Coming back home (or coming full circle)

norminal said:
My first “real” amp was a JCM800. I went through a myriad of amps including Mesa Boogies. These days, I’m strictly a modeler user, but always seem to gravitate towards the Marshall models. I guess I’m a Marshall guy, and thank God the Fractal ecosystem has plenty of them to choose from.
Click to expand...

I can't escape that either. Plexi up to Modded 800 is my tonal wheelhouse with a Les Paul
and/or a SuperStrat. That said, I have a lot of love for 60's Fender tones with a Strat ( thank you SRV!). :chef
 
metropolis_4 said:
100% agree with you. A couple things I’ll add:

Every guitar and amp is capable of a broad range of tones. A Tele + AC30 doesn’t just equal one single sound.
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For sure! :beer

Within reason, though. :idk

If we have limitations we have no choice but to work within them. I suspect
most of us, you included, would prefer more options, though.

I think some working musicians have it harder than session guys, because the
range of tones needed to cover all the material is far more diverse than one more
Country/Americana Album being recorded in Nashville.

Sometimes you can't bring every tool you would like to. Or need to use a screwdriver
as a chisel.... and have to call it "good enough." :unsure:
 
la szum said:
For sure! :beer

Within reason, though. :idk

If we have limitations we have no choice but to work within them. I suspect
most of us, you included, would prefer more options, though.

I think some working musicians have it harder than session guys, because the
range of tones needed to cover all the material is far more diverse than one more
Country/Americana Album being recorded in Nashville.

Sometimes you can't bring every tool you would like to. Or need to use a screwdriver
as a chisel.... and have to call it "good enough." :unsure:
Click to expand...

Yep, 1000%!

I’ve had to turn gigs down before because I didn’t have the right gear and it sucks.
One time I got a call to do some prog metal gigs and I wanted to take it so bad, but the only amp I had at the time was a tweed Fender and I didn’t have the funds to buy what I would need to cover prog metal.

I’ve also had to do things like cover a Bon Jovi song with an AC15 and a Rat because it’s all I had :LOL:

You just have to cover as many bases as possible. One really good piece of advice I was once given: any time a gig calls for something you don’t have, find someone to borrow from, and then use the money from the gig to buy your own.
 
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I’ve migrated home a couple times. The first an awesome college roommate worked at GC and snagged an American Highway tele that came in used. $250 with the fender hard case. That immediately reminded me of my first name brand guitar, a Korean Squier II tele I got when I was 12 or 13. I still keep a collection of 60s spec teles around as counterpoint to the Gibson spec stuff I usually use.

The other was the beloved revision G Dual Rectifier. It was my first tube amp and it took me years to save for it as a teen. Kept it forever but came on hard times finishing school into the 2008 financial crisis and off it went for a car down payment when I finally found a job.

My OG one:

recto front.jpeg


The one I grabbed in recent years:
IMG_1094.jpeg
 
metropolis_4 said:
Yep, 1000%!

I’ve had to turn gigs down before because I didn’t have the right gear and it sucks.
One time I got a call to do some prog metal gigs and I wanted to take it so bad, but the only amp I had at the time was a tweed Fender and I didn’t have the funds to buy what I would need to cover prog metal.

I’ve also had to do things like cover a Bon Jovi song with an AC15 and a Rat because it’s all I had :LOL:

You just have to cover as many bases as possible. One really good piece of advice I was once given: any time a gig calls for something you don’t have, find someone to borrow from, and then use the money from the gig to buy your own.
Click to expand...

Oh man..... what would you have chosen for a Prog Metal Gig, Met? :idk
 
metropolis_4 said:
What was the first “really good” amp you remember using?
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When I was 18, I literally scraped together all I could, worked during school holidays, begged my dad for the remaining amount of cash, then went and bought a Fender 1994 ("Evil") Twin Amp.

Back then, I was totally overwhelmed by the control layout and the immense weight, but something did flick a switch in my brain.

Fortunately, I still have this beast. About 5 years in, the notorious "perks" that are responsible for its "Evil" moniker came into play. PCB failure, snap crackle & pop, all the (intermittent) bells and whistles.

It just sat there, broken and sad, for a long time, until I got it fixed by a brilliant tech a few years ago.

Now that I'm grown-up and know my way around amps, I fell back in love with it. Not my go-to kind of sound, but I still enjoy it very much every now and then.

EDIT: Apart from that, my first times with a LAB L5 and Ampeg VT-22 were also enlightening.
 
my first tube amp was a laney aor100 full of telefunkens... that thing was magic... but i managed to light up the grid resistors, and repaired it sounded like hammered dook... so i offed it and bought a used el84 mesa 50 cal. i LOVED that amp as a clean platform for over a decade... it had the magic midrange, fo sho, and started a long love affair with 84s- and while not necessarily a vox guy, i did love what i managed to pull off with those bottles in all my amps until i joined a band where i needed more volume and eq flexibility.. so i got a mark ii. not oddly... i gravitated to similar tones... and managed em.. but yeah... mids way up for me. sounds too kanky reedy any other way- especially if you ride your volume knob!
 
metropolis_4 said:
Oh, one more thing. As much as I love AC30s I’ve actually never done the non-top boost with a treble booster in front thing. Mostly because I’ve never owned a non-top boost AC30 or a treble booster.

