tone

[lynch1]

what I did was found something close to what I wanted and changed parameters and eq in the processor, had the eq on amp at 0. after I got it even closer I tweaked it with the amp settings. I'm getting a very a pretty good tone, but my concern is how it will work out at practice with everybody. I don't want to get lost in the mix, but not over power everyone either. I noticed last night that during the solos, even some of the higher notes when I would pick them were very percussive (low end thump). its a work in progress.

[onegunguitar]

I buy quality gear because I can somewhat afford it (finally) and over the years I've owned a boatload of amps,processors,guitars,etc and in my experience you get what ya pay for. And to my ears tubes just sound better,especially in a live atmosphere. Is that the answer for everyone? Nope. Having a Mesa rig behind me doesn't stroke my ego by any means,I just hear what the amp and cabinet help generate and it gives me that drive to play better and "feed" into that wall of tone that is coming from the speakers. I have the thought that if you can get a good tone from your guitar and amp with minimal eq'ing,you're most of the way there. To each his own though

[bassist_25]

I'm just here waiting for Paul to post and tell you to stop "scooping your mids".

It looks like just about everyone has already beat me to it.

[bassist_25]

Everyone's answer is "buy buy buy" always. Clearly some of them arent innovative or problem solvers.

Sure, tubes are great...but you know what??? Tubes Lubes Jubes. how bout that???
I understand everyone likes to have pride in their gear, but remember ppl...YOU ARE IN THE ALTOONA AREA....none of you are touring or doing anything.
The world would will be fine if you dont play through a 100,000$ amp. lol. I think ppl just like having nice gear in their basements. or better yet, playing in front of 6 drunks through 10k worth of gear. its more of just an ego thing i suspect.

BACK TO THE REAL TOPIC:
Anyway lynch, i can help with some suggestions as to settings. Im sure some of the others can too once they get off their BUYBUYBUY routine.

Pick a different distortion with less gain, eq out the crazy freqs that annoy, and it should be fine for now. Im not familiar with the unit you have, so its more of a hands on thing.

I don't disagree with you on this, Keith, but there comes a time when the answer truly is upgrading gear. A driver is important, but even Jeff Gordon can't make a Yugo perform like a Lotus. The 80s metal guys were largely playing Marshalls that were probably hot-rodded by some amp guru in LA. The OP said he really dug the tone on a Brantley Gilbert tune. I have don't know what the guitarist in the studio used on that tune, but I'd take an educated guess and say it was probably either a Divided by 13 or a Dr. Z - a world a difference between those amps and a Peavey Bandit. As FloodCity pointed out, a practice solid-state combo with an entry-level FX processor isn't gonna get you there. Once Lynch turns that Peavey up to the point that it can sit well in a live mix, it's going to turn to ugly mush, which is probably where a lot of his "buzz saw" problem is coming from. He's most likely overdriving both the front-end and power section of that amp in order to try and just be heard when playing with live drums and the transistors are simply running out of gas. The Zoom acoustic processors are pretty nice, but other than that, they are noisy, ugly tone-suckers IME.

My advice if you don't want to drop a lot of coin: Ditch the Peavey combo; pick up a SansAmp, the Character Series pedals are nice; run it into the PA; I guarantee your tone will improve, 10x.

Oh and don't scoop your mids and don't crank your gain to absurd levels.

Edit: The SansAmp Marshall clone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VOEc00ZzzM

[KeithReynolds]

Certainly agree with some points about gear.
BUTTTTTTTT....If he said he cant buy new gear at the moment....why in the HELLL do ppl keep posting about buying new gear??


its like you guys are spreading religion or something. here have some..here here here you need this here here here get this here here here.

its the gear crusades!!

[onegunguitar]

I didn't tell him to go out and buy new gear, I was simply stating my experiences with different stuff I've owned over the years.

[ToonaRockGuy]

get an EQ with a buncha bands, find the nasty sound and remove it. Quick problem fixer without replacing gear.

Sounds like getting new gear to me...just sayin'...

[floodcitybrass]

Certainly agree with some points about gear.
BUTTTTTTTT....If he said he cant buy new gear at the moment....why in the HELLL do ppl keep posting about buying new gear??

Maybe "buy" is the wrong term. Perhaps we should suggest to "trade," "exchange," "recycle" your gear:

1) Sell current gear. (amp and fx processor)
2) Acquire $300-350
3) Buy a used Fender Blues Junior or similar.

[KeithReynolds]

get an EQ with a buncha bands, find the nasty sound and remove it. Quick problem fixer without replacing gear.

Sounds like getting new gear to me...just sayin'...

Troo. but a 30$ pedal compared to a 500$ amp. ya know?



best case scenario- buy 5k worth of gear.
real world scenario- do with what you can.

thats all im saying.

[old Skool]

I know this sounds kind of weird but I read years ago that something you can do at home to see if your sound will cut through is to jam next to a vacuum cleaner. If you can hear yourself with the vacuum running you'll probably be ok. If not adjust accordingly. My experience with solid state amps is that as you turn them up they seem to get brittle and fall off. I have a Line6 that sounds great at lower volume but as you push it it sounds awful IMO. Are you using a PA at practice? If so maybe just mic your amp & let the PA handle the volume. Hope that helps!

[Craven Sound]

I know this sounds kind of weird but I read years ago that something you can do at home to see if your sound will cut through is to jam next to a vacuum cleaner. If you can hear yourself with the vacuum running you'll probably be ok.

