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AC30 + TB basic tone


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I wonder if you guys can help me out - I'm looking for the basic AC30 + Treble Booster tone (as used by Brian May) to serve as basis to all my presets.

 

I tried the Deranged Master + AC30 Normal (w/ 212 Blue cab) as per Brian's setup but the results are far from satisfactory. I found online patches but with different snapshots for "type of sound" as Clean / Crunch / Lead but the way a TB works is by interacting with the guitar volume knob. In a real physical environment with a TB and a Vox AC30 I can go from clean to crunch to lead just by turning the guitar volume knob.

 

Is it a replicable behavior in the Helix? Using a LT.

 

Many thanks in advance.

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Is the Deranged Master the first block in your signal chain? I believe the volume knob interaction you’re talking about is related to its low impedance input, which the Helix can replicate. If you have it as the first block and have the Input Z setting on Auto, the input impedance should be set to the lower level automatically. If you have another block as first in the chain, it could interfere with this behavior.

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9 hours ago, stratgilmour said:

I tried the Deranged Master + AC30 Normal (w/ 212 Blue cab) as per Brian's setup but the results are far from satisfactory.

 

I get some good Brian May tones from the "Essex 30" rather than the normal vox amps.

There is enough gain and top end to leave the treble booster out of the equation. It might not be "authentic" but I find it sounds great! 

  • Essex 30 Amp
  • Change the cab from the silver bell to the blue bell
  • With my Tele I turn the amp gain to 8. YMMV
  • Make sure the MASTER is on 10
  • Raise the BIAS to 7.5
  • Start with "stock" tone settings... adjust if needed but you shouldn't need much. 
  • Season the tone with some delay and reverb as required.

With those settings my tele sparkles with a nice clean (just a touch of grit) with the volume rolled back, but when I turn up full it becomes full blown Brian May lead tone. Everything in between is the grinding rhythm sounds (Tie You Mother Down, Fat Bottom Girls, etc... etc..)

 

If I changed guitars I'd just alter the Amp Gain up or down accordingly to adjust for the output level of the guitar. 

EG: My strat has lower output, so I would raise the amp gain to 9 or 10. My Les Paul has higher output so I would lower the amp gain to 6 or 7. 

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8 hours ago, phil_m said:

Is the Deranged Master the first block in your signal chain? I believe the volume knob interaction you’re talking about is related to its low impedance input, which the Helix can replicate. If you have it as the first block and have the Input Z setting on Auto, the input impedance should be set to the lower level automatically. If you have another block as first in the chain, it could interfere with this behavior.

 

Yes, first block. I did this precisely to maintain the direct interaction between guitar and TB. Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

9 hours ago, Hey_Joe said:

Have you tried all the presets under Brian May at Line 6 CustomTone ?

Might give you some patch building ideas or a few patches to tweak to your liking.

 

Yes I did - and it sure gave me some ideas, but usually those patches have 3 snapshots for "Clean", "Crunch", "Lead". What I want/need is a single patch that let me obtain those 3 gain stages using the guitar volume, as per real amp/real TB. Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

 

7 hours ago, codamedia said:

 

I get some good Brian May tones from the "Essex 30" rather than the normal vox amps.

There is enough gain and top end to leave the treble booster out of the equation. It might not be "authentic" but I find it sounds great! 

  • Essex 30 Amp
  • Change the cab from the silver bell to the blue bell
  • With my Tele I turn the amp gain to 8. YMMV
  • Make sure the MASTER is on 10
  • Raise the BIAS to 7.5
  • Start with "stock" tone settings... adjust if needed but you shouldn't need much. 
  • Season the tone with some delay and reverb as required.

With those settings my tele sparkles with a nice clean (just a touch of grit) with the volume rolled back, but when I turn up full it becomes full blown Brian May lead tone. Everything in between is the grinding rhythm sounds (Tie You Mother Down, Fat Bottom Girls, etc... etc..)

 

If I changed guitars I'd just alter the Amp Gain up or down accordingly to adjust for the output level of the guitar. 

EG: My strat has lower output, so I would raise the amp gain to 9 or 10. My Les Paul has higher output so I would lower the amp gain to 6 or 7. 

 

Great. Thanks for the advice. I will try - It would sure be nice to ditch the heavy AC30 and just tour with LT without the need for external pedals.

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19 hours ago, stratgilmour said:

I can go from clean to crunch to lead just by turning the guitar volume knob.

Going old school eh? 

 

Many here would prefer 8 snapshots to turning the guitar down :-)

I'm going through a bit of a retro phase so I'm with you,  keep it simple and you'll get there.

 

Craig

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1 hour ago, CraigGT said:

Going old school eh? 

 

Many here would prefer 8 snapshots to turning the guitar down :-)

I'm going through a bit of a retro phase so I'm with you,  keep it simple and you'll get there.

 

Craig

 

Yeah always play this way :) Thanks for the reply!

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