Demo Clip - How The HXDA Responds To Guitar Volume Control

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Too Many Notes
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I wrote & recorded a little piece to demo how the HXDA's clean-to-mean can be controlled only with the guitar, not touching any controls on the amp, and not using dirt pedals.

The piece is sort of Americana style.

I set up the HXDA for a clean tone with guitar volume around 4. The first part was recorded clean with a slight bit of grit, using the "both pickups" position on the McCarty. Then I use the bridge pickup with guitar volume around 6-7. and get a crunch tone. About 2/3 of the way through, I play a lead with the guitar volume around 9, and kick in a delay. I did use a compressor pedal to smooth things out a little.

It's a work in progress, but it was a fun evening's activity.

This is today's corrected version - replayed a few sloppy parts.

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman/hxda-demo-v3
 
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Very nice tones, Les. I admire players that use this approach, although with only occasional exceptions, I've always been a channel switcher and/or dirt pedal guy. The only single channel amp I ever owned, until fairly recently, was a silverface Twin Reverb, and I certainly couldn't get any significant dirt out of that without a pedal, at least if I didn't want to be fired/evicted/etc.! I use this approach when I play my AC-30, but it takes practice to modulate drive this way.
 
I use this approach when I play my AC-30, but it takes practice to modulate drive this way.

One nice thing about the HXDA is that the transition from clean to the various gain tones is gradual, as the clip is meant to demo. So with this amp, modulating the drive is a bit easier.

One advantage of being from ancient times is that when I was a kid in bands, all amps were single channel, and the only pedals were fuzzes, treble boosters, and wahs. There weren't any overdrive pedals at all. So it's intuitive for me to have an amp like this.

It also helps that PRS guitars have great pickups and controls that are actually useful!
 
Great examples Les of what you can get out of a single channel amp like the HXDA.(like Boogie sez)

I'd be interested to know the HXDA amp settings you used so I can try to replicate the same tones using my Mccarty too.

Thanks~!
 
Glad you found it useful, guys!

In the clear light of day, I can hear the sloppiness of my playing, which is kind of a drag, but...you know, it was one of those "aha, I like this little riff, and I'm just gonna record it without practicing it!" moments. Not the best plan, eh?

I recut the track to fix the clams. The new version is above.

Flats, the settings I used on the HXDA are:

Switches, left to right: DA, HX, HX

HXDA Gain: 10:00
Bass Gain: 8:00

Treble 10:30
Middle: 1:30
Bass: 11:00

Presence: 10:00
Master: 2:30

I used a Suhr compressor pedal on a very light setting, with a lot of uncompressed signal blended in, but I can still hear it "grab" a little on the clean riff in the opening. I ran the pedal at unity gain, so there's no "push" from the pedal. It's just intended to even out the signal. So that's another fix that's needed.
 
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That's a really great sounding clip, Les! Well done. I forget which McCarty you have...which pickups?
 
That's a really great sounding clip, Les! Well done. I forget which McCarty you have...which pickups?


Thanks, Vaughn!

The McCarty is a 2015 with the stock 58/15 pickups, and all the tracks were in humbucker mode (no coil splits). It's a really easy guitar for me to get around on.

I'm turning it into a song; I think it'll be pretty cool once it's done.
 
Nice track, Les! I finally got a chance to hear it just now at home through a good set of speakers - I figured no point listening on my phone, and work blocks soundcloud (and I have crappy speakers there anyway).

I look forward to hearing your completed song!
 
Nice track, Les! I finally got a chance to hear it just now at home through a good set of speakers - I figured no point listening on my phone, and work blocks soundcloud (and I have crappy speakers there anyway).

I look forward to hearing your completed song!

Thanks, Shinks!

I've got an arrangement I'm happy with, and have redone a few things to be a bit tighter. What's still on the plate are lyrics and finishing things up.
 
Great tune Mr.Schefman! I can't wait to hear the lyrics! It's inspired me to fire up the Hulk again (the Hulk is my green 100watt HXDA) after letting him sit for a few weeks. I've been messing with my Ashby (it's my 50watt 6L6 based "Clean" amp that usually gets relegated to the "wet" side of my wet-dry rig because of it's great clean headroom). The Hulk's overdrive is so crazy touch sensitive, in a very good way, when he starts breathing (master at noon or even higher if the neighbors aren't home). The closest thing to the HXDA touch response I've experienced was a Budda Twinmaster cranked to shake the windows but it ran on EL84's and didn't have the bottom end my Hulk has. Anyway, I'm rambling. Great tune sir! Someday I'll get a DG too, just like you
 
Thanks Dewd! Much appreciated. I'm working on the track...I guess we'll see if I can develop a decent lyric!
 
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