I pulled up the model in Fractal and threw the range master in front and it is pure magic :chef

Where has that sound been all my life?
Click to expand...

I am coming from a Marshall background and never really understood Vox amps... until a few days ago. I fired up the Essex AC30 in the Helix and enjoyed it a lot, both with an AC30 cab sim and a Greenback one.

Now is there any significant difference between the top boost channel, and the normal channel goosed with a treble booster? I am starting to salivate here... (you know, this would justify choosing the optimal treble booster and purchasing it...) Is the AC Fawn Normal the right non top boost amp? There's no "normal" Essex in Helix. For the top boost channel, what's a good overdrive to use in front? (Guessing the treble booster could be a little too much?)
 
Home for me is Tele + tweed + tape delay. Warm, thick, spacy. Currrent project is playing Bob Weir in a Grateful Dead tribute, so its kinda off script from the tones I gravitate toward - ultra clean, ice picky, sharp. I picked up an AC30 as Bobby plays a pair of handwired AC30 combos these days, I'm running to a pair of Weber Signature Alnico 12s. I was using the normal channel, trying to keep it super clean, but I figured out how to set the top boost so it can stay clean but still impart that sharp attack and get a little hair around the edge of each note. Man, that top boost, set on the edge of breakup is something to behold. Played my old Junior into it last night; rolled off the volume and it sounded like a piano, rolled up for leads and riffs to get that sizzling tone. I guess what I am saying is maybe I found a new home. :idk

w1k6ELZh.jpg
 
itchyfingers said:
Home for me is Tele + tweed + tape delay. Warm, thick, spacy. Currrent project is playing Bob Weir in a Grateful Dead tribute, so its kinda off script from the tones I gravitate toward - ultra clean, ice picky, sharp. I picked up an AC30 as Bobby plays a pair of handwired AC30 combos these days, I'm running to a pair of Weber Signature Alnico 12s. I was using the normal channel, trying to keep it super clean, but I figured out how to set the top boost so it can stay clean but still impart that sharp attack and get a little hair around the edge of each note. Man, that top boost, set on the edge of breakup is something to behold. Played my old Junior into it last night; rolled off the volume and it sounded like a piano, rolled up for leads and riffs to get that sizzling tone. I guess what I am saying is maybe I found a new home. :idk

w1k6ELZh.jpg
Click to expand...

1962 junior?
 
vino_buono said:
I am coming from a Marshall background and never really understood Vox amps... until a few days ago. I fired up the Essex AC30 in the Helix and enjoyed it a lot, both with an AC30 cab sim and a Greenback one.

Now is there any significant difference between the top boost channel, and the normal channel goosed with a treble booster? I am starting to salivate here... (you know, this would justify choosing the optimal treble booster and purchasing it...) Is the AC Fawn Normal the right non top boost amp? There's no "normal" Essex in Helix. For the top boost channel, what's a good overdrive to use in front? (Guessing the treble booster could be a little too much?)
Click to expand...

I only like a treble booster with non-top boost AC30’s. The Normal channel should work well
 
metropolis_4 said:
I only like a treble booster with non-top boost AC30’s. The Normal channel should work well
Click to expand...

Now, I have tried the top boost, and the treble booster with non-TB AC30, and like @metropolis_4 for crunch I much prefere the latter; it sounds great! I have gotten me a Throbak Strange Master that has both a germanium and a silicon transistor, and both sounds have their place. With some guitars, it seems that rolling the guitar volume pot back just a tad is key to get rid of too much honkiness ("cocked wah" tone).

So far, my set up is for a classic "Queen" type of crunch. For leads, I just increase the signal level after the treble booster and before the amp for a bit more gain (plus the usual post-amp volume boost and delay). I do this in the HX Stomp so I can have a rhythm and a lead snapshot without touching the treble booster pedal.

Say I'd like to notch the gain up a bit for some Bon Jovi type of gain. What's the best way of doing it? More gain from the treble booster pedal? More output level after the treble booster? An extra overdrive somewhere in the chain? What is your experience?
 
vino_buono said:
Now, I have tried the top boost, and the treble booster with non-TB AC30, and like @metropolis_4 for crunch I much prefere the latter; it sounds great! I have gotten me a Throbak Strange Master that has both a germanium and a silicon transistor, and both sounds have their place. With some guitars, it seems that rolling the guitar volume pot back just a tad is key to get rid of too much honkiness ("cocked wah" tone).

So far, my set up is for a classic "Queen" type of crunch. For leads, I just increase the signal level after the treble booster and before the amp for a bit more gain (plus the usual post-amp volume boost and delay). I do this in the HX Stomp so I can have a rhythm and a lead snapshot without touching the treble booster pedal.

Say I'd like to notch the gain up a bit for some Bon Jovi type of gain. What's the best way of doing it? More gain from the treble booster pedal? More output level after the treble booster? An extra overdrive somewhere in the chain? What is your experience?
Click to expand...

I’m not really sure, I haven’t pushed that type of sound with that setup before.

I did once use an SD-1 + AC30hw2 to play a couple Bon Jovi songs for a Bon Jovi tribute competition at Hard Rock Cafe! I thought it sounded pretty good
 
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