The Jam Room Blog Thread.

[Cursed71]

Good on you, Liquidsmoke!   Tone quests are exhausting.  Need to hear that shit in person!

[liquidsmoke]

Good on you, Liquidsmoke!   Tone quests are exhausting.  Need to hear that shit in person!

I think I spoke too soon. Was getting weird volume pulsing at the end of last practice. You can only get so much volume out of 4 speakers even if they are loud ones. I want 4x12s. Dammit.

Really the tone I've got going on is nothing special. High gain and heavy, not too dark, not too icy picky but I like it.

[BrianDamage]

Really the tone I've got going on is nothing special. High gain and heavy, not too dark, not too icy picky but I like it.

In the end that's all you can really ask for out of any amp. The rest is just subtle differences that are pleasing to some ears and not to others.

[liquidsmoke]

If one could find a couple of those small cheap Marshall 4x12s for a good price and you were planning on swapping out the speakers would they be worthwhile or should they be avoided at all costs?

[VOLVO)))]

Nah. They're bullshit. Total bullshit.

[BrianDamage]

The best cheap cab I know of is the Fender FM412. About 200 bucks new. The speakers in it are decent but you replace them with wgs green back clones and it becomes as good sounding as a marshall 1960 cab for way less money.

[liquidsmoke]

I will avoid those mini Marshalls then. $200 is very reasonable for a good new cab, seeing them(FM412) as low as $120 used online. Somehow 4x12s must happen.

Although legendary I was warned by a Bongzilla member years back that Greenbacks are easy to blow when you tune down and play real heavy through them. I've been liking my Swamp Thangs. 150 watts, 102db I think.

[dogfood]

Eminence puts out some killer speakers. 

[xayk]

Love my Eminences - Swamp Thang and a Tonespotter. Made my Twin stop sounding like dogshit.

Would love to try out a Celestion V-Type. I think that's what the Hovercraft dude is super hype on, and most of the online reviews either positive or surprisingly positive.

[liquidsmoke]

Killer deal on a SS power amp here. Man.

http://www.fullcompass.com/product/438679.html

[Lumpy]

You might just add only one 4x12 and be satisfied. Keep your 2x12s and use them all. Peavey 412MS can be had for 150 bucks, some of them come with Celestion speakers.

[liquidsmoke]

You might just add only one 4x12 and be satisfied. Keep your 2x12s and use them all.

I've thought of that(4 ohm, the others are 8s and can be chained) however my 2x12s are almost 4x12 size because they are diagonal. It's kind of silly but at least they are only about 65lbs each which is nice plus obviously they cost less to speaker.

Peavey 412MS can be had for 150 bucks, some of them come with Celestion speakers.

Good to know. I do have an older carpeted mystery 4x12 slant right now, standard height that is an inch too tall to fit in my car upright. Me and gear is a circus. My ebay Carvin turned out to have old tubes most of which were shot. Getting that back tomorrow with new JJ's so I'll see how it sounds, might be usable at practice/gig volume. I'll figure this all out. We don't have another gig lined up until the end of March.

[liquidsmoke]

 

[liquidsmoke]

Very helpful info here about compressors, effects loops, cables, preamps, poweramps, EQ, clipping, etc.

http://www.ovnilab.com/faq.shtml

[jibberish]

liquid, do you ever stop into full compass' showroom?  are they a decent company? they look pretty competitive, and Madison is way closer than chatsworth etc.
I like what I see so far.

also. WTF is with Pyle amps. those are stupid cheap. there MUST be a reason for the cheapness, or everyone would have them. does anyone know?

[RAGER]

liquidsmoke, man I hope with all these perplexing questions and combinations of stuff and buying and selling shit you come up with some god like tone dude.  Me personally, it can't get much better than a Les Paul into my cranked Plexi with a good overdrive barely on and 4x12's.

[liquidsmoke]

liquid, do you ever stop into full compass' showroom?  are they a decent company? they look pretty competitive, and Madison is way closer than chatsworth etc.
I like what I see so far.

I've been in the showroom when picking up stuff. They are a great company as far as I know. Locally owned too. I have friends who work there and they like it. Tip- if you call a sales rep you can usually get a better price on stuff and all they want to do is get your order placed and let you get to the rest of your day.

liquidsmoke, man I hope with all these perplexing questions and combinations of stuff and buying and selling shit you come up with some god like tone dude.  Me personally, it can't get much better than a Les Paul into my cranked Plexi with a good overdrive barely on and 4x12's.

Really for my current band I'm just going for a pretty normal high gain metal tone but I like it very tight which is where things get more tricky. I've figured out that without enough mids I can't hear myself on stage so I keep the scooping to a minimum but I also like to keep the treble under control. Our drummer is quite loud and in tuning to B apparently I need a lot of power and trying to get by without two 4x12s is not easy. Very little of this makes any sense to anyone but I just have to keep moving forward. It doesn't help that my understanding of gear and sound is minimal    But I'm learning.

[BrianDamage]

When tuning that low you need to boost your mids more than you would think to cut through the band.

[RAGER]

I've never had a problem hearing myself even over a loud ass drummer and a bass player with a Mesa 400+

[liquidsmoke]

When tuning that low you need to boost your mids more than you would think to cut through the band.

I agree and it can move one's desired sound quite drastically away from what you want it to be unfortunately. Halfway through our set during our last gig I turned off the 'thrash' switch on my pedal and could hear myself much better immediately.

[Lumpy]

Personally, I think the bass player should cover the low frequencies, and guitars should be mid heavy (and nothing should be bassier or louder than the kick drum, probably) but I'm old and crabby. I want each instrument to have it's own sonic space and it's own identity.

[liquidsmoke]

Personally, I think the bass player should cover the low frequencies, and guitars should be mid heavy (and nothing should be bassier or louder than the kick drum, probably) but I'm old and crabby. I want each instrument to have it's own sonic space and it's own identity.

I hear ya but good heavy thick bass tone stands out strong and low against good heavy thick guitar tone. I can not complete in the low end department with the bass player I play with. I have to turn my lows down somewhat at high volume anyway or my rig protests by making weird pulsating sounds. When I'm playing by myself though, usually at lower volumes, the rumbling thunder helps inspire me. Crush skulls.

[liquidsmoke]

The songs sound pretty good on the studio monitors and much worse on my crappy car stereo, somewhat worse on my mediocre home stereo yet 98% of the albums in my collection sound fine on these systems. 

[MichaelZodiac]

You need to test out mixes on different systems. If a mix sounds good on studio monitors but not on a stereo system, do it again. Or you can just say "fuck regular people" and leave as is.

[BrianDamage]

Personally, I think the bass player should cover the low frequencies, and guitars should be mid heavy (and nothing should be bassier or louder than the kick drum, probably) but I'm old and crabby. I want each instrument to have it's own sonic space and it's own identity.

I hear ya but good heavy thick bass tone stands out strong and low against good heavy thick guitar tone. I can not complete in the low end department with the bass player I play with. I have to turn my lows down somewhat at high volume anyway or my rig protests by making weird pulsating sounds. When I'm playing by myself though, usually at lower volumes, the rumbling thunder helps inspire me. Crush skulls.

It took me a long time to realize that what sounded good when playing by myself usually caused my tone to get buried in a full volume band setting and what sounded good with the band sounded like shit by itself. Recording is a totally different story though.