D
NAD: DG 30 head!
- Thread starter MA Pete
- Start date
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
I basically have this DG30 set as my main sound. Also have a VOX AC that I basically bring with me for rehearsals or gigs where I cant bring my DG30 set up. I have 2 pedal boards, 1 small and a big one (not that big), and in this one I have 2 EP Booster. one is ON all the time with the volume on minimum and the other I use after the drives to boost volume. I think I would have a Super Clean instead of my "always ON EP".Thanks for the additional tips!
I *LOVE* the EP Booster, have for a long time. It is not "always on" for me, but it is on a lot. I am also very intrigued by the demos and reviews of the Xotic Super Sweet and Super Clean pedals, I actually have those coming in today to check out.
I run three pedalboards at home for various amp setups - 1 for single channel Marshally amps - HDXA and DG 30, one for Marshally amps with effects loops, and one for High Headroom Clean with pedals for Dirt, so I can use all 3 at any given time across the 3 boards and applications/tone formulas.
I have a theory about this.
In my experience, some amps compress, support, and sustain a note (or a chord) in a way that helps out with legato phrases, connects chords easily, etc. If they also react to pick attack and bring out (and thus allow the player to hear) the subtle details, that only makes things easier to play. For me, the HXDA and DG30 do both of these things extremely well. The notes are also meaty, have a certain heft and weight, etc.
These are characteristics of amps that many professionals prefer, in my experience. Some amps do it well, others don't. In fact, the degree to which amps do these things well separates the "men from the boys." They're certainly true of any number of classic amps.
I've found only a handful of amps that satisfy this way, and the DG30 and HXDA are my top two. The Two-Rocks I owned were a close second, and that's primarily because I prefer the types of tones the PRS amps bring out of my guitars. A good vintage Tweed amp supports a note in a different, but also pleasing, way. Etc.
Just my own theory of why I prefer certain amps to others.
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
that makes a lot of sense to me. the amp becomes a part of your playing and not just a loud box, it interacts with you. and yes, you can feel and hear some nuances, but I can't put in words and I doubt if anyone but the player can hear it. it's very sublte, it's like a selfish pleasure.
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
Les continues to be a bad influence on me
Bad Influence TM !!
Pete, I have to hold you to the same standards as everyone else.
You surely wouldn’t want special treatment?!
Make the check payable to Laird Rubra
MA Pete
Pattern Thin Convert!
Great - thanks for clarifying! I appreciate your tips.
I have been experimenting with the EP Booster, Super Clean and Super Sweet with the HXDA and the DG 30 today (between typing dissertations over on the Electric Guitars Forum). VERY interesting!
I am starting to get this "Always On" thing, finally...
D
Deleted member 5962
Guest
I have a Barber Launch Pad and for years, it was my always on pedal.
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
the always on volume zero Ep Booster thing sounds strange but works.Great - thanks for clarifying! I appreciate your tips.
I have been experimenting with the EP Booster, Super Clean and Super Sweet with the HXDA and the DG 30 today (between typing dissertations over on the Electric Guitars Forum). VERY interesting!
I am starting to get this "Always On" thing, finally...
about havin a Vox AC to bring to rehearsals, you must think I am nuts. I forgot to wqrite down the correct model of the tiny amp its a Vox MV 50 AC, really small and handy head.
Pete, it occurs to me that I forgot to tell you about the Pettyjohn Lift pedal. It’s an always-on buffer with a switchable boost. I think it sounds great, enhances everything on my pedalboard, and works especially well with the DG30. It sounds like a high end mixing console - truth!
I also like the EP Booster, but it has a texture to it that I don’t always want. The Pettyjohn solves that for me. Yes, it’s subtle, and all that, and blah blah blah, but you have the ears and sophistication to appreciate it.
I don’t often recommend pedals, but your ears can discern what it adds to your signal. It’s also a GREAT buffer, and has some nice EQ features as well, that can be switched to be on or off with the boost disengaged.
I also love - love, I tell you - the Pettyjohn Filter EQ. I don’t always use it, but it can do so much, and also has that expensive console-grade tone.
I have a Pettyjohn Pettydrive 2 overdrive. Whether you’d like that, I can’t say. It’s a pretty specific sound, but I like it.
I also like the EP Booster, but it has a texture to it that I don’t always want. The Pettyjohn solves that for me. Yes, it’s subtle, and all that, and blah blah blah, but you have the ears and sophistication to appreciate it.
I don’t often recommend pedals, but your ears can discern what it adds to your signal. It’s also a GREAT buffer, and has some nice EQ features as well, that can be switched to be on or off with the boost disengaged.
I also love - love, I tell you - the Pettyjohn Filter EQ. I don’t always use it, but it can do so much, and also has that expensive console-grade tone.
I have a Pettyjohn Pettydrive 2 overdrive. Whether you’d like that, I can’t say. It’s a pretty specific sound, but I like it.
MA Pete
Pattern Thin Convert!
