Presence - Good or Bad?

[Fragle]

Hi all.
This is my very first post here i can't believe i didn't join this board long ago. quick introduction...i'm from germany, playing guitar in a thrash metal band, currently using marshall jcm800 and engl blackmore amps as well as jackson, charvel and esp guitars....and i'm an absolute gear head i'll spend a small fortune trying to find THE tone

anyways, my first thread is - of course - dedicated to guitar related gear
as you can see in the title, i wonder what an absolute pro like andy sneap thinks about using presence on guitar amps. i've been told that they presence is absolutely deadly for a band mix, and normally i'm not using too much of it as i tend to think that high presence settings make the tone sound rather thin. i'll occasionaly use a little presence (around 1-2) for some added bite and cut. but then again, thats just my ignorant opinon

so, what do you think, should one actually use the presence, or is it really a tone killer?

greets
fragle

 

[Razorjack]

I have presence set to just over 1/2 way on my poweramp (I run a rack) and I like my tone.

 

[Kazrog]

Presence varies from amp to amp. If it sounds good, it is good!

 

[006]

When dialing in presence and treble, or even sometimes mids, on an amp for guitars, what realllllllllllly realllllly helps is if you play by yourself with the tone for like 5 minutes straight, and if your ears are getting fatigue'd or if there is a horrible ringing in your ears, then you are using too much of something. Once you get it to where your ears don't fatigue to the guitar tone, then try it with drums, if you find that you aren't cutting through, try notching back the presence first a little at a time. Then bump the mids just a tad until you get it right.

Kazrog has it best "if it sounds good, it is good!", but guitar tone is a tricky thing. I often have to explain to bands that come into the studio where I work that they are going to probably hate the tone of their guitar at first when they are recording. But once the drums get in there and mixed together, it will ultimately turn back into the tone they wanted in the first place. The reason they will hate it is because it will sound much middier and less gainy for recording. But once the drums get laid down they have so many frequencies that cut and boost the frequencies of the guitars to the point where it sounded as it did before but like magic, it cuts through and can be heard! Really the only advice anyone can give you is that you need to just experiment with it. All amps/guitars/cabs/rooms/ears/etc. are different man. Just gotta find what sounds good to you, and then make it work with other instruments. Hope I helped..maybe Mr. Sneap can throw down on this thread??

~006