rate my rhythm tone!!! (cobra content)

[Tachy]

Cobrahead, for my taste guitar sound really good, not bad and i think the problem is the mp3 quality.
I rebiased my cobra with the stock power tubes at 29-30mA and the sound began fatter, and I think the gain of the crunch channel of the cobra is perfect, always I use the channel volume of the 2 dirty channel near at 3 o'clock, in this mode you send a big signal to the power amp and the sound is more full.
Wath is the eq you used in the crunch channel?

 

[Fragle]

do you have the stock tubes in yours? upgrading to better power tubes and having it biased warmer made a BIG difference in the sound of mine

not sure about the gain tho...where do you run your volumes? i find that having the channel volume around 3:00 brings out the gain pretty nicely, and i usually keep the master around noon

yep, bone stock.
as i said, i didn't have the chance to crank it yet (hopefully today), but so far i had the channel volumes also around 3:00 and the master around 9:00
below that the head sounds like total shit imho....really fizzy. the higher the volume goes the less fizz you get, though, which makes me curious how it sounds live and loud.
however, i don't quite see how the amount of preamp gain could be affected by the volume. you don't use as much preamp gain at high volumes (sometimes i'm running the lead gain on my 5150 around noon when playing at home, live i'm using the boosted crunch channel around noon, which is WAY less) but the amount of available gain doesn't change.

 

[Tachy]

Hey Fragle, tell me the parameters of your crunch eq.

 

[Fragle]

well, obviously i'm still tweaking, but yesterday i had it set up like this:
bass 2:00
mid 2:00
treble 11:00
gain 3:00
presence 11:00
volume 3:00
deep noon
master 9:00
notch switch off (down), boosted by a boss sd1 (level full, gain just barely past off, tone @ noon)

with the sd1 it's fine, but without the sd1 it's not even near the gain i though it would be.

 

[Tachy]

Ok, I use this eq :
bass: 1:00
mid : 1:00
treble: 10:00
presence: 10:00
volume: 3:00
gain : 3:30
master : 10:00
notch switch off
With this eq I have a very fat and crushing tone, no need to bost the channel, i have all the gain that i need.
Try to measure the bias voltage of your power tubes, If it is to cold like 22-25mA, try to put it at 29-30, the sound became fat and you will have more power stage gain.

 

[Tachy]

A.. the most important think first,is the guitar set up, pick up and string size.

 

[Fragle]

A.. the most important think first,is the guitar set up, pick up and string size.

well, the guitar is fine, i can assure you that. it sounds crushing with my 5150

mh, your settings don't seem to be very different from mine, even though the boost makes things more "narrow" so to speak, meaning that extreme lows and highs are cut off, and of course it adds to the percussiveness of the attack which is really important to me. i play a lot of iced earth style gallop rhythms, and i sure don't want the individual notes to smear together.

btw, as of right now the cobra seems to be REALLY clear. i guess i'll have to work on my muting technique, as even small muting mistakes can be heared very clearly - heck, i can even hear the strings ringing behind the bridge and nut....no way i could hear that on my 5150, not even on my marshall.

 

[Tachy]

Yes is true, when I play with my marshall set up, I cant hear strungs buzz or mistakes, with the cobra I must play with more attention becouse is a very dinamic and responsive amp, I forget to tell you that I use the deep controll at 1:00, and crank it up man!
I hope that you will find your tone, and check your bias, have you external measure points?

 

[Fragle]

yep, it's the latest version. actually, i was thinking about either a 2ch recto or the cobra, and when i came across this deal i just couldn't let it go it's a brand new cobra incl. footswitch, 2yrs warranty and the moneyback option, for 500 euro less than it should be - it was a demo model from the musikmesse frankfurt, and an ebay sale which is always good if you're looking for a steal.
as for cranking it up, will do, will do

 

[Tachy]

Ok, when you have cranked, tell me your impression.

