Newbie looking for advice on handling treble

[brettchinery]

Hi - looking for advice - what do you guys do if a particular amp setting is still way too trebly even if the treble and presence knobs are back to zero?

 

Is it a case of being more aggressive on the high cut (I am currently at 5K)

 

FYI - I am using a strat with ash body and maple neck, so it is a pretty bright trebly beast anyway !!!

 

any help much appreciated 

[rvroberts]

Not sure what amp you are using or if you are going full FRFR- it all has a lot of effect.

I use a Strat with a Helix.  Rosewood neck - but it's just a little less bright than yours- I assume you play that guitar because you like a bright sound anyhow?

I have a global high cut at about 5.5K - but it is really drastic - really steep - if yours isn't falling away at say 60º (24db I think) it's probably nowhere near enough - I never have to wind my treble on any amp I use all the way back although 3 might be normal on some amps - and I don't personally like a lot of top - About John Mayer clean is about as bright as I get except for some special funk thins.

So if you are being gentle with that high cut - get drastic!

[DunedinDragon]

A lot of this depends on your output device which you didn't mention.  Most often this has a LOT more to do with your sound than does the Helix.

 

Aside from that there are several ways you can address too much treble.  Given you have a relatively flat response output device, changing the mic setup on the cabinet model can sometimes make a big difference.  With my Elite Strat with rosewood neck I very often use a dual cabinet and mix a 421 and a 121 ribbon mic both set 6 to 8 iinches away with a considerable amount of early reflections.  That tends to soften some of the harsher tones.  Alternatively you can try other cabinets as well as IR's.  I personally like the Celestion Redback 2x12 closed back IR using the Hi-Gn 421+121 mix for my Strat.  It gives me a nice beefy feel without too much high end.  Depending on the amp I'm using I sometimes use a parametric EQ to dial down some of the response in the 4200 hz range to flatten out the Strat's response.

 

Although there are some minor differences with different strats I think you're going to find they all have pretty similar tone characteristics if you're using single coils cabinets, mics, and mic positions tend to be pretty decent at taming a lot of the harshness.

[shanecgriffo]

definitely dial cabs down to 5khz or below .. use ribbon mics. raise bias for a slightly thicker tone before breakup.. try the trick of using the tape delay as a preamp, (just take delay/repeats off and boost the output level a little) put it before the amp.. it thickens the sound a bit on my strat and was apparantly used like this by 60's guitar greats.. also wind off tone on guitar just a little.. this should have the sum effect of beefing the tone.. oh and maybe minotour set with drive at minimum before the amp and delay

[zooey]

The 4038 Ribbon is by far the warmest/least trebly mic in the box. If amp treble and presence are at zero with that mic, and most cabs are still too bright, especially with the filtering you mention, then the problem is elsewhere, probably your monitoring.

[jbuhajla]

...and the SM57 mic seems to be the most harsh. On my strat presets, I generally use dual cabs. One cab is 4x12 with R121 mic, high cuts around 5.5kHz. I use that for more beef. The other cab will be a 1x12 or 2x12, maybe SM57 with high cuts at 7kHz or so, low cuts around 180hz. I use that for more sparkle. I prefer the mix of two cabs. 

[schiesserm]

i haVE a line 6 Mark IV 75 and same problem, harsh treble, turn it down to 0 on every patch. IDK if the speaker is bad or what.

Edited January 26, 2020 by schiesserm
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