screamingdaisy said:
I'll look into getting the switch installed, but as it stands right now the amp stays balanced throughout the volume range.
I can see how it'd be useful for low volume playing, but I seem to have lucked out in that my chosen gain position (~10:30) maintains balance whether the master volume is at 10:00 or barely cracked.
I basically have it set up with the treble up around 1:30 and the rest of the knobs pulled back between 10:00 and 11:00. It gives me some nice fat clipping tones on it's own that get a little more edgy when I hit it with an OD808 set fairly mild (gain 9:00, output 1:00, tone 11:00). I seem to prefer 45w mode as it's a little thinner sounding in a good way (to me), and the extra clipping jive well with my lower gain settings.
I tried it with my Recto 2x12 and surprisingly I prefer the combo's own speaker. In it's own way the 1x12 combo sounds thicker and more meaty than the Recto 2x12. I'm not really a fan of C90s but the speaker seems to work really well with the ED. This is cool for me as I've long wanted a combo that didn't make me wish I'd bought the head version.
I have a set of SED EL34s I'm going to drop into it tomorrow to see what happens.
Oh right, I forgot you run the gain back with your playing style. See, it is a great sounding amp hmm? I also thought the Combo was epic. I like the 'Dyne with the c90 wide format combo or with a Stiletto 4 x 12.
My oversized 2 x 12 with a c90 and a v30 works really well to maintain that meaty tone. With what you're saying, I'm tempted to put another c90 in it though... I prefer 45 watts for low volume but 90 watts when the amp gets louder. I love how the preamp sounds.
I'd get the gain trim switch installed anyhow. Personally, I think the clean channel sounds best on the edge of breakup as I don't prefer 'skinny' cleans much. When I run the amp, I run it set to 'clean' with the Gibson but I run it 'normal 'with my Godin LG. The Duncans get muddy much faster than the Bare Knuckle Pickups which makes the Godin more suitable to lower gain stuff. The vintage neck humbucker also sounds great for blues!!
How does the OD pedal work with it? Should I think about getting one sometime in the future?
J.J said:
Turning up the mids to as much as 2:30 will help with crunch too. I was surprised to see that in one of the Haggerties clips, so I gave it a try and it does work.
I like 45 watt mode too with the C90 it does help thin things back a bit. 90 watt mode works better with V30s for me.
Glad to hear you are liking your combo ED.
Ya, turning up the mids gives a different sort of crunch tone. The manual says turning up the mids increases the urgency of the amp and really starts to bring out the 'low treble' frequencies as well. They said it also makes the amp track much more exactly which is great for rhythm but not so good for leads.
For me, I have the volume at 3:00 gain trim set to 'clean', presence at 1:00, bass at 1:15, mids at 11:00 and treble at 11:00. This gives a bit more of a scooped tone while the presence maintains the aggression.* The EQ curve sounds really similar to how I EQ my Dual Rectifier or any amp, for that matter. What I like best about the ED is both how crunchy it sounds and how much less ear fatigue the tone causes. The Dual is VERY bright and honestly really hurts my ears. I recall practicing with the amp almost off and going to bed with nasty tinnitus in my ears. They would ring in such a painful way. I've been running the ED LOUDER than I run the Dual and my ears bother me less. I'll turn it down in a day or two. Don't want permanent hearing loss.
*consider that the pickups I use are bass cut pickups that have a LOT of emphasis on mids. Also consider that I don't boost my amps.
Maybe see if it's something your dealer can do. I think it would really be worth it.
