Express 5:25 w/10" amp settings?

[Nubbs]

Hi all,

I have had mine for just under 9 months and love the amp. I have read the threads about "tweaking" the amp settings to pull the best from the amp and wonder what I can do to enhance my setup.

I use a Taylor T-5, a Taylor Classic Solidbody with the standard PUPs and a Carvin DC-200 with the active electronics. When I play on stage and use the T-5, I have an A/B/C box from Taylor that allows me to go to the amp and the board or both directly. I do not use any pedals in the loop or in front of amp and my other guitars go directly in the amp and are mic'd to the board.

My question is what suggested settings do you folks think is a great place for a clean sound with a decent reverb and a overdriven sound that will carry sustain and not be over the top? I want to be able to to copy the settings on paper and do a quick tweak on stage as I switch between the acoustic settings and electric setting on the T-5. And then have the settings jotted down for my Carvin and the Classic.

At home I use 5w and on stage I use it full on but I'd certainly like it to be a warm overall sound.
I am looking for places to start...your thoughts?


Nubbs


Taylor T-5
Taylor Solidbody Classic
Carvin DC-200 Koa
Mesa Boogie Express 5:25/10" Combo
Fender Supersonic 112 Combo
Washburn Praire Song Acoustic
Garrison CE-20 Acoustic
Sennheiser e609

 

[soundchaser59]

I've noticed a couple things.

A decent place to start is with the gain knobs at 9 o'clock, tone knobs at 10, 11, or 12 o'clock depending on taste, and master volume at 9 o'clock. If you are really daring, start with the gain knobs off, turn the master to 3 o'clock, start playing, then slowly turn the gain up. Careful cuz it will be loud quickly.

And as soon as you switch guitars then the settings you wrote down go out the window and you have to start over. Dont assume that the creamy settings for the Strat will automatically be the best settings then for any guitar you plug in. You have to set all the pedals and amp knobs individually for each guitar. I write down settings for each guitar I have, including the pedal settings.

If you really want to hear what your amp is spitting out and what your pedals and pickups are actually doing to the sound, use an honest speaker like an EVM. Even changing speakers will probably make you want to tweak your settings, even if it just means turning the master up a bit for the less efficient speakers.

 

[Don]

Here are some sample settings-
http://www.grailtone.com/tone-settings/mesa-boogie/view-express-settings.html

 

[snakestretcher]

I've noticed a couple things.

A decent place to start is with the gain knobs at 9 o'clock, tone knobs at 10, 11, or 12 o'clock depending on taste, and master volume at 9 o'clock. If you are really daring, start with the gain knobs off, turn the master to 3 o'clock, start playing, then slowly turn the gain up. Careful cuz it will be loud quickly.

And as soon as you switch guitars then the settings you wrote down go out the window and you have to start over. Dont assume that the creamy settings for the Strat will automatically be the best settings then for any guitar you plug in. You have to set all the pedals and amp knobs individually for each guitar. I write down settings for each guitar I have, including the pedal settings.

If you really want to hear what your amp is spitting out and what your pedals and pickups are actually doing to the sound, use an honest speaker like an EVM. Even changing speakers will probably make you want to tweak your settings, even if it just means turning the master up a bit for the less efficient speakers.

Boy did I ever find out quickly how amp settings vary from guitar to guitar! My old Les Paul broke a string during a song so I quickly reached for my spare-a Strat-and plugged it into my F50. Result? Thin, fizzy, no guts. I have found that Boogies need a bit of care and time in order to get 'that' tone dialled in.

 

[StevenL]

I've found that my 5:25 is like a musical instrument in its own right and must be "played" pretty much in real-time along with the guitar. The smallest of adjustments among the gain/eq/master can make huge differences in tones. And usually, when you tweak one knob, especially gain, you have to tweak another to compensate. Gain up/bass-mid down. Can be a blessing and a curse at times... mostly worth it when you hit that Sweet Spot. I also find the sweet spots easier to hit with external cabs with more/bigger speakers.

Were I ever to gig with it, I'd get an amp stand to get it right up by me so I could "play" it handily.

 

[Don]

Believe it or not, I find switching between my Les Paul and my Tele to not be a problem. Maybe because they're both somewhat middy and in your face. My Les Paul has relatively low output pickups (Duncan Seth Lovers) and is set up to be bright. My Tele has a medium output bridge pickup (a Fralin Blues Special) and sounds fat. Although the two guitars sound very different, they do have a common ground.

