The Tone Thread

[Minerman]

Cool. You gonna finish this one?

Yeah dude, I know you guys haven't heard a damn thing I've finished, but it shouldn't be too much longer...I've got a bunch of stuff I'm working on man, & I'm gonna post it all at once...

[JD01]

Cool. You gonna finish this one?

Yeah dude, I know you guys haven't heard a damn thing I've finished, but it shouldn't be too much longer...I've got a bunch of stuff I'm working on man, & I'm gonna post it all at once...

Cool - you gonna hit us with the debut album right off the bat?

[Minerman]

Cool - you gonna hit us with the debut album right off the bat?

Well dude, that's the plan, but like everything else in my life, shit happens & takes priority...I've been wanting to do an "album" for years now, but sometime life gets in the way, so we'll see I suppose...

That said, I'm getting closer & closer to the end goal everyday...

[JD01]

Sod it, just bought a TubeScreamer. Never owned one and always thing they sound good when I hear them.

Was bored reviews of every other clone of everything else with pretty graphics on it that has a slightly different take on everything else.

[WhiskeyJack]

Here's a short, shitty clip, amp settings/mic placement:



Signal chain: Strat > EVH Mini > '57

EVH MINI STACK 10-13-2018.mp3


I just slapped this together in about 15 minutes so it's pretty damn sloppy, lemme know what you think.....

Well. That is a far cry better than i have ever captured on a big boy amp so here is your well earned high five miner!!!

[Bubba]

I'll try to explain what I'm after....

The fsr allows all the "in-between" hi-hat articulations with my e-kit/hh pedal...But, it's so sensitive, I can't control it with my foot, it's either full closed or full open...The resistor would (in theory) make the sensor less sensitive, allowing me to find the "in between" hh positions...Does this make sense to you???

You could try a potentiometer and you would have infinitely variable sensitivity.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't resistors resist current? I thought a resistor didn't really affect the voltage unless it was in a potential dividing circuit? I'm probably hopelessly wrong, here. Is your unit triggered by a voltage sensor?

[Minerman]

Sod it, just bought a TubeScreamer. Never owned one and always thing they sound good when I hear them.

Was bored reviews of every other clone of everything else with pretty graphics on it that has a slightly different take on everything else.

IMHO Jdude, you should've kept the SD-1, and bought the TS...Yes, they are very similar, but there's a reason both pedals have been used by so many folks over the years...Some amps sound great with the SD-1, some don't, & the same applies for the TS...I know you only have one amp, but that may change over time, so I'm still sticking to my original thought here, you should've kept the SD-1 & bought a TS...

Well. That is a far cry better than i have ever captured on a big boy amp so here is your well earned high five miner!!!

Thanks Shan...The "stack" was a total surprise from my oldest sister, & the tones it has aren't anything to get excited about, but I have found a use for it...I can use it to get feedback while recording di's/ampsims/ISO cab at reasonable levels pretty much 24/7...Once the feedback is "printed" into the di, I can re-amp through my other amps...

You could try a potentiometer and you would have infinitely variable sensitivity.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't resistors resist current? I thought a resistor didn't really affect the voltage unless it was in a potential dividing circuit? I'm probably hopelessly wrong, here. Is your unit triggered by a voltage sensor?

Honestly Bubba, most if not all of this "resistors/voltage/technical" stuff is way over my head dude...I was just trying to get my e-kit's hi-hat to feel & sound a bit more realistic, but I've pretty much ditched that idea because I edit my midi afterward anyway, so it really doesn't matter...

I'm still hoping to get a real kit someday, along with the other gear I'd need to record real drums...The gear really isn't the issue, I could get the gear I'd need to make the jump to real drums, the 2 biggest issues are:
1 - I'm completely out of room here, & 2 - the noise thing...Maybe someday I'll find another place to live where I'll be able to do that...Until then, my fake drums will have to do here at the house...

I do have access to a real kit at my nephew's church pretty much anytime I want, but the learning curve for real drums will most likely be pretty steep for me, so I'm not really sure about attempting that...

[JD01]

Miner, I’ve not got rid of the SD1. When the TS arrives I’ll compare the two and see what one I like.

[Greg_L]

Some amps sound great with the SD-1, some don't, & the same applies for the TS...

This is true.

[JD01]

OK, here's a comparison of my normal crunch channel, and the SD-1, OCD and TS Mini all set with the level boosted and the drive on zero.

The TS and the SD-1 have the level maxed, the level is only at between 1 and 2 o'clock on the OCD but it offers way more boost than the other two!

Crunch Only.mp3

SD-1.mp3

OCD.mp3

TS Mini.mp3

They're all placed randomly in my FX chain, but I don't suppose that matters much.
The chain is Tuner>SD-1>OCD>Boss Chorus>TS Mini.
Was just a convenient place to put it as that's where the mini phaser normally lives.

[Greg_L]

I like the no pedal and OCD tracks the best.
No pedal sounds natural and open...but a little flubby.
OCD maintains the openness while driving the gain a little. A little bright, but not bad.
The SD sounds flattened.
The TS is doing what Tube Screamers do....bump mids.

A good common setup for a Tube Screamer is put the gain at like 9:00 so it's just barely adding a hint of dirt.
Put the output just past unity so it's slightly boosting.
Tone somewhere between 11:00 and 1:00 to adjust for bright/dark pickups or amp.
This will add just a little raunch and midrange without turning it into an EQ midrange mountain

[Minerman]

Miner, I’ve not got rid of the SD1. When the TS arrives I’ll compare the two and see what one I like.

Ok dude, I mis-read/mis-understood what you posted...I thought you sold the SD-1...

I like the amp only clip best, it sounds a bit more open to me...So in order of what I like best:
Amp only
OCD
TS
SD-1

You can probably play with your amp/pedal settings & make 'em more different too, you'll just have to experiment to see what works with your setup...


