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Calling Out To The Tone Gods


spawn2031
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Hey guys, I think I am in need a little help here.  I have a feeling that I am missing something small somewhere to get my tone exactly where I want it and could use a little help for those much more versed in this than me.  Let me give you all a little quick background.

 

I originally got my 500x set up a few months ago.  My initial setup was Shecter Damien Elite /w active EMGs > Morpheus Drop Tune > POD > Fender Mustang.  Morpheus was infront of the POD and not in the FX loop cuz of noise issues, it was much cleaner this way.  The little Mustang was my only option at the time as I was building up my rig still, no FX loop on it so I was plugged into the instrument in.  Pod was set for Combo Front.  Hated the sound I was getting at first until I read Meambobbo's setup guide and SCORE!  I got a really cool tone that I enjoyed playing.  No sooner did I do this as it was time to upgrade again... bye bye Mustang.

 

I replaced it with a Behringer iNuke 1000 (running mono @ 150w) and a Marshall 4x12 (120w).  So now I am trying to dial this in for 1) to the new setup and 2) for gigging levels.  I have the cleans set up great, they sound awesome but my high gain heavy distortion tones just aren't as awesome as they were with the little mustang.  They are close, very close but there is still something off with them.  I was wondering if one of you guys wouldn't mind checking out my tone if I posted it up on Custom Tone (or here) and see where I might be going wrong?  I've been reading and playing with this thing tons and doing as much research as I can and have learned a lot but, like I said, I think I am missing something small.

 

This is my current setup now...

 

Damien Elite>Morpheus>Pod (set for stack power amp)>Behringer iNuke (mono @ 150w usually turned up to 60% power)>Marshall 4x12

 

Oh and I have tried switching the pod back to the combo front setting and it was just too muddy sounding.

 

Thanks ahead of time guys.

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Yup, not an easy read by any means.  That's from that Meambobbo guy.  That guide is responsible for me getting my tone dialed in the first time.  The same process Doesn't seem to be working this time around, the bass is totally lacking and I can't seem to get it back in there as well as, I'm not sure how to describe this but, the mid range sounds kind of funny, not like there's too much or little of it... just odd.

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Yup, not an easy read by any means.  That's from that Meambobbo guy.  That guide is responsible for me getting my tone dialed in the first time.  The same process Doesn't seem to be working this time around, the bass is totally lacking and I can't seem to get it back in there as well as, I'm not sure how to describe this but, the mid range sounds kind of funny, not like there's too much or little of it... just odd.

What's your line/amp switch set to?

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try stack front too.  don't forget there are global eq settings you can adjust in the front modes to get rid of the mud.  try studio direct too... don't get locked into any one setting just because someone said so. play around with it...

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Yeah I have changed back and forth tons of times on the different output settings,(stack power amp gets me the closest) I'll have to try the cab settings to see what I can get for thump.  I did not have it set to Line, that switch was still set to amp... that did make a pretty big difference.  This is what I have so far for it...

 

**EDIT**

It appears I can't upload a file for you guys to DL up here so I just uploaded the tone I am working on.  Let me know what you guys think of it, where I can improve or what might be causing issues.  I'm curious to see what you guys think about the placement of some of the effects. 

 

http://line6.com/customtone/browse/podhd500x/27/

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Awww... no takers?  I probably should mention that the tone I am trying to get has enough bass in it to let you know it's there but not enough to make the speakers woof, still be clear enough to hear everything that is going on and can be used for a variety of heavier rock tones from STP to A7X.

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I'll check it out later but for now, just curious why you need to jack the volume at so many levels?  EQ boosts, amp volume, mixer centered and channels boosted 4db...  does your amp need a super hot signal?  is your POD master maxed?  are you on line or amp?  1/4 outs or XLRs?

 

is your amp bridged, stereo or mono?  are you set to full range?

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Yeah see that's one of the reasons why I started this thread.  I know there are better ways to set this tone up and it might be a simple as pulling back the gain on everything except for one or two things.  Not sure if the amp needs a hot signal or not.  It's a standard 150w power amp.  Nothing super special, it's just to drive the speakers and remain as transparent as possible.  The POD master is about 75%, I am set to Line now (thanks to Smrybacki) and I'm running on 1/4 outs.  Amp is not bridged and is set to mono.  Yes it set to Full Range (99.9% positive on that one.. I'll chk when I get home, I don't think I would have switched it to crossover mode), the power amp is pushing a 4x12 Marshall.

 

I initially started raising gains because when I switched over from the Mustang to my stack it was surprisingly a lot quieter than I expected.  Even with the power amp at 75%.  I know one place I could boost gain that would allow me to drop back everything else would be the master in the amp DEPs.  I kept that real low since that was one thing that was suggested by the Meambobbo guide. Perhaps that's where everything got kind of off.  One of the reasons for the EQ boost before the distortion is because I was initially getting a very strong fuzz from the distortion after switching to the stack.  The EQ at the end of the chain was intended to give me a quick control over the tone for when/if I ran the pod into something else and needed to make adjustments.

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If you are using a power amp and guitar cab, heres how i get a good distortion tone up loud..

 

Treadplate PREONLY model, gain around 40% lots of mids.

cabs off.

 

Once you turn up this sounds very realistic. Its very simple but it works. No need for extra eq or boost. Im using tube power but the SS power should add a little something too.

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Well that is certainly a combination that I have not tried before.  I almost entirely stay away the pre-amp only models.  I'll have to try this one out tomorrow and will let ya know how it turned out for me (the little folks have gone to bed and I can't rock out anymore tonight.. bah sux getting old)

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I would think you'd need to try all the preamp models if you are pushing it thru a power amp. Full models have a modeled power amp section and I would think that running full models on most would be muddy. Just a thought.

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Yeah, you would certainly think that as it completely makes sense.  But, after reading the POD guide from Meambobbo and going through them all, the full versions definitely give a much fuller tone.  I am almost done with a pretty wicked tone (at least in my opinion)  Once I am finished with it, I'm going to post it up here with all setting that I've used.  There, unfortunately, seems to be a severe lack of tones out there developed for how I am using the POD.  So far it's pretty brutal and melodic sounding, just gotta solve some feedback/ noise issues with it.

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