What could I do to make my rig better?

Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Metallica, John Petrucci, Alex Lifeson, Neal Schon, Dave Mustaine, Ty Tabor, Misha Mansoor, Tobin Abasi, Periphery, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Andy Summers, Don Felder. Just a partial list.

Of what? People using the Fractal Audio Axe Fx III.

Use what you have now. Practice a lot, play with other musicians as often as possible, take lessons. Save your money. Buy this when you can.
 
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Outlier22 said:
I don't think you said the kind of music you played and that should definitely be a consideration on your selection of your first tube amp. But since you have been playing Orange I will assume you overall like the Orange tone so perhaps get an Orange Rocker 15 or 30? I don't know much about Orange amps but looking on sweet water for Orange amps and filtering by tube only I found the Orange Rockers and the 15w is the least expensive.

I was going to suggest a Blues Jr. as it's what I bought for my first tube amp and it served me well for a while. Actually I still use it on occasion as its very portable, relatively light and loud enough for a band. But it's a small open back cab so it doesn't have that tight bass response you might want for hard rock. But overall a capable and popular tube amp. You could look at Marshall DSL's if you want a more "rockin" 2 channel tube amp. My bandmate plays a Bugera and loves it. He's got it sounding really nice and it has switchable ohms to match your speaker cabs and doesn't need to have tubes biased which is nice.
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My music taste is enormous, from John mayer to miles davis to john coltrane to SRV to steve vai to meshuggah, I love everything. The orange tone to me, is very raw and not tight as something like a mesa dual rec. But the tube amps that I've played from orange sound great. I know Jim root has a head and he's well, jim root of slipknot. One amp I have been looking from orange is micro dark terror, for 190 and a matching 1x12, it sounds very good. The amp has an 8 ohm output and the 1x12 (cheapest full speaker I could find from orange) is 16 ohms, and I won't get as much volume but the tone won't be affected. I really like the sound of that head, and I don't want a complex amp with a lot of tubes and then if I ever have an issue with a tube, I would have to take it to a tech and get tubes replaced. The complexity for my rig personally comes in the pedals.
 
RickP said:
Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Metallica, John Petrucci, Alex Lifeson, Neal Schon, Dave Mustaine, Ty Tabor, Misha Mansoor, Tobin Abasi, Periphery, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Andy Summers, Don Felder. Just a partial list.

Of what? People using the Fractal Audio Axe Fx III.

Use what you have now. Practice a lot, play with other musicians as often as possible, take lessons. Save your money. Buy this when you can.
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Is a fractal really worth it though? I dont necessarily have 2000 or 3000 dollars to buy an amp. Yes they do sound very good, and they are versatile but they are also very hard to learn how to program. And I don't think I, 15 years old, need a 2000 dollar piece of gear like that. I will eventually try one, but I'm just looking for simplicity in my amp, and then complexity in my pedals.
 
PRSfanboy46 said:
Is a fractal really worth it though? I dont necessarily have 2000 or 3000 dollars to buy an amp. Yes they do sound very good, and they are versatile but they are also very hard to learn how to program. And I don't think I, 15 years old, need a 2000 dollar piece of gear like that. I will eventually try one, but I'm just looking for simplicity in my amp, and then complexity in my pedals.
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It’s probably for the best that you go the route you’re going. Your cup’s pretty full, and it takes time to realize that.
 
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LSchefman said:
Which part? The "you're gonna need lots of amps" part, or the ramen noodles part?
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Ramen in exchange for amp? What part of ‘hell yeah’ is unclear? Confucius of PRS gear has spoken. ;):p

Don’t forget: the amp + cab matching is a critical decision. If you hear a particular demo that locks you in, be sure to get the whole enchilada...amp and cab.
 
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LSchefman said:
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!
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I heard the orange micro dark terror through an orange 1x12 and that sounded quite tight. Obviously some sort of EQ pedal would be needed for finer tone shaping in a sense. I am really thinking about this amp because this is my first step into the world of tube amps and I just want something simple and small but also offering good tone.
 
PRSfanboy46 said:
I heard the orange micro dark terror through an orange 1x12 and that sounded quite tight. Obviously some sort of EQ pedal would be needed for finer tone shaping in a sense. I am really thinking about this amp because this is my first step into the world of tube amps and I just want something simple and small but also offering good tone.
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That's a great goal.

Personally, I like using an EQ pedal, and always have one on my pedalboard. It can make a big difference in shaping your tone for various guitars, amps, and projects.
 
LSchefman said:
That's a great goal.

Personally, I like using an EQ pedal, and always have one on my pedalboard. It can make a big difference in shaping your tone for various guitars, amps, and projects.
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Well it's literally a 3 knob amp, volume, gain and tone control. Yes you can get some good tones with that, but you obviously need fine tweaking for EQ and what sounds good to your ears. Personally, for my high gain, I love the sound of a PRS MT15, a mesa dual rec, and a 6505. I would say that orange generally makes what I call "Dad rock" amps, they just have that tone that is dad rock. Not very tight and really unruly. But this amp is made for metal, and I don't know what I would need to make my amp sound tight. I assume it would be a pedal, an EQ or a noise gate or a noise suppressor or a compressor. For me and my situation, if I get this amp and I want to get into the realm of a 6505 or mesa dual rec tightness, what pedal would I exactly need to get that tight sound?
 
