DG30 Clean Setup

[László]

In line with my quickie noodling demo of the HXDA, I decided to do something similar with the DG30. Just noodling, ignore the poor playing, it's all about the tone.

Details:

Telecaster neck pickup >> DG30. The guitar was used to maintain consistency with the HXDA clean demo. The guitar volume was set to around 7-8.

DG30 pine cabinet with V-30s.

The DG30's controls are set as follows: Volume (gain) about 9-9:30; Reverb 10:00; Treble about 2:30; Middle about 11:30; Bass about 11:15; Master all the way up.

The back panel is in Normal mode, no top cut, presence about 1:00. Delay is the only effect. 18' PRS cables from guitar to pedalboard, pedalboard to KHE amp switcher, and switcher to amp. The pedalboard has a high quality buffer as the first thing the signal hits to preserve high frequencies over these long cable runs.

I should mention that I generally cut the bass when I set up my rig, so that in a recording you can hear the kick drum and bass, and I don’t have to over-EQ a guitar track. That’s how I set it up for this and the HXDA demo, too. I have a bass cut control on my buffer, and I always have it on.

The mic is a Sennheiser 945 hypercardioid dynamic. It’s about 20” away from the speaker grille cloth. I don’t believe in close miking guitar amps unless it’s a live band recording. Amps benefit from being recorded with a little air, and the recording sounds truer to what your ears hear in the room (sometimes I even add a room mic, but didn’t this time).

https://leslieschefman.com/single/114373/dg30-clean

For convenience of reference, here’s the HXDA clean demo so you don’t have to go searching for it.

HXDA Clean Test

HXDA Clean Test by LCS

leslieschefman.com

This is a DG30 demo crunchy that I did several years ago, first solo is 594 Soapbar, second one is 594 humbucker.

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman%2Fmessy-22

Here’s a tune with the HXDA crunchy, with my former 20th Private Stock Anniversary model (I don’t use much distortion compared to others):

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman%2Fwaves-of-blue-2022

 

[László]

My motivation for these demos is simple: We’ve all heard them demo’d crunchy to gainy, but I haven’t heard them clean in demos, so I did a couple.

Both amps sound great clean to me; you can hear the difference between the DG30 and HXDA mostly in the pick attack, midrange and high end. The mids are thicker, the high end a little less glassy.

I love both of these amps, they really do it all.

 

[FatFingerBlues]

I do find both recordings extremely interesting
I would like to hear some clean PAF's played through the DG 30
or perhaps the DGT pickups

you have me lusting bad for a DG 30

 

[László]

I do find both recordings extremely interesting
I would like to hear some clean PAF's played through the DG 30
or perhaps the DGT pickups

It only took me a decade to get around to doing this demo, so you might have a bit of a wait…

Chances are I’ll be in an urn by 2034…so I dunno, maybe 2033. How much time have ya got?

RIP Les

you have me lusting bad for a DG 30

I succumbed to the lust a decade ago, so you get no sympathy!

 

[FatFingerBlues]

Well if you're making it a contest. I'll out last you just for spite
(I'm 65)

 

[gush]

In line with my quickie noodling demo of the HXDA, I decided to do something similar with the DG30. Just noodling, ignore the poor playing, it's all about the tone.

Details:

Telecaster neck pickup >> DG30. The guitar was used to maintain consistency with the HXDA clean demo. The guitar volume was set to around 7-8.

DG30 pine cabinet with V-30s.

The DG30's controls are set as follows: Volume (gain) about 9-9:30; Reverb 10:00; Treble about 2:30; Middle about 11:30; Bass about 11:15; Master all the way up.

The back panel is in Normal mode, no top cut, presence about 1:00. Delay is the only effect. 18' PRS cables from guitar to pedalboard, pedalboard to KHE amp switcher, and switcher to amp. The pedalboard has a high quality buffer as the first thing the signal hits to preserve high frequencies over these long cable runs.

I should mention that I generally cut the bass when I set up my rig, so that in a recording you can hear the kick drum and bass, and I don’t have to over-EQ a guitar track. That’s how I set it up for this and the HXDA demo, too. I have a bass cut control on my buffer, and I always have it on.

The mic is a Sennheiser 945 hypercardioid dynamic. It’s about 20” away from the speaker grille cloth. I don’t believe in close miking guitar amps unless it’s a live band recording. Amps benefit from being recorded with a little air, and the recording sounds truer to what your ears hear in the room (sometimes I even add a room mic, but didn’t this time).

https://leslieschefman.com/single/114373/dg30-clean

For convenience of reference, here’s the HXDA clean demo so you don’t have to go searching for it.

