Tightening up your sound

[willjrock]

Thiis is something I’ve been doing since I was a teenager but have found it works just as well if not better in the modeling world , In the modeling world it seems to be a bit more beneficial.

 

Often when adding boost pedals before an amplifier the sound tends to become a little bloated as you know. You can use the controls on the pedal but that control is a post gain level control. What we are looking for is to decrease the volume pre-gain.

 

By adding a volume pedal at the beginning of your chain, you can tighten up the flab pretty nicely.

 

Try volume pedal, Klon, Marshall or whatever you use in your fav set up. Decrease the volume to about -16 on your gain block. Now the very first block in your chain. That’s usually a descent starting point. Less volume for tighter lows, more volume for fatter bottom.

 

Hope this works for you guys. It’s something that has stuck with me since the early days.

[line-6-user]

I set up my patches with just enough gain as needed, not any extra, then fine tune with my volume pot to taste.

[willjrock]

I set up my patches with just enough gain as needed, not any extra, then fine tune with my volume pot to taste.

Gain is not the issue here.  Its an EQ thing, which is put into motion by using different strategies, for getting the proper amount of gain from the patch for ones tastes. 

 

Sometimes we might like an amps tone, but it doesn't produce the amount of gain we had envisioned, so we might add a drive pedal in front of the amp. Even though we are now getting the right amount of gain, it changes the sound a little bit, in a way that cant be dialed out on the pedal itself or without added EQ. Often causing a flabby low end.

 

Turning down your volume knob produces about the same effect, but getting back to that same spot on the volume knob three or four times through out a song rarely happens, if ever.  Especially if the passage tends to be faster and/or complicated. Using a gain block allows you to return to the same level every time easily, without thought.

 

Another instance is times when a person may want to dim the amp somewhat, and bring the gain and or level up higher than usual, on the drive pedal.

 

Or Kinky Boost in front of any amplifier. Sounds good but can simply be too fat. A gain block before KB can help alleviate the issue.

[jerseyboy]

FRFR can be too much range for electric guitar, IMO.  I tend to use an EQ roll off 80Hz or so for many patches to tighten the sound.  Also might roll-off high end if it gets ice picks since that energy can really travel with little power applied.  

[gunpointmetal]

Or just cut the bass in the boost and keep it minimal in the amp model. By decreasing your input gain you're somewhat negating the point of even having the boost in place. The whole point of the boost is to be able to use LESS gain in the amp stage so you get more articulation and note separation and then raise the output level of the whatever is boosting to hit the amp's front end harder. I'm playing 8/9 string guitars tuned as low as 4/5 string bass guitars and I have no problem getting a tight low end by cutting lows int he Scream/Comp/Boost model and boosting the output level into the amp model. I'm usually running my gain on the amp itself around 2-4 and it saturates just fine with easy harmonics etc. 

[MartinDorr]

Whenever you change the

• amp input levels (clean gain +/-) or
• signal frequency distribution (the unamped signal tone) or
• Drive setting (the amps signal transfer function operating range)

assuming you do not change the tone stack, you will change the amp output tone and levels.

 

The output level can be changed via Channel Volume to correct for volume gain/drop.

The finest control is between 5.0 and 10.0 spanning 12 dB range, i.e., you get 0.24 dB per 0.1 change.

 

With a given input signal tone, the combination of input signal levels and amp Drive selects the usable range of the amp transfer function.

On at least one amp (Bassman normal) you can get THE SAME tone and loudness with various combinations of clean input level, drive, and channel volume adjustments.

If you turn Drive up, you can reduce input levels (clean gain stage) untill you match the previous tone and adjust lchannel volume to match previous levels.

Its messy and time consuming if you want to get close, but it seems to work everytime I tried.

 

As soon as you add anything in front that changes the harmonic content of the input signal (even though the apparent signal loudness or Peak levels are the same), the amp output tone will change (possibly just subtly), and if your drive or boost pedal also adds gain, the amps transfer function working range will shift as well (adding more tone changes).

 

For this reason, noone can get exactly the same tone/patch as someone else, unless he plays with the same guitar, the same guitar settings, strings, ..., the input method, the same backend sound system,  the same stroke strength, pick, and all other articulation subtleties.