Tone Question

[exaN]

I'm aware of the fact that it is something that comes with time and I don't feel like I need every $$$$ piece of gear that exists to start experimenting with tones.

while that is true - experience has taught me that it's better to invest in a solid foundation - good guitar with good electronics, good amp, decent cables, as little in your chain as possible - before you try a lot of things. I've bought and sold so many pickups and guitars only to realize later that i had serious issues with my amp and the room I was playing in. Hell, the room you're playing in has as big an effect on your sound as any of the other major factors and it can make a huge difference between a sound being clear and nice or muddy or boomy or.. well you get the idea.

has anybody asked what kind of guitar you're playing in this thread? i mean notes dying out could be a matter of guitar and setup as much as signal chain

I doubt the guitars are the problem. I'm playing an Ibanez PGM301 which was pro setup and plays like a dream. My 2nd "main" guitar is an Edwards Les Paul copy that was setup very well by the Ebay store I bought it from, it's quality stuff.

I actually suspected my cables at some point, forgot to mention this here. All my cables are Planet Waves. My chain is: Guitar > Boss tuner > Boss EQ (sometimes) > Line 6 Echo Park > HBE chorus > Carvin X100B, it's all in front of the amp.

 

[dNA]

I'm sure someone here knows the physics/electronics of it more than I do - i do know the more pedals you have in your chain not in use (without a true bypass) the more your signal is going to degrade. At least for me, I find that I already lose a lot of high end clarity when I have two boss pedals in my chain. My whammy pedal sucks all the life out of my tone when it's bypassed. it's horrific.
I also know the longer the cable the more highs you stand to lose.

hmm. I did a year program in audio engineering and I'm only now realizing how much I forgot in less than two years. I need to go dig out my old notebooks.  :tard:

 

[Dan025]

well you are right about the cables. the true bypass thing depends on the pedal, i believe it is over rated. i use boss and mxr pedals mostly and don't notice anything significant. but i don't own a wammy pedal so who knows.

the xotic overdrives are great and i hope to get one. the sd-1 i have now and anything tubescreamer based just isn't for me. but you don't need to spend an arm and a leg for tone. the blues driver is a great transparent sounding boost/overdrive but not that warm more clean and not colored in the way tubescreamers are to my ears, it could go well in front of an amp or another overdrive/distortion i have one in front of a ds-1 that is modded by robert keely, but a normal ds-1 could work ok.

in the end tone is in the fingers. i try to keep the effects chain simple. try to highlight your playing not add to it or cover it up with over use of a wah or wammy or delay, my use of reverb, mod and delay type effects is subtle to add depth to the sound. i plan to get a wah but will most likely use it like zak wilde does 99% of the time. well i think he uses two. one is set to a sweet spot and used like an eq for soloing and that's mostly what i'm interested in unless i cover a song with heavy wah use.

but as far as tone goes keep the sound more transparent, so you can hear what you fingers really have an effect on. there are sweet spots in where your finger contacts the string, how much pressure, positions on the neck, the grip on the neck affects your bending technique, picking hand techniques. thing like these make a world of difference in how you express notes.

 

[GoDrex]

the X-100b has a good effects loop. I recommend putting the echo, chorus and eq in the loop.

I used to have one of these amps. I don't think you need an over drive with it. I think you just need to spend more time tweeking the eq. The eq on that amp is incredibly powerful. If you want a smoother tone I'd suggest cutting the Presence a bit. Also try disengaging the "pull Lead" or whatever it's called (it's been like 16 years since I've seen one).

if you're still not happy witn the sustain you're getting, consider a compressor pedal.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

All of this is dependent on quality cords with low capacitance.

The True bypass vs. FET Flip Flop/buffered switching is a compromise.  The Truebypass is just that, it behaves like a union for two cables when bypassed.  The FET switch is much cheaper and sets up a buffer, which is quite beneficial if you have more that 40 or so feet of cord to deal with.  The FET switching is a problem after 4 or so pedals in a row.  You get 8 transistors that the signal passes through when the pedals are bypassed, and the quality of the transistors in any one pedal can be debated.  True Bypass is also an argument, there are several definitions, and really in my opinion those are for marketing.  An actual mechanical switch with nothing in the way of the signal going through the pedal is my definition of true bypass, but marketing thinks otherwise.

All of this is dependent on quality cords with low capacitance.  Bill Lawrence (the Man not the, "BL USA," company) and George L are two sources that are not unreasonable in price to get low capacitance cables.
Patrick

 

[dNA]

All of this is dependent on quality cords with low capacitance.

The True bypass FET Flip Flop/buffered switching is a compromise.  The Truebypass is just that, it behaves like a union for two cables when bypassed.  The FET switch is much cheaper and sets up a buffer, which is quite beneficial if you have more that 40 or so feet of cord to deal with.  The FET switching is a problem after 4 or so pedals in a row.  You get 8 transistors that the signal passes through when the pedals are bypassed, and the quality of the transistors in any one pedal can be debated.  True Bypass is also an argument, there are several definitions, and really in my opinion those are for marketing.  An actual mechanical switch with nothing in the way of the signal going through the pedal is my definition of true bypass, but marketing thinks otherwise.

All of this is dependent on quality cords with low capacitance.  Bill Lawrence (the Man not the, "BL USA," company) and George L are two sources that are not unreasonable in price to get low capacitance cables.
Patrick

:rock-on:

 

[deepblue]

Vintage Tone = low to mid output pups...All tube amp...touch & technique.