Contour knob on the MCII

JJRS89

New member
Hey fellas,

I’ve had an MCII for a few months and even though I play at bedroom volumes (less than 2) I cant say I understand the contour knob.

I run my amp with the bright knob on channel 2 at about 3 o clock and the presence pretty similar through a Mesa 4x12 with Les Paul’s.

Would love a little more low end chunk if possible but I love the clarity, balls, and dynamics I get with the brightness up


Thanks in advance
 
From my experience with my own ,and reading descriptions, I personally see it as a upper mid shelf that increases the overall upper mids but not huge difference. If you dial it back, it softens the brightness and helps darken it a bit if you like to get the presence and bright knobs up high.
 
From my experience with my own ,and reading descriptions, I personally see it as a upper mid shelf that increases the overall upper mids but not huge difference. If you dial it back, it softens the brightness and helps darken it a bit if you like to get the presence and bright knobs up high.
Thanks for the response. That’s kind of spot on with my experience so far with it, just wasn’t sure if it was more in your face with volume or not
 
For the MCII you can through an EQ pedal in the loop to get more of that low chunk . The MTL2 has lots more of the low end chunk thing going naturally though
 
Thanks for the response. That’s kind of spot on with my experience so far with it, just wasn’t sure if it was more in your face with volume or not
Very welcome.
I find if i want more punch and harmonics, I dial up the bright and presence and treble and usually coincides with contour backed off a bit to help dampen it back a bit. It can be a barky amp if you let it free off its leash.
 
Very welcome.
I find if i want more punch and harmonics, I dial up the bright and presence and treble and usually coincides with contour backed off a bit to help dampen it back a bit. It can be a barky amp if you let it free off its leash.
Sounds like we are after similar sounds and dial it up in a similar manner!
 
That sounded absolutely fantastic! What were your settings and what guitar did you use?
Thanks, I did it once you said we might be dialing in similar tones. So I wanted you to hear this clip I made to see, is it a tone you try to dial in? lol Sounds like it might be ;)

Trying to go from memory here..
Contour from 0 to 1:21ish was on 6 on the dial, then I bumped it up to 8 (or 3 O'clock)
Presence7.5
Bass 7.5
Mid 6
Treb 6
Lead boost ON
Lead gain 7.5 (JUST before 3 O clock).

Bright 6

Guitar used: Gibson Les Paul Double cut 2001 stock pick ups (T490 and T498?).

Tubes: KT77
I actually have a matched set of JJ E34L's on their way to me by next week, so I look forward to swapping to try them out. There is more of a subtle difference though, not a huge contrast difference but still it is fun to experiment.
 
The contour knob on MC2 allows you to adjust the amount of negative feedback in the power amp. On it's lower settings the sound is spongy, smooth and dark and it is going louder, brighter and punchier as you are turning it up. If you want the MC2 to sound closer to the MC1 then leave the knob fully clockwise.
It is quite nicely explained in this video by headfirst amps -
 
The contour knob on MC2 allows you to adjust the amount of negative feedback in the power amp. On it's lower settings the sound is spongy, smooth and dark and it is going louder, brighter and punchier as you are turning it up. If you want the MC2 to sound closer to the MC1 then leave the knob fully clockwise.
It is quite nicely explained in this video by headfirst amps -

Oh yeah I forgot about that, if you "dime" the contour to 10 it takes it completely out of the circuit and similar to the mk1 MC I which makes it exactly the same as the one Hetfield uses etc.

I have tried contour on 10, it definitely is brighter overall, I attribute the brightness overall being highest when contour is 10 and the extra brightness sounds slightly tighter too, which is dangerous LOL
 
Back
Top