The Tone Thread

[Greg_L]

Forgot about this....

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtcIt6oFjvI[/BBvideo]

[rayc]

Headbanging Bobblegreg.

[Bill L]

Forgot about this....

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtcIt6oFjvI[/BBvideo]

That is some funny shit. The cinematography is just sublime. I remember this from that quaint other board we used to frequent.

[SweetDan]

I heard there's a bunch of fluffers around here that can get things "up and going".

We need someone with a LOT of time on their hands to do a LOT of copy and paste.

One at a time, one at a time, please. And last in, first out, eh? I recently posted the following on that ot"H"er fo"R"um last week, and humbly submit it now for your generous feedback:

---
Hey, I'm late to the party. Can we get it up and going again? Here's my contribution: http://eastofcleveland.com/m/guitarTone ... odel_1.mp3

What is it?

Tele-clone, bridge P/U, tone 100%, vol maybe 70%

-> Alesis NanoCompressor (1/2U rack-mount), used not so much for compression but for about 18dB boost (maybe clipping 1db off the tops of the peaks, very fast)

-> Vox ADVT30 amp using the "Black 2x12" sim, treble/mid/bass all about halfway up their respective ranges, but bass bumped down a bit, mid bumped *up* a bit, and treble bumped up a bit more than the mid; gain was about 70% (nice and gritty all by itself, but not too much), vol 100%, and I used the built-in soak to drop the volume to loud bedroom levels

-> mic'd with an AKG P170 (small-diaphragm condenser) about a foot in front of the grille, pointed straight at the center of the (10") speaker

The amp is good for practice, but in the 3-4 years I've had it, I've gotten a tone I really liked exactly two other times. Two! And then tonight this; I'd never thought to use the make-up gain knob on the compressor just to drive the signal harder into the pre-amp. The amp is not great sounding overall, I think due to it's age and generation of modeling (pretty early), and also to the 10" speaker. But tonight the sound was really "on".

Let me know if I'm just imagining it sounds good, or if I just got lucky, or if it seems like I could make getting decent tones out of it a repeatable process.
---

(edit: why do I feel like the little kid who follows the "big kids" around at recess?)

[Greg_L]

I heard there's a bunch of fluffers around here that can get things "up and going".

We need someone with a LOT of time on their hands to do a LOT of copy and paste.

One at a time, one at a time, please. And last in, first out, eh? I recently posted the following on that ot"H"er fo"R"um last week, and humbly submit it now for your generous feedback:

---
Hey, I'm late to the party. Can we get it up and going again? Here's my contribution: http://eastofcleveland.com/m/guitarTone ... odel_1.mp3

What is it?

Tele-clone, bridge P/U, tone 100%, vol maybe 70%

-> Alesis NanoCompressor (1/2U rack-mount), used not so much for compression but for about 18dB boost (maybe clipping 1db off the tops of the peaks, very fast)

-> Vox ADVT30 amp using the "Black 2x12" sim, treble/mid/bass all about halfway up their respective ranges, but bass bumped down a bit, mid bumped *up* a bit, and treble bumped up a bit more than the mid; gain was about 70% (nice and gritty all by itself, but not too much), vol 100%, and I used the built-in soak to drop the volume to loud bedroom levels

-> mic'd with an AKG P170 (small-diaphragm condenser) about a foot in front of the grille, pointed straight at the center of the (10") speaker

The amp is good for practice, but in the 3-4 years I've had it, I've gotten a tone I really liked exactly two other times. Two! And then tonight this; I'd never thought to use the make-up gain knob on the compressor just to drive the signal harder into the pre-amp. The amp is not great sounding overall, I think due to it's age and generation of modeling (pretty early), and also to the 10" speaker. But tonight the sound was really "on".

Let me know if I'm just imagining it sounds good, or if I just got lucky, or if it seems like I could make getting decent tones out of it a repeatable process.
---

(edit: why do I feel like the little kid who follows the "big kids" around at recess?)

Hey SweetDan, welcome to the site.

