The Tone Thread

[JD01]

Just getting around to listening to your Gretsch clips. Sounds different to what I was expecting, actually I don't know what I was expecting.
I guess I assumed it was gonna be more jangly, but its got a humbucker type sound, bit more indistinct - you know what I mean, how humbuckers just don't sound as clear as single coils (generally). Its cool though and you've obviously got it dialled in the sort of 50s style stuff you'll use it for.

Sounds brilliant in the mix, really suits your take on the song. This whole mix is cool.

These Gretsch and Filtertrons can be jangly, but that's not really their sound. They're thick but not flubby, clear but not as clean as a true single coil. To me this Gretsch as-is is pretty close to my kind of ideal Gretsch sound, but not quite there yet. With more experience and refinement I'll get there. These are the kinds of guitars for me where flipping between pickups is beneficial. I never use the neck pickup on my LPs and SGs. I could and should use it sometimes on a Gretsch.

What have you done to your drum sound? Its great.

Lol ugh that's just a basic stock done-nothing-to-it EZ Drummer loop.

I tell your 50W spite build is great! Probably my favourite pistols song too. Only thing with that clip is that it sounds a bit harsh/spikey! Probably fine in a mix and you know much better how to dial in a tone to fit in a mix than me. I think its just that you've got a 57 dead centre which is making it sound harsh to me - I changed to using an i5, after liking it on some of your clips.

It would be a little smoother with an i5 in the same position. That's pretty much my sound though. I left the amp set the way I was using it live. That's like my "live with the band tone" as opposed to my recording tone, though I'd probably be perfectly fine with that sound in a mix.

I noticed you mentioned it was a loop. Was just taking the piss.

Don't think a Gretsch is my cup of tea - I think they look cool as fuck though.
I didn't know that you stuck mics dead centre, I always thought that you put them at the edge of the dustcap.

I do really want a new guitar now (or maybe an amp). I've not got any new sounds lately, and while that's not inherently a bad thing, I'm happy with my main tone, I just want something new and I don't want to buy another pedal or two.

[Greg_L]

Don't think a Gretsch is my cup of tea - I think they look cool as fuck though.

The "solid body" Jets and whatnot might suit you for a different flavor. They look LP-ish, they have Filtertrons, they're heavily chambered, but they are "closed". Thinner and no F-holes. They're pretty cool.

I didn't know that you stuck mics dead centre, I always thought that you put them at the edge of the dustcap.

I'd never usually mic dead center of a speaker with a single mic on it's own. If there's a darker mic to blend it with, dead center can be okay.

It also depends on a the speaker. Large dustcap speakers like 65s and 75s seem to allow it a little better. I don't know why, but they do. Center miking a small cap speaker like a V30 or Greenback or H30 is way too bright even with a dark blend mic to go with it.

I do really want a new guitar now (or maybe an amp). I've not got any new sounds lately, and while that's not inherently a bad thing, I'm happy with my main tone, I just want something new and I don't want to buy another pedal or two.

GAS is a bitch.

I know it's easy to say, and probably a lie, but for me a Gretsch was the last guitar I needed...or wanted. I don't need a Gretsch but big hollow was the only guitar flavor I like but didn't have. So now I'm set. I think. I've got rock and roll guitars, I've got surfy guitars, I've got rockabilly guitars. And I've got the appropriate amps. Those are the only sounds I'm interested in making.

[JD01]

Those Gretsch duo-jets always look quite cool... ah, that reminds me, I want to get a 65. I always like them when I've heard them on your recordings.

I want to get a semi-hollow guitar with a P90 in it.

[Greg_L]

Those Gretsch duo-jets always look quite cool... ah, that reminds me, I want to get a 65. I always like them when I've heard them on your recordings.

Mine a real-deal vintage. They are dated Oct/Nov 1981.

I don't think the reissues really got it right. They sound okay, but maybe it's because they don't have 40+ years of rock and roll through them to break them in. Honestly I think the WGS ET-65 might be a better "G12-65" than Celestion's current version. The 65w Creambacks are pretty great too.

I want to get a semi-hollow guitar with a P90 in it.

Epiphone Casino

[JD01]

Cheers, I'll look at both of them.

[rayc]

https://www.megamusiconline.com.au/prod ... cts-pedal/

$139 new @rayc - treat yourself - bugger the Reserve Bank and their interest rate announcements...

Thanks David,
That place didn't show up in my search results.
A back order job but could be worthwhile.

[JD01]

Nice one Armi, I think this might be the first time I've heard isolated tones from you actually.

I thought that Van Gainland thing sounded alright in isolation but it was also a bit on the dark side/boxy and might be hard to mix.

To be fair to Miro, I like that Carolann - Its really crisp and clear without being too thin.

I like the Fender Blues Jr... and it actually sounds like one too - I've played through them a few times, they're always available in shops when you try out guitars, I've looked at buying one. Its got a bit more meat on it than the Carolann but isn't too dark/boxy like the first one and has a slight bit of grit in it. It does tend to get a bit indistinct on the second part of the clip though.

HiWatt sounds good too - bright and clear like the Carolann but not thin - listening to them back to back it makes the carolann sound really thin!

I really like the AC30 - its clear but not overly thin, its got a bit of meat to it but isn't boxy and its properly distinct when you're playing more rhythm.

Really like the Deluxe too - its like the Jr but without the little boxyness that the Jr has, its like the Jr but really good which I suppose is what its supposed to be.

