Clean to Mean Rack Tones 12/27/25

[mentoneman]

With the pickup series/split/parallel switches and preamp/midboost options i had the factory add on my Tyler i think i’m now as close to where i want to be tonally as i’ve ever been with my current rig.

if you don’t like 80s-90s tri stereo chorus type cleans nor slightly out of tune friedman be-dlx crunch recorded DI from rack headphone output to camera input please do not click the link below

 

[mentoneman]

my Christmas present arrived in the mail today
(nerd alert in 3…2…1….)

i know i can get the pdf online but like i says i’m a nerd especially when it comes to official manuals although they also cause me ptsd..

 

[srommes]

With the pickup series/split/parallel switches and preamp/midboost options i had the factory add on my Tyler i think i’m now as close to where i want to be tonally as i’ve ever been with my current rig.

if you don’t like 80s-90s tri stereo chorus type cleans nor slightly out of tune friedman be-dlx crunch recorded DI from rack headphone output to camera input please do not click the link below

Love the schmoo! Waiting on delivery of a BE Deluxe this week.

 

[mentoneman]

Love the schmoo! Waiting on delivery of a BE Deluxe this week.

we 80s tones rig forum bullfighters require as much tonal Oil of Olẽ as we can glean from our beloved special effects towers

to ward off the chorus hating dropped G black metal chug monsters…ghost busters style

 

[Jakem]

Great tones!

 

[gibsonash]

Yes , love the tone !

 

[thegame]

we 80s tones rig forum bullfighters require as much tonal Oil of Olẽ as we can glean from our beloved special effects towers

to ward off the chorus hating dropped G black metal chug monsters…ghost busters style

Most black metal is in E standard. Facts matter.

 

[Code001]

Great tones, but oh god, those manuals! Love it!

 

[griff10672]

friggin awesome !!

 

[mentoneman]

Most black metal is in E standard. Facts matter.

ironically i think i recorded this clip tuned to Eb with a dropped Db

 

[mentoneman]

Great tones, but oh god, those manuals! Love it!

manual trauma!

early alesis and line 6 manuals had the simplest menus and the happiest conversational manuals “hey cats and doggies..”

older yamaha, korg and roland/boss are dry, written in a style suitable for japanese engineer robots “push button. enjoy modulation sound.”

of the grail rack units, the tc 2290 manual is probably the most straightforward. lexicon is rough to slog through when cross referencing unique algorithm maps to their presets/menu matrixes and they leave out some of the finer parameter function details. eventide H3k-8k manuals are information phone books. just the examples of cable types required, physical connectivity and internal audio routing matrix information could fill one manual!

 

[CarlF]

Great tones! Loved the Landau at the end.

 

[Kordoba]

Oil of Olẽ

Haven't heard that in at least 25 years.

 

[mentoneman]

Great tones! Loved the Landau at the end.

thanks bro bro!

i’m still trying to coordinate how to play those weird stretched out chords properly while simultaneously locating and toggling the blower switch on the gtr while switching presets on the foot controller

to go from the tristereo clean on the middle/bridge position with both pickups split and midboost on to full bridge ala blower!

 

[mentoneman]

friggin awesome !!

mahalo kind sir!

after owning the be-od & deluxe od pedals and having played through most of the friedman amps and ir-j,
the be-dlx module is really checking the modded marshall rock box for me. mind you this was recorded DI through the cab emulation circuit/headphone output of my three million year old rocktron rack interface straight into a canon SL1 camera stereo mini input with whatever measly .50 cent A/D converter that thing might have!

although those types of heavily effected clean sounds benefit going DI, the mid gain and heavy dirt tones through my wdw rig with tube power amps and real speaker cabs gets much fatter and sweeter!

 

[Code001]

manual trauma!

early alesis and line 6 manuals had the simplest menus and the happiest conversational manuals “hey cats and doggies..”

older yamaha, korg and roland/boss are dry, written in a style suitable for japanese engineer robots “push button. enjoy modulation sound.”

of the grail rack units, the tc 2290 manual is probably the most straightforward. lexicon is rough to slog through when cross referencing unique algorithm maps to their presets/menu matrixes and they leave out some of the finer parameter function details. eventide H3k-8k manuals are information phone books. just the examples of cable types required, physical connectivity and internal audio routing matrix information could fill one manual!

Those cable examples saved my ass when I had to wire up my rack, though! H3000 with its wonky XLR pinout, 2290 with the pin 3 caveat on the outputs only, but the input is standard XLR... I think my favorite manuals are the Rocktron multifx and G-Force/G-Major/G-Major 2 ones. Easy to jump into and get tweaking, tells you exactly what you need to know right away. Eventide is awesome at describing every little parameter and helps me better understand what is going on exactly. I find the older TC ones to be hit or miss. Like the 1210 manual kinda really sucks haha. But the 2290 is great at explaining every detail and walking you through getting great sounds.

It's funny you mention that about the Japanese manuals. The SPX90 itself really feels like a "Push button, enjoy sound" kinda device. Barely any tweaking allowed, but it has some great presets. I kinda prefer Pitch Change C to my H3000 micropitchshift tbh!

...who knew there was so much to talk about when it came to manuals lol

 

[mentoneman]

Those cable examples saved my ass when I had to wire up my rack, though! H3000 with its wonky XLR pinout, 2290 with the pin 3 caveat on the outputs only, but the input is standard XLR... I think my favorite manuals are the Rocktron multifx and G-Force/G-Major/G-Major 2 ones. Easy to jump into and get tweaking, tells you exactly what you need to know right away. Eventide is awesome at describing every little parameter and helps me better understand what is going on exactly. I find the older TC ones to be hit or miss. Like the 1210 manual kinda really sucks haha. But the 2290 is great at explaining every detail and walking you through getting great sounds.

It's funny you mention that about the Japanese manuals. The SPX90 itself really feels like a "Push button, enjoy sound" kinda device. Barely any tweaking allowed, but it has some great presets. I kinda prefer Pitch Change C to my H3000 micropitchshift tbh!

...who knew there was so much to talk about when it came to manuals lol

it’s one thing to judge/complain about the ease of use as the end user but being responsible for writing them must be a painful and thankless pile of labor.

 

[harddriver]

Sounds great Mentoneman!

 

[mentoneman]

Sounds great Mentoneman!

it’s pretty crazy i can plug into something that looks like this:

into something like this:

and out comes

 

[Shask]

...who knew there was so much to talk about when it came to manuals lol

I remember seeing the Digitech 2120 manual when I was younger and thought it was a phonebook, lol.