Can't stand Gain anymore? O.o

[GuitarIv]

Cheers guys,

I played an EVH 5150 III 50 Watt through an Orange 4*12 Cab using a Mayones Regius with Duncans today. And I was blown away, however I noticed something strange. I've been using my Valveking with a Tubescreamer and some simple mods before it died and now a play a Micro Terror with the TS through a 4*12 in my Rehearsal Room. Now the Amp itself sounded great but goddamn how much Distortion does one need? A year or two ago I was the guy who never could get enough gain, but today I had to turn the gain knob on the EVH under less than half on the rythm channel, not even talking about the lead here.

What happened? Are my ears not used to loads of distortion anymore since the Valveking and the Micro Terror don't have that much or is the sound of the EVH not "british" enough? Any clues, ideas, hints?

Cheers

[MDV]

Less than half on a high gain amp sound about right. My VHT Pittbull CL100 hovers round there. A little more, a little less. My powerball rarely goes over 3 on the gain. 5150 types are generally pretty happy round 4-6.

[GuitarIv]

I see. Well I guess I'm really used to cranking the gain up all the way on my amp and still not reaching the saturation the modern metal monsters reach :P

[MDV]

By modern metal monsters, do you mean amps or sounds on albums?

Cos if the latter, the tree youre barking up isnt even in the right park. Or planet.

[GuitarIv]

I'm talking about the amps. :P
Could you explain what you mean?

[MDV]

Mutli tracking, blending with distorted bass, even adding saturations to guitars ITB. Sounds on records are very different to the sounds that they are tracked with. Even the fully layered and treated guitars isolated from mixes are comparatively weak.

[GuitarIv]

Ah, I understand what you mean. Yeah, experienced the same with my old band, we recorded a track with my Valveking which alone doesn't sound beefy enough for modern metal, on the recording however the sound was just fine. I guess there's a lot of stuff you can do on a record which you can't pull off live... or at least only close.

[gwEm]

At some point the more gain you have the smoother and less aggressive it can sound I think. Plus of course you have less cut etc.

I also use alot less gain than when starting out. Though naturally it depends on the type of rock/metal you are playing.

[Nadz1lla]

Yeah man, I used to whack everything up to max when I was 15 / 16, but obviously that's because I thought "that's what you do to play TEH BR00TULZZZ!!!

Ever since I really got a taste for really exploring sound and broadening my horizons, from the age of 17 onwards I used to experiment with halving my gain and, if recording, layering two or three guitar tracks. You get a really nice, defined sound, but with all the distortion you need!

Unfortunately I've had to scale my rig down over the years to accommodate my living situation, so I only really use a Pod now, but now that attenuators have become more stable, reliable and commonplace, I am saving for a full all-tube rig again. There's nothing that beats a really cranked tube amp at about half gain on the crunch channel and a TS / Bad Monkey (or any comparative pedal) to colour it and give it that little bit of pedal-powered bite.  :D

So less definitely is more!  

[Toe-Knee]

I find myself using less and less gain as time goes on.

This is my amp that I keep modding with the gain on 2/11 (this was after making it so the amp clipped earlier)

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9807181/untitled2.mp3

I've since changed the gain structure and tonality of the amp again. I'm trying to find a nice happy medium before I do the final build.

Also just for a little bit more info this is with the gain on 4/11 before the mod using the ceramic Blackhawk DIs from Nolly
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9807181/untitled.mp3

I've since reverted to this setting and run the gain on about 3 now.

[Alex]

Cheers guys,

I played an EVH 5150 III 50 Watt through an Orange 4*12 Cab using a Mayones Regius with Duncans today. And I was blown away, however I noticed something strange. I've been using my Valveking with a Tubescreamer and some simple mods before it died and now a play a Micro Terror with the TS through a 4*12 in my Rehearsal Room. Now the Amp itself sounded great but goddamn how much Distortion does one need? A year or two ago I was the guy who never could get enough gain, but today I had to turn the gain knob on the EVH under less than half on the rythm channel, not even talking about the lead here.

What happened? Are my ears not used to loads of distortion anymore since the Valveking and the Micro Terror don't have that much or is the sound of the EVH not "british" enough? Any clues, ideas, hints?

Cheers

I think you're just overthinking it really. Sound preference can vary a lot by day, probably even such factors as humidity, room temperature, where other furninture is, what you've listened to before and for how long.
Unless you've changed the cab/speakers, I wouldn't think too much of it and just go with what feels right.

[GuitarIv]

Yeah well I'm not sure why I felt that way, but honestly it was way too much for me. I'll buy the amp as soon as possible, as I've been wanting it ever since I tried it out for the first time, plus the cleans are really amazing. Maybe it will need some time to get fully used to it, or rather the bone crushing distortion it delivers.

And Toe-Knee, that first clip is amazing, reminds me a bit of Lamb of God. You made that amp yourself?  :o

[Telerocker]

With every amp you have to find the sweet spots. Personally I like to turn up the master and back the preamp gain down for ''in your face'' sounds. Talking Rockerverb 50 head/cab here.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

r Thee's nothing that beats a really cranked tube amp at about half gain on the crunch channel and a TS / Bad Monkey (or any comparative pedal) to colour it and give it that little bit of pedal-powered bite.  :D

So less definitely is more!  

Bingo! I set my JMP to a bit less than AC/DC crunch and let my Way Huge Green Rhino do the rest. I love that sound!

[Toe-Knee]

Yeah well I'm not sure why I felt that way, but honestly it was way too much for me. I'll buy the amp as soon as possible, as I've been wanting it ever since I tried it out for the first time, plus the cleans are really amazing. Maybe it will need some time to get fully used to it, or rather the bone crushing distortion it delivers.

And Toe-Knee, that first clip is amazing, reminds me a bit of Lamb of God. You made that amp yourself?  :o

Yup. There's a thread on here about it somewhere. It's pretty much a Soldano SLO with a few tweaks here and there.