The Basement Where I Practice

[Twitch]

...is the fucking Bermuda Triangle for guitar tone. OH MY GOD, any amp that goes in that fucking room sounding good leaves pissing me off and at home that night cruising CL!!! Ive got an ENGL for fuck sakes and it sounds like shit there. Im tickled to death with it at home, but there, I just want to throw my hands in the air and say fuck it. SS or tube, ENGL or Line6, it all sounds the fucking same in that acoustic shit hole of a basement!! Weve got carpet on the floor and studio egg crate foam on the walls and the rafters resemble that of a bass trap and for what, every amp I get to sound like a high-mid-range wall of garbage. DAMN IT!!!

Well see how things go at our show tomorrow night, and if the ENGL sounds like that live, like it does in the basement, it might just hit the classifieds. Im hoping its just that fucking lifeless basement, that it will sound like it does in the bedroom in an open room. Im not buying amps to play at home, theyve got to sound good everywhere at the same volume levels.

END RANT

[markD]

maybe the room is too dead for your amp to sound good. i have taken my rig to rehearsal spaces that have been "sound proofed" a bit too much and it has KILLED my sound.

just something to consider.....

[Nightbat]

All that soundproofing, accoustics, etc is gonna make your rig sound good to record, not to listen to it's natural qualities

you'll probably be able to put one hell of a tone on track if you mic it up

[Hellbat]

Put the cabinet as close as possible to a corner. Corner loading will help add some bass back into the equation.

[Trussrod]

Lol, what's the humidity like in that basement?

[Twitch]

All that soundproofing, accoustics, etc is gonna make your rig sound good to record, not to listen to it's natural qualities

you'll probably be able to put one hell of a tone on track if you mic it up

It does double as our studio. We further the amp isolation with a GIANT box with egg crate foam inside as well.

Lol, what's the humidity like in that basement?

It varies, its a somewhat finished and sealed basement. We run the dehumidifier on occasion in the summer.

[zeegler]

Funny thing about room acoustics: I've been doing some work in my basement recently, so I had to move my Marshall upstairs to my living room to prevent it from getting covered in dust. My living room is about 20 X 15, with maple hardwood floors and coved ceiling. It is quite the opposite of acoustically dead. There is only one small leather couch, and a set of drapes for sound absorbing material. Other than that, it's quite "resonant" I guess would be the appropriate word. Strangely enough, the first time I plugged in and played, my amp sounded UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!! To be fair, it sounds good anywhere, but in that room, it just blows my mind every time I play.

[Rich#6]

acoustic foam absorbs bass and reduces echo, it's not the same thing as soundproofing. Your going to sacrifice the edge off your sound to keep neighbors happy.

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

Try mic'ing it and see how that sounds. I remember having a similar problem as a kid when I remodeled a downstairs utility room. And playing a full stack in a tiled bathroom was cool.

[Twitch]

Soooo, the tone was questionable at the show last wed too. All is not lost however. I noodled around with it today while I was setting the basement back up to record. Apparently, the trick with this amp is to not have the presence up much at all, unlike Marshalls and pretty much every amp Ive ever owned. Ive got the presence down to 10:30 ish where it was at 1:15. I moved the treble up to around 4 where it was around 1:15. I moved the mids to 8:30-9 where they were around 10:30. I left the bass at 5:00 (10 on the dial), though Im torn between having it there with the LOW switch off or 2:00 with the LOW switch on.

The sound is great and has also yielded a better "clean" tone as well. Ive never had an amp with that active of a presence knob. With the presence down that low on the Marshalls Ive had made it sound there was a blanket over the cab, on the Fireball, theres still plenty of high end to go around.

If I were to compare it to another amp now, Id have to say it reminds me a lot of a Mesa MK IV or MK V, but with more grit, bass and a hint of 5150 in the low mids. Very aggressive sounding. I played it again through a Vintage 30 loaded cab, and again I think it sounds like ass through Vintage 30s. I still look forward to hearing it through G12T75s, gotta find someone with a Marshall cab to play it through, which I dont know any at the moment.

[Twitch]

Got to jam out through a JCM900 1960A and an Uber Cab yesterday. I definitely like the G12T75's a lot better. Even just the 2 Vintage 30's in the Uber Cab just sounded ugly to me. I guess Ill be looking for a 1960A or a set of G12T75's here soon, and I figured I would be. The last 1960 I had made everything sound good. The only reason I got rid of it was because I have this thing for having a matching head and cab. I think it stems from for years only having various things cobbled together to get by and when I went Randall there for a little while, I traded it for a Randall cab because as nice as the 1960 was, it didnt match.

Im not going to get the ENGL cab though, I dont see any point in acquiring a $1000 cab that Ill have to immediately swap the speakers out of. Maybe the Germans and everybody elses hearing are different than mine, but the Vintage 30's just arent the right match for this head.

[Twitch]

Its amazing how much difference a different guitar can make in the overall scheme of things. I recently fixed the OP jack on my DKMGTFF (again), and for the first time plugged in to the ENGL with it, daaaaamn what a sweeet sound. I knew there was a reason Ive hung onto that guitar for so long. It sucks Ive got to over haul the electronics every 9 months or so it seems. When its working properly though, wow. I dont even think Im going to look for different speakers now, Ive just got to get the rest of guitars to sound like the DKMGTFF. I guess I may have to go on a EMG-HZ H4 buying spree somehow.

[Trussrod]

Its amazing how much difference a different guitar can make in the overall scheme of things. I recently fixed the OP jack on my DKMGTFF (again), and for the first time plugged in to the ENGL with it, daaaaamn what a sweeet sound. I knew there was a reason Ive hung onto that guitar for so long. It sucks Ive got to over haul the electronics every 9 months or so it seems. When its working properly though, wow. I dont even think Im going to look for different speakers now, Ive just got to get the rest of guitars to sound like the DKMGTFF. I guess I may have to go on a EMG-HZ H4 buying spree somehow.

Glad to hear this worked out for you. I played a DK with HZ's and thought it sounded good.

[wilkinsi]

I encountered a similar problem when I bought a Marshall MA50C. Sounded good in the shop, but sounded weak at home. Neither location has any soundproofing or acoustic tiling.