Les, thanks for the tips! I remember you mentioning the Pettyjohn pedals before.
I just got the Xotic Super Clean and Super Sweet. I have been checking those out with the HXDA and Mercury V, and they are also terrific. They seem to be more transparent than the EP Booster (especially the Super Clean), and also have these great dip switches on the side of the pedal to give you the option to easily on the fly do a High Cut, High Mid Boost, Low Mid Boost or Bass Boost - which is really handy, you can dial the amp into a sweet spot, and then use the boost with the gain set fairly low in an "always on mode" and use the dip switches to fine tune the eq with a particular guitar. (They also have a buffer.)
Cool!
Glad you’re into EQ a bit. I’m big on quality EQ choices. But I’m a studio guy, which explains that. Features are great, of course, but it’s hard to find gear that gives me “that sound,” the kind you hear on great recordings. Creating sounds that satisfy the ear and brain is one goal of all of my gear picks; another goal is stuff I can live with for a long time. I’ve had this pedal setup for almost two years now (except that I added a new Peterson strobe tuner last year when it came out, as I can’t live without a strobe tuner).
I’ve made fairly obsessive choices in pedals, and use the same board for all of my amps. The board is connected to all four amps via a pair of Lehle switchers that sit on a rack behind the amps, so at the press of a button I can choose an amp while recording parts. When I’m working, all the amps are miked up and ready to go, so I don’t lose my train of thought.
I’ll explain the EQs on the Pettyjohn stuff; a pic of the board is below.
The PJ Lift (buffer and boost, lower shelf, far right), has sweepable high and low cut controls, and a drive circuit, as well as boost and level control.. I find the controls useful, and set my basic tone with the Lift. All the controls are on top. DIP switches are useless when I’m in a session and need to see what I’m doing and get results quickly. They’re fine if you have time to dick around with them, of course.
The Filter EQ (lower shelf next to the H9s) has a low-band that’s switchable between a bell filter at 150 Hz or a low shelf at 100 Hz. These different types of curves and frequencies are very useful for different guitars, amps, cabs and rooms. Its high-band is a bell filter with a center point switchable between 6 kHz or 4 kHz. Again, these choices are perfect for electric guitars and amps. Its mid-band has an inductor driven bell filter with switchable center frequencies at 460 Hz, 780 Hz and 1.8KHz. This is like an old console EQ, and PJ uses real deal studio electronic parts so it sounds great, hence the prices. All the controls boost or cut. A real inductor EQ isn’t done by others, as far as I know. It has a super-rich sound. All of these choices are switched on the top surface of the pedal. No DIP switches, or having to open it up. I run this at 18 Volts for clarity, as I do the PD2 drive pedal.
The Pettydrive 2 (the big oxblood colored pedal) has some interesting EQs, too, and they let me tailor how I want my overdrive to sound. It’s perfect for adding that push for additional “edge of breakup” stuff. It also has switchable different clipping types for each side of the pedal - on Chime, you can select Germanium, LED, or a combination; on Iron, MOSFET, LED, or asymmetrical silicon. I think the new versions have these blendable with a continuous sweep knob, I’m not sure, as I have the old version.
They’re pretty substantial pedals, as they need to be with all those parts, but they still fit well on my pedalboard:
I’ll take a pic of my current studio setup and post it later. Because who doesn’t love seeing other folks’ stuff?
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Apropos of my last post, here are some current shots of my setup. The mics aren’t set up today because I just finished the project I was working on.
Normally I keep the room relatively dark, like the shot of the workstation area, because I like moody stuff, but the amps don’t photograph well unless the ceiling lights are up (I don’t have mood lamps in that part of the room). So Please forgive the blinding brightness in the amp shots!
The normal look of the studio and workstation area:
The amp area (the Fillmore cab will arrive next week, and the head will sit on that and sit near the amps in the pic). To the right behind the HXDA is a small rack with the PF-1800-PFR power supply and the amp switchers. As you can see, the room isn’t fancy or studio-cool, but it works. There are RealTraps on the back wall and in the corners to absorb bass and tame reflections off the back wall, though it sounds pretty good, so they’re not as extensive as the ones in the front of the room. I may add more soon just to see if I can make it sound even better. I keep mics, manuals, tubes, spare pedals, gizmos of various kinds, and other supplies in the cabinets.
Finally, a shot of the ‘junk and mic stand area’. Who even knows where the hell to put this stuff? Most studios just keep it out and handy, like I do. The Fillmore is the thing on top of the bookshelf, and the main reason the bookshelf is in the room is for a little bit of diffusion on that side wall, though it’s a convenient place to put carrying cases for mics and the 1073 preamp. The books are there just to serve as a little bit of diffusion, and they’re heavy so I can put heavier stuff on the top of the shelf unit without it tipping over.
I have a bass trap for the junk corner, too, but I have to do a little repair work on it, so it’s in the back room today (“Hey, I’ll get around to it this weekend,” said the procrastinator...).
