kewlpack
12-20-2004, 03:08 PM
I just went through a rough, sleepless week of MANY hours dealing with the following:
Note: for everyone who gets this amp (or really any other gear at all):
READ THE MANUAL 2x SLOWLY! ...and save yourself a few "duh" moments. Let me elaborate with my little story...
When I first got my VOX AD50VT, I quickly read (i.e. skimmed) through the manual to get up to speed. Okay, I thought, ready to go. Let's crank and jam! Man things sound wonderfully toneful and it's just simply fun to play and tweak and play and tweak (of course, the presets sound super the way they are). There's so much variety and the tube-tone rocks.
So, I've been recording some tracks with my two week old AD50VT via the Line Out to my PC soundcard (SoundBlaster Live series). As some of you know I posted a few versions (various mixes) of a song that was all done through the VOX via the Line Out output. At first, I was pretty happy with things.
After listening though, there were some issues with the tone on the recordings (some people mentioned it as well). I figured it was just something in my signal chain that was throwing the tone I was using into high FUZZ/OVERCOMPRESSED mode. I've literally spent about 15 hours or more on the lead track just trying to "fix" it. I've spent many more hours than that trying to balance the mix to fix the way the lead sounds with everything else (lots of learning there!). Whew - I need sleep! After all that, I decided I'd simply dial in a better tone and redo the lead.
Yesterday, as I began to rerecord the lead track, I paid close attention to the tone. I was going through FullDrive2 Stomp > Dunlop Fasel Wah > Boss EQ > VOX > Line Out > nice PC 4.1 speaker system > PC was EQ'd fairly flat. I dialed in a preset and got started. There it was - that BUZZY tone! :shock:
Hmmm, I'll dial in another tone, something like the AC30 with medium gain (I thought I'd just try it with a semi-clean tone and see what came out). Played about two measures of the lead and the BUZZ was still there! :x Even though it was colored a little differently, it was the same buzz.
I was "not a little" frustrated! I then began to do surgery on my tone-chain. I ended up just plugged straight into the amp; no EQ, no wah, no stomps; just straight Strat to Vox. I dialed in all the different amp types and whenever there was gain/overdrive present there it was... the BUZZ! (*&$!@#$) :( I was totally puzzled. What's the deal with this thing? It sounds awesome normally (really it does!)...
I decided to blow off any recording till I figure this out. I unplugged the cable from the Line Out on the VOX (which re-engaged the amp's speaker) and just began to "noodle" around on the fretboard. HOLY COW! The magical tone was BACK! I played a bit more... turned the dials a bit... yep, there it is. The tubey punch, cool breakup, the pick attack sensitivity, all of it.
I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. I plugged the Line Out cable back in (running to PC system) - buzzy distortion came right back and lost its soul. :shock: I A/B'd it for about 30 minutes... and anytime I was going through Line Out - the tone just broke down.
About that time, I recalled many of the pro-sound guys on the recording/mixing forums have talked about "never" using the Line Out on amps for recording. I didn't really pay any heed to them - until now. It's really a night-and-day difference - you have to hear it to "get it". One tone character is great (on every setting) and the other is kinda like going straight out of a fuzzbox.
Hmmm.... I figured, well let's go re-read the manual, maybe I have a setting wrong or something. As I'm reading, I come across the following (paraphrased): "...plugging into the Line Out will DISABLE the Valve Reactor Circuitry..." :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
.............have you ever had one of those 'Epiphany' moments?....... :oops:
Suddenly this whole thing made sense in a sick sort of "I stayed up till 2:30am everynight for nothing?!" way. The key to the Valvetronix series' tone and amazing character is the Valve Reactor Circuitry! So everytime I was pluggin' into that stupid Line Out, it was turning it off!!! To coin a popular Charlie Brown phrase... "AaaaaAAAuuuuUUuuUuuuUUGGGggghhhHHHH!"
:!: ~CAVEAT that every Valvetronix lover needs to live by~ :!:
NEVER EVER NEVER try to lay down usable tracks by using the Line Out on the back of the combos. It will kill the sweet character of the tube tone and only give you the preamp fuzz (it does change slightly with each model, but it's still fuzzy and not even close to the tone quality of the combo itself). Oh, and read the stinkin' manual a couple of times... so you don't lose precious sleep chasing a ghost!
I guess it's kinda funny...in a sick, demented sorta way.
Now I have to go find a Shure SM57, mic stand and adaptor to go into my PC card... Grrrr... :?
