Tube amps, distortion: coarse/tight... recommendations, thoughts?

[Endrik]

hey that's a very good anology Bill

I'm not saying that you or John are sloppy, I've heard John's playing on some clips, he was anything but sloppy.

I'm just saying that Marshalls hide a lot of mistakes.

I was in my pal JC's place a couple of months ago. I helped to dial his amps. He has a Marshall and a Mesa Triple Recto.

JC is used to play leads with his Marshall, and you know he is a sick ass shredder, he plays Becker's arpeggios and shit.
Anyway I dialed some decent lead tones with the Recto and he was like, holy shit I gotta practice man, no room for mistakes at all.

I've always loved amps wich can give you a smooth lead tone and you can really hear the picking attack. Boogie Mark series for example. But with that kind of tone you better play clean because they are unforgivable.

[horns666]

Besises both Amps never leave my house..and well The Marshall never gave me a prob..once it blew a tube. I'm a total tard when it comes to working on shit..but I chaged the tube like changing a light bulb..

My Uber is awesome..but it's been always moody bitch and now it's being an asshole..so there ya go..

I had the Marshall since 1995..never gave me grief..not a once.

More than I could about any amp I've owned..including the Uber which I owned for about four years now.

They are apples to oranges..but the apple is always sweet.

[horns666]

"I'm just saying that Marshalls hide a lot of mistakes."

So, what's wrong with being on your game without a COMPLAINT from your dumb rig.

Throw your best at chick instead of an amp and see how THAT can blow your mojo..

[Fragle]

ok, i didn't feel like reading the whole thread, but i just got to reply to this post:

"As for tightness, stay away from Framus. They're almost as loose as Mesa and Recent Marshall amps. Engl is a good choice, and so is Splawn. The other guitarist in my band uses an Uberschall which is an awesome amp, but it still has some of that coarseness you're hearing in your Marshall."

BS. the framus cobra is the tightest and clearest amp i've ever played through, absolutely unforgiving. i can assure you that any looseness you might experience when playing a cobra is due to user error - read: too much bass. my main amp used to be a 5150 boosted with an overdrive of some sort (check out kreator's enemy of god to get an idea of how this setup sounds), but when put up against the cobra it pales. the only thing i'm not *quite* satisfied with is the low mid voicing - i like my mids rather high.
but then again, i've never played a vht, maybe i don't know what super tight means

as for the marshall, use the crunch channel for rhythm, all the switches and gimmicks turned off. i did like 2 dozen shows with a dsl100 through a 1960 A/B fullstack, going straight in, and never had a problem with the amp being too loose. keep the mids and bass high, like anywhere from noon to full on, presence off or barely on, same thing for the treble. also, don't crank the gain, even on the crunch channel. if it's not gainy enough, or too dark sounding, you're not playing loud enough!!! trust me on that one.
btw, this was for thrash/death metal with lots of tight single note riffs.

[horns666]

Tone is subjective as is amps, gear, guns and pussy ..

Some think Rectos are the shit..and those players seem to do well with them

I think Rectos are shit..I suck with 'em..but Jeff Loomis (nobody here is a pimple on his ass) sounds GREAT with them..never better.

Some players think DSL/TSL's are the shit..I hate them..BUT many players much better than Fragle or myself play the fuggin' shit out of them and sound peachy..like Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach..for example. Who in the fuck am I to say that their gear sucks..

Let's refrain the silly chest pounding and monkey poop throwin'..because it's just silly..fuggin' silly I tell ya..and it's gay

Tone is SUBJECTIVE..whatever works for you..and what works for you may not work for most and visa versa..

I have both the Uberschall and my old Marshall Rig side by side..I find myself going to The Marshall rig a lot more..so there ya go...who cares.

shhhhhhhh..just play, that's all..just fuggin' play..

makes sense..

YES!!!!

[Endrik]

I almost got Brian May's tone yesterday

[horns666]

I almost got Brian May's tone yesterday

Did you know he used a friggin' PIGNOSE on a lot 0f that stuff in the studio..jeez..!!

I just read that in GW..couple issues ago..wow.

[horns666]

E..BTW..most of your favorite players use Marshalls..

[Endrik]

E..BTW..most of your favorite players use Marshalls..

no they don't, they just have huge Marshall stacks on the stage to look cool.

In the studio they use Gorillas.

[horns666]

E..I think your right!!!!!

That's John Sykes secret weapon..

[Annah]

I have to say I do not like the recto's, Dual or Triple. The Mesa tones I've heard have almost all had a fuzzy over-saturated buzzy tone that sound great with detuned seven-strings and the mids completely scooped out, but that's not my style, nor IGNITOR's. I have never liked Mesa amps. When I was in Boneglove our other guitarist had a Triple Rec and it never did sound right. But then again, maybe it was the band as a whole. I definitely do not like fuzzy, buzzy distortion... or square wave digital distortion.

Stuart is using an older Laney head that sounds pretty good, but it still doesn't have what I'm looking for.

From what I read online yesterday, the VHT G-100-UL Pittbull sounds like it would do the trick, but at just over THREE GRAND I don't think I'll be able to afford that until after I win the lottery. The SLO100 sounds like it would fit the bill well, too, but at $3400... uh... well... it'll be a while goddammit! Unless I could get one used, but still, that's gonna cost an arm, a leg, and probably some other body part.

There's a good store here called Guitar Resurrection that carries some of these sweet amps, and as soon as I get a chance I'm going to go check them out. In the meantime I'm having to figure out an alternative.

Tonight at rehearsal I'm going to set the bias up to Marshall's recommended setting... which is 90mV. Why guys are referring to the bias being set at milliAmps is confusing the shit outta me, I must say. Maybe it's different for different amps? Maybe I'm just confused. This is where I found it: http://web.aoct.org/marshall/JCM2000-Bias.txt

If the increase in mV doesn't help, then I'm going to try my GT2 (SansAmp) in the chain. Perhaps that will help. If not, then my last resort, before trading up my amp, is using the damn thing as a power amp only and running my MPX-G2 as a pre. It's got some decent distortion and, of course, Lexicon's sweet reverb n' other cool stuff. Not that I need any of them, though.

Thanks for all your kickass input. I appreciate it tons!!!

[horns666]

Annah so your ears hear the fuzz/buzz in the recto too..cool it's not just me then..

Yeah , no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of that damn buzz. Not for the life of me..I just bought the damn thing brand new in '92, tweaked for constantly for approx two years..finally I just said fuggit..

I don't hear the "buzz" when other people use them in their bands..they sound good..Jeff Loomis is a prime example of that..

[Endrik]

Bill did you used an OD pedal (tubescreamer, SD-1 etc.) with Recto?

[horns666]

Bill did you used an OD pedal (tubescreamer, SD-1 etc.) with Recto?

I tried my SD-1, OD-2 turbo, DS-1, Metal zone and a TS-9..and a dozen different celestion cabs..and four different makes of eqs in those two years..nothing mattered.

The recto just kept giving me the finger..so I gave it the boot.

I don't have any pedals now..nothing but a Dunlop 535Q Wah, that's it.

I was thinkin' of going to GC to pick up a SD-1 for $37 to slam the front of my Uber for harmonics..but I got other issues with it right now..preamp tube most likely..

[Endrik]

Bill you can use brighter pickups in one of your guitars to get all those harmonics with Uber