stop with the graveyard! they are coming to my city this month but I cant go unfortunately...

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I missed them too :\ i'm just glad they're getting the recognition they deserve.. I've been rocking 'em for like 5 years...

 

[Grindspine]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I generally play what I consider a high gain tone. I used to dime the gain on my old Crate 2x12 combo, but never had much definition out of that amp.

Granted, it's been many years and many equipment upgrades since then.

Now, when I play my Triaxis & 2:Ninety at moderate (above speaking, but not quite having to shout) levels through two 4x12 cabs, I find that I back the gain down to 6-8 range instead of having it totally cranked. The Drive (since the Triaxis has separate gain and drive) is also backed to the 6-8 range. I am pretty sure that I cranked the gain & drive to 10 on my Triaxis when I first had it, but backing off a touch helps the tone go from fizzy to well-defined and powerful.

 

[agentzero12]

Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I found the same thing recently. I've got a bugera 6260 (retubed,rebiased) and I recently pulled two of my power tubes and started using my low gain input. The amp really came alive with the low gain input. I still get the response and feel of high gain but is much more articulate and not over saturated.

On a side note, I also have gold pin pre amp tubes and I'm really happy with the smoothness of those.

 

[phil_104]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I went from playing Mesa amps with a PRS guitar, to playing a Fender Blues Jr with semi hollows and vintage voiced humbuckers and single coils. I guess I'd have to agree with you. To me, the heaviest tones are when you hear that grit but you can still hear the natural tone and character of the guitar shine through. Some of the heaviest tones I can get are with that amp, with a ES339 with both pickups on. When you can still hear that chime through the grit, you got yourself a winner.

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I generally play what I consider a high gain tone. I used to dime the gain on my old Crate 2x12 combo, but never had much definition out of that amp.

Granted, it's been many years and many equipment upgrades since then.

Now, when I play my Triaxis & 2:Ninety at moderate (above speaking, but not quite having to shout) levels through two 4x12 cabs, I find that I back the gain down to 6-8 range instead of having it totally cranked. The Drive (since the Triaxis has separate gain and drive) is also backed to the 6-8 range. I am pretty sure that I cranked the gain & drive to 10 on my Triaxis when I first had it, but backing off a touch helps the tone go from fizzy to well-defined and powerful.

I run my Triaxis/2:90 similar in terms of gain. I used to run both the gain and drive at between 7.0-8.5 and keep them the same. Then I saw a lot of the artist settings have the gain almost always higher than the drive. I tried that and lo and behold it opened the amp up more! For all types of metal, a gain at about 7.0-8.0 and drive from 6.0-7.5 is more than enough.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Sheesh, classical orchestras can do heavy without pedals or amplifiers.

Oh, yeah? Then why does Itzhak Perlman use a DOD Thrash Master?

 

[Reckless Abandon]

Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

Oh, yeah? Then why does Itzhak Perlman use a DOD Thrash Master?

My first pedal covered up a lot of my crap early playing. Maybe I need one again since I still suck.

 

[everdrone]

Re: Turning down the gain is for pussies, right?

I missed them too :\ i'm just glad they're getting the recognition they deserve.. I've been rocking 'em for like 5 years...

bummer mang
ya, I have been rocking them and black rebel motorcycle club for two years and I am missing those shows :/ glad I got to see down and mastodon last year tho