Well, I think you got what could be a usable tone there, but there's one massive problem and personal pet peeve of mine - I can hear you hitting the strings. I can hear your pick hitting your strings being picked up by the mic. Besides that, it's not bad. A little murky, but that could be some of the room creeping in to the mic's semi-distant position. A foot off the grill might not seem distant, but it's far enough to let room creep into a mic that's not being blasted by an amp. And obviously it let in pick hitting string noise. Go louder, mic closer, or both.

[JD01]

Mate, I can't listen now (cooking) but I'll have a listen in a bit. Your rig sounds interesting though.

[WhiskeyJack]

Forgot about this....

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtcIt6oFjvI[/BBvideo]

[JD01]

I heard there's a bunch of fluffers around here that can get things "up and going".

We need someone with a LOT of time on their hands to do a LOT of copy and paste.

One at a time, one at a time, please. And last in, first out, eh? I recently posted the following on that ot"H"er fo"R"um last week, and humbly submit it now for your generous feedback:

---
Hey, I'm late to the party. Can we get it up and going again? Here's my contribution: http://eastofcleveland.com/m/guitarTone ... odel_1.mp3

What is it?

Tele-clone, bridge P/U, tone 100%, vol maybe 70%

-> Alesis NanoCompressor (1/2U rack-mount), used not so much for compression but for about 18dB boost (maybe clipping 1db off the tops of the peaks, very fast)

-> Vox ADVT30 amp using the "Black 2x12" sim, treble/mid/bass all about halfway up their respective ranges, but bass bumped down a bit, mid bumped *up* a bit, and treble bumped up a bit more than the mid; gain was about 70% (nice and gritty all by itself, but not too much), vol 100%, and I used the built-in soak to drop the volume to loud bedroom levels

-> mic'd with an AKG P170 (small-diaphragm condenser) about a foot in front of the grille, pointed straight at the center of the (10") speaker

The amp is good for practice, but in the 3-4 years I've had it, I've gotten a tone I really liked exactly two other times. Two! And then tonight this; I'd never thought to use the make-up gain knob on the compressor just to drive the signal harder into the pre-amp. The amp is not great sounding overall, I think due to it's age and generation of modeling (pretty early), and also to the 10" speaker. But tonight the sound was really "on".

Let me know if I'm just imagining it sounds good, or if I just got lucky, or if it seems like I could make getting decent tones out of it a repeatable process.
---

(edit: why do I feel like the little kid who follows the "big kids" around at recess?)

Dan, I've had a good listen to it on my reference cans now.

As Greg said - its quite dark, particularly for a vox. But I think most of this could be cured by cranking the amp a bit more and moving the mic closer.

Try sticking the amp about an inch off the grill and turning the amp up until its at least loud enough to drown out a loud conversation and definitely loud enough to drown out your string noise. Sounds like there should be a good tone in there though if you work at it a bit.

[JD01]

While I'm back on the Tone Thread - here's the "classic" metal tone I was working with on Sunday. I'm trying to dial the gain back as much as possible but I think I may have undercooked it a bit and it could do with a touch more.

Classic Metal tone test.mp3

[SweetDan]

...its quite dark, particularly for a vox. But I think most of this could be cured by cranking the amp a bit more and moving the mic closer.

Try sticking the amp about an inch off the grill and turning the amp up until its at least loud enough to drown out a loud conversation and definitely loud enough to drown out your string noise. Sounds like there should be a good tone in there though if you work at it a bit.

Thanks (and to Greg too) for the feedback. It's a Vox "valvetronix", a small modeling combo, so not what you'd think of as a "real" amp - http://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/ad30.html . Given that, I'm just happy to get any sort of decent tone. (And in the clip I posted, it was set to model a completely different amp altogether.)

[JD01]

...its quite dark, particularly for a vox. But I think most of this could be cured by cranking the amp a bit more and moving the mic closer.

Try sticking the amp about an inch off the grill and turning the amp up until its at least loud enough to drown out a loud conversation and definitely loud enough to drown out your string noise. Sounds like there should be a good tone in there though if you work at it a bit.

