Tone sounds crappy through Big Tube amps

[Nicholasim]

hi,

I have a question. I only use 1 pedal which is a boss metalzone. At home, the sound produced through my marshall ministack is a nice mix of sweet smooth tone and heavy distortion. However, when i go for auditions/jamming, when i put it through a GIANT tube amp, it sounds horrible! I tried adjusting but being in an audition, didnt have much time so i couldnt get nice sound. It really sounded horrible, very distorted, and gritty fuzzy.

This isnt the first time, i had the same problem when i gigged 2-3yrs ago using a korg ax3000g multiefx. Same type of sound was produced, fuzzy gritty sound.

The amp used for my audition was a peavy tube amp. Not sure which model. During my gig years back, the amp was a marshall tube amp as well. Both are stack, 4x12 i think.

Please help! Round 2 of auditions is coming up next week, need some advise.

Thanks!

 

[shibby]

Tube amps are supposed to sound great but they do need a bit of tweaking. Since you are using the Boss MT-2 for your dirt, you should just try to get the best clean sound with the clean channel of the amp. Usually I just put all the eqs at noon and just tweak around to my liking. Then when you engage the pedal, you can do minor adjustments to the pedal eqs to get your sound right. I think maybe the pedal settings might be different for your home amp and the studio amp. And if it still sounds bad, just cut off some gain. I always believe less gain is better. Or you could buy a cheap tubescreamer/overdrive type pedal like the Ibanez TS-7 or the Boss SD-1 to drive up the dirt channel of the amp to fully utilise the tube amp's potential.
Hope this helps. =)

 

[jerryoc221]

Why not hit the studio and fine tune your rig there or if you know some one who owns a similar amp for you to try.

Also, try to lower your gain or volume on your rig.

 

[lifele55]

Some pedals are like that, and I've experienced a few. They're only good for bedroom use but when it comes to being with the band, no matter what you do either it gets lost in the mix or its just looses its oomph factor.

The amp also plays a another part especially since its a totally different amp to what you're used to. To make matters worst, you don't have the luxury to tweak to your liking and remember, what you set your amp settings for at home is totally different to what you'd set during jams or auditions or gigs (unless of course you're using your own amps)

My main advise, try a different distortion pedal. Not bashing the MT-2 or trying to be elitist or whatever, but you might find a better pedal for live applications. But seeing that time is short till your next audition, try to get more mids on the MT2 and back down on the treble. I know that pedal can get very very very fizzy.

 

[Nicholasim]

Thanks for the advices guys. I did tweak the clean channel to my liking, usually lowered the treble to 10am, mids to 11am, bass remains at 12. Clean channel was okay but the moment I stepped on the pedal, oh my god hhahaha. Maybe i should try lowering the gain and level on my pedal. I dont think i wanna tweak the mids (mt-2 has 2 mid knobs) much because that is what shapes the type of distortion i wanna get. Could be the distortion level that is causing this though.

Or maybe i'll just try my luck with the amp's distortion. But i wont get to use that amp until the audition itself.. So it is really testing my luck haha.

My question now is, how come amps can sound so different? I always thought that larger amps = larger sound. I know tube amps are generally different from SS, but i remembered the marshall that i tried years ago was a SS as well, just REALLY BIG!

 

[zesn]

It's because you're using a boss metalzone.
With the pedal's character like that, you can't really expect diversity.

 

[Nicholasim]

It's because you're using a boss metalzone.
With the pedal's character like that, you can't really expect diversity.

Okay, then how do we explain the same thing happening with my Korg ax3000g?

I know what u mean, the metal is made for it's own purpose. But what I'm trying to ask is why does it sound so different through different amps? That's a massive tone difference. Through the large stack it's extremely fuzzy and gritty.

 

[zesn]

Same for the korg, had the same experience.
It has that digital edgyness.
If you're going through a good 'big tube amp',
might as well go straight to the amp's drive, definitely sound nicer.

 

[shibby]

Putting aside skills/techniques/fingers, I always believe a guitarist's tone is 60% amp, 30% guitar 10% pedals. That's why I think if you are using a different amp, the change in tone is going to be huge. A good amp, a decent guitar and a couple of essential pedals will make you sound great.

 

[gunihoon]

Try bringing along another OD. Different OD/Dist reacts differently with different amps. My Riot sounds awesome thru my Egnater 20 at home and sounds thin and fizzy thru an AC15. For larger venues, I brought along my Bearfoot Dyna Red just in case the different amps changes my core tone. Make sure the amp u are going to use is clean or almost at breakup, then adjust ur pedal's volume to be unity when on, then add gain + EQ to taste (you might need to then reduce the volume to compensate for the increase in gain).

Your settings at home will definitely be not the same when playing live Especially if you are going to monitor through your own amp at a big venue.

 

[dezng]

trying lower the gain knob and turn up the level knob on the pedal when it pass through a cranked amp.

 

[relinquish69]

Some amps just don't take pedals very well. I used to have a VOX AC30 and fed a Xotic BB Preamp + into it. Could not squeeze a decent tone out even while adjusting both the amp and the pedal.

However for most cases, reduce the gain on your pedal and rely more on the gain coming from the amp. Set the amp's gain close to breaking point. that should give you a nice sound.

 

[Nicholasim]

HI again,

I tried the amp alone without any pedals, sounds great. Hmm, maybe the gain on the pedal was too high, not sure.

But thanks for all the help! Cheers guys

 

[zesn]

No, it's just the pedal. Srsly.

 

[Godspeed64]

No, it's just the pedal. Srsly.

This. MT-2 works well in the bedroom but there's a reason not many are fond of it at high volume levels.

 

[Ized]

The MT-2 is a totally different animal modded though. Can try that route....or a modded Keeley DS-1. Think davis stocks that.

I agree about the metal zone being a recipe for tone disaster, it sounds wayyy too fizzy stock....like a chainsaw meets a jar of bees kind of tone, analogically speaking. The only band that sounded good with the guitarist using it so far is Master Ford from Fireball, but he uses it into an old tweed Fender Bassman which takes pedals like a sponge. Not to mention his killer technique and ear for tone as well.

 

[Nicholasim]

Hmm, like what godspeed said, it can sound good (in fact I like it a lot) in bedroom levels. But when played through a big amp, holy shit, it sounds like crap haha.

Yeah, I've just bought myself a Monte modded MT-2. So far, sound pretty dam good through my Marshall ministack, have yet to try it through a larger amp though.

 

[zoyd_berg]

Perhaps try bringing different pedals or guitars haha.. From my experience sometimes it's the guitar and amp combination.
IMO Fender Strat could take almost any amp and you could get the sound quite easily.

 

[Nicholasim]

i tried 2 guitars, one les paul with PAF pickups, the other LTD with EMGs. Both also sound funny haha

 

[gunihoon]

Typically, things we find really nice at bedroom levels will turn out really different at full venue levels, especially for ODs/Dists

A lot more goes into play when the tubes are cranked as well. So headroom and saturation levels on tube amps at full tilt affects how your effects turn out.