New Gibson SG tones - 5150, Powerball content !

[Sly]

Hey guys,

here are some new tone tests I've just recorded.
This is a friend of me playing a riff, using a Gibson SG standard guitar with passive Gibson stock pickups.
All the tones are totally raw, no EQ, no lowpass nor highpass, no compression... One guitar per side except for the last test.

Recording chain was the following :

recent Gibson SG standard with passive Gibson stock pickups => Maxon OD-820 => amp (Peavey 5150 or Engl Powerball) => Bogner Uberkab (V30 miced except for the third test : G12T75) => SM57 => Vintech X81 pre => Lavry AD10 converter.

The first test's aim was to achieve a particular sizzley tone, using tons of presence with the 5150 lead channel.

For the second test, we used the Engl Powerball of my band's guitarist, still with the OD-820, trying to get a decent tone. It wasn't really easy but here it is. A bit flabby but yet cool IMO

Third test : exactly the same Powerball tone but micing the G12T75 in the Uberkab instead of the V30

Last and fourth test was to record two Powerball tracks and two 5150 tracks to get a fuller sound, sounds great to me

Now I have to EQ a bit the fizz of those tracks, but I'm quite happy of those tones. I have the amp/ts settings written on a paper if you're interested.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Sly,

I think your tone is much, much better in these clips! I really like the first one a lot, great tone and NO mid honk. The mid knob is funny on the amp, eh?

The Powerball clip is actually really cool, it has a very smooth gain character. The low end is pumping a bit, but other than that it sounds real nice.

The third clip sounds really good too, but I still prefer the vintage 30 tone. This clip does sound better than any other G12T-75 tone I've heard though!

Lastly, the fourth clip...Does this clip only feature the Vintage 30? Sounds very full and good, just a tad bright.


Overall I'd say you have a great, great tone dude! It seems like it will take VERY minimal EQ to get them sounding perfect. It would be nice to have those settings.

Cheers.

-Joe

 

[Sly]

Hey Joe,

thanks for the words, yeah I think it's much better, and all the advices I've been given on this forum helped me a lot !!

I did a mistake, I inverted the G12T75 and V30 link, I will fix that right now. And yes the fourth clip has only V30 tracks

I tried to EQ the fourth "mixed" tone a bit :
http://sylvain.raulin.free.fr/TestCedSG/Sly_Kw_5150+PB_V30_lead_EQed.wav

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Very cool man...I'm checking out this new EQ'd clip right now.

Which clip was inverted originally? The G12T-75 wasn't a 75?

This new clip sounds very nice. Really awesome tone. Any idea what gauge strings were on the SG? Is it drop C tuning?

-Joe

 

[Sly]

Yeah the Powerball's G12T75 and V30 clips were inverted.

Here is a quad tracked V30+Powerball+EQed version, I really like it !!
http://sylvain.raulin.free.fr/TestCedSG/Sly_Kw_PowerballV30_doubled.wav
I wish we did the same thing with the 5150 tone.
I dunno about the strings but yes it's drop C if I remember well.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Sounds really good man!

-Joe

 

[Sly]

Thanks Joe !

That Engl is a bitch to set correctly. I never liked EMG into this amp but the Gibson passive sound good through it ! To achieve this tone I had the presence and treble knobs @ 1 o'clock (messed up a lot with those knobs but it was once muddy once really agressive), and quite a lots of mids on the amp (11 o'clock). Gain was something like 10 o'clock. Tubescreamer settings were : Drive 10 o'clock / Tone 9 o'clock / Balance 12 o'clock

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Yeah those amps can be tricky to get a usable sound out of! I use to own a Fireball. Keep it up man...can't wait to hear these in a proper mix!

-Joe

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Damn, surprised you haven't received more comments yet dude!

C'mon people, great tone here!

Hey Sly, OT, but where in Switzerland do you live? I'd like to come visit some day and shoot a Sig 550. Oh and see some amazing scenery too!

-Joe

 

[Sly]

Hey Joe, thanks for bouncing this thread

I actually live in France, but near the Swiss frontier (my studio friend lives in Switzerland, that's why our studio is located there). The town is named Grenoble, we have the Alps mountains all around here. I'd be happy if you come here ! We can do tons of tone tests

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Hey Joe, thanks for bouncing this thread

I actually live in France, but near the Swiss frontier (my studio friend lives in Switzerland, that's why our studio is located there). The town is named Grenoble, we have the Alps mountains all around here. I'd be happy if you come here ! We can do tons of tone tests

Awesome, sounds like a great place. I will actually be in Europe in September. Amsterdam, Brussels, Munich, and somewhere else we haven't decided yet.

Would be fun to do some tone tests.

I would like to visit a Swiss shooting range though...

-Joe

 

[Djabthrash]

For the second test, we used the Engl Powerball of my band's guitarist, still with the OD-820, trying to get a decent tone. It wasn't really easy but here it is. A bit flabby but yet cool IMO

This is the one that sounds best to me.

And i preferred your dual tracked files than the quadtracked ones (and also preferred the dual tracked PB compared to the dual tracked 5150).

 

[J.DavisNJ]

I forgot to ask, did you have your new tube set installed for these clips?

-Joe

 

[abyssofdreams]

Indeed, nice tones there Sly!
I'd say they are all somewhat usable and the Powerball doesn't sound too bad either.

Maybe less gain on all clips? Sounds very compressed.

 

[Sly]

Djabthrash, actually I've really tried to achieve an agressive tone with the 5150 this time, it's really bright (resonance : 8 ; presence : 9), but for sure I could get a warmer and thicker tone by lowering the presence to 7 or even 8. That would have made the Powerball and 5150 tones in the same clarity/ballsiness ballpark.
But you're right, the Engl tone is cool, I had the mids on 4, treble on 6, presence on 6, more treble and presence and it sounded so harsh and incontrolable, that's what I don't like with this amp : the EQ is a bitch.

 

[Sly]

Power tubes were still the JJ 6L6, I didn't receive the SED yet

 

[Sly]

5150 settings for this tone :

LEAD CHANNEL
Pre gain : 4
Bass : 6
Mids : 2,5
Treble : 4,5
Post gain : 3
Resonance : 8
Presence : 9

OD-820 settings : Drive @ 9 o'clock ; Tone @ 9 o'clock ; Balance @ 12 o'clock

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Ah, I thought you had the mids lowered for these clips? Lower than last time, no?

-Joe

 

[Sly]

Yes I lowered the mids with the "tone" knob on the OD-820 (9 o'clock instead of the usual 11 o'clock), thanks for telling me to try this, it works great !!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Ohhh, I think someone else suggested it actually! I thought you meant the mids on the amp, woops! I think I will try this as well if I acquire another 5150 in the near future.

-Joe