More clean headroom in Roadster

[alex1fly]

I'm having issues getting enough clean headroom with my Roadster for live use. I've got a mad dirty tone on channel 3, vintage, 50 watt and diode. Spongy setting too. Les Paul, Pearly Gates bridge, channel 3 master at about 12. I'm running into an SD SFX-01 pickup booster, gain at about 12, so that notches my preamp gain to around 9-10. It's a good volume level for practicing with a drummer and I use the Output knob to tweak for the room.

The problem I'm having is with cleans, they just aren't loud enough. The closer I get to my desired volume level (just loud enough to be heard with a drummer) the more distorted it gets. I can get loud cleans when I use the output knob for volume, but then I have to adjust my dirty channel's volume down and I lose the juicy power tube saturation. When I turn my guitar's volume down it helps kill the fizziness of the clean tone, but not the distortion. Any thoughts?

 

[Fixxer6671]

Are you using the FX loop at all? I would suggest bypassing the loop (flip the master switch up on the back). That should add more. You may also want to, increase the volume on the loop if its on.

Also I assume you are running the clean channel at 100 watts, have the gain at about 9 o'clock. Run the volume high and it will come.

good luck!

 

[disassembled]

For the most clean headroom you should have the power set to bold, run diodes, and have your clean channel set to 100 watts.

Are you running the gain of your clean channel high? What mode are you using for clean?

Greg

 

[alex1fly]

Are you using the FX loop at all? I would suggest bypassing the loop (flip the master switch up on the back). That should add more. You may also want to, increase the volume on the loop if its on.

Also I assume you are running the clean channel at 100 watts, have the gain at about 9 o'clock. Run the volume high and it will come.

good luck!

I only use the FX loop to fine-tune the overall volume, and when diagnosing the problem today I did not use the loop. I suppose I could engage the loop and output knob to get my desired clean volume level, but I don't like having to hit two footswitch buttons to go from clean to dirty. The settings I have for it right now are perfect, tone-wise and volume-wise for playing with a group. I have the gain low, but as I turn the master up it just distorts really easily. I've tried clean, fat, tweed, and raw, all with 100 watt and diodes. I just replaced the stock 6l6s with Semiens EL-34s if that could be affecting anything. I have been using spongy but I will try swapping back to Bold and turning my dirty Master volume down some.

 

[dodger916]

The 6L6's will give much more clean head room than EL34's.

 

[jdurso]

Are you using the FX loop at all? I would suggest bypassing the loop (flip the master switch up on the back). That should add more. You may also want to, increase the volume on the loop if its on.

Also I assume you are running the clean channel at 100 watts, have the gain at about 9 o'clock. Run the volume high and it will come.

good luck!

I only use the FX loop to fine-tune the overall volume, and when diagnosing the problem today I did not use the loop. I suppose I could engage the loop and output knob to get my desired clean volume level, but I don't like having to hit two footswitch buttons to go from clean to dirty. The settings I have for it right now are perfect, tone-wise and volume-wise for playing with a group. I have the gain low, but as I turn the master up it just distorts really easily. I've tried clean, fat, tweed, and raw, all with 100 watt and diodes. I just replaced the stock 6l6s with Semiens EL-34s if that could be affecting anything. I have been using spongy but I will try swapping back to Bold and turning my dirty Master volume down some.

set channel 3 and your clean channel's volumes to match and use your output as your volume control..... this will give you a good match volume wise and some nice headroom for your clean channel

 

[SonicShredder]

That's odd. Or maybe I'm just lucky. Whenever I play live with my Roadster, the clean sound is what I get the most compliments on.

 

[alex1fly]

Are you using the FX loop at all? I would suggest bypassing the loop (flip the master switch up on the back). That should add more. You may also want to, increase the volume on the loop if its on.

Also I assume you are running the clean channel at 100 watts, have the gain at about 9 o'clock. Run the volume high and it will come.

good luck!

I only use the FX loop to fine-tune the overall volume, and when diagnosing the problem today I did not use the loop. I suppose I could engage the loop and output knob to get my desired clean volume level, but I don't like having to hit two footswitch buttons to go from clean to dirty. The settings I have for it right now are perfect, tone-wise and volume-wise for playing with a group. I have the gain low, but as I turn the master up it just distorts really easily. I've tried clean, fat, tweed, and raw, all with 100 watt and diodes. I just replaced the stock 6l6s with Semiens EL-34s if that could be affecting anything. I have been using spongy but I will try swapping back to Bold and turning my dirty Master volume down some.

set channel 3 and your clean channel's volumes to match and use your output as your volume control..... this will give you a good match volume wise and some nice headroom for your clean channel

This would be a really easy fix, but by turning my dirty tone's Master down to match level-wise with my clean tone, I lose a lot of my saturation and my gain:master ratio... I was just wondering if there was a way to keep my desired Master and Gain levels on channel 3 but just get more volume out of channel 1/2.

 

[alex1fly]

What if I put my pickup booster in my FX loop, could I kick it on for when I need that extra gain? Or would that just add too much volume compared to my clean channel?

 

[MetalMatt]

I understand about the clean vs dirty volume differences. One problem is that I use single coil pups for my cleans and the volume is just too low. If I turn my masters down on ch 3/4 to match my cleans I get what you described, loss of saturation and gain. So my use of Channel 1 (Clean is... 4x6L6's, Bold, Tube rectified, Gain at 12:00, Master at 12-2:00, Loops on. The loop send level at 1:00 and a chorus pedal in the loop with its volume at 12:00. The chorus pedal brings the volume up, without distorting the clean.

 

[alex1fly]

I changed from spongy to bold, which increased clean volume and let me turn my dirty volume down some without losing muscle. My bias switch was still on 6l6 even though I put el34s in about a week ago (i've only played the amp a couple of times so hopefully its not hurt in any way), so I hit that and it seemed to sound better; could just be placebo though. Bold really helps the clean headroom a lot though, and I've located the dirty master volume level where my Paul really starts to thunk, and I boosted the mids some to get more attack. Now I can turn the boost pedal off for cleans and there they are in all of their pristine beauty! The rest will have to be up to the drummer to keep the volume down 8)

Thanks for all the suggestions!