When the cab for the Fillmore comes next week, I’ll probably put up some more acoustical treatment along that wall and move the bookshelf somewhere, but I want to see how the amp/cab fits into the room acoustically before doing anything, as it may be fine as-is (a man can hope).
Normally I keep the room relatively dark, like the shot of the workstation area, because I like moody stuff, but the amps don’t photograph well unless the ceiling lights are up (I don’t have mood lamps in that part of the room). So Please forgive the blinding brightness in the amp shots!
The normal look of the studio and workstation area:
The amp area (the Fillmore cab will arrive next week, and the head will sit on that and sit near the amps in the pic). To the right behind the HXDA is a small rack with the PF-1800-PFR power supply and the amp switchers. As you can see, the room isn’t fancy or studio-cool, but it works. There are RealTraps on the back wall and in the corners to absorb bass and tame reflections off the back wall, though it sounds pretty good, so they’re not as extensive as the ones in the front of the room. I may add more soon just to see if I can make it sound even better. I keep mics, manuals, tubes, spare pedals, gizmos of various kinds, and other supplies in the cabinets.
Finally, a shot of the ‘junk and mic stand area’. Who even knows where the hell to put this stuff? Most studios just keep it out and handy, like I do. The Fillmore is the thing on top of the bookshelf, and the main reason the bookshelf is in the room is for a little bit of diffusion on that side wall, though it’s a convenient place to put carrying cases for mics and the 1073 preamp. The books are there just to serve as a little bit of diffusion, and they’re heavy so I can put heavier stuff on the top of the shelf unit without it tipping over.
I have a bass trap for the junk corner, too, but I have to do a little repair work on it, so it’s in the back room today (“Hey, I’ll get around to it this weekend,” said the procrastinator...).
When the cab for the Fillmore comes next week, I’ll probably put up some more acoustical treatment along that wall and move the bookshelf somewhere, but I want to see how the amp/cab fits into the room acoustically before doing anything, as it may be fine as-is (a man can hope).
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Tucson Thump
Mint Heavy Relic
The universal problem is that we can't dance with all the pretty girls at once
You can line dance...but as we all know, that ain’t dancin’!!
ruger9
New Member
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- Jan 30, 2014
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- 512
Les continues to be a bad influence on me
This amp is pretty great, now I see what all the fuss is about!
Let me start by clarifying again that there is no way whatsoever I could get great tones out of the HXDA and/or DG 30 without the Ox Box at home. I am not talking "bedroom" volumes, I am talking about still pretty loud moving some air, but running these amps at ~3 o'clock on the Master to get them into the sweet spot for monster tone. No way I could do that without the Ox Box without peeling paint off the walls. That thing is a complete game changer, at least for me
So... the this is a GIGGING amp only? (w/o an attenuator)? So the MV doesn't work that well? I'm curious, because this is one of the few amps I'm looking at buying... I've got a Hot Cat, with their new K-Master, and it works really well for home (not bedroom) volumes....
aduayer
Zomb!e One, DFZ
Last saturday I went for a rehearsal with a project that I am starting. The studio has some good gear but I took my amp and cabinet to use it. Damn, the DG30 set is just awesome. for those who thinks the BOOST switch is just more gain thing, no way! it's like having 2 amps, I wish they have that in a footswitch. The BOOST on mode just gave me a Marshall kind of sound that was perfect for what we are doing. Just felt in love with that amp again.
as soon I have more sutrff I can share it with you, for now it's just this teaser, witch you can's see or hear much
as soon I have more sutrff I can share it with you, for now it's just this teaser, witch you can's see or hear much
sergiodeblanc
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- Joined
- Apr 26, 2012
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- 27,400
Yeah, it kinda needs to be loud IMO.
Soundin’ good!!
I agree about the boost, and it’s also a great way to add perceived headroom for clean clean tones.
I don't have a problem with the volume. And I use mine not just in a home; I live in a Condo. No complaints from neighbors over the amp noise since I got it in 2014.
But I'm not a high gain player. Maybe Pete needs higher gain, and sets the volume higher to get it.
Two thumbs up!
ruger9
New Member
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- Jan 30, 2014
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- 512
I'm not a high gain player either, but I am looking for Grissom tones at home volumes (this is what I call "reasonably loud"... far louder than bedroom volume, actually still probably too loud if someone is trying to watch tv upstairs, but it's not cranked up to rehearsal/gig levels.) But Grissom's level of dirt is also my "base tone"... so that's why I'm asking about the MV. I like getting most of my dirt from the amp.
The official PRS demo of the DG30 (with Dave and Paul), sounds ok... Dave said the MV was "at like 2" (and Paul was already complaining
), and it's a nice but pretty muddy tone at that point... with my Hot Cat's "K-master" I can actually get a very similar tone, at "home" volumes, it doesn't need to be up at gig volume. That fact that people feel the need to use something like the OX make me think this isn't a great MV?
