Some food for thoughts on dialing in your amps...

[Racerxrated]

The thing is, even with vintage Marshalls the eq can vary. The one thing I try to do is start with presence dimed, treb on 0. Bass mids are predictable usually, 3-6 then slowly bring up the treb until it’s just barely there. When I turn the amp way up I’ll drop the treb back a little bit since as we all know, most amps get brighter with volume.

 

[Devin]

I agree with the subject of this post, but I just wanted to say.....I think most comments about the Fireball not cutting through that I've seen were regarding the original 60 watt model.

Seems most people love the newer 100 watter though (i've never played either of them myself lol)

 

[Deleted member 27494]

I agree with the subject of this post, but I just wanted to say.....I think most comments about the Fireball not cutting through that I've seen were regarding the original 60 watt model.

Seems most people love the newer 100 watter though (i've never played either of them myself lol)

Could be, I've never tried that one myself but I bet you could get it to sound good.

 

[stephen sawall]

There is something I have been doing over twenty years I find works really well playing live.
If I can't hear myself instead of turning up the volume I turn up the midrange. It just works better for me.

 

[Deleted member 27494]

There is something I have been doing over twenty years I find works really well playing live.
If I can't hear myself instead of turning up the volume I turn up the midrange. It just works better for me.

EQ essentially is volume, so I can totally get why that would work!

 

[VESmedic]

I’ve ran my rectos bass on 10 many times when tracking… fight me

 

[Greazygeo]

I find that some amps sound best around noon. Mark amps with their pre gain tone stack placement needs set pretty radical (at least for high gain).
Old school Marshalls if you want a middle of the road tone all the knobs at noon work. To get the gain though the treble control needs to be pretty high. My normal settings are bass 9:00...mids 3:00 to cranked....treble 3:00 and presence around 10:00.
My Recto. Pretty radical I guess. Middle setting Channel 2. Bass 0. Mids cranked. Treble 1:00 presence about 10:00.

But really if the knobs need extreme settings its probably the wrong speaker combination.

 

[JimAnsell]

i'm sure its been said, but you just need to do alot of open E's, / open A's while playing with the eq, volume, etc and seeing how they work with each other, then set with your ears not eyes. it gets easier the more your ear/brain gets trained to what exactly you like. its something that comes with experience. who sets all the shit at noon and goes from there? i didn't know that was a thing.

 

[Greazygeo]

i'm sure its been said, but you just need to do alot of open E's, / open A's while playing with the eq, volume, etc and seeing how they work with each other, then set with your ears not eyes. it gets easier the more your ear/brain gets trained to what exactly you like. its something that comes with experience. who sets all the shit at noon and goes from there? i didn't know that was a thing.

I pretty much always do.

 

[Nigel]

Fender TMB is flat with Treble at 5, Bass at 5 and Mid at 10 with a 25K pot.

Big key with dialing in a Recto is reading the manual.

I never got great tones from my Rivera M60 until I read its manual.

Zinky said to play a high E to dial in treble, then low E to dial in bass, then play an A chord to dial in midrange. Worked ok, but it never got me vibing. Learning the circuit is what got me where I want to be.

It’s a technical subject, and mastering it via building an objective frame of reference is key.

 

[JimAnsell]

Zinky said to play a high E to dial in treble, then low E to dial in bass, then play an A chord to dial in midrange. Worked ok, but it never got me vibing. Learning the circuit is what got me where I want to be.

thats not bad advise at all though...

 

[311splawndude]

Interestig! I've never tried a Splawn but I'd love to hear an example of that. Maybe they have a bright cap in there like a JCM 800? (I'm not an expert on components at all fwiw )

Here is the thread. The first post response is regarding a Recto and doing that.

https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/threads/treble-on-0.204185/
I agree one should understand the circuit somewhat.
I agree people should read the manual (especially with Rectos)
I agree people shouldn't use their eyes, but use your ears.
I was under an impression that builders often built their amps with 12 noon being their target tone. No?

 

[Techdeth]

I agree with the subject of this post, but I just wanted to say.....I think most comments about the Fireball not cutting through that I've seen were regarding the original 60 watt model.

Seems most people love the newer 100 watter though (i've never played either of them myself lol)

I agree with this . It’s true

 

[saxxamafone]

I dial amps 'blind' now.

Turn the knob to 0 then turn the knob to 10 to see what it's doing to the tone.

Then find the sweet spot without me looking at it.

As a result, I sometimes lower the mids a little now compared to what I would do by eye.
I run a lot more highs too.

 

[Markedman]

I've had amps (Marshall 30 watt) where if all tone knobs are at zero, there is no sound no matter where the volume knob is at.

Boogie Marks? Touch one knob and everything changes. The GEQ on Mark amps? A GEQ in the loop of my Marshall? Way more tone manipulation than any rotary knob, shit the mid knob on a Boogie Mark is basically there for looks.

What type of music you're playing is paramount to how we dial our amps in. I'm not playing metal on a Boogie Mark with the bass knob @7! But I could with my Marshall.

This is stupid! So stupid.

 

[Nigel]

I've had amps (Marshall 30 watt) where if all tone knobs are at zero, there is no sound no matter where the volume knob is at.

That's the copy of the Fender TMB.

 

[Zado]

There is something I have been doing over twenty years I find works really well playing live.
If I can't hear myself instead of turning up the volume I turn up the midrange. It just works better for me.

True, but depends on your setup and what the other guitarists (if any) are doing imho. With some amps (and cabs ofc) cranking mids can cause a lot of muddiness.
On a side note, most players tend to defeat Bass knob not to interfere with bass players (and get subdued), but with Marshalls it only thins your sound, and you won't hear youself just as good.

 

[Deleted member 27494]

True, but depends on your setup and what the other guitarists (if any) are doing imho. With some amps (and cabs ofc) cranking mids can cause a lot of muddiness.
On a side note, most players tend to defeat Bass knob not to interfere with bass players (and get subdued), but with Marshalls it only thins your sound.

Yeah, some Marshalls in general have quite subtle EQs anyway. The JCM 800 for example. The Jubilee has much more extreme EQ though. So it highly depends on the amp and setup indeed.

 

[indespise]

I dime the mids and use the mid boost on my fireball, keep the treble pretty high as well.

 

[jabps]

Dial in with ears, not eyes.

That's really all there is too it in a nutshell.

To me that's just obvious. Everything I do in regards to tone is to my ears. I could care less how other's dial in their amp compared to what I do. The old EVH adage if it sounds good to you, that's all that matters. Why I always say I've rarely owned a bad amp, just amps that don't work for me.