Is the TS the mini pedal??? If so, is there a reason you chose the mini over the full size pedal??? Just curious...

[JD01]

Is the TS the mini pedal??? If so, is there a reason you chose the mini over the full size pedal??? Just curious...

Price! It was cheap. I've listened to a few comparisons though and all of the TubeScreamers are pretty similar. Even the 808 isn't that different, just a bit lower gain.

[JD01]

Miner/Greg,

Interested in what you guys think. Like you guys I like the unboosted tone too.

I also like the TS, I think it's pretty similar to the SD1 but thicker and just "better " somehow. I found the SD1 a little thin in comparison.

The OCD is such a huge boost, I could do with easing it back even more. I mainly use it for a lead tone as I find it really cuts through. I don't normally play rhythm with the OCD on the crunch channel, if its not for lead playing I normally use it to push my clean channel over the edge.

I actually find the way the forum lays the tracks out really good for comparing stuff. I'll listen to them again later with your comments in mind.

Listened to them all through again. I actually don't dislike any of them. Until today either the crunch channel on its own or the SD1 boosted version was my main tone. The OCD is alright, a bit too much boost and a bit too bright. That's on the HP setting, it might be better on the LP setting, which is a little lower gain, more scooped and dark.

Didn't get chance to mess with it much today, but I'll try winding the level back a little on the TS and adjusting the gain a bit.

Its late here so I'm only playing on 0W mode... but I'm pretty sure that the TS has just replaced the SD-1 as my main overdrive. Really like it.

Also, tele neck pickup into the OCD on the clean channel is great!

[rayc]

I like the "crunch only" and didn't think the others added anything special or wonderful.
I watched/listened to a comparison thing on Utub last night and the SD was a lot quieter than the TS. The SD have a very minor EQ peak compared to the TS's bumped mids. I then had a listen to the JHS Haunting Mids which is interesting - find the cocked wah spot type of pedal - which is something the TS seemed to be similar to but the HM had more options (too many) & JHS pedals ar simply too expensive.

[Minerman]

Dunno if this is anything to get excited over, but I found it interesting myself...I'd saw a guy on YT using a tele getting some pretty convincing Malcom-like tones, & that's where the original idea of lower-ish output Mutt P'ups for my strat came from...

Just screwing around on the 'net yesterday, I ran across these pics:




Of course, there may have been circumstances not known for playing a strat/tele/whatever, but I thought it was interesting to see these pics anyway...

What say you ToneTards???

[Greg_L]

I can totally see a Tele pulling off Malcolm sounds. His sound was never crazy thick and dirty.

[Minerman]

I can totally see a Tele pulling off Malcolm sounds. His sound was never crazy thick and dirty.

Yeah dude, I've mentioned this to you before, but it kinda "clicked" again when I ran across these pics...Again, this was the whole idea for low-output Mutt P'ups for my strat, not trying to "nail" the AC/DC thing, I already know I'd never pull it off 100%, but I'm confident I can get in the ballpark...

[Greg_L]

Yeah dude, I've mentioned this to you before, but it kinda "clicked" again when I ran across these pics...Again, this was the whole idea for low-output Mutt P'ups for my strat, not trying to "nail" the AC/DC thing, I already know I'd never pull it off 100%, but I'm confident I can get in the ballpark...

Malcolm used fairly mild pickups, heavy strings with a wound G, and pretty low gain amps. All that adds up to his huge dirty clean punchy sound.

[Minerman]

Ok, here are some mic'd clips with/without the attenuator for comparison...Making a long story short, the attenuator chops off about 6 db of loudness using the Chupacabra > Greenback > i5 & 57...I'll just post a few of the single clips for now, as I have a shit-load of these...

I started with the Chupa in "Plexi" mode, which is the loudest of the 3 "Era" settings...The speaker was hitting the mic(s) at about -19db with the pre-amp on each mic on "0", so this is what I aimed for with the master for the difference between each "Era" setting...The master was set at a different level for each mode so the mic was getting the same amount of signal..."7" or so in "Plexi" mode is about as hard as I'd wanna push the Greenback, it's a 25w speaker, & the Chupa is 50w..."Plexi" mode is the loudest, & is kinda like a stock 50w 1987X, sorta...

Obviously, using the attenuator is gonna knock of a bunch of signal going into the mic(s), so I normalized each clip in order to have them rendered at the same loudness...That's the only way I could think of doing this & being half-assed fair...The tones are just a cranked up generic kinda grind thing, usually when I swap modes on the amp, I change the tonestack/gain/etc, but I just left it all the same for all these, again, trying to make it a fair comparison, so the tones are lacking to say the least...

I think I labeled 'em where you can figure 'em out, "GTR 1 57-A Plexi" is with the attenuator, "GTR 1 57 Plexi" is without...
Signal chain:

SG > Chupa > GB > i5 & 57

• Resonance : 0
  Presence : 9
  Bass : 8
  Middle : 4
  Treble : 7
  Master :
  • Plexi : 7
    80's : 9
    Modern : 9.5-ish
  Gain 2 : 2
  Gain 1 : 9
  Bright 2 : L
  Bright 1 : L

GTR 2 i5 Plexi.mp3

GTR 2 i5 -A Plexi.mp3

GTR 2 i5 80's.mp3

GTR 2 i5 -A 80's.mp3

GTR 2 i5 Modern.mp3

GTR 2 i5 -A Modern.mp3

GTR 1 57 Plexi.mp3

GTR 1 57-A Plexi.mp3

GTR 1 57 80's.mp3

GTR 1 57-A 80's.mp3

GTR 1 57 Modern.mp3

GTR 1 57-A Modern.mp3

Lemme know what you think...