Changing Things Up, Rediscovering Wow-ness!

László

László

Too Many Notes
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
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Location
Michigan
So for the past few months I've been working on projects for ad clients, and recording the DG30 head in its non-boost "normal" mode. I've tweaked it, and massaged it, and twiddled knobs and settings and got it right to where it sounded best in that mode.

Then I concentrated on pedals for a while, and getting that all going to sound best with the DG head and cab. And I forgot about the amp's boost mode and some of the rear controls.

Yesterday something got into me, and I decided I wanted to hear how The Hammer Of The Gods sounds with the amp in boost mode. I hadn't even tried it with this guitar!

And -- is OMG too California-girl to say here? -- well, OMG it is. I'd completely forgotten how freaking awesome this amp sounds in boost mode, opened up to a reasonable gig volume. The character of the amp changes quite a bit, and it feels like I'm playing a different amp.

This control kills fascists:

 
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Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie...fascism...interesting tangent...
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Hey Les, I was watching Hulu the other night when one of the way too many ads comes on. It was a Mercedes commercial for the new C series featuring background guitar riffage followed by female vocals. I looked up, stared for a moment and said out loud, "that sounds like Les". Was that not your handy work?
 
Boogie said:
Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie...fascism...interesting tangent...
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Well, I was just going to say that the switch "kills." Then I was reminded of the story of Woodie's guitar. He did it during WW2 when fighting fascists was important. At this point, it's just a fun guitar story.

The Joan Baez story is fun, too -- Just before a concert in Ann Arbor (U of Michigan), her O-45 Martin guitar needed a repair. So she took it to Herb David, a luthier in Ann Arbor, and by coincidence the guy I bought my first acoustic guitar from, an all mahogany Guild. Herb had a well known shop and did repairs, really knew his stuff. I liked Herb and he was one of those guys who talked to you about what you wanted, and then brought out the guitars he thought would suit you from the back of the shop in their cases. Only the cheapies hung on the walls!

Ann Arbor was a pretty liberal town even in the early 60s. But I guess Herb wasn't so liberal. He did the repair and wrote inside the guitar, "Too bad you're a communist!"

It's also interesting to compare what touring musicians did then with what happens today!

Here was an internationally renowned musician, an excellent player, sold a ton of records, and like most big-time artists in the 60s, traveled with ONE guitar. No backups, no guitar tech, no fiberglass case. If a guitar needed repair on the road for a crack in the top, it got repaired wherever she was. And this was a 45 series guitar, an expensive instrument!

Even the Beatles toured with one guitar each back then!

Today even local bar players feel they need to haul a backup guitar or three, a backup amp, etc. It's funny. "What if I break a string?" Well, restring it. I remember that happening to artists I went to see at plenty of shows. Most folk artists could tell a story while they restrung the guitar right on stage.

We are so much fussier and have more first-world issues today...however I'm fighting the good fight, guys - when I do a show, it's one guitar. Or one keyboard. Or...one bass...but you get the idea. ;)

Boogie said:
Hey Les, I was watching Hulu the other night when one of the way too many ads comes on. It was a Mercedes commercial for the new C series featuring background guitar riffage followed by female vocals. I looked up, stared for a moment and said out loud, "that sounds like Les". Was that not your handy work?
Click to expand...

Sadly, that wasn't me. However, my friend Marco Lehmann whose studio is in Frankfurt am Main does a lot of Mercedes work, and I think it might be his. Marco is an awesome talent.
 
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So...another day of good work with this amp with the boost switch on, and I can't remember why I put it in the other mode in the first place!

Funny how that works, isn't it? You think you've got everything just so perfect, and then you try something else. And it's even more perfect.
 
LSchefman said:
Funny how that works, isn't it? You think you've got everything just so perfect, and then you try something else. And it's even more perfect.
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That's always the way of perfectionists...even perfection starts to sound ho-hum after a while. It startles me to think how many amazing tones I've thrown out because of boredom.

Case in point. Yesterday, I decided to play along with some Satriani stuff. This is usually my folly/diversion because it's pretty different from what I play in a band. But instead of running the Saturator thru the SuperD and the rest of my rig, I fired up the Bassman. What a breath of fresh air! The DGT thru a high gain pedal into a pristine-clean amp, you know, just how Joe used to do it. Wow, despite the huge strings, the DGT sounded fantastic. I'm sure I could squeeze a million sounds out of this between the guitar controls and the boost on the Saturator. Can I get the same results with the SuperD? Hell yes, and I'll probably work on that today. (The real secret is probably the old Baasman 4x12 cab)

Despite all of this fun, I'll never use this setup for live work and that's kinda sad. Without an army of roadies, I'll probably never gig a 4x12 again! And certainly not the Bassman 4x12.
 
Boogie said:
That's always the way of perfectionists...even perfection starts to sound ho-hum after a while. It startles me to think how many amazing tones I've thrown out because of boredom.

Case in point. Yesterday, I decided to play along with some Satriani stuff. This is usually my folly/diversion because it's pretty different from what I play in a band. But instead of running the Saturator thru the SuperD and the rest of my rig, I fired up the Bassman. What a breath of fresh air! The DGT thru a high gain pedal into a pristine-clean amp, you know, just how Joe used to do it. Wow, despite the huge strings, the DGT sounded fantastic. I'm sure I could squeeze a million sounds out of this between the guitar controls and the boost on the Saturator. Can I get the same results with the SuperD? Hell yes, and I'll probably work on that today. (The real secret is probably the old Baasman 4x12 cab)

Despite all of this fun, I'll never use this setup for live work and that's kinda sad. Without an army of roadies, I'll probably never gig a 4x12 again! And certainly not the Bassman 4x12.
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Great example, and you're so right about being a perfectionist.

