*** BEST TONE/EQ SETTINGS FOR EXPRESS AMPS ***

[matstrat]

G'day all!

The Express are, as most would agree, a very versatile amp. Four 'channel' modes and the option of high and low outputs makes for many hours of experimentation. In fact one could say the possibilities are endless!

There are some 'tone' settings posted on the 'grail tone' website, however I can't seem to find any here.....

How about we start a thread of member's settings, including what style of music these settings are for.

Me...well I am still trying to find 'my tone' as I haven't had my Express for very long. And I was hoping a thread like this may help.

chiz - m@

 

[matstrat]

I should ad that 'tone/eq' settings without the use of pedals are more useful...as we don't all have the same pedals!

m@str@

 

[soundchaser59]

Too bad we cant have a sort of poll and vote on who has the best straight-into-the-amp sound! 8) We could have 4 categories, one for each channel/mode.

 

[matstrat]

I think that's a tad subjective...

there are too many factors, like ones guitar and preferred volume level.

aren't we after a different sound...or do we all want to sound the same?

So do we have any suggestions for tone???????

sm@

 

[soundchaser59]

I think that's a tad subjective...

*** BEST TONE/EQ SETTINGS FOR EXPRESS AMPS ***

The whole premise of the thread is "a tad subjective". Besides, we could all use the exact same settings and still sound different, just because we all have different guitars and different pickups. I just figured "best" is usually arrived at by a vote of some kind. But if you are just looking for suggestions, that's a different matter........ agreed.

I thought maybe I could set up my favorite settings for each of the 4 modes, take a photo of the knobs, and maybe include a clip for each one. I've been wanting to do something similar anyway...... but for this thread I am thinking "no pedals".

 

[soundchaser59]

Nothing dazzling, junky test guitar riff, Ibanez guitar with PAF pickups. I was just curious about what I could get on 5 watt setting with a simple signal chain, starting with no pedals.
(all clips are 320kb MP3 files)

5.25 CLEAN

5.25 CRUNCH

5.25 BLUES

5.25 BURN

SOUNDS - ALL 5 WATT, EVM15L, C414+AT2035, NO EQ, NO FX ON THE "CLEAN" CLIPS, PEDALS ONLY ON THE OTHER CLIPS (NO SONAR EQ OR FX):

CLEAN NO PEDALS

CRUNCH NO PEDALS

BLUES NO PEDALS

BURN NO PEDALS

CLEAN + BARBER TONE PRESS

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3 + TS9
(the TS9 drive knob is turned up to 50% about half way thru)

CLEAN + ALLUMS CS3 + TS9 + GE7 + TR2
(the TR2 is turned on about half way thru for the slight clean boost, and the tremolo is engaged briefly at the end)

(all pedals settings are pictured below)

 

[soundchaser59]

Photos showing the pedals used where indicated above, and the settings on the pedals.

BARBER TONE PRESS

ALLUMS MODDED CS3

ALLUMS MODDED TS9

ALLUMS MODDED GE7

ALLUMS MODDED TR2 WITH CLEAN BOOST KNOB ON THE SIDE

IBANEZ

 

[gezza]

Hey all,

soundchaser59, man that was a lot of work there.

My sound is so the opposite, I have super Fender Clean, than an almighty roar for the Burn Channel. Think early Van Halen, Satch, Vai, type of tones. Well I love the over saturation of a tube.

I just swapped my Mesa Preamp tubes for 2 Tungsol and 2 Mullards.

The Boogafunk cab has really added depth and bottom end punch. It just seems to add all the missing frequencies.

Sorry, guys off topic.

I did do a Quick Video, but (I) sounded like ****, so I will redo my Video of my Clean and Burn channels, as they are the only 2 channels I use. I can do with and without effects, also.

Cheers,

Gezza

 

[matstrat]

thank you Gary...I will sit down in the morning and play through the settings...and let you know my thoughts if you are interested???


chiz - m@y

 

[MrMason]

Here's a clean clip I did, no pedals. I was going to do 2 more clips to showcase my modded SD-1 and my newly acquired Marshall Jackhammer (got it used for $35 bucks, couldn't pass it up), but as soon as I stopped recording the first clip I got a microphonic tube. Settings:
Clean-

Gain: 10:00
Treble: 1:30
Mid: 12:15
Bass: 1:25
Reverb: 12:00
Master: 2:30
Contour: 11:30

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=455412&songID=7765656

 

[matstrat]

I have been stuck on these two settings for a week now and enjoy the contrast:
Clean:
gain 10.30
treb 12
mid 4.30
bass 12
cont full
Burn:
gain 12
treb 1
mid 12
bass 10
cont 10.30

i keep reverb low
overall volume - i prefer the 5 watt setting, as it breaks up sooner. the 50 watt setting has way too much head room for me.
I RECOMMEND IF YOU TRY THE ABOVE SETTINGS...DO SO WITH THE AXE TONE HALF WAY!!! i always set my axe tone at the half way point.