Switching from one of them to my Strat is another story! Thin, fizzy and no guts is a good description. On the other hand, my Strat sounds great when the amp is set up correctly. My Strat has very low output pickups (Fralin Vintage Hots that are underwound). This actually allows the sound to be very fat because the amp needs to be cranked up.

 

[Pappy]

I have one of those 3 legged, tilt back amp stands from MF, that has the extension for a mic or whatever.
It makes seeing the controls when you play standing up much easier.
I play in a little blues rock group w/ some other old geezers (I'm the oldest!)
The settings I use most is the blues mode for rhythm and the crunch mode for leads.
I can put a 1X12" cab on top of the 5:25 combo with the tilt back amp stand for extra punch.
I don't feel safe putting the 5:25 combo on top of the 1X12" cabinet... It seems a little too top heavy that way.

 

[soundchaser59]

I have one of those 3 legged, tilt back amp stands from MF, that has the extension for a mic or whatever.
It makes seeing the controls when you play standing up much easier.
I play in a little blues rock group w/ some other old geezers (I'm the oldest!)
The settings I use most is the blues mode for rhythm and the crunch mode for leads.
I can put a 1X12" cab on top of the 5:25 combo with the tilt back amp stand for extra punch.
I don't feel safe putting the 5:25 combo on top of the 1X12" cabinet... It seems a little too top heavy that way.

How can you put a speaker cab on top of an amp that sits on a tilted amp stand? Your speaker cab won't tip over when it's tilted? I much prefer the Peavey amp stand, same tilt but it sits up off the ground a lot higher so I dont have to bend down to reach the knobs.

 

[edward]

A T-5 is a different animal that covers lots of sonic ground, not to mention you've got other guitars that sound pretty different ...you really need to play with various settings. If it's any consolation, it does take a bit of time, but in this learning stage you get a much better feel of what the tone will be before you turn the knob when you've spent some quality time learning the voice of the amp (Boogies really have interactive tone controls which causes many to love em or hate em). You'll get to the point that you "hear" the tone you want in your head and will know exactly what knobs to turn and by how much.

That said, some general points I've found IME:

- Use the full-power setting at all times. The 5w setting is gutless; you get so much more tonal "girth" by using the full-pwr setting. Yes, the master goes way down, but your whole sonic footprint is just "bigger" when running full-pwr., especially WRT the bottom end. With 5w mode, you get mids and highs and early saturation, but lose lots of girth, then have to tweak knobs to get it to sound "right," only to have to tweak again to go back to full pwr (at least IME). If you want good tone at bedroom levels, just adj the master and I think you'll find the full-pwr setting will give you the better tone.

- Go easy on the Contour controls. Too much here and I've found it to sound fake scooped, like some cheesy metal pedal or solid-state "sizzle." Get the the basic tone you want from the tone stack, and then dial in modest "contour" for added bottom end and presence. Both my contour knobs are at 10:00 or below ato enhance the core tone I've already set.

- Go easy on the bass knob ...set it lower than 12:00 or it gets flubby and loose. This is where dialing in with the contour works well. The Cont adds bass after the preamp section where it sounds tighter and more focused. After adding some contour for more bottom, you may have to dial back the treb to compensate for what the cont added.

- The midrange knob does a lot to add definition ...use it. I've found 10-2:00 useful on my "saturation" tone, and around 9:00 for my semi-clean tones (I am never totally clean).

- Depending on your music style, try "swapping" channels" ...I think the Blues with gain set low is almost identical to the the Clean channel, but with a bit more "soulful edge" to it where the Clean channel really is more useful if you play clean cleans. But the Crunch channel is a MUCH better sounding OD tone, IMHO. I just could not get along with the Blues channel set for OD, and the Burn is just completely unusable for me. Obviosly, music styles will vary here, and the Burn has its place, but for classic rock, modern rock (not metal or shred), and certainly pop, the Crunch channel with Gain set according ly offers a wonderful, rich tone, full of harmonic content, that sounds so much more like an amp overdriving naturally. The Burn sounds more like a pedal to me.

As in all things tone, YMMV, not only because of style of music but also with guitars and pickups being so vastly differnt. But heck, you asked

Edward