how to acheive a smoother distortion??

[funkyrimpler]

Hi guys, this is my first post :lol: so hello fellow crew members.

ive had my Triaxis for about 9 yrs but never really used it much. Im just starting to get properly into it but am having trouble finding a really sweet distorted tone. im not looking for mega heavy, but a smooth, clear distortion where the nots is nicely broken up with thickness and sustain but not buried under overdrive..in essence i still want to be ble to hear all of the notes and the wood of the guitar..think, Greg Howe, Frank Gambale..
i also use the Simul 295, and Eventide DSP 7500 and play strats. Ive experimented with using various distortion pedals on the way into the Triaxis..although this does bring some addition harmonics and give me more power, it is at the expense of clarity and pick up hum...i also use a Morley Wah/volume but im not really a big fan of this pedal..used to use Crybabys but they always seem to break on me... :evil:
Any advice on settings or different strategies would be really useful. i dont really want to sell the rack gear but sometimes i think you cant beat a head and pedals..and thats something i thought id never say, but i just dont seem to get on with this stuff, and ive had it for years but always lost interst as it seems so difficult chasing tone on these things.
Thanks once again guys!

 

[gummx97]

Wow, that is surely a tough situation. I also have a triaxis into a 290, and I find that to get that singing sustain single notes, i needed to increase gain. To get that wood sound, i needed to decrease the gain of the triaxis or lower down the volume on my guitar. I don't think i ever achieved what you are looking for in my triaxis, smooth distortion but still getting the woody sound that you mention. In my experience, it's either low gain with not so much sustain but you get clarity, or high gain with smooth distortion but smothered in overdrive and you get sustain. it might be very hard to achieve both....at least from my limited experience.

Although...i recently got a Mark V head, plugged in a TS9 reissue with the intent of just boosting channels 2 and 3. I accidentally switched to the clean channel with TS9 still engaged, and, I think i heard what you are looking for! The guitar still had definition, but not smothered in high gain, plus the sustain was fairly decent. So now, what I use in gigs with my mark v, is that I have a TS9 in front which serves my 4th channel, in my ears, i get the woody tone with smooth overdrive and very decent sustain depending on the guitar. since the mark v has a solo funtion, boosting the overall sound with just a TS9 was very convenient.

Maybe try tubescreamer in front of rhythm 1 and see what happens, you might get what you're looking for. Just a thought.

on another note, I am finding the Mark V very very similar to the triaxis. The advantage of the mark v is that adjustment on the fly is very easy since you have knobs, unlike the triaxis wherin you need to save your settings. The advantage of the triaxis over the Mark V is i think it is easier to gig with in terms of consistency. Your sound is saved in the programs and very easy to gig with. At least in my experience gigging, both setups do have it's merits, although I find the triaxis more consistent with it's settings.

 

[funkyrimpler]

Interesting..i HAVE played around with your idea but cant a thick enough sound...and dont want to use humbuckers!!
ive considered a tubescreamer to beef up the input signal without pushing too hard into noise..ironically i had an original TS808 when i was a kid..we all did..and we all sold them because we thought they were rubbish..i got about £5 for it! Now theyre suddenly holy grail pedals!!..same thing happened when i had a Marshall Guv'Nor...Ive got a Jerry Donahue JD10 preamp pedal which gives a mild overdrive but i might invest in a reissue TS808, or 9...the JD is very similar to the TS.
Ive also considered maybe using a THD Hotplate and overdriving a rhythm channel of the Triaxis..anyone got any thoughts on this approach?

 

[Jackie]

Ive also considered maybe using a THD Hotplate and overdriving a rhythm channel of the Triaxis..anyone got any thoughts on this approach?

Not worth it IMO, you have a poweramp with HUUUUUUUUUGE headroom and cranking that, even with an attenuator would result in injury or death and little tone improvement :lol:

 

[funkyrimpler]

i think i'll try going from my Alesis 3630 compressor on the way into the preamp and also trying boosting one of the rhythm channels with an overdrive pedal. i was advised that using a rhythm channel as a lead channel may work..Ive also heard (but havent tried) that keeping the gain super low but cranking up the mids can help?? Any thoughts on that?

 

[bluestometal]

Hi funkyrimpler

I'm very happy to read of someone using the Triaxis for something more than pure metal sound (and I'm a mainly metal-head). By some time I'm trying to achieve a more bluesy-singing tone (think Andy Timmons into the Resolution album) close to what I think you're looking for and I found out that using a RHY channel with an overdrive or LD1 green (with an OD or not) can do the trick. If you've used the Tri enouhg time you know that you've to tweak the controls extensively before you get what you're looking for but you've endless possibilities with it. Just my opinion.

 

[jpdennis]

... Alesis 3630 compressor on the way into the preamp ... cranking up the mids ...

I use to use a Mesa Clone with the Mid's boosted and a MXR compressor then later a BOSS Compressor/Sustainer for that type of sound. Rolling the pickup volume controls for background rythym seemed to work. Though I did have to use a volume pedal as well.

Dennis

 

[tedsticle]

Is this the tone you're looking for? Skip ahead to about 2:53ish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGvdh9P419A

 

[bjoneill74]

try this:
put it on ld2 yellow. put the gain up at 7 or 8.
Treb around 6, Mids around 4, Bass 2 - 3, Drive up at around 7 - 8 (master, presence and dynamic voice to taste).

 

[Fabiano Afonso]

Hi guys,

this have been my personal crusade: find some nice and smooth sounds out of my Triaxis. I have put my acheivements into a series of videos, each one dedicated to a Triaxis' mode.

That's what I have done, so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO2NTuo0R0A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSyLmggrrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taDkzZ45gS4

I'm working on the video for the fourth mode, wich I expect to finish on a couple days.

 

[bluestometal]

Hi guys,

this have been my personal crusade: find some nice and smooth sounds out of my Triaxis. I have put my acheivements into a series of videos, each one dedicated to a Triaxis' mode.

That's what I have done, so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO2NTuo0R0A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtSyLmggrrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taDkzZ45gS4

I'm working on the video for the fourth mode, wich I expect to finish on a couple days.

And I can assure you his vids really kick asses

 

[TremoJem]

Fabiano Afonso, what rack effects and pedals are you using.

Great tone!

 

[Fabiano Afonso]

Thank you all.

This is the Triaxis, with the TC-Electronics G-Major inside the effects loop. The power amp is a Marshall 50/50 EL34, but running with 6L6. There are only two stomp boxes: a Full Drive II on the solo section of the first video, and a TS9 on the third. I don't really use pedals with the Triaxis, they are there just to show people that it is possible.

You may also like to watch this theorical parts of the review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-_oHd_PP4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA86y_x0ypE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7iLsWCvVd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiDplXQkQCg

As you probably noticed, I'm from Brazil and those videos were meant to find local people... Luckly, they have been watched around the globe (ok, now step down, kid... :lol: ). I'll put some english subs soon.

 

[Fabiano Afonso]

Here are some more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWWe8csJBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CGme7jpsuE

 

[bluestometal]

Here are some more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LWWe8csJBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CGme7jpsuE

Cool