Gary...your settings are great...many thanks for all that effort!

 

[soundchaser59]

Somebody else asked about a clip with the burn gain cranked and the TS9 gain cranked, to hear how the leads sound. I may be able to get to that this evening or tomorrow evening. The TS9 cranks but remains smooth most of the time.

 

[soundchaser59]

I'm not a metal player, so please forgive the sloppy licks, but this is just a demo test right?

I should note that the Burn channel cranked is just kind of its own animal, you might say. It is pointless to have all the pedals on, because the signal is so compressed by the time it gets out the speaker that you cant really distinguish the no-pedal sound from the with-pedals sound. The burn channel pretty much just stands on its own. I dont know much about amps used for metal, but this should give you an idea what the little booger can start off with. Keep in mind this is an Ibanez semi-hollow with low output vintage style DiMarzio PAF pickups.

This is one long clip, maybe 5 minutes long, but you should be able to hear four distinct segments here. I left everything the same as in my original posts, except as noted below. Note that the last segment #4 is on the Mesa Clean channel with the TS9 fully cranked, just so you can hear the difference between what the pedal does and what the amp itself does. This is a 12MB file, 320kb MP3.


Extra Guitar Test Clip - Burn Mode


1. Mesa Burn with Gain at 35% (10 o'clock) No pedals, everything else same as above.


2. Mesa Burn with Gain at 35% (10 o'clock) plus CS3 Compressor same settings as above.


3. Mesa Burn with Gain at 100% (5 o'clock) No pedals, other knobs same as above. Nice sustain for not using any pedals.


4. Mesa Clean same as above, plus CS3 Compressor same as above, plus TS9 all knobs 100%.


Again, I dont know much about metal or hi gain, so these segments all sound pretty much alike to me. I guess the differences can be felt and heard better here in the room next to the speaker, and the 12 and 15 inch EV speakers are about the only speakers I've ever had (of about 4 dozen I've bought and sold over the last 3 years) that can do this type of sound justice......maybe the Eminence Tonker and Swamp Thang would be good for this.....and I'm not really a Celestion guy at all so I would never use Celestions to do this kind of sound.

Hope this helps. This is my second Mesa amp, the first was a Subway Rocket. I cant afford much in the way of boooteeek, but both are impressive amps for what I do, and this Express is easily the best amp I've ever had for my sound.

 

[Newysurfer]

Well I've never played the 5:50's Blues and Burn channels with the gain as low as most of Soundchaser's recordings so was interesting to hear. I don't even bother switching to the Burn channel unless the gain is at least 1pm or higher, mostly around 3 or 4. I've never used a compressor with it either.

I've found "my sound" on the 5:50 with 4 different guitars (listed in my signiture below). I don't vary the EQ amp dials much these days and just use an MXR EQ pedal to change tones to mid scooped metal or fat blues or mid boosted or AM Radio. I occasionally use the Contour pot on the burn channel but only for heavier stuff with the gain cranked high. Otherwise it's

(using Oclock on the dials)
channel 1 clean - gain 9-11, treble 11-2, mid 11-1, bass 8-10, reverb 12-2, Contour - No
Blues channel - gain between 11-4 ditto for everything else
Crunch Channel - same as Blues channel
Burn Channel - gain 12-4 Contour 12-5 treble/mid/bass/reverb same as above.

I turn down the treble a bit using the Epiphone Sheraton 2 cause it's a bright maple guitar :mrgreen:

 

[Pete Sklaroff]

I've a Clean clip here if it's of any interest;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLk7fOtoNws&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2FPete130662&feature=player_profilepage

The settings on the amp: Gain (2 o'clock), Mid (10 o'clock), Bass (10 o'clock) Rev (9 o'clock) Master (8 o'clock)

Thanks

Pete

 

[Pete Sklaroff]

Here's the Burn channel with almost identical settings as above but with a little TC Nova Delay and Chorus added in...some more Clean stuff at the end of the clip too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKkt1UrMK-A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2FPete130662&feature=player_profilepage

Thanks

Pete

 

[soundchaser59]

All good sounds! Thanks people for the extra clips! Amazing the variety coming outa this Express thing.....