 

[Fragle]

i sure will do so. the thing is, if it doesn't sound good at high volumes, i'll return it ASAP and get a recto

 

[cobrahead1030]

first off, just because a guitar sounds rockin with a 5150 doesn't mean it will work the the cobra...i've got 3 duncan jb loaded guitars, that i can barely tell the difference in sound with my 5150...when i plug into the cobra, the 3 of them sound VERY different (they're all mahogany set necks too) the cobra is much more finicky in that dept. than any high gain amp i've played

also (as tachy can verify i'm sure) you really lose a lot of the cobra's potential with the stock tubes & bias...if you're getting a tinny hifi sound you don't really dig with a lot of fizz, biasing it up will help out there A LOT

my crunch settings (left channel) were:

gain 2:00
presence 12:20
bass 11:00
mid 2:30
treble noon
deep 1:00
channel volume 3:00
master volume noon

i'll check tonite and see what the lead channel settings were if you'd like

 

[Fragle]

i'm basically using 3 guitars (when playing with my band, at least), a dean loaded with a dimarzio tone zone/air norton combo which is my main guitar, an emg81 loaded jackson V, and a charvel loaded with a dimarzio steve's special.
the jackson really is the metal guitar, it's got that emg sound and that's it. the dean is much more versatile esp. with that pickup combo, it's a shredders dream, and the charvel is the most "polite" guitar i'd say. it has the lowest output and sounds very different from the others due to the steve's special which is voiced with scooped mids (and therefore has a lot more clarity, after all this is john petrucci's pickup of choice). actually, i think i haven't used the charvel so far, but both the jackson and the dean sound pretty much the same....more lows/low mids going on with the dean (due to the mahogany and tone zone), whereas the jackson's a tad brighter, but that's pretty much it...

i'll check out your settings during the next band rehearsal.

 

[Fragle]

well, just listened to your clip btw. i think i prefer the right side = lead channel.
as far as the amount of gain on the left site is concerned, it's hard to tell as you're basically just playing open chords. you don't need a lot of gain for chording, it's more about the palm mutes imho.

 

[Tachy]

Hey Fragle, have you tried to play the cobra with your band?

 

[Fragle]

nah, my drummer's *really* busy this week, but i guess sometime during the weekend...

 

[Fragle]

ok, just came back from band rehersal.
firstly, the amp is not the loudest one i've ever had. my marshall jcm800 crushes it as far as sheer volume goes, but then again who needs this much volume anyways. it's definitely loud enough for band playing, though. plus you can get the power tubes cooking to get that elusive el34 breakup tone.
speaking of tone, all questions about limited gain and weak pinch harmonics are pointless. the fact that it's not very SATURATED gain is what threw me off at low volumes, but once you crank it up you'll find it to have shitloads of gain while having immense note articulation and clarity. very straightforward amp, too. it took me literally 30 seconds to get a crushing rhythm tone, and even less for a lead tone. i did however use a boost (even though it's not necessary as far as pure gain is concerned, at high volumes that is), but then again i'm running a boost in front of most any amp including my 5150 which obviously has insane amounts of gain, i just happen to like the sound of it.
btw, talking about the sound, i remember reading something along the lines of "dual rectifier mixed with a jcm800". that's definitely a very suitable description. it's got that rectifier punch and brutality, but also the sweet mids of a jcm800 (although the mids are low mid voiced rather than hi mids like a marshall).
to sum it up, it's definitely a keeper. a shitty bedroom amp, but i have a feeling that this might become my main amp. tomorrow i'll have another band practice, this time together with my other guitar player (who's using a tsl100), but i'm sure it's gonna cut well and also mix well with the hi mid marshall.
btw, my amp settings for this rehearsal:
gain: noon
bass: 2:00
mids: 2:00
treble: 11:00
presence: 9:00
volume: 3:00
deep: noon
master: noon
sd1 set level full gain off tone noon
crushing

 

[Tachy]

Hey Fragle, do you like now the Cobra?

 

[cobrahead1030]

in a band mix is where the cobra really shines...i didn't like mine at all when i was using it here at home, even at the band space cranked (playing by myself) i wasn't too impressed...but once everyone got to rockin out, just hearing how clear and cutting it was put a big smile on my face