Just got my Studio Pre...holy moly!

[JT_Marshmallow]

I took it out of the box and plugged it into the fx return of my 1992 Recto.

The second I turned it on, I heard the best clean channel I've ever experienced. It even beats my old Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, which I thought was the pinnacle of tube clean tone. Its punchier, the reverb is AMAZING, and you can push the clean channel into a great crunch that I could never do with my Fender. The Rhythm channel gets an A+ from me!

Then I switched over to the Lead channel, and heard probably the most horrible buzzy and farty distortion I've ever experienced. I had no doubts though. After reading all 99 Harmony Central reviews in full I know that this amp's EQ is like a maze of twists and turns - a knob on 3 might sound horrible but push it to 3.5 and you're in heaven. My Roadster's EQ was like this too, so I knew what to expect.

So I figured I'd start with a recommended setting from the manual. I downloaded the PDF and dialed in the "Rock" settings. BOOM. Amazing crunch. After that I tried the "Fusion" settings and liked them even better.

I started with the Fusion settings and went from there. I boosted the mids on the graphic EQ (love my mids!) and fell in love with the "Fat" switch as well. I can really nail that elusive Paul Gilbert tone with this thing - especially with the Lead Bright and Lead Fat switches on. (You know, the tone he has in most of his older instructional videos. He was getting it from a Laney head most of the time back then.) I haven't found the Petrucci-esque tone yet, but I'm looking.

My Maxon OD808 adds a nice layer of cream as well, so I've got a lot of options here.

I'm soooooo glad I bought this!

I do have a few complaints though, and these problems might have to do with old and/or microphonic tube(s). There is a high-pitched feedback/squeal type noise when I'm not playing. Its not horribly loud, but I've never heard it before.

Sounds like a bad tube, right?

Well, I'll bet all the tubes are pretty old, but which ones have the most effect on the tone? The reverb sounds awesome so I probably won't replace V5, but what about V4? V1, V2, and V3 are obviously part of the amp's tone so I'll be replacing them.

Any tube recommendations?

My other complaint:

The low end on this thing is very delicate. More often than not, the low end is very flubby and farty, which is a quality I hate. The bass knob is completely useless after 3. 3 and under it sounds great. Is this normal?

 

[JD]

Yes with the bass that it normal I usually set the bass to 1 or 2 as the bass control is before the lead stage also with the studio pre the bass shift is permanantly on there is no pull switch which I have since installed on the front panel turning off the bass shift helps alot with taking away the flabby farty tone.
I also did the C+ mod to my studio pre as well as adding a switch for the pull deep function which is permanantly on as well but I leave it on as it adds low end after the lead stage.
I felt the tone sounded very similar after the mod with subtle differences and I compared it with my mark 3 which has the 3+ mod by MB and they sounded basically the same except the studio pre had a little less midrange. But as the mark 3 mod was done by MB and I did the mod on my studio pre I could understand the differences also I was going off the 2c+ schematic which could be wrong.
Hope this helps

 

[dmcguitar]

DMT, do you plug the guitar into the preamp and the preamp into the fx return, and bypass the amp input all together? What channel are you running to get the sounds?

also I just want to clarify for me that this is a "tight" amp? I would like that mark IIc+ - IV tightness (without the cost of course)
but your post about the flubbiness seemed odd.. so if the bass is below 2 is it tight?

thanks

 

[MetalMatt]

DMC, I own a Quad. When you set the bass knob low (below 3) the amp is tight. Use the EQ to bring more bass into the sound.

 

[CudBucket]

There is a high-pitched feedback/squeal type noise when I'm not playing. Its not horribly loud, but I've never heard it before.

Check the ground lift switch. See if switching it solves the problem.

 

[JD]

Yes the studio pre is very tight

 

[dmcguitar]

elaborating on my question before, Can i just plug it (either the recording out or the standard output into the fx return on my 5150II? and bypass the input on that amp? (for temp purposes, till i get a power amp.. or forever if it sounds really good)

and the recording outs, they can go direct into a mixing boards like the digi02 or say a little tascam 4 track?

thanks

 

[JD]

yes plug your guitar into the studio pre and from the send jack or the main outout jack into the effects return of your amp. By using the send jack your tone will be a little brighter as the recording circuit loads the preamp alittle and darkens the tone a few people that have had the + mod have had there recording circuit disconnected for this reason. The recording outs are designed to plug straight into a mixer or recorder they sound ok but no way near as good as preamp - amp - speaker -sound but try it you may like it.

 

[shredi knight]

If you are looking for a Petrucci like lead tone, you might like Marco Sfogli's in this clip (I'm a huge Petrucci fan, but I think I prefer this tone to any he has had):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOomFjGfGg


He's using a Studio Pre into a 2:90 power amp. Here's his settings that he posted on his message board:

Volume: 9
Master: 3
Treble: 7
Bass: 2
Middle: 7
Reverb: 0
Lead Drive: 5,5
Lead Master: 10

Lead Fat: On
Lead Bright: On

"Graphic Eq. set to V and both Deep and Modern voicings on the 2:90 are on. That's the sound I used to record Andromeda (slightly more Drive for the lead, around 7,5 - 8 )."

 

[JT_Marshmallow]

Thanks for all the replies, as they were quite helpful.

I've had it for 5 days now and am fully acquainted with it as far as tweaking.

That squealy feedback noise seems to have gone away, so maybe it was just on one setting I was using.

I realized that I cant have any of the main Bass, Mid, or Treble knobs above 7.5 without putting a lot of noise in the signal, so I've been working around that just fine.

I love it so far!

 

[FastRedPonyCar]

My preamp sounds like dog crap if I use the standard outputs.

I use the recording outputs into my gmajor then power amp... sounds a million times better. smoother and much warmer tone. The regular outputs are very cold, brittle, fizzy, harsh, etc.. :?

 

[CudBucket]

If you are looking for a Petrucci like lead tone, you might like Marco Sfogli's in this clip (I'm a huge Petrucci fan, but I think I prefer this tone to any he has had):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOomFjGfGg


He's using a Studio Pre into a 2:90 power amp. Here's his settings that he posted on his message board:

Volume: 9
Master: 3
Treble: 7
Bass: 2
Middle: 7
Reverb: 0
Lead Drive: 5,5
Lead Master: 10

Lead Fat: On
Lead Bright: On

"Graphic Eq. set to V and both Deep and Modern voicings on the 2:90 are on. That's the sound I used to record Andromeda (slightly more Drive for the lead, around 7,5 - 8 )."

That was the clip that prompted me to look for a Studio Pre. Just awesome. Thanks for the settings.

Dave