HXDA Clean Test

HXDA Clean Test by LCS

leslieschefman.com

This is a DG30 demo crunchy that I did several years ago, first solo is 594 Soapbar, second one is 594 humbucker.

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman%2Fmessy-22

Here’s a tune with the HXDA crunchy, with my former 20th Private Stock Anniversary model (I don’t use much distortion compared to others):

https://soundcloud.com/lschefman%2Fwaves-of-blue-2022

Page always talked about mixing that way too.

 

[László]

Well if you're making it a contest. I'll out last you just for spite
(I'm 65)

65? Why that’s just getting started!

 

[László]

Page always talked about mixing that way too.

I did not know that!

Now I feel pretty darn special.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I liked everything about my old DG30 clean.

But I liked it with the boost on and the volume all the way up.

 

[László]

I liked everything about my old DG30 clean.

But I liked it with the boost on and the volume all the way up.

Whether I’m in boost or normal mode, the master volume on mine is usually all the way up, too.

But I generally keep the volume (gain) control around 2:00 or so for most of the stuff I do. More often than not I’m in the normal mode these days, not so much for volume as I don’t need as much of that mid-punch as I once did.

In boost mode I use a gobo made by the company that made my bass traps. It does a good job. I place the mics between the speakers and the gobo. It comes in handy, and also isolates the mic from other instruments, room modes, etc.

I know a lot of players use those plexiglass panels live, but in the studio they reflect stuff into the mic, so I like something that’ll absorb the volume.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

The mic is a Sennheiser 945 hypercardioid dynamic. It’s about 20” away from the speaker grille cloth. I don’t believe in close miking guitar amps unless it’s a live band recording. Amps benefit from being recorded with a little air, and the recording sounds truer to what your ears hear in the room

I completely agree with this. EVERYBODY was doing, and recommending, close mic'ing guitar cabs years ago when I was studying up on recording. While it has it's place, I always found my sound was MUCH more natural, clean or dirty, when the mic was back at least 12" or more. Discussed this in a thread at TGP with Jay Mitchell, were he was advocating backing the mic up, and was warning about floor reflection adding bass, but if you cut the base elsewhere, like you do, even that wouldn't be a concern.

Lots of people like the bass and treble boost that proximity effect adds, and that's OK in it's place. I just find they sound more natural, and as you said, more like what you hear in the room, when you back the mic up.

Not to get too far off in that tangent, but when I said that in a thread once (not here) I got pretty much bashed by all the "experts" who said things like "you're recording. You're never going to get your room tone on tape. Get the recorded tone tracked and then do what you need." I argued that it sounded better when not close mic'd and was pretty much laughed at for not knowing what I was talking about. But, Jay Mitchell wrote PAGES of material on his IR's being reflection free "far field" and doing it that way because they sound way more real and natural than all the close mic'd IRs do.

 

[László]

I completely agree with this. EVERYBODY was doing, and recommending, close mic'ing guitar cabs years ago when I was studying up on recording. While it has it's place, I always found my sound was MUCH more natural, clean or dirty, when the mic was back at least 12" or more. Discussed this in a thread at TGP with Jay Mitchell, were he was advocating backing the mic up, and was warning about floor reflection adding bass, but if you cut the base elsewhere, like you do, even that wouldn't be a concern.

Lots of people like the bass and treble boost that proximity effect adds, and that's OK in it's place. I just find they sound more natural, and as you said, more like what you hear in the room, when you back the mic up.

Not to get too far off in that tangent, but when I said that in a thread once (not here) I got pretty much bashed by all the "experts" who said things like "you're recording. You're never going to get your room tone on tape. Get the recorded tone tracked and then do what you need." I argued that it sounded better when not close mic'd and was pretty much laughed at for not knowing what I was talking about. But, Jay Mitchell wrote PAGES of material on his IR's being reflection free "far field" and doing it that way because they sound way more real and natural than all the close mic'd IRs do.

You and I are thinking 100%, exactly alike about this. Good for you for standing up for your own creative ideas!

Our ears and brains process and localize sound based on a combination of direct signal and room reflections. And no human being with any intelligence listens to a guitar amp with an ear against the grille of an amplifier.

We capture more of the actual signal of the speaker cone, the enclosure and the sonic environment moving the mic back a bit. It just freaking sounds better and more real, Some Famous Engineer’s Big Idea notwithstanding.

Another advantage is you don’t pick up the sizzle and harsh artifacts you do with putting a mic up against the grille. Instead of choosing between aiming at the dust cap, or the edge, or whatever, when you move the mic back you’re getting everything in balance.

