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Original message:110 days 8 hours 29 minutes ago

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Member: Rary

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K so I'm a metal guy. I play an LTD ec-1000 with active pickups through a Mesa Triple Rectifier Solo Head (all-tube) and a Marshall 4 x 12.
I believe that my tubes need changing, as it seems to lack high end power, and the head was a floor model before I purchased it, and I've had it for about 6 months.
That aside, I also find that, although the gain sounds awesome, with my guitar it seems as though things get a little bit unclear, but when I turn down the gain, I find that it lacks that crunch that I really like.
What are some things I can use to kind of smoothen out my sound? I was wondering if something like a compressor or something like that would help at all? It obviously needs to be small enough for me to be able to bring it with me to shows and such, so anything that would fit in a rack would be sick. I'm not a huge gear guy, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

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How many Guitarists does it take to Screw in a lightbulb? Ten. One to do it, and nine others to sit at the back of the room with their arms crossed and tal about how they could do it better.

Reply:110 days 4 hours 57 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002

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Changing your tubes might help. It sounds to me to be a pickup problem. Check to make sure the battery isn't low on the EMG's. If it's a fresh battery, then you may want to start looking at some other pickups. Also, if your strings are old, that could cause it. I usually change strings at least once every 2-3 weeks, and ideally every 2.

As far as a compressor, that would help some. I don't like the hard attack that a compressor gives you. A good combination with a Dual Rec is to run an Ibanez Tubescreamer in front of it. It provides some compression, some added gain, and will make the tone smoother and "meatier". Another option is to look at a pedal I'm interested in at the moment, the Maxon ROD-880. It's basically similar to the Tubescreamer, except it uses a real tube.

I actually fit all of my pedals in my rack...I have a shelf with velcro in the middle of my rack, and every pedal I use is secured to it. I use a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 to provide power, and a GCX Audio control to use a MIDI floorboard to select between the different pedals. The advantage there is you can program the MIDI system to change amp channels, pedals, and any effects (my Rocktron Xpression) all with one button, at the same time. Pretty slick for live performances.

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Reply:110 days 4 hours 45 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002

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Another one I just thought of...I actually use this for my lead tone. A Boss DS-1 Distortion pedal makes for a FANTASTIC overdrive, and it'll really smooth out the lead tone. Just be sure to use it on the Lead channel and not the clean channel. I actually use the Keeley modded version in Seeing Eye mode. Makes a HUGE difference!

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Reply:110 days 4 hours 8 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002

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OK Here's some good examples. I decided to show you instead of tell you :-P

This is my setup in this clip: Ibanez RG320 with Dimarzio Evolutions --> Keeley DS-1 Ultra / Keeley TS-9 Plus --> Carvin Legacy --> Rocktron Xpression used for delay.

I recorded it using the built-in mic's on my BR600 (my brother's band is borrowing my Palmer PDI-03 at the moment :-( ). The playing is quite sloppy but the goal is to show how those pedal smooth things out quite a bit.

Here it is:
http://www.netmusicians.org/files/86-TR0304_1.mp3

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Reply:109 days 23 hours 8 minutes ago
Member: Rary

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Thanks for the tips dude! I appreciate the clip and everything to kind of give me an idea of some of the things I can do to smoothen this biatch that I call my tone outlol.
As far as the batteries in my guit box go, they're pretty much fresh, but I'll mos def change it just to make sure. the strings are only about a month old, but ya they could also use changing.
As far as tubes are concerned, do all tubes kind of offer the same thing, or are there different kinds of tubes for my amp that can do different things? And as far as changing them goes, is that difficult? I have the owner's manual, so I would assume they tell you how in there...
I really only need to smoothen things out in the high end, I find the low end on the amp is perfect for my kind of playing rhythms (basically chugga-chugga with some pings and little things like that, but mostly chugga chugga)
I really like to keep things thick and meaty in the low end.
But ya, so what youre saying is I can have some pedals and shit set up so that they only get turned on whenever they go through a certain channel? Because there's three channels on my amp, but there's a solo channel, which is basically just a bit of a volume boost for when youre playing live and its your time to shine, so can i make it so they only go on when I use that channel?

My music recommendations:

How many Guitarists does it take to Screw in a lightbulb? Ten. One to do it, and nine others to sit at the back of the room with their arms crossed and tal about how they could do it better.

Reply:109 days 22 hours 31 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002

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Yes...you can do that with MIDI. It's expensive (The controller was $399, the rack unit was $399, and that's not counting all the cables and such. But it's worth it).

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Reply:109 days 23 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: Rary

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLgBgnnUUE
The tone that these guys have is similar to what i need, in terms of being chunky but also very tight at the same time.

My music recommendations:

How many Guitarists does it take to Screw in a lightbulb? Ten. One to do it, and nine others to sit at the back of the room with their arms crossed and tal about how they could do it better.

Reply:109 days 22 hours 26 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002

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http://www.guitar-stuff.net/2006/04/03/guitar-gear-phil-sgrosso-from-as-i-lay-dying-guitar-amp-setup/

If you read that, he uses a Maxon OD-808. Which is another version of a Tubescreamer. The Ibanez models begin with TS, and the Maxon models begin with OD. Otherwise, they are identical. The difference lies in the different models.

Ibanez:
TS-7: The budget tubescreamer. It's actually pretty good. I used to use one before I invested in my Keeley pedals. It has a switch to go from TS-9 mode to TS-808 mode. I'll describe the differences down here.

TS-9: The old-school Tubescreamer. It's very warm sounding, and will push your amp very nicely.

TS-808: A souped-up TS-9. It has a beefier tone, more gain, and will push your amp even more.

Maxon:
OD-9: Same as the TS-9.

OD-808: Same as the TS-808. This is probably the most popular one that people are putting in front of Mesa Rectifiers.

ROD880: Brand new overdrive pedal that uses a tube. It sounds amazing, and I'm very tempted to jump on one soon.

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