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Tone suck on big rig


bjnette
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My buddy and I had a jam when back home for Chrissy. 

I was surprised by his smeary tone.

I was on bass. I didn't have the heart to tell him I get a clearer and better sound from my HD500 

into my Marshal. Same as in my Avitar JCM 2000.Same as his.

He was running a bunch of pedals mostly MXRs. His TC  time based FX were not on. I think it is hard to decide which channel FX loop to patch em into.

Anyway, we had plenty of beers and talked about the good ol days.

The volume was pretty low. Suburbia

He was pulling a better tone last Chrissy LOL

He should be getting better than what I get.

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Right, we've probably all seen guys with tons of high $$$ gear all over the place, hooked up in crazy ways and producing a sound that could tear the skin off a cat, obliviously jamming away like it's the best sound ever.  :wacko:

 

It's all in how you use what you've got  :)

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Right, we've probably all seen guys with tons of high $$$ gear all over the place, hooked up in crazy ways and producing a sound that could tear the skin off a cat, obliviously jamming away like it's the best sound ever.  :wacko:

 

It's all in how you use what you've got  :)

 

It also helps to not be deaf...some of the "musicians" I've encountered, I'm forced to wonder...

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I was surprised by his smeary tone.  He should be getting better than what I get.

 

not true.  the conventional old school wisdom says pedals always beat multieffects but not so fast... so many intangibles like cables, connectors, impedance, and the multitude of unsavable settings.  Today's top multi's like the HD POD's eliminate all that and the noise that goes with it.  Certainly you have to work to dial it in but done right you can go head to head with just about anything.  And with a lot less hassles...

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There are other factors as well.
 

Have both of you set up tones that don't step on top of each other?
Do each of you sit in your respective frequency ranges independent, rather, complementary of each other?

Are both of you at a relative volume, not squashing the other, hearable just over the drums?

What about the room you're playing in?

What is it's resonant frequency?

What is the saturation point of the room?

Are both of your cabs aiming directly towards a wall?

Has the room been acoustically analyzed and appropriately treated?

 

It's not just the gear, everything in the environment is applicable.

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Is the moon full?

What pick thickness do you each use?

Was he playing on a full stomach?

 

Navel gazing gains nothing.

 

Help the guy tweak. He may just have a bad ear for playing in a mix with others.

 

There are other factors as well.

 

Have both of you set up tones that don't step on top of each other?

Do each of you sit in your respective frequency ranges independent, rather, complementary of each other?

Are both of you at a relative volume, not squashing the other, hearable just over the drums?

What about the room you're playing in?

What is it's resonant frequency?

What is the saturation point of the room?

Are both of your cabs aiming directly towards a wall?

Has the room been acoustically analyzed and appropriately treated?

 

It's not just the gear, everything in the environment is applicable.

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Well I was on bass on a different rig, there was no tone clash. 

It was most likely attributed to low playing volume. The drummer never showed so we had a few canned drum beats.

 

I posted to show that even with an optimum setup tone can be lost one way or other.

 

Here comes the crunch, my old band mate changes guitars, amps and effects like underpants.

It is only recently he has kept the Marshal about 4 years. An age for him.

 

Since last Christmas he has sold a handfull of guitars and playing only a kramer. though he has a LP on the way.

He also said he is awaiting a Digitech multi FX pedalboard as he knows that without cranking the marshal you don't get the right tone. So for home rehearsals he is getting a modeler.

 

Even when we were in our late teens he bought and traded gear very often.

I suppose there is nothing wrong with that.

When he was telling me he was going to sell his county 5 acrea block , I told him I was told be a Realtor the only time you loose with realestate is when you sell.

Might be so for music equipment. One of my first guitar teachers when I was a teen said never sell any musical equipment.

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