Fine Tuning Your SOUND!!!!

[Symbiant]

K so this is actually my first time at attempting to start a metal band. Ive played in many punk bands but that music has gone too complete swamp. So i still have my old Epiphone SG which rocks hard, the pick ups are great and i can get a sweet tone out of them but i just recently ordered an ESP-EC-500 in flat black.. I am going all out on this no hold barred. I also just bought a Randall G3 head which i will probably run on Marshall 1960 cabinets.. I will get a slant first then a flat faced. But what i was curious and what this thread is all about is fine tuning your gear to suit your death crunching, ear slaying needs. Personally i am gonna try and get a road case (which is why i asked about them in another thread) so i can have the head and some rack units, such as; Furman power conditioner, Korg rack tuner, Alesis compressor and a graphic eq of some sort which i will research further into..

Whats everyones else preferences? Stomp box's racks whatever gets you blowing down walls..

Bassist and drummers can apply as well.

Also any cool ideas and shit are welcome. L personally i am only gonna use the 4 switch midi box i am gonna get with the head so im not really into the stomp boxes.

And also if anyone knows of a decent rack piece with multi effect such as harmonies and shit. If i must i might get a boss pedal but other band mates on the font (Singer, Bassist or other guitar player) Kick shit around so..

 

[genocide roach]

i use a BBE sonic maximizer in my bass rack. i used to run my hughes and kettner through it and it improved my tone quite a bit, once i balanced everything. havnt tried it with my ISP head yet though. BBE makes those in both rack and pedal forms. also, their other pedals usually come with the sonic maximizer built it. BBE makes great stuff, i reccomend you read up on it.

i'm also thinking about setting up a small pedal board. mainly just a whammy and tremolo pedal. i saw someone use a whammy pedal in a totally awesome way, and it made me rethink the purpose of said pedal.

good call on the cab, i have one and i like it.
~gR~

 

[97reb]

I have a ton of shit, but I say... Keep It Simple. Guitar, tube-amp, cab!!!! If you can get a good variety of tones this way. I get bored by hearing people sound the same way all the time though, that's why I have a ton of shit, so I can mess with tones and effects and different distortions, but I am very experimental, too when it come to music.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I don't advise getting a Marshall cabinet. They aren't constructed as sturdy as other cabs in the same price range. A better deal would be Avatar, Splawn, or maybe Vader. Avatar has the advantage of being cheap, well made, and coming with any combination of speakers you want. The most popular choice is Celestion V30s. They have a pretty standard guitar sound with a mid spike. The G12T75s are second most common. They're more scooped than the V30s. CL80s are a fairly uncommon choice, but I really like them. They're smoother, more articulate, and a lot tighter and punchier than V30s.

Splawns you can order empty, which is nice. You can then order cheap Celestion clones from Warehouse speakers, and have really nice tone for a very cheap cost.

Your cabinet and speakers are huge parts of your sound, so don't forget about that.

As for what amp head you want... That depends entirely on what character of sound you are looking for, as well as what kind of features you need and at what price point. The Line 6 HD147 is a FANTASTIC semi-professional amplifier, because it combines very high quality sound, a tremendous variety of good tones, and a lot of effects in a single box with a ton of presets. I used it for the first two years of my live music career, and it served me very well. It cost me $700 + $200 for the shortboard effects controller off of eBay, which is really an amazing deal considering what you get... Full MIDI switching, effects, totally different tone channels, built in wah/volume pedal... There's enough options so that you can sort through all the different "tones" to find the one you most closely identify with, so that you can find the real amp that best represents it.

I sold my Line 6 rig a while back to start checking out tube amps, since I'd narrowed it down to a few that I liked. My targets were the ENGL Powerball, the Mesa Mark IV, and the VHT Deliverance. I bought a VHT Deliverance 60 used, and tried it out for about a month. I really really enjoyed the sound, but the single channel and lack of an effects loop killed it for me. After I sold it, I picked up a Peavey 5150 which was decent. It sounded great recorded and live, but its just not my sound. Next amp on the list was an ENGL Powerball, which I have now. The Powerball sounds fantastic, has plenty of options, and is basically exactly what I want, but its really damn expensive and I can't afford to own it ( therefore, it is for sale... )

I might be trying out an ENGL Blackmore next to see if I like it.

With all of that said though, its very hard to beat the Line 6 HD147 or Vetta in terms of price, versatility, switching, effects, etc... The tube amps I have played do sound very good, but only marginally better than the HD147.

 

[genocide roach]

blah, line 6 lacks depth. you can emulate anything you want, but it sounds dry and thin.
~gR~

 

[ParsonsMatt]

blah, line 6 lacks depth. you can emulate anything you want, but it sounds dry and thin.
~gR~

I have two years experience saying that you are wrong. Their high end amps ( HD147 and Vetta ) do not have this problem.

Their Spider, Flextone, etc. series do though.

 

[genocide roach]

different strokes i guess. the rest of my band uses line 6 and the tone just bothers me.

maybe im just stuck in my ways though
~gR~

 

[ParsonsMatt]

What gear are they using? If its the HD147 I can give some preset advice.

 

[genocide roach]

spider 3 and a low down i think
~gR~

 

[Symbiant]

Saying Marshall cabs are cheap is just ridiculous..

My bro runs both 1960 800 series a and b cabinets with his mesa triple and it's so low end it's unbelievable...

Line 6 is zippy..

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Marshall cabs ARE cheap dude. They use MDF backboards and all plastic parts. When compared to real high quality cabinets they can't stand a chance in construction or tone.

For the Spider III... well, a crappy amp is a crappy amp regardless of manufacturer.

 

[Symbiant]

I think they sounds good. But it is all in preference...

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I won't disagree there, the cabs definitely sound good. But considering their price vs their construction and tone, I don't think they're worth it. Avatar has a sturdier construction for nearly $300 less, and Mesa has a much better construction for nearly the same price.

 

[Symbiant]

I checked my bros cabs and they're not cheap mdf. All plywood