Pretty much everything in transducers (things that convert vibrations into electrical signals) and amplifiers is context-dependent. At least that’s what I’ve found. Even microphones, preamps, speakers, and other recording gear are that way, not only with respect to the artist, but with respect to the room.
My old studio was a beautiful room, but my new studio sounds much better. I use different mics than I did back then, to different effect. For example, I would never have used a room mic, or a ribbon mic at my old place, because too much room tone came through. Now I use them happily. Now I’m OK with darker mics; before, I had to have very bright mics, because that’s how the room was. It’s nice to understand that. Only took me 20 years of screwing around!
I hated my DG30 initially, thought I really sh!t the bed on the trade I made for it. It passed through a few friends before it made its way to me, and I even got a few “condolences” from some people that had had one and passed theirs along.
It took me a little while to understand how to use the amp, too, so I used it as a clean amp mostly. Once I understood that it’s key to begin with the Master over 12:00, ideally 2:00-3:00 or more, and control the volume with the control labeled ‘Volume’ (duh), things fell into place.
I can actually now get a good balance of tone with the master set lower; there are a few little tricks here and there.
It would be way better if the amp came with a manual that included settings, similar to Mesa. There was a sheet that could be downloaded from the PRS site explaining the DG amps, and why the 30 is a little different due to the location of the phase inverter in the circuit, but it really doesn’t tell you what needs to be done to get the most out of the tone. I think the assumption was we’d all know what to do.
But come to think of it, if you don’t know how to use a compressor, or set up a mic preamp, or do gain staging in the studio, you’re SOL, too. Most don’t include “here’s how to set your compressor for X instrument.” They just figure you know how, or you wouldn’t have bought the thing. You can get a ‘click-click’ sound with no dynamic range out of a kick or snare instead of what you expect with a compressor, unless you understand the gear, the room, the artist, and all the associated equipment.
Still, most players are used to doing things a certain way, and just don’t get it if there’s something different involved. I’m certainly no different.
I also didn’t quite understand that the “boost” control was for situations where you want the amp really, really loud! I just thought it sounded cool at first, and gave the amp a different tone.
