Recto doods... How do I dial away the ice pick?

[again with this]

I have been extra happy with my rig. Recto rack madness. Recording Pre and 2:100. Until... tonight, I put my ear down by the speakers to hear what a mic would "hear" and I felt like the sound was a bit "ice picky" kinda harsh... kinda shrill. I love the way it sounds a few feet away...

Any suggestions to dial away the ice pick or mic placement tips not to pick up those frequencies..?

Maybe if I use the EQ in my G Major... that would help?

What do you say Rig-Talk?

 

[nbarts]

Buy another amp

Get a better cabinet

And generally less presence & highs & more power amp to make up for it.
Point the mic away from the center or move it away from the center.

 

[bbp]

This should be required reading for everyone IMO. That being said, don't mic it directly in front of the speaker, rather place the mic out by the edge of the speaker and point it where you want it.

 

[stephen sawall]

I have a Tremoverb and I tend to run the presence around 9 o'clock a lot of the time. That may help ?

 

[Anonymous]

Presence all the way down
Treble all the way down
mids all the way up
bass half

 

[Jordon]

Presence all the way down
Treble all the way down
mids all the way up
bass half

I'm gonna give you the setting I give everyone who asks me how I dial in my dual. nbarts can vouch that while my Dual is definitely no match for his Diezels hah, it doesn't sound too bad.

I run a 3 channel dual with JJTesla E34L (these are coming out very soon for the =C= 6L6's)
Penta, Tung Sol and Shaguang preamp tubes

Channel 3 (heavy rhythm/leads)
Vintage Mode, Diode, Bold
Bass: noon
Mid: 1:00
Treble: 2:00
Presence: noon
Gain: 1:30
Master: noon

Boosted from the front by a GE7 (ALL LEVELS ARE APPROXIMATE
Level: ~+12db
100hz: -8db
200hz: -4db
400hz: +2db
800hz: +6db
1.6k: +5db
3.2k: +2db
6.4k: 0db

This works out pretty nicely for me, and allows me to stand confidently next to our other guitarist's Uberschall. I usually put my Mesa 4x12 off the ground, allowing me to bring the bass up around 2pm for more girth, without it flubbing or becoming loose.

Hope this helps.

 

[JTyson]

If your happy with what you hear from the amp, I would def. try moving that mike around. Do not mike the cone with a dual rec., I usually have the mike positioned in the center, but have it aimed between the cone and outer edge. the further you get from the cone, the less spikey the highs will be. I do have my highs backed off some when recording dual recs, but a lot of it is mike placement. You did not mention what kind of mike your using, some of them have a more pronounced mid/high end than others. Also, your mic-pre has EVERYTHING to do with your end sound. Cheap ones sound 1 dimensional and thinner, good ones sound much more open, more dimension to the tone, much more detail. Much smoother. Everything is better. A lot of mikes that I thought were not-so-hot killed when I got my LA-610. It was'ent a top of the line unit, and not really that expensive, but without fail, things I plug into it sound like they are supposed to. It also works on everything, not just guitars, so it is a indispensible tool to have if your doing a lot of recording. I have ended up with a combo of a 57, and a Senn. 421 for almost all my amp miking. They both bring somthing really good to the table. I have some other mikes that sound better than either by themselves, but not better than the combo. Having said that, I dont own any ribbons yet, so I have not tried this combo against everything out there. If I had a Royer R-121, or some of the other ribbons, I may feel differently. I'm just going on what I have tried. - Jim

 

[Rufus Leaking]

If your happy with what you hear from the amp, I would def. try moving that mike around. Do not mike the cone with a dual rec., I usually have the mike positioned in the center, but have it aimed between the cone and outer edge. the further you get from the cone, the less spikey the highs will be. I do have my highs backed off some when recording dual recs, but a lot of it is mike placement. You did not mention what kind of mike your using, some of them have a more pronounced mid/high end than others. Also, your mic-pre has EVERYTHING to do with your end sound. Cheap ones sound 1 dimensional and thinner, good ones sound much more open, more dimension to the tone, much more detail. Much smoother. Everything is better. A lot of mikes that I thought were not-so-hot killed when I got my LA-610. It was'ent a top of the line unit, and not really that expensive, but without fail, things I plug into it sound like they are supposed to. It also works on everything, not just guitars, so it is a indispensible tool to have if your doing a lot of recording. I have ended up with a combo of a 57, and a Senn. 421 for almost all my amp miking. They both bring somthing really good to the table. I have some other mikes that sound better than either by themselves, but not better than the combo. Having said that, I dont own any ribbons yet, so I have not tried this combo against everything out there. If I had a Royer R-121, or some of the other ribbons, I may feel differently. I'm just going on what I have tried. - Jim

+1

If it's just the miked tone that is the problem you just need to experiment with different mikes and mike placement. If it's the overall beamy harshness of the amp out front though, you may want to consider trying some beam blockers.

Also, this is a long, ongoing thread on TGP that is worthwhile reading for anyone dealing with speaker directivity issues - the OP presents a very simple and by all accounts very effective method of reducing speaker beaminess;

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=470956

 

[defpearlpilot]

The key to getting rid of the icepick is the presence control. I keep it practically all the way down.

