Anyone have experience with tracking a Mark IIc+ or Quad Preamp?

[HSL]

I've got a Quad preamp so it's not a Mark IIc+, but close enough The Quad has been a complete beast to get sounding right when tracking. Its 'tone' is excellent, but I find that the overall sonic character is extremely difficult to tame and to get sounding right. When I track my dual rec, I'm hard-pressed to not get it sounding beefy and have it sit in the mix fairly well, even if I've got just a single 57 thrown up on a random place on the speaker/cab. They're quite different, with the Quad being its own beast like I said.

The Quad sounds more oldschool and a bit on the thin and harsh side of things. When using the Quad out of the box (just the graphic EQ), it's been unusable. I've gotten a bit further with it by using a parametric EQ in the loop, but there's still a little something to be desired. Flemming Rasmussen released his notes on MoP and AJFA and while that's helped a bit, something's telling me that he didn't use 3-4 mics on the cab and a hefty amount of additional EQ for no reason.

Anyone else experience this? Tips?

 

[bryan_kilco]

Mark IV owner and I just recently fired her up again for the first time in like 8 months and I'm sure glad I did!!

You running a TS in front? I find this helps my IV a LOT in the flubby low end area.

 

[HSL]

I've got a boost in front of it, yeah. It definitely cleans up some of the flubbiness. Though I find that it can be beneficial to not run the boost so high on Mark amps since it takes some of the 'chunk' out of your sound. A good example of what I'm talking about is Heathen's Victims of Deception album

Not too much of a mid-range tone, it has the chunk factor as mentioned. Just depends on what you're after I guess I'm going to have to do some mad practicing to get the Quad up to my standards, it's the most different amp I've ever tried tracking.

 

[TLTD]

I run the Quad through a Peavey Cel 2 Compressor then into Eleven Rack. I think it is just as it's called, a "preamp" which means you gotta put it through other stuff. It's amazing what happens though, sometimes channel one rhythm drives everything just right, and sometimes I turn off the amp sim and kick on channel 1+2 leads at the same time and it cuts through the mix for solos great with no DBX type compressor on. I highly recommend trying the compressor though, it's pretty cool how it tames it and makes it studio recording worthy. I don't use "recording outs" just the main ones, FYI. I record direct, but through the Eleven Rack. Sometimes I use the Behringer Vintage Overdrive just to turn up the levels on the way in and break it up more. Gets nice bluesy tones, surprised. Good luck. Try direct? Even if you use software compression and IRs or something. I still use some IRs when I want the attack to sound more real because I don't have the greatest OD pedal lol.