When last we left off in this serial thriller about my lovely and wonderful HXDA 30, I had changed out the preamp tubes (replacing the V1 with a NOS Mullard 12 AX7 that let's face it was expensive but worth it, and the other two 12AX7s with some JJ gold pin ECC83s' chosen for low noise and microphonics -- these for the simple reason that one of the two original tubes was becoming a little noisy and I just said the hell with it and swapped both out for new ones). But I didn't really mess with the settings on the amp. I left them pretty much where they'd been.
Last night I happened to watch one of the great session player Tim Pierce's videos, and got started on YouTube watching more, and then re-viddied his HXDA demo. The first time I saw this demo, I was just listening on my computer. Last night, I watched and listened on my studio system. Well, yeah, that sure made a difference! If you watch this, listen on good speakers or good cans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH1nyL5PGzE
Dang if he didn't get a stellar sound. And since he went through his settings and fiddled with them to demo the amp, I decided to reproduce what he did. He sets his up with much higher gain than I do, especially on the bass gain setting. He also sets his tone controls higher, and of course dimes the master. So did I.
Well...it may not be my exact taste in settings for my style of play, but it sounded suh-weet! Playing today with the McCarty Singlecut (aka, the Hammer of the Gods), I was Les Zeppelin. Or is that Led Schefman? In either case, I was not me. I was someone else entirely. And I was loud. I'm not usually quite that LOUD.
So I learned new things about my amp, or maybe re-learned things I hadn't thought about in a while. It's always so good to be challenged and inspired to try something a little different! :top:
Also pretty cool to have a session master, who's played on hundreds if not thousands of big time hits, show you how it's supposed to be done!
Last night I happened to watch one of the great session player Tim Pierce's videos, and got started on YouTube watching more, and then re-viddied his HXDA demo. The first time I saw this demo, I was just listening on my computer. Last night, I watched and listened on my studio system. Well, yeah, that sure made a difference! If you watch this, listen on good speakers or good cans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH1nyL5PGzE
Dang if he didn't get a stellar sound. And since he went through his settings and fiddled with them to demo the amp, I decided to reproduce what he did. He sets his up with much higher gain than I do, especially on the bass gain setting. He also sets his tone controls higher, and of course dimes the master. So did I.
Well...it may not be my exact taste in settings for my style of play, but it sounded suh-weet! Playing today with the McCarty Singlecut (aka, the Hammer of the Gods), I was Les Zeppelin. Or is that Led Schefman? In either case, I was not me. I was someone else entirely. And I was loud. I'm not usually quite that LOUD.
So I learned new things about my amp, or maybe re-learned things I hadn't thought about in a while. It's always so good to be challenged and inspired to try something a little different! :top:
Also pretty cool to have a session master, who's played on hundreds if not thousands of big time hits, show you how it's supposed to be done!
Last edited: