Can someone make a video showing how to dial in a amp?

[JakeAC5253]

Paul Riario can

ROFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFL!

Ok, I'm done. What a joke that guy is though.

 

[lolzgreg]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Try running your mid-knob at five with a Mark IV, or better yet, try turning the graphic EQ off and running your mid knob at five. If you like that sound, you're fucking deaf

I promise that the guitar, the pickups in the guitar, the speakers being used, the cabinet(s) being used, and the environment that the cabinet is in all make absolutely no difference in the way an amplifier should be dialed in

Where you dial in your tonestack knobs is almost entirely dependent on the speaker, so since most people around these parts are Celestion or Scumback users, I will stick with those for comparison:

V30s have a bit more midrange content around where MOST amplifiers middle tonestack knob boosts/cuts; ergo you will generally want to keep your mid knob lower with V30s, and higher with greenback, or T75 loaded cabinets, or speakers similar to the aforementioned.

G12H30s are pretty balanced to me, and are a bit more forgiving when it terms to how you dial in an amp that is paired with them.

Every amplifier is different, so it's really best to experiment.

Anyone who has mentioned, "dial in your amp with your ears and not your eyes," you're about 90% of the way there.

You also ought to be dialing in your amplifier, at a REASONABLE volume, with your head at speaker level with the cabinet, because especially if you are performing for an audience, THAT is the sound they will be hearing.

Starting with all knobs at noon is a pretty good idea. If you're boosting your amplifier, you will likely run your mids slightly lower, and bass slightly higher.... again, listen for the differences.

Hope I could help. If you need help dialing in a particular amplifier, PM me with your rig detials and I will be glad to assist.

 

[Ventura]

Interesting thread. All I can add is that, as mentioned, every amp is different - but so is every room. If you want to tweak, there are several environments that need to be considered:
- studio
- gig
- jam
- home use
- recording

They will all effect the "tweak". Furthermore, whenever you're tweaking to record with a mic, NEVER tweak by naked ear, you have to go through eargoggles to make it happen right. The headphones will let you hear what the mic is picking up. Critical.

Good luck
V.

 

[kasperjensen]

Seems reasonable. Just start everything at 12 o clock and tweak them from there.

Someone should definitely do this. I have a Mesa and I have Marshall voiced amps but not an actual Marshall. Huh....maybe!? If someone else doesn't step in by spring break when I have more time, I'll do this thing.

This is what I do. I will also play and have a friend work the dials so I can get a little distance between me and the amp.

+1

If you can... Keep some distance between you and the speaker. Otherwise it's a bit like mixing a song when standing right on top of the monitor. And we don't like that.

 

[Atropos_Project]

This is what I do. I will also play and have a friend work the dials so I can get a little distance between me and the amp.

Alternatively, buy a longer speaker cable, and get the head away from your cabinet, and you can tweak away and keep your distance

It really depends on what you're going for. If you're recording, you probably should tweak with your head very much in-line with the speaker, as you want to hear what the mic is going to hear... and most normal listening positions are very off-axis, which tells a different story.

If you're tweaking for non mic'ed band rehearsal, do your tweaking while the band's playing... you'll quickly find what sits right in the mix of other instruments, and what does not.

In either case, getting the desired volume first is definitely the starting point.. as changes here will impact all other settings on the amp.

Beyond that, there's simply too many variables and personal preferences to say that there are any hard and fast rules.

 

[supersonic]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

 

[JakeAC5253]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

It is quite obvious that you know nothing of audio nor engineering. Better tones can be had from bad designs and worse tones can be had from good designs. Ears dial in an amp, not knobs friend.

Your bass and gain comment is irrelevant and untrue. Think of how many hit albums were etched using a Marshall with the gain and volume maxed and an OD pedal in front, yet you say that you should lower your gain knob to automatically get better tone. I mean lowering your gain is a great way to get lower voltage peaks and a squishier output tone, not much else.

 

[EXPcustom]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

It is quite obvious that you know nothing of audio nor engineering. Better tones can be had from bad designs and worse tones can be had from good designs. Ears dial in an amp, not knobs friend.

Yes, I cam make a Mesa MkIIC+ sound like shit and so can many other people on Youtube apparently.

 

[MississippiMetal]

That would be a decent video.

"How not to make your amp sound like ass."

I believe there is a video on Youtube floating around of Zachman playing through a Diezel (one of a Soldano, also) while a guy EQ's it up. It's a rather unfair video, though, since a Herbert sounds badass no matter how you EQ it.

 

[9ball]

it's taken me years - literally years - to find tones in my TSL 60 that - i'm gonna go ahead and use this word lol - flaberghast me.
even after i got it back from being modded. when i got it back and plugged up - yeah it sounded nice, but playing in a few bands and just spending time playing it over the last couple of years wanting to get some different sounds out of it, and being too poor to just buy the next best amp i could find, have kind of forced me to just sit and mess with it, and i've been surprised at the results i've got.
basically i've found that lowering the gain, treble, presence, and mids, and just barely bringing them up until i find what i want has worked the best. i've found a great deal of versatility with playing with the gain (with the volume up to at least 5) between like .5 and 4 on the lower gain crunch channel gives me just about anything i want.
my amp's modded though. i would think it'd be similar on any high gain amp. i could be wrong i guess.

