I need some advice for my tone...

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 2:55 pm

Hey guys. I need some advice for my distortion tone from you guitar experts!

My setup is as follows: Guitar- Whammy 4 - Crybaby Classic - Amptweaker Tight Metal - Ernie Ball VP JR - Peavey Bandit 112 clean channel (With Sonic Stomp and ISP Decimator in loop).

My main problem comes when I practice with my band. When I turn my amp up, the tone becomes over-compressed and distorted. I usually just turn off my Sonic Stomp and turn down the presence, which takes away the strange tone. But I want to be able to use my Sonic Stomp at high volumes, and maintain good crisp tone. Would Turning down the gain on my Tight Metal help? I just want to get the same tone that I get in my bedroom, but at high volumes. I play about half as loud in my bedroom.

For the overall tone, I want it be defined, ballsy, and crunchy. High Gain, yet defined. I get pretty good tones in my room, but I want to be better. Sorry if I'm confusing you guys. Laughing

So my overall question is: Is there any tips to get the same tone you get at low volumes at high volume?

Thanks for any help! Very Happy

Joined: 23 Nov 2005 Posts: 8255 Location: Ontario, Canada

Everytime I go from the bedroom to the jam space I EQ a little differently. These days I only adjust the Resonance and the Presence. On my crunch channel I sometimes play with the treble during souncheck.

The gain may not need to be as high for high volumes. Try turning that down and also backing off the resonance and bass a little. You'll need some mids if you jamming with a band. You proabably know that though so I'll end the post here. Hope it works out for you. I never played the tight metal but I've heard good things about them.

Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1528 Location: PAris, France

Sonic stomp is basically an EQ. You need to find other settings for it when playing loud, and maybe it won't work then.
What you describe is pretty much what happens to very bedroom tone used in rehearsal by just upping the volume: it becomes horrible.

Forget your home tone, make a loud tone from scratch. And if you don't need your BBE when playing loud, just don't use it. You don't *have* to use every piece of equipment you own all the time.

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6629 Location: Minnesota

Get rid of the Sonic Stomp all together, and turn your gain down.

99% of the time that wil improve your tone.

Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2013 4:40 pm

Thanks alot guys!! I probably won't get rid of the Sonic Stomp all together, but I will use it just to give my tone more punch. Ill try your advice out! Very Happy

Joined: 27 Sep 2010 Posts: 1271 Location: Easton Ma

I found that the bandit sounds good with the presence around 6 with the T.Dynamics on 30-40%. I put the gain half way up, bass at noon with mids around 2-3 O'clock and the highs around 3-4 O'clock
I also like the modern tone, high gain is alright too but I dig the modern. A touch of reverb for a fuller sound.

I love my bandit, its been around my house for years. Its a solid amp

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 349 Location: South-West Ohio

what er all these button floor things?

Hands--->Guitar--->amp = Tone

I'm joking, but only party.

The more crap in your signal chain the more muddied and noisy it gets. an effect for a extrem differance during a song is great, but I honestly feel if you need that pedal to run all the time then thier is either somethign wrong in the pups or the amp [usually a gain or EQ thing, although good speakers make a world of diffferance too] and I would sort there first. I equate using a stomp box all the time to putting a band-aid on herpes. masking it doesn't really fix the problem.

What I'm reading between the lines here is you like the sound of massive gain at low volume but when you play with others at high volume it doesn't sound good. you might be amazed at how low gain some "heavy" acts use.

Also, I had a post earlier about a breakthrough I had in my tone. it might help?

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:39 am

Vman wrote:

I found that the bandit sounds good with the presence around 6 with the T.Dynamics on 30-40%. I put the gain half way up, bass at noon with mids around 2-3 O'clock and the highs around 3-4 O'clock
I also like the modern tone, high gain is alright too but I dig the modern. A touch of reverb for a fuller sound.

I love my bandit, its been around my house for years. Its a solid amp

Thanks dude, but I have the USA Solo Series Bandit that was before the 'red stripe' one i think you have. Mine has different controls. Still is a solid amp!

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:43 am

double post

Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2013 12:45 am

So basically at higher volumes, use less gain. Less is more for my settings? Ill try it out next time I play with the guys.
And for me Pariah, my tone is alot better with my Tight Metal than it is straight to the amp. Its really not bad, and hopefully after this it wont be bad at high volumes either. I dont see a problem with running a dist pedal, but to each his own.

Thanks guys!

Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 1050 Location: charlottle nc

you want a good modern metal tone? easy. keep bass not higher than noon. presense is your enemey at high volumes, get rid of it. little to no presence. get your mids to atleast 60% if not more. theres no way around it, if you want tight clear tone you need mids. put your trebble around the same area as your mids. next and most importantly gain. more gain, more saturation, more mushy, dial that s#%t back 75% or less.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2013 3:47 am

drewmusicman wrote:

you want a good modern metal tone? easy. keep bass not higher than noon. presense is your enemey at high volumes, get rid of it. little to no presence. get your mids to atleast 60% if not more. theres no way around it, if you want tight clear tone you need mids. put your trebble around the same area as your mids. next and most importantly gain. more gain, more saturation, more mushy, dial that s#%t back 75% or less.

alright dude. Thanks!