Kingsley Maiden D V2 incoming

[jellodog]

Yeah, I’m coming at it from a different angle. Couple of reasons I'm trying these things out [...]

FANTASTIC post! I resonated with so much of these thoughts. But of course, you have also given me much to think about.

 

[laxu]

Yeah, I’m coming at it from a different angle. Couple of reasons I'm trying these things out:

(1). curious/bored
(2). like a lot of folks that love digital, I also still occasionally feel like I get lost in the weeds. By this I mean one of two things (which I will of course label "a" and "b" instead of "1" and "2"):
(a). Feeling like I don't quite have a grounded "home base" reference point. A firmware update pops up, changes the cab block and everything is all of a sudden a little different. A new amp model or two are added, you go off exploring, which then sends you exploring a few other amp models you forgot about, in Fractal land the Gravitational Force Vector Constant is updated to better reflect NASA's most recent measurements, the variable compression contraction expansion power transformer modeling is updated and, oh, yeah, we realized we accidentally had a 500k pot in that one spot that should have been a 10k pot so we updated that. With perfect preset management, and rolling back firmware, etc., but even with that there's just some inherent distrust that everything is "back to the way it was" or whatever. Would be nice to have one rig/setup/system that I can easily plug into and say "alright, this is tone central. It might not be the Ultimately Optimized tone or rig, but it it was one that is good, that I know, and that is immovable."

(b). Missing the "feel" of plugging into an amp-and-pedal rig. I'm not talking about some magical compression that you can sense under the fingers but not hear, but just the overall emotional and physical experience of plugging into a rig with one-to-one knob - to function and on/off button correspondence that requires no programming aside from rearranging patch cables. I love digital and for the most part have no problem plugging into what amounts to a computer with a terrible user interface, but like any self-respecting Gen X-er, I still miss the good ol' days of pedals and amps (even if they were all solid-state) and a Friday night trip to Blockbuster (okay, I don't miss that at all).

The power amp side for me -- as we've spoken before, I haven't had great experiences with attenuators. Tonally I didn't like it, and I also hated the anti-goldilocks "this click is too loud, but that click is too quiet" conundrum. Lower wattage amps sound great and impart plenty of compression even at home volume, but I hate the fact that you are almost always in a different part of the headroom curve so your pedals/reverb/etc., are always reacting/sounding different which drives me nuts. So...master volume amp, or some sort of load/reamp scenario where the load probably doesn't reflect that kind of cab that would be used in conjunction with the kind of amps I like? Once you're in that area, I feel like the quibbles over "but the preamp and power amp aren't united into a single orgasmic body with shared power supply that causes each to sag in concert with one another at a matched impedance level that God Intended!" are kinda moot.

I think we all get a little too wrapped up in the "does it sound like a REAL amp?!?" discussion...at the end of the day, I will never have something that sounds like "the real" amp I'm kinda sorta shooting for because that would be at ear damaging volumes in a home environment. As much as I love the idea of being Jimmy Herring or Derek Trucks and playing through a Super Reverb on 8...that would sound TERRIBLE in my jam room. And so I'm chasing stuff that isn't a Super Reverb at all. I'm less concerned about the technological "compromise" I'm making to try to get that at the volume I need it at and more interested in "what's the playing experience using this gear" like.

This definitely resonates with me.

A few years back when the Axe-Fx 3 was released, I sold my Axe-Fx 2 while I could still get good money for it and decided "I'll just buy a tube amp I like, done deal!". Got a Bogner Goldfinger 45 Superlead, which in itself is a ridiculously versatile amp.

Well, I was happy with that for a bit. Then someone happened to sell a Helix Floor for a really good price used so I picked that up because I didn't have anything more than a couple of pedals for fx. Ok, that was cool, I had "everything" again and it was easy to use.

Then you start thinking "you know what, it would be cool to run this amp cranked" so I bought a Fryette PS-2, only to figure out that the Bogner just sounds worse when driven to powertube distortion.

Then comes the "it would be cool to have a Vox style amp to go with this Fender-meets-Marshall thing".

