Learning From The Master - Tim Pierce's HXDA Demo

[Boogie]

Good question, Les! I've found that there's always a magic vector/angle I can turn with a single coil guitar and get less hum. Maybe he optimized his environment so he always gets the proper lower noise vantage point? Or, perhaps those aren't really single coils? Or, those amps are dummies and the real ones are 50' away in a Faraday cage? :biggrin: Hell, I don't know...maybe he's a voodoo priest? Regardless, the tone is fuggin' fantastic and from just the audio I'd never be able to clearly state, "he's playing thru a Super Reverb/VoxAC15/etc.". It's an elusively blended, great sound. (And not to crop dust GAS, but to my ears, and my experience, it sounds like a 50w amp.)

 

[László]

On another front, I just watched Tim Pierce's latest teaching video tonight, and behind him sat an all-black, no wood faceplate, amp with a "DG Custom" plaque on the font lower grille.

Obviously, in addition to the HXDAs, he's got a Grissom amp, but is it the DG30 or DG50? Of course, a guy of that stature can order the amp in stealth tolex or anything he wants, no doubt! I like the look of an all black tolex PRS amp, too.

I've got big love for my DG30, just as I do for the HXDA. It's a wonderful amp, and the more I play it, the more I dig it. I still have yet to play a DG50, and am so curious about how they differ from the 30 -- it's not just the same thing with more power. F'rinstance, I know that the topology of the master volume is different, and there are other differences as well.

Yeah, so now I need an HXDA 100 and a DG 50. It really is endless, this GAS...

And one more question for the assembled masses -- surrounded so closely by all those amps and their transformers, etc., how the heck does Tim keep his single coils from buzzing and humming? I mean, walk your guitar (with the guitar volume up) that close to any amp, and you're going to pick up some noise.

I know for sure he uses a volume pedal to shut down the guitar between phrases, etc, because he's demoed that, but you'd think the pickups would still buzz and hum when he opens the volume pedal back up. Maybe any buzzing or humming is masked by the sound of the guitar?

He's not using the DG on that track, actually. It's hard to know which amp he's running, but for old school Fender style sounds I think he spends a lot of time on the /13 and the Rivera Venus that's tucked away under his table. But the /13 doesn't have a cable going into it, so I'm guessing it's the Rivera.

He's got a Marshall 4x12 and some kind of 2x12 miked up in a semi soundproof cabinet in his garage, and runs cables down to them. Kind of like a giant Silent Sister. I don't think it's truly soundproof, but in the garage it really doesn't need to be. Bob Bradshaw made him a switcher that lets him select any head or combo amp he has, and run it to the cab. He gets a good sound, as the cabinet is large enough to take the SPLs and not choke off the speakers, and of course, in CA he doesn't need to worry about extremely cold weather screwing with the speakers or mics' diaphragms.

In some videos you can see he has a Kemper, but you never see him using it, so I would guess he has it just in case he gets a project with an unusual request for something he doesn't have on hand.

 

[vchizzle]

Tim is such a beast. One of the greatest players out there IMO.

 

[bluefade]

Boy !! Those GIBSON LES PAULS sound GREAT !!!

 

[László]

Boy !! Those GIBSON LES PAULS sound GREAT !!!

Um....

 

[rugerpc]

Boy !! Those GIBSON LES PAULS sound GREAT !!!

squirt...

 

[coyote]

At the risk of sounding "anti-bedroom" (ok, that didn't sound right), your statement is completely in line with my experience, Les. Sometimes it's because of the character change of the amp at that volume, but it's always due to what the amp does to the speakers. Rolling in that bass gain doesn't just increase the low end, it increases the devastating abuse on the speakers, yielding that special sauce. For me, it's all about that speaker-spanking growl and you can't get it at low volume. The price is SPL...period.

To to get that amazing British amp thing at low volumes, there are numerous solutions, but to get the real thing, you have to turn the volume up. For quiet applications, turn to those power scaling models like the Archon and Custom. But if you can turn it up, there is simply no substitute for the real deal. The entire range of PRS British-inspired amps (25th Anni, HX/DA, Super Dallas) are inspiring, but meant to be loud.

Agreed 100%. And the other component IMO is the speaker cab setup. I have a few nice amps. First is an old Marshall Major that I used to run thru the typical stack of 4x12s. I also have the Rivera-era Fender Princeton Reverb II. Nice amp on its own, but small-sounding... until you give it a deep extension cabinet. Same with my new Marshall DSL40c. Sounds good... but pair it at volume with that same deep 2x12, and it sounds like my old 200w stack.

And no no matter what you do with overdrive effects, volume-driven sustain cannot be duplicated.

 

[sws1]

All amps sound better louder. But those fundamentally based on a marshall circuit, like the HXDA, really don't achieve the magic zone until higher volumes than amps designed from the ground up with a master volume.

My main gigging amp (now) is a my HXDA 30 combo, with a Scumback 65 greenback watt speaker in it. I use a Bad Cat Unleash between the amp and the speaker, and then run all my effects in the loop of the Unleash. Master volume is died. The amp is set a bit crunchy, so I can easily clean it up. And then pedals will put it over the top when needed (just like Grissom explains). The Unleash is used to control my stage volume. A mic on the cab fills out the room through the PA.

The playability is nothing sort of glorious. And in a loud room, you don't notice the loss in fidelity of an attenuator. All the "feel" of a non-MV amp is there. It really is awesome.

I really need to try to Tim Pierce settings, although I don't think the Scumback / Greenback will handle the bass on 10. Will try soon.

 

[László]

All amps sound better louder. But those fundamentally based on a marshall circuit, like the HXDA, really don't achieve the magic zone until higher volumes than amps designed from the ground up with a master volume.

My main gigging amp (now) is a my HXDA 30 combo, with a Scumback 65 greenback watt speaker in it. I use a Bad Cat Unleash between the amp and the speaker, and then run all my effects in the loop of the Unleash. Master volume is died. The amp is set a bit crunchy, so I can easily clean it up. And then pedals will put it over the top when needed (just like Grissom explains). The Unleash is used to control my stage volume. A mic on the cab fills out the room through the PA.

The playability is nothing sort of glorious. And in a loud room, you don't notice the loss in fidelity of an attenuator. All the "feel" of a non-MV amp is there. It really is awesome.

I really need to try to Tim Pierce settings, although I don't think the Scumback / Greenback will handle the bass on 10. Will try soon.

Agree on all points, except I think the Scumbacks will handle the bass, since my V-30s did without any issue. I just didn't care for the sound with the bass dimed on a 1x12 cab. Tim Pierce's amps were running through a 4x12 when he did that.

Makes a difference.

PRS' amp guys have always said the HXDA's master volume was put there "as a convenience" and they've always recommended going with the master dimed.