Thanks (and to Greg too) for the feedback. It's a Vox "valvetronix", a small modeling combo, so not what you'd think of as a "real" amp - http://www.voxshowroom.com/uk/amp/ad30.html . Given that, I'm just happy to get any sort of decent tone. (And in the clip I posted, it was set to model a completely different amp altogether.)

Ah, that is little... and old for modelling gear! Do you have restrictions on volume in your recording space?

[SweetDan]

Restrictions? Yes and no - I obviously don't want to annoy the neighbors in the next house over at 3 in the morning.

But I'm not in an apartment, so I could definitely turn it up louder. (Works best when the wife & kids aren't at home.)

[JD01]

Restrictions? Yes and no - I obviously don't want to annoy the neighbors in the next house over at 3 in the morning.

But I'm not in an apartment, so I could definitely turn it up louder. (Works best when the wife & kids aren't at home.)

Ah, I'm time limited with my volume too. My advice would be to practice your parts and arrangements so you can just smash them out when it's time to record and you can get loud... although you want to make sure you've got your tone dialled in and are sure of your mic placement too.

[Greg_L]

Restrictions? Yes and no - I obviously don't want to annoy the neighbors in the next house over at 3 in the morning.

But I'm not in an apartment, so I could definitely turn it up louder. (Works best when the wife & kids aren't at home.)

At least get it loud enough where the sound of pick hitting strings does not poke through.

IMO the louder the better, not just cuz it's cool, but for tonal considerations, but I know that has to be kept within reason sometimes.

Since your amp is a modeling amp, it probably doesn't have to be "cranked". Just get it louder than your pick hitting strings.

[Greg_L]

While I'm back on the Tone Thread - here's the "classic" metal tone I was working with on Sunday. I'm trying to dial the gain back as much as possible but I think I may have undercooked it a bit and it could do with a touch more.

Classic Metal tone test.mp3

Not bad. Needs more gain to me and less mids.

[JD01]

While I'm back on the Tone Thread - here's the "classic" metal tone I was working with on Sunday. I'm trying to dial the gain back as much as possible but I think I may have undercooked it a bit and it could do with a touch more.

Classic Metal tone test.mp3

Not bad. Needs more gain to me and less mids.

Cheers, more gain I was pretty certain of, wasn't sure about the EQ.. I'm always weary of sounding too scoopy and late 90s. I'm definitely making progress with my tone though.

[Greg_L]

Cheers, more gain I was pretty certain of, wasn't sure about the EQ.. I'm always weary of sounding too scoopy and late 90s. I'm definitely making progress with my tone though.

Classic metal wasn't very midrangey, but it wasn't nearly as scooped as that 90s numetal garbage. Old metal had so much emphasis on lows and highs the mids just fell where they were. There wasn't an actual push to scoop mids.

[rammer24]

Restrictions? Yes and no - I obviously don't want to annoy the neighbors in the next house over at 3 in the morning.

Consider re-amping, too. That's how I manage to crank my amp when I need to lay down a track. I'll record at a lower volume, sending a raw signal to a track, and then re-amp when I'm able to crank it up.

[JD01]

Restrictions? Yes and no - I obviously don't want to annoy the neighbors in the next house over at 3 in the morning.

Consider re-amping, too. That's how I manage to crank my amp when I need to lay down a track. I'll record at a lower volume, sending a raw signal to a track, and then re-amp when I'm able to crank it up.

You got a modelling amp too, don't you?

[JD01]

Cheers, more gain I was pretty certain of, wasn't sure about the EQ.. I'm always weary of sounding too scoopy and late 90s. I'm definitely making progress with my tone though.

Classic metal wasn't very midrangey, but it wasn't nearly as scooped as that 90s numetal garbage. Old metal had so much emphasis on lows and highs the mids just fell where they were. There wasn't an actual push to scoop mids.

Cool, I'll keep that in mind for next weekend. I was listening to Judas Preist in the office last Friday and it got me in the mood for this sort of thing.