Incidentally, I played through a '67 Bassman head and 4 x 12 for many years; I bought the amp and cab NOS in 1969, and I think it's the source of my fondness for traditional 50 watt amps.

I'd pretty much experimented and set the amp up over the spring/summer with the 408, using the "normal" setting, and forgotten about the boost settings. Thus I hadn't actually tried The Hammer through the amp with the boost on., even though I sold the 408.

Turns out I prefer the boost function with the thicker sounds of The Hammer's pickups, not because it's louder, but because the amp's character changes with the boost switch on. It actually breaks up a little less easily, and sounds a little thicker, so I can get a wider useful sweep with the guitar's volume controls, and a bit more clarity with pedals.

I really wouldn't have guessed that it would work that way. Go figure!
 
I'm a real fan of the late '60s-early '70s Bassman lines. I say that in plurality because the silver face Bassman 100 series was a completely different amp design. In fact, I thought my brother was crazy when he bought it in the '80s. But the Bassman 100 has such a Twin-like character that I prefer it to a real Twin. That's also why I gravitated toward the Super Dallas. SuperD's bottom-end is bigger, though, than the mighty Bassman 100.

With all of that in mind, your notion of "rediscovering the WOW" made me go back to the original videos that helped me make my decision. I found every demo out there, captured the control settings where possible, and sought out my demo amp. Of course, that and hens' teeth were what I found. But now that I have the amp, I keep twisting the tone controls to noon and start over again. I empty the pedal board and start over from scratch. I buy new pedals and switch things up a bit. And though I've stumbled upon numerous new tones that are excellent, I keep coming back to what I have been using for 2 years. Only the pedal controls get tweaked. That must mean that I've really found what I love most about the amp. Straying from the course only confirms that I was on the right path before.
 
Sounds like you have things dialed in. I'm getting there. One thing I'm really digging more is that Bogner Burnley pedal; there's just so much "there" there! ;)

Seriously, it's a very organic sounding pedal, with a richness that most pedals can't achieve. So there's that.

I'm pretty much only using the Xotic BB with the neck pickup at this point, though it sounds very good indeed with that pickup, especially because it tends to pull back the low end a little, and prevents things from getting too "woofy."

I'm still fiddling with amp controls, but now the range of adjustment is less. So I think I'm getting close to "dialed in." Just working with the one guitar also helps.

Tonight I was writing a new piece for an ad project, and to be nice to my wife I decided to write parts with a modeler, and re-record them with the real amps tomorrow. Well, what a craptastic experience it is (IMHO) to go from a great amp to a modeler. Made me want to grind my teeth down to stubs!
 
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Just curious, where do you have the BB's settings for the neck pup? Ironically, I just took it off my board and put the Kalamazoo back on. I also took out the Klon and put my Monster back in. Yep, you read that right.

And you're right, working with one guitar makes things easier. The second I throw something diverse in the mix - like a Strat - everything has to start over again, for me.
 
Boogie said:
Just curious, where do you have the BB's settings for the neck pup? Ironically, I just took it off my board and put the Kalamazoo back on. I also took out the Klon and put my Monster back in. Yep, you read that right. .
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In my rig, the Lovepedal had too much "transistor overdrive" happening. Could be the type of settings I use, I rarely goose the output level more than a few db beyond unity gain.

What's the Monster pedal you're referring to?

Boogie said:
And you're right, working with one guitar makes things easier. The second I throw something diverse in the mix - like a Strat - everything has to start over again, for me.
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Absolutely. I don't understand using the same amp settings with different guitars. It just never works for me that way.
 
Just before the last gig last week, I decided to switch pedals boards, again. The old Furman board is sooo nice and reliable. But that also meant that I swapped the OD pedals again...out went the Monster and K'zoo Gold and in went the KTR and BB. For my taste, at the volumes we play at this particular venue, this combination of pedals yields a little more cut and sizzle. It's slight, almost an esoteric difference, but it's definitely there. The results were great and, IMO, contributed to a top 5 performance for me. It only takes a little of "sounding good" to give me the added confidence to step out and give an extra 10%. Of course, only 3 people in the crowd and my bandmates gave 2 turds, but I really had fun. And that's what this is all about, right?

pedalboard11-28-2014.jpg


LSchefman said:
What's the Monster pedal you're referring to?
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That's the Klone I built several months ago. It differs from the real thing in such a small way that it's relatively interchangeable with the Klon KTR. There's a presence difference that can make a HUGE difference and, IMHO, makes up the Klon mojo. Twisting the tone control on the KTR between 11:00 and 2:00 is all I need to do to control my mix cut. While the Monster is still one of my favorite ODs of all time, the KTR does possess something special that will keep it on this board. The Monster will have to get its own board. :biggrin:
 
That's a great pedal board rig! And for me, that'd also be about all the pedals I'd need for a session or show. You have some really great ones.
 
"What did you do today, Mr. Les?"

"I recorded a couple of new ad tracks and turned all the knobs on my amp and pedals. Every freaking knob."

"You weren't happy with where you were?"

"No, I was very happy. I just wanted to change things up for the different tracks."

"How did they turn out?"

"I decided to have a session player in LA do them."
 
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