Help me getting good settings with my Ampeg VL-502

[JoeJackson]

Hey guys.

I'm pretty sure that one or two guys up here do know the amp and maybe also played it. Sloan, I hope you're looking in here!

I found pretty good live-settings with having the gain maxed and using the pre-amp-volume to get saturation and a SD-1 in front. Bass maxed, Mids on 12 o'clock and treble on about 1 o'clock.

Recorded it sounds like a cat coughing up a hairball. No ... that's not even close. It sounds just LIKE the hairball. Wooly and slimy

I want to go for a JCM800-kinda raw old-school metal sound. Any settings that get me in the ballpark?

 

[Sloan]

I've been messing with my VL-1002 through impulses a lot lately, and it doesn't do the amp justice. This is an amp where you need that power section. Crank the master and then adjust the rest of the controls accordingly. I'm not able to do this where I live right now because it is too loud. The few times I was able to crank it up, it was definitely very responsive and awesome!

I have noticed that turning the mids up will give this amp way more "bite". You have to be careful though, because there's not a lot of low end unless you crank it, the tone might thin out.

 

[JoeJackson]

Yeah, bro. I experienced the same. It's kinda "ooookay" with impulses, but far from great.
Actually I found the power attenuater pretty good, did you try to record with it?

But either with impulses or with a real mic in front of a cab ... it seems like I didn't get the Gain/Preamp-Volume-connection. Where do you set that knobs on your 1002?

 

[Sloan]

Epi Goth LP (GFS Crunchy Rails in bridge)
> Ampeg VL-1002
> fx out to PC via Presonus FireStudio Project
> My ampeg/cab impulse (audix i5 on-axis at speaker cone seam)
> highpass@100 + lowpass@8000 (to kill fizzy!)

Clip: http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/52/ampegvl102_hdiver01.mp3

 

[Sloan]

Also, I've got the power attenuator engaged with both knobs OFF. The amp doesn't make a sound when I'm using impulses.

I set the preamp+gain knobs to just before it gets too fizzy or losing definition, it's easy to "overgain" with this amp!

 

[JoeJackson]

So, do you set your Gain-Knob normally that low or just for this (great sounding) clip?

 

[Sloan]

Yeah, i took that picture after recording it.

If find the "preamp" and "gain" knobs are like two of the the same thing, so you really don't need to have them both up.

 

[JoeJackson]

I think the sound gets more defined, if you crank the gain and keep the preamp lower.

 

[colonel kurtz]

it is too loud

no f'ing shit...i know it doesn't much pertain to the question at hand, but a couple years back i stuck a decibel meter in front of my vl-1002/marshall 4x12 half stack, and it came out at 127db

definitely not a neighbor-friendly amp w/o the attenuator engaged