PRSfanboy46 said:
Well it's literally a 3 knob amp, volume, gain and tone control. Yes you can get some good tones with that, but you obviously need fine tweaking for EQ and what sounds good to your ears. Personally, for my high gain, I love the sound of a PRS MT15, a mesa dual rec, and a 6505. I would say that orange generally makes what I call "Dad rock" amps, they just have that tone that is dad rock. Not very tight and really unruly. But this amp is made for metal, and I don't know what I would need to make my amp sound tight. I assume it would be a pedal, an EQ or a noise gate or a noise suppressor or a compressor. For me and my situation, if I get this amp and I want to get into the realm of a 6505 or mesa dual rec tightness, what pedal would I exactly need to get that tight sound?
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I guess I'm more of a "Dad Rock" guy, since I don't go for that tight sound. I use my EQ pedal to do things like boost treble and cut flabby bass so my ad music tracks sit in a mix well.

I'm sure lots of other people here can chime in with better info than me when it comes to that tight sound you're looking for. All I can do is confuse the situation re: what you need for your kind of sound. Forgive my ignorance.

When I'm working on ad projects, what I can say is that an EQ pedal comes in very handy. I've used all of my amps and pedals on national ad projects for 30 years, but the EQ is something that is truly necessary. To my way of thinking, EQ is a sound shaping tool. It can only help if you know what you're doing.
 
well I would take your word for it on tone LSchefman based on your studio experience.

regarding the micro dark terror. I haven't heard this one in person but my bandmate has the regular Orange Micro Terror (the orange one not the black one) and he was using this for when we practice at one of the guys houses instead of lugging his other gear but he stopped using it because it didn't have enough headroom or volume for the band. He's actually using two bugera 5w all tube amps instead now. They are small and he keeps extra cabs at the other guys houses. (must be nice having enough amps and cabs to do that right?) So I can't speak for sure for the black micro terror but if you are playing with a band it might not have enough volume. (acutually I think it just barely had enough volume but was compressing significantly and wouldn't cut through.??) Anyway, perhaps you could buy from Guitar Center and test it out and return if needed?

You are right about tube maintenance though. The micro amps are a hybrid amp with single tube in the preamp and solid state power section. So you don't have to have pre-amp tube biased ever. You can just swap them out as needed. there are a ton of those out there though that might work for you so keep your options opened.
 
Outlier22 said:
well I would take your word for it on tone LSchefman based on your studio experience.

regarding the micro dark terror. I haven't heard this one in person but my bandmate has the regular Orange Micro Terror (the orange one not the black one) and he was using this for when we practice at one of the guys houses instead of lugging his other gear but he stopped using it because it didn't have enough headroom or volume for the band. He's actually using two bugera 5w all tube amps instead now. They are small and he keeps extra cabs at the other guys houses. (must be nice having enough amps and cabs to do that right?) So I can't speak for sure for the black micro terror but if you are playing with a band it might not have enough volume. (acutually I think it just barely had enough volume but was compressing significantly and wouldn't cut through.??) Anyway, perhaps you could buy from Guitar Center and test it out and return if needed?

You are right about tube maintenance though. The micro amps are a hybrid amp with single tube in the preamp and solid state power section. So you don't have to have pre-amp tube biased ever. You can just swap them out as needed. there are a ton of those out there though that might work for you so keep your options opened.
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I've looked into bugera and they have a really neat system of telling you the life of your tubes and when you need to bias them or change them but I don't trust myself with that. And I am not gonna be in a band situation, just me in my room and maybe recording at a friends house who has the setup for that. Personally with my rigs, I want simplicity in the amp and complexity in the pedals. Heck I may get a vox AC15 or a DSLR 20 watt from marshall. I just want to go something simple for my first step into tubes.
 
TLDR: get off the internet and listen to musicians in person. Never buy something based on a Youtube video or a forum recommendation. Yes, Covid is going on, but there are still some outdoor shows happening. Maybe not hard rock/metal type shows as much, but foundational tone is what you're trying to build and then it's just a matter of finding the right dirt to throw on it.


That being said, here are my forum recommendations.

+1 to the comment about tone chasing. Careful with it. It will distract you from making music and improving your playing, and you'll start to think that your tone depends more on your gear than on your ears and fingers.

Don't drop a ton of money at once. Gear breaks. Add one thing at a time and get to know it fully. Stick with tried-and-true equipment, not fancy bells and whistles. Tech 21 is a great example of this - industry standard gear, used by professionals to get great tone, the stuff just works.

Also note - and drill this into your brain - that your rig sounds completely different in a live situation than at home by yourself. Maybe you know this already. Heck, I've been playing 19 years and I STILL forget it, only to tweak my setup to sound great at home and then all hell breaks loose when I play with a drummer and all the beautiful tonal subtleties I've built up are completely toasted because the mix starts to matter.

Focus on the music and on your playing. Changing string material & size or pick gauge can make as much of a tonal difference as buying a $1500 Mesa Boogie head. This is a fact. Fat pick and heavier gauge strings (11s or 12s) get me a very tight sound, way more so than 10s. Also some kind of EQ or filter between the guitar and the amp to cut the bass helps IMMENSELY to get the tight distorted sound.

I also recommend a 2x12 over a 1x12. Wider sound, better projection, better cut. I'd take a crappy or mid grade 2x12 over a nice 1x12 any day. This may be a mistake, but again just my experience over them years of playing.

I played tube amps for years - great experience to get to know the "feel" of tubes, so that I could get myself a solid state amp with a similar feel. Lighter, cheaper, less fussy, same round feel that the tubes gave.

Or you know, do whatever you want :)
 
Another thought from another forum filled with folks sharing thoughts on gear.
Just get gear you like, without clouding your decision making process with a lot of prejudiced suppositions made by guys that are reading the same Bull Shi* you are.... gear, any gear, can only sound the way YOU make it sound.... Or if Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, et all gave you their complete rigs.. you would sound JUST LIKE YOU... and there is only one way to improve that...
 
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