What do you Consider High Gain ?

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I think most of us can actually agree that gain levels from boosted JCM800 upwards can be considered as (relatively) high.

 

[la szum]

I kind of look at it in terms of gain-staging. 1 to 2 preamp gain stages and we are in
vintage Fender and Marshall territory. Get into the 3, 4.... and God Forbid 5 gain stages
cascading one into the next and you are in that high gain territory.

Also, high gain and dynamics/cleanup are often mutually exclusive.

Boosting an amp is a bit like adding a gain stage, without involving an added Valve.

 

[0XI0]

og high gain would have to be hendrix, because fuzz slammed into+ cranked preamp + maxed out power section, that's three layers of saturation, but blocky.

next would be the SD-1 + JCM800, which would be the first cascading gain, roll your own type.

then we move into the cascading preamp gain era, where we move all the gain staging into the preamp (mesa)

i think of high gain as a saturation that can sustain a palm mute (ola englund), and likewise is meant to sustain leads. where you palm mute and the pick attack is distorted but the decay is not, that's my threshold for the beginning of "high gain".

 

[Chocol8]

then we move into the cascading preamp gain era, where we move all the gain staging into the preamp (mesa)

Soldano, copied by Mesa.

 

[0XI0]

Soldano, copied by Mesa.

the recto? yeah. but mark was first way before the cold clipping, extra gain stage in a bassman with dual gain controls. people were adding gain stages to marshalls but idk if anybody was boosting fenders then. liquid gain og preamp cascading gain was mark 1

 

[maguchi]

For me a Boss Metal Zone MT-2 pedal into a Orange OR or a Marshall Silver Jubilee is high gain. But some folks on here have Engls. Friedmans, Diezels, Bogners, Soldanos, Riveras, Fryettes etc.

 

[James Freeman]

There is probably an individual sweet spot, for me high gain has to have enough gain and tightness to hear a distinct 'roomph' when I palm mute.