Fillmore 50 Clean

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Only Human
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In keeping with my last two clean amp demos, this one's the Fillmore. Same basic setup as the other two, again with different amp and cab.

Telecaster neck pickup >> PRS 18' cable >> pedalboard buffer >> PRS 18' cable >> KHE switcher >> 18' PRS cable >> Fillmore/4x10 Mesa cabinet (Creambacks) >> Sennheiser 945 >> Neve style preamp >> Apollo >> Logic. The PRS cables are made by Van Damme in England.

All 3 amps have a different tone signature. This one still sounds pretty darn good to me.

The amp has all NOS GE military grade preamp tubes except the reverb return, which is an NOS Siemens. The output tubes are the cryogenically treated Telefunken 6L6 GCs I've talked about in another thread (the SOS/Fillmore Rescue thread).

Everyone's gonna have their likes, dislikes, favorites, etc. To me, they're all good at what they do because they all do somewhat different things.

The Lone Star 100 2x12 combo will be up to bat next if I get a little time. The usual disclaimers about my lack of focus playing (just noodling once again) apply:

 
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I haven't listened to this or dg yet but I will because it interests me.

I appreciate the effort it took to do these.
The demos gave me an excuse to take a break from a project, so kinda fun.

Try to listen on good speakers or headphones, you should be able to get a decent sense of the three amps!

Les
 
The demos gave me an excuse to take a break from a project, so kinda fun.

Try to listen on good speakers or headphones, you should be able to get a decent sense of the three amps!

Les
Agreed....I only have phone at the moment so that's why I haven't listened to the last two recordings.
 
This one sounds so much more musical to me, it has sparkle and warmth, a sort of roundness to the higher tones and a soft low end that's pleasing.

Maybe it's the reverb? I don't think that's the whole story though.
No question, the Fillmore has a really good clean sound. While I feel I hear through to the guitar more with the PRS amps, which is important to me, the overall tone I captured is pretty much what I’m hearing in the room, and I like it a lot.

I think the 6L6 tubes have a lot to do with it. The characteristics of 6L6 tubes are often said to be exactly what you observed: Sparkle, warmth and roundness, plus a more pillowy low end than other types of tubes.

There’s gotta be a reason whythe 6L6 is the tube of choice for a lot of amps that are revered for their clean tones.

I also have to say once again that the Telefunken 6L6 output tubes I installed a few days ago truly improved the tone of the amp. They sound more open, and overall more pleasing to me than the stock STR440s that came in it.
 
Lovely, Les.
Is there anp reverb used, or is that from the multispeakers
There's a reverb bloom/shimmer behind the notes, almost sounds like chords on keyboard in the background.

I love both amps
 
Lovely, Les.
Is there anp reverb used, or is that from the multispeakers
There's a reverb bloom/shimmer behind the notes, almost sounds like chords on keyboard in the background.

I love both amps
Good ear!

Two things are happening:

1. Instead of wearing headphones, I purposely left the studio monitors on at a low volume level.

The reason I did this was that I was recording both the HXDA and the DG30 cleaner than my usual, and was a little unsure of what I was getting. I was running back and forth from amps, to DAW, to amps to dial in sounds, then playing back the track, then re-adjusting amp controls, then adjusting recording levels, etc.

I wanted to move as quickly as possible to reduce the time lag between playing and listening back, and I didn’t want to slow the process to fuss with headphones, or trip over both guitar and headphone cables.

I could have used Logic Remote to run the DAW, But I was tweaking the levels in the Apollo software as well as the DAW, and headphones felt too cumbersome.

I chose a hypercardioid mic to minimize the ambient bleed, and it did a very good job, but a little is still coming through.

Though I didn’t have to do this quite as much with the Fillmore, an amp I’m more used to recording very clean, I wanted the three demos to be comparable and have the same setup.

2. I usually run delay in one H9, a hall reverb in the second H9 next to it in the pedal chain, and then no reverb on the guitar in the mix.

But at the time, I was trying out a new reverb plugin called BX Aura, so I used it in the mixes for all three amps instead of the H9 hall reverb on the pedalboard. I wound up liking it and bought it. It can do some cool things.

I don’t feel an obligation to create a purist demo, since I’m not in the business of selling amps - I’m in the business of selling finished music! However these aren’t for sale, obviously, the playing isn’t good enough,
 
So far, here’s how I’d describe what I’m hearing from each amp:

1. HXDA Clean.

The HXDA with its cab has more ‘give’ in the attack portion of the note than the other two amps, and - because I set it up this way - a little less midrange emphasis.

I’m hearing a nice balance between the sound of the amp and the woody quality of the guitar’s swamp ash body. It has a wide frequency response with a lot of sparkle up top and a tight bass. I can get also nice sustaining melodic lines from it, even clean. It’s a wonderful amp.

2. DG 30 Clean.

This amp and cab on this one give me more immediacy in the note attack, a more midrange-focused tone, and what I might call a bit more bounce. The amp is ready for the next note more quickly, and gets out of the way of the next note, which makes it great for arpeggios, rhythm work, and especially the type of music it was designed to play.

Given my more melodic style of play, I record this amp mainly in crunch or edge of breakup mode where it sustains longer (which I love). So I tend to go with it clean for arpeggiated and rhythmic things. For a country style track, I’d go with this one for solos, too.

3. Fillmore Clean.

All the good qualities of a 6L6 amp are present and accounted for. You can hear the tweed lineage, but that includes the tweed-style smaller transformers, so it has a little less heft on the bottom. It’s a little less transparent than the other two, in terms of hearing through to the wood and pickups of the guitar; in other words, it adds a little more Mesa, and a little less guitar than something like a real vintage tweed Deluxe or Twin.

The positive trade-off is that the bass stays tighter than a Tweed amp, and doesn’t mush up if driven hard.

I’ll be adding the Lone Star to this list as soon as I have time to record it.
 
I started a thread showing the Lone Star’s clean tones. All four of these amps are different from one another.

More comments later about the Lone Star in its own thread.
 
This sounds really nice. No question. However, my first reaction was that I liked the other two better. This is not fair at all to make that statement yet. I need to listen to all three, and through my SSL, instead of just listening through ipad earbuds. I've bot a real busy weekend but will try to get to it right away.
 
my first reaction of liking the others a bit better was that I'd prefer more low mids. Yes, I know this is a Tele. As nice as the top end and texture are, my first reaction was that I wanted a bit more meat in the mids/low mids. That's just preference though... How is the amp set up for this round?
 
my first reaction of liking the others a bit better was that I'd prefer more low mids. Yes, I know this is a Tele. As nice as the top end and texture are, my first reaction was that I wanted a bit more meat in the mids/low mids. That's just preference though... How is the amp set up for this round?
I’m so used to pulling out low mids to make room for bass and keys, and upper mids for voice-over or vocals that it’s become habit!

This sounds really nice. No question. However, my first reaction was that I liked the other two better.
I do, too. But it’s still kind of interesting to hear all of them ad seriatum.

You can see why I love the PRS amps most out of the four of them. They’re a cut above.
 
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