Submitted for your amusement.
~A~
Note: for everyone who gets this amp (or really any other gear at all):
READ THE MANUAL 2x SLOWLY! ...and save yourself a few "duh" moments. Let me elaborate with my little story...
When I first got my VOX AD50VT, I quickly read (i.e. skimmed) through the manual to get up to speed. Okay, I thought, ready to go. Let's crank and jam! Man things sound wonderfully toneful and it's just simply fun to play and tweak and play and tweak (of course, the presets sound super the way they are). There's so much variety and the tube-tone rocks.
So, I've been recording some tracks with my two week old AD50VT via the Line Out to my PC soundcard (SoundBlaster Live series). As some of you know I posted a few versions (various mixes) of a song that was all done through the VOX via the Line Out output. At first, I was pretty happy with things.
After listening though, there were some issues with the tone on the recordings (some people mentioned it as well). I figured it was just something in my signal chain that was throwing the tone I was using into high FUZZ/OVERCOMPRESSED mode. I've literally spent about 15 hours or more on the lead track just trying to "fix" it. I've spent many more hours than that trying to balance the mix to fix the way the lead sounds with everything else (lots of learning there!). Whew - I need sleep! After all that, I decided I'd simply dial in a better tone and redo the lead.
Yesterday, as I began to rerecord the lead track, I paid close attention to the tone. I was going through FullDrive2 Stomp > Dunlop Fasel Wah > Boss EQ > VOX > Line Out > nice PC 4.1 speaker system > PC was EQ'd fairly flat. I dialed in a preset and got started. There it was - that BUZZY tone! :shock:
Hmmm, I'll dial in another tone, something like the AC30 with medium gain (I thought I'd just try it with a semi-clean tone and see what came out). Played about two measures of the lead and the BUZZ was still there! :x Even though it was colored a little differently, it was the same buzz.
I was "not a little" frustrated! I then began to do surgery on my tone-chain. I ended up just plugged straight into the amp; no EQ, no wah, no stomps; just straight Strat to Vox. I dialed in all the different amp types and whenever there was gain/overdrive present there it was... the BUZZ! (*&$!@#$) :( I was totally puzzled. What's the deal with this thing? It sounds awesome normally (really it does!)...
I decided to blow off any recording till I figure this out. I unplugged the cable from the Line Out on the VOX (which re-engaged the amp's speaker) and just began to "noodle" around on the fretboard. HOLY COW! The magical tone was BACK! I played a bit more... turned the dials a bit... yep, there it is. The tubey punch, cool breakup, the pick attack sensitivity, all of it.
I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. I plugged the Line Out cable back in (running to PC system) - buzzy distortion came right back and lost its soul. :shock: I A/B'd it for about 30 minutes... and anytime I was going through Line Out - the tone just broke down.
About that time, I recalled many of the pro-sound guys on the recording/mixing forums have talked about "never" using the Line Out on amps for recording. I didn't really pay any heed to them - until now. It's really a night-and-day difference - you have to hear it to "get it". One tone character is great (on every setting) and the other is kinda like going straight out of a fuzzbox.
Hmmm.... I figured, well let's go re-read the manual, maybe I have a setting wrong or something. As I'm reading, I come across the following (paraphrased): "...plugging into the Line Out will DISABLE the Valve Reactor Circuitry..." :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
.............have you ever had one of those 'Epiphany' moments?....... :oops:
Suddenly this whole thing made sense in a sick sort of "I stayed up till 2:30am everynight for nothing?!" way. The key to the Valvetronix series' tone and amazing character is the Valve Reactor Circuitry! So everytime I was pluggin' into that stupid Line Out, it was turning it off!!! To coin a popular Charlie Brown phrase... "AaaaaAAAuuuuUUuuUuuuUUGGGggghhhHHHH!"
:!: ~CAVEAT that every Valvetronix lover needs to live by~ :!:
NEVER EVER NEVER try to lay down usable tracks by using the Line Out on the back of the combos. It will kill the sweet character of the tube tone and only give you the preamp fuzz (it does change slightly with each model, but it's still fuzzy and not even close to the tone quality of the combo itself). Oh, and read the stinkin' manual a couple of times... so you don't lose precious sleep chasing a ghost!
I guess it's kinda funny...in a sick, demented sorta way.
Now I have to go find a Shure SM57, mic stand and adaptor to go into my PC card... Grrrr... :?
Submitted for your amusement.
~A~