hey im in dirty jerzey too mang!
I had the gain literally at 9 oclock. This amp has waaaaaaaay more gain than I will ever need. I like a full sound but too much gain affects clarity to my ears, although this amp does a really nice job of keeping an insane amount of clarity with the gain turned up. Mids were probably at 3 Oclock and the bass and treb controls were noonish. the esp has emg's. This amp sounds great with emg's.