[Greg_L]

I do not really care for the "van weelden" or the Blues Jr. They're kind of crap. Boxy and bland. The Carol Ann sounds good on it's own, but it's pretty thin and I have to imagine it's lack of mids would have it get buried in a mix fairly easily. The rest sound totally fine. The HiWatt, AC30, and DR sound pretty much like they should and those are sounds that will work probably almost every time.

[rayc]

I'm hopeless as knowing what works where but for me this morning the Vox works for both, the Fender Dr works for the 1st part and the Blues Jr for the 2nd part...hard for me to know outside a mix. Nice to hear the TH riff.

[Greg_L]

Round 2:
Carol Ann - Marginal improvement with the tweak. Probably not enough IMO. The end riffage sounds very good though.
Blues Jr - Massive improvement. Like a different amp. Sounds more on par with the rest now as far as balance and clarity goes.
HiWatt - Not getting too much difference between the settings. Doesn't matter, sounds good anyway.
AC30 - Again, not much difference with the tweak, but also again, so what it sounds fantastic.
Deluxe Reverb - I think you made this one worse. It got muddier and lost a little chime with the tweak. Go back!

I think for me, on this round, the AC30 won hands down, HiWatt second, Carol Ann showed up just for the riffy bit at the end, and honorable mention to the Blues Jr which really stepped it's game up. The legendary Deluxe Reverb stubbed it's toe and couldn't finish the race.

[Greg_L]

The problem I'm finding with the Kemper is that (a) the actual quality of the profiles vary hugely - you sort of need proper recording chops to make good ones, and there are only so many good freebies out there,

From what I understand about profiling, I think you're right. You can "capture" an amp pretty well at one particular setting, but then everything the user does that veers from that is artificial and not so good. So if you have, say an AC/DC-ish profile, it's great for that sound, but if you move the gain or EQ around then it falls apart in some way. It's like you have to just use it how it is or use a different profile.

[rayc]

I looked into the Boss trem pedal and it seems really cool. I also looked at clones of it etc. There are some pretty cheap ones that have decent review.
I clicked BUY and pulled up Paypal but thought I'd best check the multi FX gear I have down stairs. The Yamaha FX900 trems aren't much good as at max depth they are still mild, the R16 Trem is pretty bad as it's, again, mild at best. The Roland DiskLab one is pretty good BUT it takes a lot to drag out plug in & connect. The FX 500 one is pretty good. Plenty of depth and with the preset reverb, compression and distortion switched off and then running into a spring reverb pedal or ITB spring reverb it sounds great. Additionally the FX500 is in a rack, has all of its connections, in & out, done...it also does mono & stereo which makes it flexible even though, for my purposes, it'll be mono. That leaves me slightly closer to my saving target for the ADAM T7V monitors I'm considering... My current monitors only have 4.5" speakers to woof with and the bottom end is where most of my probems reside so I hope it'll be a double plus... ADAM The ADAM 8" get huge positive reviews but that's a significant step skyward in price.

[rayc]

Only another $200 for the 8 inch, at Manny's...
https://www.mannys.com.au/adam-t8v-2-wa ... itors-pairAdam 8 inch monitors

Yeah,
I've looked at them but a grand is scary big....I won't be buying this week...I may consider the plus n minus.



This is interesting

[Lt. Bob]

Not sure why awesome monitors would need all that so they're clearly not that awesome

[rayc]

Not sure why awesome monitors would need all that so they're clearly not that awesome

They said excellent "for the money" but there was the one significant issue that the older fellow wanted to try to address...so he did.
It was/is a case of CAN it be improved? The advice followed by experiments showed that crossovers made a difference, more wadding made things worse, a really expensive amplifier made the results much better and mass made the most significant difference - for the better.
I've looked at the JBLs in the range as well as the Yamaha & others. Everything in the price range is a compromise and all could be improved - it's a given.
Moving from 4 1/2" woofers is the aim for me. I have a pair of AR4x speakers set up in the recording space with a nice Cambridge Audio Topaz amp. I listen to LPs in there and the twin speaker design delivers much better bottom end than the monitors even though the woofers aren't much bigger...voiced differently of course but having a richer, deeper bass sound available in the room made it clear that the monitors aren't the ant's pants and that the room isn't killing the bass.

[Greg_L]

I like all of these pretty good. I'm not sure but I think I could have picked out the Marshall in a blind test, and naturally I like it the best. It's got the Marshall bite and grind. I'm calling a tie for the two-rock and Tone King. They're pretty similar and both quite good. The Hi-Watt is last for me on this run because it's a little bloated in the lower mids IMO.

[rayc]

Custard Pie is a grand song - that made Phys Graf for me.
The HiWatt's really disappointing.
The Toneking wasn't bad but sounded like it needed a little more tweaking and the Marshall was pretty good.
Nice playing.

[Lt. Bob]

Not sure why awesome monitors would need all that so they're clearly not that awesome

They said excellent "for the money" but there was the one significant issue that the older fellow wanted to try to address...so he did.

I dunno ..... that resonance they pointed out bothers me.
Adams are certainly supposed to be very good ...... I'm kinda a JBL guy and they make some really nice monitors these days

[JD01]

The HiWatt seems a bit muddy and indistinct on this one.

The Two-Rock is nice and clear but a little thin, sounds like it could do with a bit more gain actually, although this might turn it to shit.

Really like the Tone King, its bright and clear but without being thin.

The Marhshall is pretty good too, but its starting to get a tiny bit messy - try the Tone King with a tiny bit more gain.

Tone King>Marshall>Two Rock>HiWatt

[Lt. Bob]

like the tone king but really like the mahrshall