The problem with turning down the gain...

[Ventura]

I've noticed as my age went up.....the gain came down. I also like the effect of a boost pedal better with lower amounts of gain.

Yep

My friend lent me his 4 DVD bundle of the Stones doing their 2001 "Licks" world tour. I've been letting that business run in the background as I am a mega Stones fan, but interestingly enough, whether it was Paris or Madison Square Garden, those guitars were played clean - lots of ooomph - but all clean.

It is what it is, and honestly, I missed the raunch of some dirty tones for some of their songs

Tomorrow's a big day for Shark - get 'er done Buddy!! [Thanks for the PM] Heal up and put it behind ya

 

[stephen sawall]

I practice unplugged most of the time .... it really does not matter if the amp is clean or distorted for me. If you can play it clean unplugged you learn to control the instrument a lot more. When I started doing this pretty much all the time a few decades ago it was difficult at first ... now I would never consider doing it any other way.

 

[jcj]

I practice unplugged most of the time .... it really does not matter if the amp is clean or distorted for me. If you can play it clean unplugged you learn to control the instrument a lot more. When I started doing this pretty much all the time a few decades ago it was difficult at first ... now I would never consider doing it any other way.

Hmmm...different experience on my end...I find that all kinds of weirdness can creep into my playing if I practice unplugged all the time...not a gain thing, but unwanted noises, lack of nuance/dynamics, etc......

 

[stephen sawall]

Most of the time ... not all the time. My playing is all about dynamics & detail. All this stuff is there if unplugged & you can hear all of it. Amps in general only cover-up and compress. Not taking away from your experience .... but surprise you do not hear more of the details ? Just like playing on a clean solid state amp with no compression...

I tend to use amps that do not hide mistakes at all .... like Fryette & THD...

 

[satannica]

IMO, low gain settings are great provided you can crank it right up. Times I've had my TSLs, JVM and the JTM45 cranked in a rehersal room, it's just sounded godly. But when even the owner of the rehersal room comes in to say turn it down, finding an application for a sizzling Marshall is a little gone these days.

Now, while there's a massive difference in tone and there's no comparison, I've found using a modelled Marshall off either the snax or PodHD through a tube power am yields just as pleasing results. Oddly I found the modelled route to be less flexible, in that it just made the process more complicated. But the tone is there. If I want AC/DC type tones, I will use that.

I still say sod turning the gain down. Get your technique tight, use a low output pickup, let the amp do the work. I love EMGs but I recently got a Les Paul fitted up slash style with alnico pro II pickups. Gat damn... Dat ass! LP custom with sd ap2s and 500k pots > Maxon OD808 > Peavey 6505+... I put all those numbers into a calculator and it made a happy face!

 

[moltisanti]

i saw Phil x live last week playing through his evil robot amp with low gain, maxed volume and it sounded incredible.

but i bet with the volume turned down to normal people levels it would have been hard to get anywhere near those tones, i have a 5153 also and i don't think the blue and red channels are geared up for that sort of low gain crunch, the clean channel with the gain up all the way sounds killer though, never tried it at window shaking volume though...

 

[Ventura]

I'm with Stephen on this too - I play unplugged a LOT. That's the thing with having wee children, right

I'll say two things about the unplugged bit - it has rendered me some new songs, which is awesome. It has assisted in letting me play more when most of the time I couldn't. But it is a different experience when plugging in. If it's straight to hi-gain and dirty, no problem. But clean to crumbly? I find my fingers are a mess - lack of touch, sloppy fret work, hard on the strings (something that's fostered when playing "unplugged") and a few other bad habits (as per jcj's comment).

At least it let's me have a guitar in my hand

 

[jcj]

Most of the time ... not all the time. My playing is all about dynamics & detail. All this stuff is there if unplugged & you can hear all of it. Amps in general only cover-up and compress. Not taking away from your experience .... but surprise you do not hear more of the details ? Just like playing on a clean solid state amp with no compression...

I tend to use amps that do not hide mistakes at all .... like Fryette & THD...

I actually find it much easier to play on a clean amp, than a ganier head...different strokes.

FWIW, I tend to love immediate and articulate amps, so not a case of trying to hide technique.

 

[metalmaniac93]

I'm with Stephen on this too - I play unplugged a LOT. That's the thing with having wee children, right

I'll say two things about the unplugged bit - it has rendered me some new songs, which is awesome. It has assisted in letting me play more when most of the time I couldn't. But it is a different experience when plugging in. If it's straight to hi-gain and dirty, no problem. But clean to crumbly? I find my fingers are a mess - lack of touch, sloppy fret work, hard on the strings (something that's fostered when playing "unplugged") and a few other bad habits (as per jcj's comment).

At least it let's me have a guitar in my hand

I have no choice for another 2 months than to play acoustically and on a shitty one too!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I practice unplugged most of the time .... it really does not matter if the amp is clean or distorted for me. If you can play it clean unplugged you learn to control the instrument a lot more. When I started doing this pretty much all the time a few decades ago it was difficult at first ... now I would never consider doing it any other way.

Hmmm...different experience on my end...I find that all kinds of weirdness can creep into my playing if I practice unplugged all the time...not a gain thing, but unwanted noises, lack of nuance/dynamics, etc......

+1,000,000. Gotta play with an amp or I get a BIG surprise when I actually plug in - lots of unwanted noise without amp practice...

Steve

 

[stephen sawall]

Most of the time ... not all the time. My playing is all about dynamics & detail. All this stuff is there if unplugged & you can hear all of it. Amps in general only cover-up and compress. Not taking away from your experience .... but surprise you do not hear more of the details ? Just like playing on a clean solid state amp with no compression...

I tend to use amps that do not hide mistakes at all .... like Fryette & THD...

I actually find it much easier to play on a clean amp, than a ganier head...different strokes.

FWIW, I tend to love immediate and articulate amps, so not a case of trying to hide technique.

Understood .... I guess it is because I have been doing this often for 42 years I am just accustom to the differences. At home I play unplugged about half the time. The other half is often at moderate volumes usually. When playing out I usually play around the same volume as the drummer ....
I really have no problem switch between these....like a lot of things - use what you are accustom to doing - I would guess is a major factor of why we have different experiences with this.....

 

[JohnSykes]

I've noticed as my age went up.....the gain came down. I also like the effect of a boost pedal better with lower amounts of gain.

Same here.