Hi guys! I'm new to The Boogie Board, but if anyone on here has been to other forums like UG and the Ibanez forum, you may know me from there. I hope this is the right section to be posting my issue. If not, sorry!
So here's the backstory to my problem:
About 6 months ago I bought a 1994 DC-5 head from ebay. I bought it because I had played a DC-3 through a Marshall JCM800 1960 cab and loved how it sounded, but wished it had more gain, which is something the DC-5 seemed to fulfill.
For 3 or 4 months after getting the head I was EXTREMELY happy with the sounds I was getting from it, even though I was (and still am) using two low end guitars with it: an Ibanez RG321MH and an MIK Schecter Spitfire (the equivalent of the Damien/Omen series for those that aren't familiar). When I initially got it, I was a metalhead through and through (even though I listened to a variety of stuff) and mainly played high gain, detuned metal like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Slipknot, Children of Bodom, etc etc.
However, this past summer I got incredibly bored with modern metal, and chose to re-exam my taste in music, and thus led me to favor different music. Sadly, I realized my Mesa had WAAAY too much gain for what I was playing. Right now, I have my settings as follows;
G: 3
T: 6
M: 6
B: 6
P: 8
GEQ: Boosted V, with mids slightly scooped
Channel Volume (forget the name right now): 5
Master Volume: 1.5
Now the problems: my tones WAAAAY too high gain, waaaay too unharmonically rich, and horrendously muddy. At my current settings (the absolute max before my sound gets muddy and barely audible) it's something similar to Glassjaw or Underoath. And if that wasn't enough, I need to keep the gain on my rhythm channel under 2.5/3 in oder to keep it clean. I now run a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser (with EMG 81TW/89 pickups) as my main guitar into the DC5, then run it into a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s. And if it matters anything, I also plan on buying either a Fender Deluxe Roadhouse strat or a Special Edition Lite Ash Telecaster since I love single coils.
I've been jamming with two different groups, so I'll just compile the influences here: Pink Floyd, Tool, Circa Survive, Fall of Troy, The Mars Volta, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, U2, Deftones, Smashing Pumpkins, Minus the Bear, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Brand New, At the Drive-In, Glassjaw, Underoath, Russian Circles, Wilco, Thrice, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, and Jeff Buckley.
My Ideal tone: A clean channel that's bright and chimey, yet warm and articulate. Somewhere between a 60s AC30 and a Fender Twin or Vibrolux. For my lead channel, I want something that with the gain low can get something like a half dirty U2 or Minus the Bear style tone to more higher gain tones similar to the bands I listed.
Now, I know absolutely nothing about tubes aside from the differences between EL34s, 6L6s, etc, but I know the preamp tubes affect the gain. Since I'm using the tubes the previous owner had in them (which I have know idea exact models, aside from the fact they are Mesa tubes), would replacing some preamp tubes lower the gain and unmuddy my sound? Or would changing power amp tubes help this? If tubes are the issue, what are some good companies and stores/websites to purchase them from?
Otherwise, can anyone offer any other solutions to my issue?
Thank you for reading, and sorry for an exceptionally long first post!
- RG_ FANMAN
So here's the backstory to my problem:
About 6 months ago I bought a 1994 DC-5 head from ebay. I bought it because I had played a DC-3 through a Marshall JCM800 1960 cab and loved how it sounded, but wished it had more gain, which is something the DC-5 seemed to fulfill.
For 3 or 4 months after getting the head I was EXTREMELY happy with the sounds I was getting from it, even though I was (and still am) using two low end guitars with it: an Ibanez RG321MH and an MIK Schecter Spitfire (the equivalent of the Damien/Omen series for those that aren't familiar). When I initially got it, I was a metalhead through and through (even though I listened to a variety of stuff) and mainly played high gain, detuned metal like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Slipknot, Children of Bodom, etc etc.
However, this past summer I got incredibly bored with modern metal, and chose to re-exam my taste in music, and thus led me to favor different music. Sadly, I realized my Mesa had WAAAY too much gain for what I was playing. Right now, I have my settings as follows;
G: 3
T: 6
M: 6
B: 6
P: 8
GEQ: Boosted V, with mids slightly scooped
Channel Volume (forget the name right now): 5
Master Volume: 1.5
Now the problems: my tones WAAAAY too high gain, waaaay too unharmonically rich, and horrendously muddy. At my current settings (the absolute max before my sound gets muddy and barely audible) it's something similar to Glassjaw or Underoath. And if that wasn't enough, I need to keep the gain on my rhythm channel under 2.5/3 in oder to keep it clean. I now run a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser (with EMG 81TW/89 pickups) as my main guitar into the DC5, then run it into a Mesa Rectifier 2x12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30s. And if it matters anything, I also plan on buying either a Fender Deluxe Roadhouse strat or a Special Edition Lite Ash Telecaster since I love single coils.
I've been jamming with two different groups, so I'll just compile the influences here: Pink Floyd, Tool, Circa Survive, Fall of Troy, The Mars Volta, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, U2, Deftones, Smashing Pumpkins, Minus the Bear, Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Brand New, At the Drive-In, Glassjaw, Underoath, Russian Circles, Wilco, Thrice, Queens of the Stone Age, Radiohead, and Jeff Buckley.
My Ideal tone: A clean channel that's bright and chimey, yet warm and articulate. Somewhere between a 60s AC30 and a Fender Twin or Vibrolux. For my lead channel, I want something that with the gain low can get something like a half dirty U2 or Minus the Bear style tone to more higher gain tones similar to the bands I listed.
Now, I know absolutely nothing about tubes aside from the differences between EL34s, 6L6s, etc, but I know the preamp tubes affect the gain. Since I'm using the tubes the previous owner had in them (which I have know idea exact models, aside from the fact they are Mesa tubes), would replacing some preamp tubes lower the gain and unmuddy my sound? Or would changing power amp tubes help this? If tubes are the issue, what are some good companies and stores/websites to purchase them from?
Otherwise, can anyone offer any other solutions to my issue?
Thank you for reading, and sorry for an exceptionally long first post!
- RG_ FANMAN
