Amp Tone Dynamics questions...

[kewlpack]

Okay -

I have been messin' around with several amps over the summer and have been trying to find the best dynamics possible and tweaking the settings.

I realize tone comes down to what an individual personally thinks is "great", but I'm also betting there are some good rules of thumb for getting the best dynamic tone out of a particular kind/brand of amp.

So, let me ask you guys: What amp(s) are you using and what are the settings you use to get the best dynamic character and tone from your amp? (Treb, Mid, Bass, Drive, Chan Vol, Master Vol, etc.) Mention why you like the particular settings as well.

My goal is to find the common factors and see what I can learn from them for my own setup. You might also indicate which guitars you are playing with the settings.

For my amp right now:
I'm using Fender Blonde Blues Junior, green PCB, stock Eminence spkr, full compliment of JJ Tesla tubes (#36 graded). See my sig for the guitars.

Treb: 9
Mid: 4
Bass: 5
Rev: 0 (annoying hum - so I turn it off and use the reverb on pedaloard)
Master Vol: 12 (dimed)
Channel Vol: Set to room level (2 for practice at home, 3-4 for our Praise sets)
Fat: ON

I like the way the amp "breathes" with this setup. It stays crisp, clean and really punchy (especially with the new tubes). I find I have a lot more control over the breakup of the tone this way. If I need to throw in some distortion, compressor, acoustic sim, etc. - I just hit a pedal on my Korg.

I tried a few other settings, but found that I had to tweak Master and Channel vol too much to get things where they were usable and wouldn't blow the windows out. It made it a bit tricky to dial in a clean tone on the fly (if I were running Channel Vol over 5 or 6 for breakup).

I much prefer an amp that I can get a really awesome clean tone out of, with those punchy dynamics, and then overlay whatever effects, EQ, distortion, etc. up front as needed. I would love to have an effect loop on this BJr, to run the Chorus and delay after the preamp - but I can live without it for now.

I've only had the BJr. for about a week now - and these settings seem to be working for just about everything... I'm open to other suggestions that might unlock even sweeter tones if you guys know of some!

Let the posting begin!
~A~

[stephen]

Sounds like a nice set-up you have there.

Mine is a Pignose G40V Tube amp, and I want to add to my arsenal, an Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamer, and an Ibanez FLD-9 Flanger.

Right now, my tone is pretty good without that, but just missing something (tube screamer and flanger). I myself, I eschew reverb (the effect, not the person :wink: ): its just something I have never quite acquired the taste for.

Without the two noted effects, I can still get fairly good dynamics out of my lil single channel amp, but with the effects (particularly the tube screamer), its sorta like ai have a two channel amp: I can set up the amp to be fairly clean, and use the stomp box to get that overdriven sound, this old blues/rocker craves!

So hopefully my family might actually by accident hear me, and get me those pedals for Christmas, otherwise, I'm gonna have this bad case of G.A.S. for a very long time!

[trag-o-caster]

Those Pignoses are COOL amps! They sound unbelievable into an outboard cab. A buddy of mine had one, and he cut the cabinet and turned it into a head.

Right now, I'm not playing in church - something I plan to rectify soon. I use many different kinds of amps, and usually no effects except reverb. Lately it's been my 73 Pro Reverb, Vol at about 9 1/2, Treble on about 8, Bass somewhere about 2 or 3. If it's too loud (which is ALWAYS) I use a Weber MASS to get the volume down, although last night I just turned it toward the wall.

Sometimes I'll use a little Champ and mic it, and throw on some 'verb from the board. That's a great sound, but I'm too used to having the sound lambasting me from behind.

I've been known to use a delay pedal from time to time too - a Dan-Echo.

I've been tempted to try a compressor, or an EQ pedal for a clean boost, but so far I've resisted.

[stephen]

Sometimes I'll use a little Champ and mic it, and throw on some 'verb from the board. That's a great sound, but I'm too used to having the sound lambasting me from behind.


A way that you can get the level's you want, without maxxing out the decibal meter: You can take that lil Champ, put it on a stand like the ones that Carvin sell for about 25-30 bucks, and set it infront of you, slightly off to the side, but aiming right at you (hey, your gonna mic it, so might as well treat it like a monitor cabinet, for your benefit!).

That's how I set up my rig, and I love it! It's a lot better than always being told to turn down, and then feelin bummed cause you cant get your tone!

[Anchoret]

I'm open to other suggestions that might unlock even sweeter tones if you guys know of some!

You can really open up the sound of a greenboard (or whiteboard) Blues Junior by doing the very easy Bill Machrone tone stack modification. (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/machrone/bjr/bjtone.htm)

It's just a matter of swapping out two tone capacitors. If you're really skillful with some snips, pliers and a soldering iron, you can even do it without pulling the board. There's no necessity to use Orange Drops in this application where space is a problem; any polypropylene caps of the same value will do fine.

[kewlpack]

I'm completely incompetent when it comes to circuitry stuff... :(

Hmmm maybe I can get Rev to help!
~A~