 

[Slaytallica]

This should be required reading for everyone IMO. That being said, don't mic it directly in front of the speaker, rather place the mic out by the edge of the speaker and point it where you want it.

If that is not possible, try placing the cabinets pointing across the stage sideways instead of forward at the audience. At least then you will only be killing your other band members instead of the audience. Chances are you often want to kill the drummer or bass player anyway, right?

 

[guitarslinger]

I almost always keep the presence on zero on most of my amps.

Get darker speakers.

 

[D-Rock]

Wow, I run my presence and treble very high. Cutting these dials back to little or nothing makes every amp I've ever played sound dull and lifeless. Plus I run my amp with EL34's and through four V30's !!

 

[ttosh]

This should be required reading for everyone IMO. That being said, don't mic it directly in front of the speaker, rather place the mic out by the edge of the speaker and point it where you want it.

That was a great read!

 

[again with this]

Buy another amp

Get a better cabinet

And generally less presence & highs & more power amp to make up for it.
Point the mic away from the center or move it away from the center.

I knew I was going to get some of this...

 

[again with this]

This should be required reading for everyone IMO. That being said, don't mic it directly in front of the speaker, rather place the mic out by the edge of the speaker and point it where you want it.

Good info there, but stuff I already knew and not much in the way of solution. Like Slay, I liked the "At least then you will only be killing your other band members instead of the audience. Chances are you often want to kill the drummer or bass player anyway, right?" part.

 

[guitarslinger]

Wow, I run my presence and treble very high. Cutting these dials back to little or nothing makes every amp I've ever played sound dull and lifeless. Plus I run my amp with EL34's and through four V30's !!

I run my treble and mids @ 3 o'clock with presence on zero.

mids and treble are usually where the life is.

presence is where the fizz lives.

imo

BTW, I run the resonance/depth on zero too.

I like the power amp to be fairly uncoloured compared to the preamp.

 

[again with this]

Presence all the way down
Treble all the way down
mids all the way up
bass half

I will try that. The ice pick seemed to be tied to the mids though...

I have a Tremoverb and I tend to run the presence around 9 o'clock a lot of the time. That may help ?

I usually run the presence about 10.

If your happy with what you hear from the amp, I would def. try moving that mike around. Do not mike the cone with a dual rec., I usually have the mike positioned in the center, but have it aimed between the cone and outer edge. the further you get from the cone, the less spikey the highs will be. I do have my highs backed off some when recording dual recs, but a lot of it is mike placement. You did not mention what kind of mike your using, some of them have a more pronounced mid/high end than others. Also, your mic-pre has EVERYTHING to do with your end sound. Cheap ones sound 1 dimensional and thinner, good ones sound much more open, more dimension to the tone, much more detail. Much smoother. Everything is better. A lot of mikes that I thought were not-so-hot killed when I got my LA-610. It was'ent a top of the line unit, and not really that expensive, but without fail, things I plug into it sound like they are supposed to. It also works on everything, not just guitars, so it is a indispensible tool to have if your doing a lot of recording. I have ended up with a combo of a 57, and a Senn. 421 for almost all my amp miking. They both bring somthing really good to the table. I have some other mikes that sound better than either by themselves, but not better than the combo. Having said that, I dont own any ribbons yet, so I have not tried this combo against everything out there. If I had a Royer R-121, or some of the other ribbons, I may feel differently. I'm just going on what I have tried. - Jim

Thanks

I almost always keep the presence on zero on most of my amps.

Get darker speakers.

Hmmm... not sure if I am sold on the presence thing. What do you suggest for darker speakers?

I usually run
gain 1:30ish
Treble Noonish
mids 2:30 almost 3:00
bass 10:30 ish
presence 10:30 ish
master 10ish..

reducing the presence on the power amp doesn't seem to help.


I appreciate all the input guys.

 

[fearhk213]

I always felt the Recto's weakness was in the EQ section. Slap an EQ in the loop and you'll be surprised what kind of difference it will make. I had my best luck running a Furman PQ3 or a Boss GE-7 EQ in the loop (I actually preferred the Boss in this situation, go figure). I always had much better results with an analog EQ than I got from a digital processor due to the "processed" sounding high end I got, but there are much better digital units out there now than when I had my Recto so try your processor first.

 

[again with this]

I always felt the Recto's weakness was in the EQ section. Slap an EQ in the loop and you'll be surprised what kind of difference it will make. I had my best luck running a Furman PQ3 or a Boss GE-7 EQ in the loop (I actually preferred the Boss in this situation, go figure). I always had much better results with an analog EQ than I got from a digital processor due to the "processed" sounding high end I got, but there are much better digital units out there now than when I had my Recto so try your processor first.

Anybody know what frquency/frequencies the ice pick lives in?

 

[D-Rock]

I have a friend who is afraid of high end freq's and treble. I've always found his tone to be flat and lackluster.
(until I have a go at his amp's eq's)