Bold/Spongy and Silicone/Rectifier. Which is your choice?

[cradlefish]

So far my prefer of choice for bedroom jams are Bold/Rectifier

as for live my ears seem to like Spongy/Silicone

what's yours?

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

In most cases, I prefer the silicon diode tracking and bold power setting combo. However, I do mess around with different combinations quite often. Sometimes those rectifier valves just sound so good...

 

[YellowJacket]

Bedroom: Spongy + Tube rectifier at 50watts

Low volume / small venue. Bold + Tube rectifier at 50watts.

Medium Venue. Bold + Tube rectifier at 50watts

Large venue and beyond. Bold + Tube rectifier at 100watts.

(I change my cab configuration too)

 

[jamme61]

bold with the rec tube

 

[screamingdaisy]

Bold w/ tube rectifier.

Don't run my gain all that high (around 9:30) and the tube rectifier adds some nice compression on the back end. Once I hit a certain volume (varies depending on how I feel) I'll switch over to solid state to get more punch.

If I run the gain up above 11:00 (or so) I usually switch over to solid state so that I'm not stacking compression on top of compression.

I don't really like 'spongy' at all, even at bedroom levels.

 

[YellowJacket]

I don't like spongy at all either, at least in terms of tonal preference. What I do like is that it drops the voltage AND the wattage on the amp which makes for better tube saturation at ridiculously low volumes. I also like it for use with YellowJackets because they don't 'need' any extra voltage and I can't hear the difference between bold and spongy with them in for that reason.

Screamingdaisy, do you have any tone clips. I'm curious what modern sounds like running with the gain at 9:00. Isn't that almost a 'clean' tone? Stupid question, have you retubed your amp lately? . . .

 

[screamingdaisy]

Screamingdaisy, do you have any tone clips. I'm curious what modern sounds like running with the gain at 9:00. Isn't that almost a 'clean' tone? Stupid question, have you retubed your amp lately? . . .

Not any current ones. I'll be home later tonight so maybe I'll throw some up tomorrow if I can get a decent recording (only have a camera mic, but sometimes it works out alright).

I wouldn't say it's clean, but I have a pretty heavy right hand.

The tubes are only a few months old.

 

[cradlefish]

I'm still trying to get acclimated which one I like better for live performances. I wonder how long did it take some of you guys to figure what you like?

Did you have to change your eq after making the switching your power settings?

I do noticed that after swapping the stock rectifier tubes for some NOS Zenith(RCA) and GE that the sound tighten up a bit and less sag.

 

[giantstepjoe]

Most of the time I run mine in Bold. Channel 1 fat at 100 watts tube rec, channel 2 brit 50 watts diode, channel 3 vintage (crunch sound) 50 watts diode and channel 4 vintage(lead sound) 50 watts tube rec. Sometimes I like spongy for low volumes at home.

 

[2CDR]

spongy/tube rec

 

[screamingdaisy]

Screamingdaisy, do you have any tone clips. I'm curious what modern sounds like running with the gain at 9:00. Isn't that almost a 'clean' tone? Stupid question, have you retubed your amp lately? . . .

Can't do clips.

Anyway, to understand my mindset... I don't think of amps in terms of gain. I think in terms of compression... as in, how much compression do I need to get a riff to chug, a solo to sustain, etc. Once I have that level of compression I typically try to keep my actual gain down as low as possible while still achieving the desired sound (sometimes I need to up the gain for instance to get more crossover distortion or more sustain).

The problem is that in order to get enough compression with the gain at 9:30 (9:00 is a little low for what I want) I have to have a certain amount of volume and at that volume I overload the camera's mic. Turning down the volume doesn't really work since it lessons the compression, which I would typically compensate for by raising the gain.... which kind of defeats the purpose of making this clip since the gain wouldn't be at 9:30.

One curiosity however was that I recorded the same riff at 9:30, 11:00, 1:00 and 3:00 and to the camera the amp sounded equally distorted, just with more compression as I upped the gain. In the room 9:30 sound more like a heavy crunch tone, whereas it starts to transform into a heavier 'chug' sound as the saturation is increased.

 

[YellowJacket]

Ok, so as the volume goes up, the gain goes down. Ya, I found that I was also always backing off gain while in a band situation but when practicing by myself at low volumes, I have it up much higher. I love the more detailed crunch of having saturation but you are right, I just forget what it is like to open up my amp properly these days as I NEVER have the master up past 9:30, ever.

 

[domct203]

My Roadster is my live amp, and I use it as follows:

Always Bold Power.

Ch1 = Fat 100W, Diode Rectifier. This is my Clean channel.
Ch2 = Fat 50W, Tube Rectifier. This is my OD/"Dirty Clean" channel.
Ch3 = Vintage 100W, Tube Rectifier. This is my Lead channel.
Ch4 = Modern 100W, Diode Rectifier. This is my Rhythm channel.

Dom

 

[stephen sawall]

spongy/tube rec

+1 .... I like the bloom and tone better for most things.

..... I do not use this amp at TV volumes much. Bypass the loop, red channel master 10 o'clock and orange channel at 1 o'clock. Hot plate (bypass or first two clicks) depending on my needs at the time is how I use it.

I agree about keeping the gain as low as possible for the desired effect and well add as much midrange as possible to get the effect i want. The midrange has a lot effect on the compression and feel of the amp. Mine ends up at 2/3 o'clock most of the time.

 

[cradlefish]

after taking the triple rec to band rehearsal today and playing with the power settings again. I've found that the Bold/Silicone sounded best for what I do. It certainly sounded not only louder but fuller and with more punch.

At home I like Bold/Tube settings. Although, I boost the presence and gain at bedroom volumes and live I do the opposite.

 

[volatileNoise]

as for live my ears seem to like Spongy/Silicone

seems to work well like this, standard at least anyway, just gotta crank the output...

 

[cradlefish]

as for live my ears seem to like Spongy/Silicone

seems to work well like this, standard at least anyway, just gotta crank the output...

I've changed it to Bold/Silicone for live after a good jam session this week.

I agree! Gotta crank the output. The triple Rec has tons power to spare. This beast is loud!

 

[volatileNoise]

I mean't when using it as spongy, it runs a tad quieter so need to crank it some more.

Think a lot of people, and I know some that would, immediately just go bold because "oh wow look, now it's louder"

I'm sure in the owners manual there are some hints as to what works well with stock tubes, and with EL34's... Which I have found if using your ears to listen, rather than loudness, to be very true as the tone speaks for itself.

 

[cradlefish]

I mean't when using it as spongy, it runs a tad quieter so need to crank it some more.

Think a lot of people, and I know some that would, immediately just go bold because "oh wow look, now it's louder"

I'm sure in the owners manual there are some hints as to what works well with stock tubes, and with EL34's... Which I have found if using your ears to listen, rather than loudness, to be very true as the tone speaks for itself.

you're right about that. You do need to turn the volume more with the spongy setting. I realize that with the Bold setting that aside from being louder that it does give it more punch and fuller sound.

 

[volatileNoise]

yeah I think bold has a brighter more compressed sound, so I guess that yeah it would be kinda punchier at hitting the ceiling easier, rather than having to really lay into the guitar.