Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Discuss the stuff that makes your ears bleed.

Moderators: Slowy, Capt. Black

User avatar
jimi
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3389
meble-kuchenne.warszawa.pl
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2004 2:23 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 837 times
Been liked: 358 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by jimi »

Sounds like you need an amp like pedal doing the work so the digital end is just adding volume.

Something like a Tech 21 Blonde or Catalinbread formula 55 maybe?

User avatar
Cdog
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4363
Joined: Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:01 pm
Location: Christchurch
Has liked: 3465 times
Been liked: 711 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Cdog »

Cdog wrote:Build an iso cab? :)
Or iso box. Seriously, I'm thinking of building one for home... so I can get back into recording. There was a guy on TM selling 18mm mdf coversheets cheap, throw on some foam/batts/etc and turn it up. ez

User avatar
Conway
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 9837
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 242 times
Been liked: 966 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Conway »

Seems to me you're trying to use your pedalboard to compensate for a problem with the amp & cab modelling, and perhaps you should be addressing the real root of the problem. Have you tried other amp models, different settings and different cab IRs? If the cab sim is a high headroom, clean, efficient speaker (like a Celestion Gold), you may really struggle to achieve the sound you are looking for, whereas a different IR may work a lot better.
GUITARS ROCK - www.guitarsrock.co.nz
TONE LOUNGE - www.tonelounge.co.nz

User avatar
Conway
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 9837
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 242 times
Been liked: 966 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Conway »

Otherwise, I think Jimi's suggestion is very good. I've tried quite a few different tweed pedals and something like the Lovepedal Les Lius might give you exactly what you want.
GUITARS ROCK - www.guitarsrock.co.nz
TONE LOUNGE - www.tonelounge.co.nz

User avatar
Conway
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 9837
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 242 times
Been liked: 966 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Conway »

Also, in this situation, I would suggest running the compressor after your drive pedals.
GUITARS ROCK - www.guitarsrock.co.nz
TONE LOUNGE - www.tonelounge.co.nz

User avatar
H671
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 2316
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 73 times
Been liked: 264 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by H671 »

I've been following your post & it got me thinking about how to fatten up the sound on my Fender Ramparte amp which is a bit bright for my taste. I saw that a Timmy had been suggested as a possible solution for you, so I tried out my Danelectro Transparent OverDrive VI (the Timmy clone), it worked well either by itself or before other effects. I turned the gain down to zero & the tone controls to midway and set the volume for unity.
Epiphone Riviera P93 & EJ200CE, Hagstrom Viking Bass, Doubleneck bass/guitar.
Rivera Clubster 45, Carvin AG100D, Ashton BSK158.

Aquila Rossa
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4930
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:53 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 163 times
Been liked: 98 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Aquila Rossa »

Origin Effects Cali 76 compressor might do it for you.

User avatar
calling card
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 4279
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:56 am
Location: Hoodoo dump, BOP
Has liked: 855 times
Been liked: 274 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by calling card »

Can your digital do 4x6L6 Fender Twin
2024; I have explored the extent of the perimeter dome, there is no escape. I am become Morpheus

User avatar
Reg18
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3657
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:57 pm
Has liked: 312 times
Been liked: 928 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Reg18 »

calling card wrote:Can your digital do 4x6L6 Fender Twin
It just has clean/crunch/High gain etc, not specific models. However it does have a switch on the back for changing class A or class A/B and you can select 6v6,EL84,KT88,6L6,EL34 simulation although I’ve played a lot with them and prefer 6V6 in class A/B the most but I’ll keep on experimenting.
I think the cab sims could be a key part of the equation I could experiment with, I think we settled on a Marshall 4x12 with GT75s, the Greenback version was ok too.

User avatar
Reg18
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3657
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:57 pm
Has liked: 312 times
Been liked: 928 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Reg18 »

Aquila Rossa wrote:Origin Effects Cali 76 compressor might do it for you.
Si has one for sale and if I can raise the funds I’ll probably give it a try.
Although I think my Diamond Comp JR is actually pretty good the Cali looks way more tweakable!

