What?euan wrote:Mike, play nice now.
how do u get natural distortion from your tube amp?
Moderated By: mods
Depends what kind of saturation you want. I'm assuming the AC15 was like the pre-reverb/master volume AC30 I had and just had volumes for the channel. Here's my take on it.
1) For power amp saturation (the big valves for the un-informed, those what help drive the speakers) plug guitar straight in and crank the channel volume up, making sure the guitar is clean at lower volumes. When you get it up loud enough harmonically rich overdrive will occur. A good example of this tone is every AC/DC record. Marshall JTM45s (clean amps give or take) cranked way up so they distort. And yes, it'll be FUCKING LOUD. Even with a 15-watter you'll make the room shake.
2) For preamp saturation, go the other way. Keep the channel volume low but make sure you're hitting the early gain stages a lot harder. As was said, using 'clean boost' type pedals such as the MXR Micro Amp or simply an EQ pedal with the volume at full will feed a hotter signal to the preamp (smaller) valves, causing them to break up. This type of amp distortion tends to be grittier.
Ideally what you want is both sets of valves to be cooking, but again - fucking loud, often too loud even in a band situation. I personally use an EQ with a +10db gain boost to push the Jag's singlecoil sounds, giving a fuller tone. I then keep the channel volume between 2-4 on the dial. At four or five it sounds best but we're talking gig volume at least, especially when you kick in the distortion pedals.
And soma89 (I assuming you're a Pumpkins fan aged 17) watch the attitude. Don't take anyone here too seriously or fly off the handle at what you might originally see as an insult. It's just honesty. This isn't Harmony Central where most things get sugar-coated.
1) For power amp saturation (the big valves for the un-informed, those what help drive the speakers) plug guitar straight in and crank the channel volume up, making sure the guitar is clean at lower volumes. When you get it up loud enough harmonically rich overdrive will occur. A good example of this tone is every AC/DC record. Marshall JTM45s (clean amps give or take) cranked way up so they distort. And yes, it'll be FUCKING LOUD. Even with a 15-watter you'll make the room shake.
2) For preamp saturation, go the other way. Keep the channel volume low but make sure you're hitting the early gain stages a lot harder. As was said, using 'clean boost' type pedals such as the MXR Micro Amp or simply an EQ pedal with the volume at full will feed a hotter signal to the preamp (smaller) valves, causing them to break up. This type of amp distortion tends to be grittier.
Ideally what you want is both sets of valves to be cooking, but again - fucking loud, often too loud even in a band situation. I personally use an EQ with a +10db gain boost to push the Jag's singlecoil sounds, giving a fuller tone. I then keep the channel volume between 2-4 on the dial. At four or five it sounds best but we're talking gig volume at least, especially when you kick in the distortion pedals.
And soma89 (I assuming you're a Pumpkins fan aged 17) watch the attitude. Don't take anyone here too seriously or fly off the handle at what you might originally see as an insult. It's just honesty. This isn't Harmony Central where most things get sugar-coated.
hell is most other guitarists
-
Mike
- I like EL34s
- Posts: 39170
- Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:30 am
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Contact:
Actually the Output Transformer is what drives the speakers.gary wrote:1) For power amp saturation (the big valves for the un-informed, those what help drive the speakers)
Secondly Power Tube Overdrive is not practically possible without an attenuation between OT and Speaker, and then the tonality of the signal is compromised. A mixture of the two is what you're hearing most of the time on those "classic rock" records.
soma89 wrote:shuttup you dumbassMike wrote:Turn the Master Volume down and then turn your channel volume up until you get the Gain you need - then turn the Master Volume up to get that same tone at the volume level you require.
Also give your AC15 to someone else who'll actually know what to do with it.
-
BobArsecake
- a mannequin made by madmen
- Posts: 10957
- Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:40 am
- Location: Leeds (LeedsLeeds)
-
dodgedartdave
- .
- Posts: 904
- Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:12 pm
Good advise. You're right. This place is not Harmony Central.gary wrote:Depends what kind of saturation you want. I'm assuming the AC15 was like the pre-reverb/master volume AC30 I had and just had volumes for the channel. Here's my take on it.
1) For power amp saturation (the big valves for the un-informed, those what help drive the speakers) plug guitar straight in and crank the channel volume up, making sure the guitar is clean at lower volumes. When you get it up loud enough harmonically rich overdrive will occur. A good example of this tone is every AC/DC record. Marshall JTM45s (clean amps give or take) cranked way up so they distort. And yes, it'll be FUCKING LOUD. Even with a 15-watter you'll make the room shake.
2) For preamp saturation, go the other way. Keep the channel volume low but make sure you're hitting the early gain stages a lot harder. As was said, using 'clean boost' type pedals such as the MXR Micro Amp or simply an EQ pedal with the volume at full will feed a hotter signal to the preamp (smaller) valves, causing them to break up. This type of amp distortion tends to be grittier.
Ideally what you want is both sets of valves to be cooking, but again - fucking loud, often too loud even in a band situation. I personally use an EQ with a +10db gain boost to push the Jag's singlecoil sounds, giving a fuller tone. I then keep the channel volume between 2-4 on the dial. At four or five it sounds best but we're talking gig volume at least, especially when you kick in the distortion pedals.
And soma89 (I assuming you're a Pumpkins fan aged 17) watch the attitude. Don't take anyone here too seriously or fly off the handle at what you might originally see as an insult. It's just honesty. This isn't Harmony Central where most things get sugar-coated.