Eventually you end up with a lot of gear that requires plugging cables around everytime you want to use the other one etc. I was even running this rig with a pedalboard in full stereo. It was inconvenient trying to get the volume of these two amps to work so that one doesn't overpower the other.

There was a lot of other hardware in between from modelers to amps but in the end I'm basically back to where I started: an Axe-Fx 3 on my desk and as an alternative a "mostly Strymon" pedalboard using the Strymon Iridium. Using the Iridium instead of a real amp gives me enough options if I want, with easy operation and none of the complications of real amps. If I want I can easily swap it for my BluGuitar Amp 1 ME for plugging into a cab.

I haven't gone into the whole tube preamp thing because I don't really feel it sounds better than what can nowadays be achieved with digital and even solid-state stuff. If it's gotta be tube, I'd go for a full blown tube amp.

If I were to buy another tube amp, it would be something pretty damn simple and using pedals to augment its capabilities. To me the real difference is using a real guitar cab, that's going to make a bigger difference than tube vs digital vs solid-state nowadays.

 

[signalpath]

If I were to buy another tube amp, it would be something pretty damn simple and using pedals to augment its capabilities.

In 2015 I bought an Amplifire, in 2017 a Helix LT, in 2018 an HX Stomp, and in 2020 a FM3 and a year later a FC6 to augment it. Undoubtedly something personal but I always felt somewhat dissatisfied with the modelling experience. This spring I picked up a Victoria 5112, a 5A1 Champ with a 12” speaker, and for the first time in years, gear-wise, I feel at home. Maybe it’s the lack of options or something but I’m finally hearing what I want to hear. I’m not going to chuck the modellers. But will only use them to augment my basic rig or for some other specific purpose.

Some notes on the pedalboard.

• The Templeboard uses a 2XMOD for input and a 4XMOD for an effects loop and 2-way output.
• One of the inputs in the 2XMOD feeds the tuner. The other one is there to support an expression pedal feeding the MC6 Pro.
• Tubesteader recently released a model called the Eggnog which is in a smaller enclosure than their other pedals. I asked Olly if he could house the Lightkeeper which is normally in the larger enclosure in the smaller one and he did.
• Stacking the Lightkeeper and the Minstrel didn’t work for me. So I treat the pedals as separate channels and use the A/B to switch between them.
• The signals are merged into the Clinch EP-Pre which I love - it’s Lebowski’s rug, it just ties everything together.
• From there the signal is fed to an effects loop which you can see is closed in the 4XMOD. My thinking at this point is that I can put either the HX Stomp or the FM3 in the loop for extra effects if I want and drive them from the MC6 Pro.
• From there the signal feeds a El Capistan V2 and then a Flint V2 and then on to the 2 output ports on the 4XMOD. If only one amp is connected it will run in mono, otherwise in stereo.
• Control of El Capistan and the Flint is managed by the MC6 Pro which also drives the Midi Clock for both devices.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Today’a experiment was comparing going directly into Maiden to power amp to going into Helix first with a blank patch having only a send going to Maiden to power amp. Everything in Helix was at unity gain so volume normalized. Difference was small but perceptible. Which is mildly annoying but not unexpected.

This setup made matching grammatico model to the pedal a lot easier and was able to get the Helix to sound reeeeeally close to the pedal under most settings that don’t involve the EQ lift.

Went through a few other Helix models - Litigator, Elmsley, and Ventoux - and got some GREAT tones. Which all is usually where I throw in the towel and say “fuck it! I don’t need no stinking tubes, digital into a guitar cab is totally enough for me.” and I sel off the tubes. But doing everything I can to avoid that temptation this time. If for no other reason than to have some pure analog on hand for the next time the urge strikes.

Synergy bassman module is scheduled to arrive Wednesday. If it sounds great, will bring in the synergy ods module and have a good ol’ fashioned death match between it and the Kingsley.

 

[jellodog]

@Boudoir Guitar I'm loving these episodic updates

 

[yeky83]

Synergy bassman module is scheduled to arrive Wednesday. If it sounds great, will bring in the synergy ods module and have a good ol’ fashioned death match between it and the Kingsley.