 

[lolzgreg]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

You can produce good tones with a Bugera 6260, especially through the right cabinet... that isn't a good quality amp.

 

[Big Rich]

i thought about doing a vid like this, but i didnt want to do it cuz i felt like i would seem like a know it all prick

 

[EXPcustom]

Paul Riario can

ROFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFL!

Ok, I'm done. What a joke that guy is though.

Isn't he the editor for GW or something?

Why is the guy a joke? I am asking because I dont really know, not trying to defend him or anything like that I want to know whats funny.

 

[EXPcustom]

i thought about doing a vid like this, but i didnt want to do it cuz i felt like i would seem like a know it all prick

I promise I wont judge you.

 

[TheMagicEight]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

You can produce good tones with a Bugera 6260, especially through the right cabinet... that isn't a good quality amp.

As much as I'd rather not, I've got to agree with you. A Bugera 6260 can sound good......right until it blows up.

I truly believe having the right speakers (and cab) is more important than having the right amp. I'd rather use a Boss metal zone into a solid state power amp into my M75 loaded Bogner 4x12 than my 20th Anniv. XTC into a Chinese no-name 1x10.

Getting back OT, I'd record a vid if I had a cam. Basically, my way of dialing in amps is based around my knowledge of other gear. If it's a new amp, I try to use a familiar guitar or speaker cab for reference. From there, my ears lead the way. I do use a few general bits of information when setting up my sound (usually gain knobs aren't meant to go ALL the way up - nor are bass controls - and amps are usually paired with a certain cab so that the tone stack and presence can sound their best at noon).

My biggest realization is that if you're messing with all the controls and the amp is flat out not sounding good, something else is going on. Either there's another major control you've overlooked, something is damaged, or the guitar / amp / speaker combo just wasn't made to be. With a well-designed amp, everything set to noon will sound most of the way there, and the controls will get you the final 20% or so (though switches can totally change everything).

 

[supersonic]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

It is quite obvious that you know nothing of audio nor engineering. Better tones can be had from bad designs and worse tones can be had from good designs. Ears dial in an amp, not knobs friend.

Your bass and gain comment is irrelevant and untrue. Think of how many hit albums were etched using a Marshall with the gain and volume maxed and an OD pedal in front, yet you say that you should lower your gain knob to automatically get better tone. I mean lowering your gain is a great way to get lower voltage peaks and a squishier output tone, not much else.

Ha, any amp I can't get good tones with at 12:00 isn't worth playing through, I like to play, not tweak aimlessly for a tone that doesn't exist. There are way too many variables anyway, singers voice, drum tone, bass tone song style, etc etc.... Generally the culprit to bad tone IS too much gain, too much bass and scooped mids, these are the novice "safe" settings.

 

[supersonic]

All you need is a good amp. I dial all of my amps at 12:00. Marsha, SLO and XTC. Most common mistake is to cut the mids and dial too much bass and gain.

The term "good," for all intensive purposes, is wholly subjective, so let's keep it that way. That was a completely useless contribution for the OP.

Ok, I'll re phrase,"Good Quality". Not a useless contribution at all. A GOOD QUALITY amp will sound fantastic at 12:00. A BAD QUALITY amp can never be dialed to sound right. The sound comes through the guitar lead anyway, you can not dial in a good sound that isn't already there, speakers obviously play a part too, all IMO of course.

You can produce good tones with a Bugera 6260, especially through the right cabinet... that isn't a good quality amp.

amps are usually paired with a certain cab so that the tone stack and presence can sound their best at noon).

My biggest realization is that if you're messing with all the controls and the amp is flat out not sounding good, something else is going on. Either there's another major control you've overlooked, something is damaged, or the guitar / amp / speaker combo just wasn't made to be. With a well-designed amp, everything set to noon will sound most of the way there, and the controls will get you the final 20% or so (though switches can totally change everything).

Yes, in other words this is my point. Well put.

 

[JakeAC5253]

Paul Riario can

ROFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFLOFL!

Ok, I'm done. What a joke that guy is though.

Isn't he the editor for GW or something?

Why is the guy a joke? I am asking because I dont really know, not trying to defend him or anything like that I want to know whats funny.

Just watch his videos, they're self explanatory. He plays like a nervous high school boy, and he plays things out of genre for what he's demoing. He'll demo a death metal amp while dialing in a high gain tone and he'll play some douchebag-rock riff with double strumming and such. No downpicks, palm muting, or heavy riffage to satisfy.

 

[Bob Savage]

I start with everything at 11 and go from there.

 

[Spaceboy]

I normally start and amp with everything at noon, and then slightly tweak from there. It seems like most amps sound best when you stay roughly between 3-7 range out of 10 on the knobs. Of course, not all amps are the same and there are some amps I've been known to crank the lows down to 0! I always keep a healthy amount of mids too, even for heavy death metal sounds. I hate scooped tones!