Consistent tone with my LSS

[Billo]

After 2 years of working with this lap steel rig: Asher Electro Hawaiian, Ibanez TS808HW screamer, Barber compressor, LSS 112 combo. Finally starting to get a consistent tone by doing the following: no effects loop,
Keeping gain v low, drive off on ch2, smidge of reverb. Usually operating in 15w (band practice, small stage, studio), sometimes 5w in the bedroom. Using Tube Screamer for my breakup, not 12ax7's. I was just having too much trouble replicating tones at various volume levels, wattages, drives, channels, gains... seemed like I was hearing some thing different, different breakup volumes etc. every gig/session. Not crazy about tweaking the amp for 15mins at every gig.

Such a versatile amp, I feel like i've dug myself a hole with it however. Help!

 

[screamingdaisy]

Switching power output (5w/15w/30w) has a significant impact on the sound and feel. I found the most consistent method was to always leave it in 35w mode and just mess with the master volume.

For myself, I always run it with the gain and midrange up full and the treble and bass on zero. I use channel one for rhythm (clean to crunch with the guitar's volume knob) and channel 2 with the boost on normal for leads.

 

[plan-x]

Doing the reeder mods can turn the 2nd ch into a very sweet, natural sounding, amp like (ha ha) tone. It sounds good at low volume, or high vol. I never have to adjust the EQ with band vol differences, just the vol, occasionally.

Keeping the gain down on ch 1 & 2 is a good thing. Or below noon. Mine are set at 11:00. With the mods, I can use the drive at 3:00, w/no thick. Depending on the output of your pups the drive could be lower, my pups are low output so I run my drive kind of high. Btw, lowering pup height can simulate lower output pups. High output pups, or pups set to high can be a pain for sound consistancy.

To push it for further gain in the 2nd ch, set your pedal with the gain low-med and vol nominal. Pushing the vol on the pedal in the 2nd ch will overdrive your 12ax7's into fizz. Now you have a 3-4 ch amp, that is consistant. At least mine is reasonably so. And finally, all tube amps are gonna have different dynamics with vol. changes. Minimizing those issues of course is the objective and fun to master with a little help from the Pig gallery here. :wink:

 

[user 9654]

Doing the reeder mods can turn the 2nd ch into a very sweet, natural sounding, amp like (ha ha) tone. It sounds good at low volume, or high vol. I never have to adjust the EQ with band vol differences, just the vol, occasionally.

Keeping the gain down on ch 1 & 2 is a good thing. Or below noon. Mine are set at 11:00. With the mods, I can use the drive at 3:00, w/no thick. Depending on the output of your pups the drive could be lower, my pups are low output so I run my drive kind of high. Btw, lowering pup height can simulate lower output pups. High output pups, or pups set to high can be a pain for sound consistancy.

To push it for further gain in the 2nd ch, set your pedal with the gain low-med and vol nominal. Pushing the vol on the pedal in the 2nd ch will overdrive your 12ax7's into fizz. Now you have a 3-4 ch amp, that is consistant. At least mine is reasonably so. And finally, all tube amps are gonna have different dynamics with vol. changes. Minimizing those issues of course is the objective and fun to master with a little help from the Pig gallery here. :wink:

I've experienced quite the opposite with single-coil guitars. I didn't like the Reeder mods and switched the pots back to their OEM positions. I've also had great results hammering channel two with my EAD Monarch with the volume set way above unity. There are so many ways to get tones out of this thing. Currently, I have channel one at 30W gain at 12:00, treble at 12:00, mids at 2:30, bass nearly off, and presence adjusted for the room, mic or PA. I have channel two set at 5W with the drive on at 11:00, the gain at 1:00, the treble at 10:30, mids dimed, bass at 8:00 or lower, presence to taste. FX loop in with L6 M9 for delays.

 

[Billo]

ScreamingD, wouldn't turning the gain way up work the pre-amp(12ax7's) harder?
I'm trying to get the 84's to do the brunt of the work.

 

[screamingdaisy]

ScreamingD, wouldn't turning the gain way up work the pre-amp(12ax7's) harder?

Yes.

I'm trying to get the 84's to do the brunt of the work.

Then you'll have a harder time getting consistent tone. Unfortunately it's the nature of the beast when what you're trying to achieve is volume sensitive.

 

[Billo]

Thanks for the input everybody, very helpful.