With the mic set back, you don’t have to decide which speaker sounds best and ignore what the other speakers are adding. You pick up that nice swirl from a 2x12, 4x10, or 4x12 cab without needing more than 1 close mic and creating phase issues.

An amp is an electroacoustic instrument in and of itself, the acoustic part starting with the speaker cone and cab, and appearing in our ears in a space of some kind. My experience and preference is to record it like one. Simple as that.

It will sound even more natural if we add a room mic or two just like they do with drums, piano and other acoustic instruments. I like to use a stereo pair in the Netherlands Radio (NOS) configuration set up at a height where my ears are when I decide the amp’s sounding just right, and in the mix, blend in the mic that’s 18-24 inches away from the grille. I maintain that you get as natural an amp sound as can be recorded doing that if the mics are well-placed.

I do things my own way, I guess.

I know, for example, that many big time mixers insist on mixing into a compressor on the stereo mix bus. I don’t. I want to get my mix and balances right, and EQ/compress the mix bus when everything sounds the way I want solo’d and in the mix. If I need to make adjustments with the bus compressor on, I’ll do that, but at least I know what the hell I’m working with!

I don’t give a rat’s ass what this or that so called expert says. I know what sounds good to me, and generally, other people like my mixes and pay well to get them.

There are lots of ways to do things and achieve successful results. We all have to choose what works for us, and make the adjustments OUR ears want to hear, not someone else’s.

There isn’t a recording technique advance that i can think of that was figured out by the book. The people who figured things out for themselves WROTE the book. We can each write our own!

 

[Greywolf]

I run mine with similar settings ,following DG's preffered settings. It's my favorite clean amp.

 

[GGJJGG]

I did not know that!

Now I feel pretty darn special.

Page went on to discuss what a lot of guitar sounds on records were and why his technique stood out. “You’re always used to them close-miking amps, just putting the microphone in front, but I’d have a mic right out the back, as well, and then balance the two, to get rid of all the phasing problems; because really, you shouldn’t have to use an EQ in the studio if the instruments sound right.” He said, “It should all be done with the microphones… There aren’t too many guys who know it.”

 

[László]

Page went on to discuss what a lot of guitar sounds on records were and why his technique stood out. “You’re always used to them close-miking amps, just putting the microphone in front, but I’d have a mic right out the back, as well, and then balance the two, to get rid of all the phasing problems; because really, you shouldn’t have to use an EQ in the studio if the instruments sound right.” He said, “It should all be done with the microphones… There aren’t too many guys who know it.”

Page knew it from experience long before I did, obviously. But it’s a nice coincidence!

 

[Black Plaid]

I'm listening to these "out of order", whoops!

This one sounds mid-way between the HXDA and the Fillmore. This is still too clean for me. I am hearing that high end zing that the Fillmore doesn't exhibit.

This one does have some of that Vox influence, but it's subtle.

Thanks for doing all these demos, it's ... ear ... opening!

 

[László]

This one sounds mid-way between the HXDA and the Fillmore. This is still too clean for me. I am hearing that high end zing that the Fillmore doesn't exhibit.

Blame my bad taste, not the amp!

I like high end zing on a clean tone. Then I can set the guitar farther back in the mix but still get a little to poke through. It’s a result of making sure the voice-over can be heard clearly. I like to get the mids out of the way. Sometimes when I’m cutting a track, I even boost the highs with an EQ pedal!

Oh well, at least I have an excuse!

Anyway, that’s why I demo’d it with the neck pickup on a Telecaster and set the guitar volume pretty low to use the edge of the pick very lightly to generate even more high frequency shimmer in some of the chords.

I have the bright switch on, I didn’t use any hi-cut, and I set the treble pretty high. Grissom uses his high cut, doesn’t use the bright switch much, and sets his treble lower.

In other words, it isn’t you, it isn’t the amp, it’s me.

This one does have some of that Vox influence, but it's subtle.

Thanks for doing all these demos, it's ... ear ... opening!

Sounds like this one was more like ‘ear-poking-with-sharp-stick’ than ear opening!

 

[László]

I am hearing that high end zing that the Fillmore doesn't exhibit.

You know, it occurs to me that some of that zing might be attributable to the stainless steel frets. In a thread quite a while back

I mentioned that they tend to sound kind of that way to me.

The Tele I used is a recently built Anderson. It’s here for one project. I do have to say that the quality is extremely high. It plays like butter, whereas a Fender Tele absolutely kills my hands. So there’s that.