My 6505 tone - you be the judge

[BeëlzeM]

Hey guys,

One of the first tone tests/short clips with my 6505 I got a couple of weeks ago. Just a very short 1 riff clip, and I was curious about how you guys think about it and whether you have any tips on my tone. Before I mix down a whole song or anything.

It sounds quite alright on my pc surround set, but it doesn't sound as good on my headphones. I really need to buy some monitors.

There's some pretty heavy EQ'ing and a bit of compression, that's about it.

http://www.netmusicians.org/index.php?section=user&value=beelzem

Cheers

EDITED: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4998086/6505_tonetest4.mp3

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

the tone seems very dull to me imo. like there's not enough highs or something.

 

[Sora01]

Sounds very mid honky, also the mic positioning does sound right either, sounds like the very edge of the cone, and yes, the highs are lacking.

 

[cloy26]

I hear clipping.

with my experience, you need to find the tone your after first. Eq should not play a role in shaping the tone. If you have to boost more than 3 or 4 db on a freq, you should go back to step one and nip the freq before your mic even picks them up. EQ is only helper, it shouldn't be a foundation.

 

[allplaydead]

What song is that?!?!

I always get that riff stuck in my head but never realized it was a real song

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

It's Machine Head - Old.

 

[Matt.CL]

drums wont help much. it sounds megaphone-like, the distortion seems to be ok you need to adjust the eq, you reduced a lot of frequencies that are lacking here. i would reset the eq, find a good pair of headphones and start all over

 

[BeëlzeM]

Thanks for the criticism guys. Here's another go at it. This time I was a lot easier on the EQ, and left more of the higher frequencies in around 8k (I scooped them pretty heavily there because of the buzzy wash kinda thing around there). Besides that and a HP and a LP the EQ is pretty much flat. I think the presence is better now.

I also tried to get rid of the slight clipping, but I think that's the recording, so I have to be easier on the input gain next time.

How does it sound right now?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4998086/6505_tonetest2.mp3

 

[MetalJonesy]

its very very middy, sounds really small too

 

[BeëlzeM]

its very very middy, sounds really small too

Got any advice maybe? Less mids? My mic pre isn't all that great either, it's an EMU 0202 sound card. Is it holding me back as well? In terms of my clip being small sounding.

 

[MetalJonesy]

ahh the mic pre wont have much to do with the mids present in your clip i dont think, what sort of settings are you dialling in on the amp? most of my stuff is done either with my art pre or 002 internal pres, and i can always work a good tone eventually.

 

[BeëlzeM]

I know this is still (too) middy, as I used the same tracks. Tweaked the EQ a bit more, and used a different compressor. Also slammed 4KG To Heaven from Nebula free libraries on there, as an experiment. But am I going the right way with this?

Amp settings are as follows:

Green channel, gain on 6, SD-1 as a boost level and tone dimed.

low: 5
mid: 4
hi: 5
res: 5
pres: 6
post: 4

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4998086/6505_tonetest3.mp3

 

[MetalJonesy]

try backing the mids off alot more, i generally dial in similar to how most do.

Red Channel, TS9/SD1 boost (tone 11 oclock, drive 9 o clock and level at 12 o clock)
Gain: 4/4.5
Low: 6.5
Mid: 2
High: 4.5
Res: 7
Pres: 8
Post: 2.5/3

Listen to your cab and find the problem frequencies, mine has a problem area of around 3.95k which i always notch out, then HP at 70ish and LP and 13.5K ish

SM57 1" ish from the grille cloth, aimed at the join between dustcap and cone

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/369408/Pure Steel.mp3

The guitars are pretty much as ive described with a little more post processing which i haven't mentioned, i've let ya know how i get the ballpark of the tone (well what works for me)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/369408/Pure Steel.mp3

 

[BeëlzeM]

Alright man. Sorry to bump this up once again, hehe. But I rolled the mids back to 2 from 4, and also boosted the presence and resonance a bit. I'm now pretty similar to your settings, but I'm using the crunch channel. This time I rolled back on the overall volume and input gain as well, so there's no more clipping.

This is my tone right now:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4998086/6505_tonetest4.mp3

 

[MetalJonesy]

its still small and distant sounding for some reason, but getting there, better than the first clip

 

[BeëlzeM]

What could be the reasons for it being small and distant sounding? The amp settings or the settings in my DAW, or something different? By the way, I'm using a very cheap low-end preamp I bought years ago, it's an EMU 0202. Could that be the reason it's sounding like you described?

 

[alan1990]

your clips sound like the have a low and a high pass filter on them. Im almost positive you have something goofy going on because even the drums sound this way. If the second tone didn't have that filtered effect it would sound damn good

 

[BeëlzeM]

Sorry to bump this thing up again. But since my last post I have kinda played around with my mic and I swapped my EMG's out with BKP's, today actually, and made this clip today.

Most generic riff you'll ever hear and these are raw tracks quad tracked. Is this better recording wise or do I still have the goofy middy thing going on?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4998086/bkp4.mp3