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Struggling with 2 types of sounds (technically 3)


themetallikid
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Ok, first should be pretty simple given the amp types provided, so I'm sure its more just user error or lack of knowledge using the tools available. 

 

I'm looking for 2 80's rock tones, less gainy mids oriented Marshall type sound.....and a boosted tight scooped Marshall type sound.  I have the Freidman IR's, but have been liking the stock cabs lately.  However, I've tried the JCM800, 2204, Placatar, SLO etc....and I've played with cabs/mics a bit, but been sticking mostly with the stock ones.  I'm not sure if my issues are more EQ related, or something else.  I settled on the Placater Dirty, the less gainy is the BE version with everything on, except 'Saturation'.  I lowered the BIAS X parameter to tighten up the amp, a touch, and raised the bias to help round out the sound.  For the boosted version, I kept the same model settings, but added the HBE Switch and the Saturation Switch, and adjusted the Master/Bias X to help out, but it just doesn't feel like the tight Marshall type sound I hear.  In my head I hear the guitar sound from Firehouse's first album....not usually a tone I go for, but its got what I'm looking for. 

 

Also the 3rd sound i'm going for....is more of a 90's sound.  I struggle to find an average sound for the 90's, there are so many unique sounds during the rock/grunge era, I don't know if there is a 'go-to' sound for that era.  Any help here?  I did make a decent fuzz preset to help me cover the Bush/Collective Soul type sounds, but beyond that, I end up using my 80's sound mostly.  it works, but in my head it bothers me. 

 

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From Bill Leverty's website:

"I was always a huge fan of layering guitars to get a huge guitar sound in the studio. For the first two FireHouse albums, I recorded six separate passes of guitar tracks. Our producer, David Prater, first had me record a pair of tracks with his Fender Bassman. Each one of these tracks was a separate "pass" or performance, so it sounded like there were two guitars playing the same thing. Next, I recorded another pair of tracks using my mid 70's 50 watt Marshall. After that, I recorded yet another pair of tracks with my Soldano SLO 100. A mix of those six tracks are what made that wall of sound on the debut FireHouse album. Our second album, HOLD YOUR FIRE, had the same amps layered, but we added another pair of tracks with David's Music Man amp, so that album had eight tracks of rhythm guitar tracks just for the dirty rhythm sound."

Given the extensive multi-tracking of the guitar, you'll probably need to combine a couple of amps with different cabs/IRs at least to get close to the sound you want.  I might suggest mixing two amps in parallel and start from there.  Maybe start with the Marshall and the SLO and tweak them to get the right feel.  Maybe even tweak the BIAS and BIAS X parameters on each amp differently which might give it that wall of sound blended feel.  Interesting problem I'll admit.

As far as the 90's sound, I think you'd have to be a bit more specific due to the variety of styles.  You want something more Weezer, or Foo Fighters, or Green Day or Rage Against The Machine?  They're kind of similar in a couple of ways with a more controlled level of gain, but using fairly tight compression for more sustain and grunt and very definitely dry (little to no reverb).  Personally I'd probably start with the Cartographer as that has a lot of flexibility built into it for managing that kind of sound.

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yea, that's the problem with 90's sounds, for me at least, its almost band specific, and if you want to go further....song specific.  lots of unique sounds where the song was almost written around the sound.  Opposite in my head of how a lot of 80's tones are done....

 

And my fear with the Firehouse tone...lol, but it makes sense....I was trying to get away from parallel routing with my new presets, but maybe that'll have to do....thanks for the information!!

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