User avatar
Conway
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 9837
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 242 times
Been liked: 966 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Conway »

Reg18 wrote:
calling card wrote:Can your digital do 4x6L6 Fender Twin
It just has clean/crunch/High gain etc, not specific models. However it does have a switch on the back for changing class A or class A/B and you can select 6v6,EL84,KT88,6L6,EL34 simulation although I’ve played a lot with them and prefer 6V6 in class A/B the most but I’ll keep on experimenting.
I think the cab sims could be a key part of the equation I could experiment with, I think we settled on a Marshall 4x12 with GT75s, the Greenback version was ok too.
6V6 class A will be most like your tweed amp.
GUITARS ROCK - www.guitarsrock.co.nz
TONE LOUNGE - www.tonelounge.co.nz

User avatar
Conway
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 9837
Joined: Mon Aug 29, 2011 1:33 pm
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 242 times
Been liked: 966 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Conway »

Reg18 wrote:
Aquila Rossa wrote:Origin Effects Cali 76 compressor might do it for you.
Si has one for sale and if I can raise the funds I’ll probably give it a try.
Although I think my Diamond Comp JR is actually pretty good the Cali looks way more tweakable!
I think your Diamond compressor will be just fine, the problems are elsewhere. Also, I've had a Cali76 and I think they're over-hyped/over-priced.
GUITARS ROCK - www.guitarsrock.co.nz
TONE LOUNGE - www.tonelounge.co.nz

User avatar
Bg
Site Admin
Posts: 43187
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2003 12:13 am
Location: Auckland
Has liked: 2254 times
Been liked: 3873 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Bg »

In this situation, for a start, I'd ignore anyone who offers advice who doesn't use a digital rig, or have tried it, or suggests anything when they clearly haven't read your post - as in attenuators etc etc...

Can you take the unit home and experiment because without doing that you aren't going to get to a stage where you get comfortable with a tone. And with your board you might be smashing the front end or not hitting it hard enough or a multitude of different things.

Do you just get to play with it on the day and rehearsals? Cos you aint going to sort tone in 7 days, even with a day off ;)
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.

User avatar
Reg18
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 3657
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 1:57 pm
Has liked: 312 times
Been liked: 928 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Reg18 »

Bg wrote:In this situation, for a start, I'd ignore anyone who offers advice who doesn't use a digital rig, or have tried it, or suggests anything when they clearly haven't read your post - as in attenuators etc etc...

Can you take the unit home and experiment because without doing that you aren't going to get to a stage where you get comfortable with a tone. And with your board you might be smashing the front end or not hitting it hard enough or a multitude of different things.

Do you just get to play with it on the day and rehearsals? Cos you aint going to sort tone in 7 days, even with a day off ;)
Yeah I can probably take one of them home, which might be the only way to probably experiment. I’m not sure if the factors like going through the DI to the desk and back to my ears contribute much in the equation.
My first thoughts are trying some different IRs or even making one of my own cab.
Second will be changing the position of the compressor to after overdrives to see if that changes things and then maybe buy a different compressor or even some different OD pedals to see what works. Although as usual if you get the base clean tone right most OD pedals can sound good!

User avatar
Scooter13
Vintage Post Junkie
Vintage Post Junkie
Posts: 2150
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:24 pm
Location: Wellington
Has liked: 40 times
Been liked: 69 times

Re: Achieving a saturated and sustaining clean tone?

Post by Scooter13 »

Have you got any delay or reverb added on the amp. It goes a long way to making a DI signal sound sustaining and alive on my little THD10. I would suggest taking the amp home. It models tubes so you should be able to get a nice compression from it by adjusting the gain/master interaction. Also try the crunch (vox) and Lead (plexi) models on a lower gain setting. It might be more of a clean you like.

Post Reply