Mesa V-Twin

[TRUIE]

Here is how my stock Mesa V-Twin rack recorded direct sounds :
One guitar take only (no EQ)
In the mix (I did'nt even started mixing, so quick drums / bass pre mix + some EQ on guitars + a few dB of Portico5043 hardware compression + RME clipping on the master to glue and sound louder)

Guitar chain is
Maxon OD808 + Mesa V-Twin Dist Voicing1 + Countryman Type81 DI / Portico 5012 Pre + Torpedo PI-101 plugin (PP6L6 Pentode + Mesa 4x12 + SM57)
Bass uses some V-Twin too, blended with DI and dist track.

What do you guys think about it ?

 

[Drummerrrrr?]

Not really a fan, sounds pretty wooly and lacking in definition imo

 

[TRUIE]

Yeah I agree, I think I can do better.
After a few listens, I think it sounds too dark and lacks presence/high end, and maybe there's too much mids and it doesn't sounds compressed enough.

I'll try another reamp with an SD1 instead of the OD808, and I'll try to tweak it better.
Thanks for your feedback

 

[TRUIE]

I did another reamp with the V-Twin, taking a lot more time tweaking than the previous one :
One solo guitar (no EQ and no FX at all)
In the mix (same setup as the previous one for bass, drums and master bus + light EQ on guitar bus)

I realized the V-Twin works better with EL34 / EL84 tubes (it's a sim in this case).
I kept the PP EL84 triode mode, as it had a bit more low end than EL34 and smoother mediums.
I also used a Boss SD1 as a boost instead of the OD808, and tweaked the V-Twin a bit more (that thing is super sensitive and reactive).

Any feedback on this ?

 

[mr.L.]

Sounds really loose and grainy to my ears (listening on crappy headphones atm though). Maybe compress the guitars a bit to get it to sound somewhat tighter?

 

[TRUIE]

Thank you for your feedback and for the comp trick, it will help me when mixing this song as the loose aspect seems to come from the playing / pickup and will be there no matter what amp I'll use in the end (these DIs are not from me, and are played on a cheap Squier with a DiMarzio D-Sonic on the bridge, I don't know this pickup at all).

I still have to try the V-Twin with my guitars, and in a more modern and agressive context.

 

[mr.L.]

In that case I would experiment a bit with either compressing the DI's or the recorded amp (both can get you good results, but quite hard to make them work well). I would definitely use quite a stiff/compressed sounding amp on this one in any case.

Please keep posting clips btw, really interested in what you can get out of this thing.

 

[TRUIE]

I tried a few times to compress the recorded amp (just a couple dbs of reduction) and it worked great to tighten the performance when needed.
Never tried to do this on the DI track, that's a good idea in that case, I'll try it !

I'll reamp this song with the other amps I own (Marshall JMP1 pre and Jet City JCA50H head) and I'll choose the better one.

Thank you for your interest, I'll post the new clips here

 

[Fortinamps]

sounds cool...didn't expect anything else from you though



They've just mentioned that thing to me (well, at least I assume we're talking about the same thing)...I'm really looking forward to trying that out, could really come in handy for practicing etc as well.

Thanks man

Yes, we will be showing lots of new stuff at the Randall booth. Stop on by, it would be excellent to meet you. I will be working the Randall booth all of NAMM with the brand manager and our new artist relations guy.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Lasse Lammert]

cool, see you there!

 

[TRUIE]

I did another try with the V-Twin, using mr.L. compressing tip.
I compressed individually each DI a bit with Waves SSL comp before reamping (2-3 dB of GR) and it works pretty well.

Here it is,
Before (comp OFF) : ISOLATION Cover 1120 VTwin Reamp2
After (comp ON) : ISOLATION Cover 1122 VTwin Reamp3

I also tried a reamp with the Jet City JCA50H head :
ISOLATION Cover 1122 JCA50H Reamp1
(+ Torpedo PI-101 VST with Mesa 4x12 + SM57)

And another one with Marshall JMP1 pre, but I don't really like this one and I think this preamp don't fit the pickups / playing / song at all so I won't go further with it.

Here it is :
ISOLATION Cover 1122 JMP1 Reamp1
(+ Torpedo PI-101 VST with KT88 + CAA 4x12 + SM57)

 

[mr.L.]

Definitely an improvement, nice to hear it worked. Those DI's would definitely benefit from some editing btw

I actually like the Marshall JMP1 clip the best. The Jet city sounds rather scooped and harsh, while the mesa has a bit too much mids and sounds a bit small.

 

[TRUIE]

Really ?
To me the mids are a bit weird on the JMP1 reamp, and the highs don't cut very well. The song has some leads and lots of vocals layers, and I think the JMP1 won't let them many space.

I kind of liked both V-Twin and Jet City ones... the Jet City is very close to what I wanted. I agree for the scooped and harsh aspect, I think it will be perfect with a bit more mids and less highs / presence, and moving a bit the mic toward the outside.

Thanks a lot for the comp tip btw, it helped a lot

 

[TRUIE]

Here is a new reamp with the JCA50H, using more mids and less highs.
ISOLATION Cover 1126 JCA50H Reamp2

It's the one I prefer for the moment, I think I'll keep this one.
I'll try the V-Twin on leads, and maybe on the additional rythm tracks on choruses

Thanks a lot Mr.L., you were very helpful on this

 

[stilllifer]

Here is a new reamp with the JCA50H, using more mids and less highs.
ISOLATION Cover 1126 JCA50H Reamp2

It's the one I prefer for the moment, I think I'll keep this one.
I'll try the V-Twin on leads, and maybe on the additional rythm tracks on choruses

Thanks a lot Mr.L., you were very helpful on this

Loving this man - sounds great thru the JCA50H. Wonder what this would sound like with my JCA20H???
So what's this comp trick anyway???

 

[Clark Kent]

I had one of these a few years back. It doesn't have as much gain as a real Recto. And also... even though you crank the gain all the way up it's not the same gain structure. But it's actually really good for lower gain stuff.

 

[TRUIE]

Loving this man - sounds great thru the JCA50H. Wonder what this would sound like with my JCA20H???
So what's this comp trick anyway???

Thanks !
I never tried the JCA20H and I don't know the real differences between both, but I think you can achieve close results with it.
The comp trick is nothing complicated, just a bit of soft compression (2-3 dB) on the DI track before reamping (don't do that everytime, in that case the DI/playing sounded a bit loose so it was needed).

I had one of these a few years back. It doesn't have as much gain as a real Recto. And also... even though you crank the gain all the way up it's not the same gain structure. But it's actually really good for lower gain stuff.

Yeah I agree, sounds good for pop/rock/lead stuff and the clean channel is really great.

 

[TRUIE]

Some V-Twin death metal riffs :
TEST HM2 V-TWIN 2013 0129 Mix1 MASTER

For guitars, there are :
- 2 tracks of Maxon OD808 > Mesa V-Twin rack Dist Channel > Torpedo PI-101 (PP KT88 Pentode + Bogner 4x12 + SM57)
- 2 tracks of Boss HM-2 Jap > Mesa V-Twin rack Clean Channel > Torpedo PI-101 (PP EL84 Pentode + CAA 4x12 + SM57)

No EQ on guitars, except HP/LP.
There's also some V-Twin and HM-2 on bass.