Just make sure she's wearing ear plugs or she might get angry with you.

[lynch1]

well, i got my tone issue figured out. thanks to Kayla....I bought her Marshall 1/2 stack and love it. with my processor it has the tone Ive been looking for. The only issue now is when I turn it up to 4+ I get a "wurble" out of the speakers when I palm mute.....what do I have set too high or low? I had the same problem with my Peavey, so its gotta be in the processor Im thinking.

[The Shadow]

Ditch the processor and use the money to get a few simple pedals and you'll be better off.

[lynch1]

thats what I was thinking too......not sure if I should get the super overdrive-1 (sd1) or the distortion (ds1) for the tone I want. Or go for broke and get a tube screamer..

[The Shadow]

Most Marshall amps (at least the ones I'm used to i.e. JMP, JCM 800) work better with the SD-1.

[lynch1]

WOOHOO!!! I finally got it......I was close, then I went to see Hair Force 1 Sat. night at Glenns and heard their tone and knew that is what I was looking for....spoke with Mel and Mike during their breaks about their gear....I bought the Marshall half stack Kayla had for sale and played with the processor......went to practice yesterday, played with some more stuff on the amp and the processor and got EXACTLY the tone I was looking for, based off what I heard the night before. Thank you everyone for all of your input and advice.....question is....Is it true I have now entered tube amp hell?.....the tone can change based off so many factors, ie. temp, room size, indoor/outdoor venue, etc

[kayla]

.....question is....Is it true I have now entered tube amp hell?.....the tone can change based off so many factors, ie. temp, room size, indoor/outdoor venue, etc

glad you finally got what you were looking for! as far as the tube amp thing, i've never really had issues. only when i blew a tube and when i plug into an outlet thats overloaded lol. but yet again, i've never played anything but a tube amp, so maybe i'm just used to it?

- kayla.

[bassist_25]

the tone can change based off so many factors, ie. temp, room size, indoor/outdoor venue, etc

I know you posed this question about a month ago, but IME, voltage is the biggest environmental factor that can alter the sound of a tube head. Ideally, you should be pulling around 120 for optimal performance. Low voltage can be rough on tube life, kill your headroom, and make your amp sound flubby and sag (and with the already loose damping of a Marshall, you probably don't want to introduce any more sag into its sound). Any professional sound company should have its own power distribution, but unfortunately we live in a less than ideal world where we don't always have professional sound companies and are expected to plug into circuits that are also running the bar refrigerator and juke box.

For this reason, I always carry a solid-state head in the band trailer, not only as a back up, but to use in situations where I'm not comfortable plugging one of my tube heads into the provided power. I used it a bunch of times this summer when playing outside gigs.

Oh, and one other thing and you may know this already: If you fire up your amp, take it out of stand-by after 30 seconds, play it, and don't hear a sound, quit playing it immediately and check to make sure you plugged the head into the cab. You don't want to play a tube head without a load attached. Unlike most solid-state heads, tube heads have output transformers that need loads attached to them or bad things can happen.

[MistValkyrie]

WOOHOO!!! I finally got it......I was close, then I went to see Hair Force 1 Sat. night at Glenns and heard their tone and knew that is what I was looking for....spoke with Mel and Mike during their breaks about their gear....I bought the Marshall half stack Kayla had for sale and played with the processor......went to practice yesterday, played with some more stuff on the amp and the processor and got EXACTLY the tone I was looking for, based off what I heard the night before. Thank you everyone for all of your input and advice.....question is....Is it true I have now entered tube amp hell?.....the tone can change based off so many factors, ie. temp, room size, indoor/outdoor venue, etc

glad you figured it out, man! YAY!

[Daxman]

Glad we could help and that you finally got it man. Rock on!

[lynch1]

Well,after a long arduous journey, I have finally got my tone, being heard in the mix debacle figured out. Most people were telling me the problem with my tone was my processor, need a tube amp and dont scoop the mids. I bought a Marshall MA50 50 watt half stack. Thought OK this will do it. Put my presets in my processor, ran thru the input, tweaked it a bit and voila, there is my dream tone. Uh no! the sound was all from the processor, because I ran thru the clean channel. I wasn't using a tube amp the way it was meant to be used to get "that tone". Awesome amp, but to get that Marshall sound you gotta crank it way beyond acceptable bedroom levels. Sounds awesome and may work in a live situation, but anyway. After much debate, watching countless Youtube videos, reading reviews til I was cross eyed, and countless texts to Mel, I pulled the trigger on an EVH 5150iii mini 50 watt head. AMAZING amp. This amp has all the tones in it. Nice cleans, 2 channels of distortion, one that is great for classic and 80's rock and another that is great for leads or to get that nu metal tone. I can't play this amp enough. I fire it up every spare minute I can get. But for me, the tone search is over, much to the joy and delight of my wife and Mel, who heard me talk about it, ask about it, hash it around in my head for the better part of a few months. Thanks to my wife for getting it for me and thanks to Mel (HF1) for working with me, answering my questions, and helping me set this beast up.

[bassist_25]

Congrats on the new amp! The 5150iii is killer. The Peavey 5150s sound good, but I think Fender hit it out of the park with the third generation. If that amp does anything, it's cut through the mix with a lot of note distinction.

Too bad that amp couldn't save Diamond Dave's performance on Jimmy Kimmel, but that's a topic for another day.