Re: New rig!

DeeAa <deeaaREMOVE_THIS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://deeaa.pp.fi/images/rig07.jpg
http://deeaa.pp.fi/images/rig072.jpg

Got the Peavey rigged up. Upper cab is 1x12" Eminence and lower 2x10"
Celestion - it looks like a single but that's just the grille.

Been playing for an hour now...remember why I preferred the SS head over the
tube poweramp in the first place...kinda torn at the moment which is better
for my use.

First off, I was worried it'd be too loud. No way. If I turn the amp and the
pre much over the halfway mark, it starts to have too much of all the bad
sides of tube amps - you know, piercing, overt harmonics and all in all
starts to get real messy. No hope of getting the clarity and definition the
SS amp gives at same volumes. I'm actually worried if I can make the 2x50W
make punch thru the drums at the practice, really, at the level of clarity I
need.

Also it is way brighter and buzzier than the SS amp...but once I cut the
presence all the way to off, it is pretty nice. It still has that brighty
tube breakup that's hard to incorporate into harder overdrives, but pretty
good. At least it also cuts thru with a very good punch, which is the good
side of the tubes...hope the volume will suffice.

The cleans I use immediately got a real improvement. Where they were
lifeless and lacklustre, they now have plenty of punch and at the poweramp
over the halfway mark, clear overdrive as well unless I play lightly. I have
2 cleans on the JMP; a real soft one for pickin' and ballads and then a
little rauchier one that sounds EXACTLY like 'Under the bridge' sound does.
You know, a little breaky, kinda in-your-face attacky but real nice, old
Marshall. That sound is great also for pop and light rock chordings. Breaks
up just beautifully like a Bluesbreaker etc.

The overdrives got me worried...first off, no way to use the OD2 setting
anymore. Sounds like a damned chainsaw, horribly buzzy and the poweramp
sound colors it something horrid. So no more 'metallica' type sounds with
this rig.

After setting the EQ all straight and dropping the drive to like 6/20 and
lifting mains volume correspondingly, I did however get a really really good
rhythm sound...it's very very easy to go into 'buzz' territory - I like a
crunchy clean overdrive - but I did manage to find a real nice setting. BUT
again the 'tube condition' hits - if I drop either end volume even a little
it starts to sound like utter crap. Perfect at both halfway; under that it
is like a cheap SS practice amp. Shees. Well no matter, if the sweet spot
works with the band. Hope so.

Then I finally found how to get a good lead sound - took the rhythm sound
and added some bass and a compressor from the multiFX unit - and a slight
reverb/delay. That's it. Really nice.

Well. Summa summarum; I now have a really nice 'tube' clean,
clean'crunchy'british sound and one really cool rhythm/lead driven sound.
But it remains to be seen how can I get those sounds at the levels I want
and need.

If it gets too hard, I've just gotta build a bigger rig and somehow A/B
switch between this and an SS poweramp for more defined and more driven
sounds and more versatility overall. But I guess I'm still happy with
this...at least now.

Cheers,

Dee



That is a nice looking portable rig. I never understood
why people always think they have to haul around the standard 4 x12 cab.
Looks really nicely matched.
DeeAh - maybe if you get a tube amp with more watts and lots of
clean headroom you might like it better (???)

My friend has a Mesa-Boogie F-50 head and it has lots of
clean headroom (on clean channel). So it doesn't get that
tube breakup sound on the clean channel unless you want
to go deaf turning it up all the way. It stays clean really loud.
But if you are playing in large arenas then maybe that would not be enough.

Anyway - that's a sweet looking rig. I always like seeing
a rig that plays great and looks great and is not the standard 4 x 12 cab thing.
I like the color too!
.

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