Not much gain in my 2 channel triple

[Tone1026]

http://roytorkington.net/blog/epiphone-les-paul-7-string/ This is my exact guitar.

Here it is with emgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9X-2XSrtbY

 

[YellowJacket]

This is weird with the volume pot. Bad solder joint perhaps?

Hmm, sucks about the feedback. Wonder what happened? Did the feedback start after you tried adjusting the pole pieces or after you took the cover off?

Removing a cover can be done but the risk is with the copper coils. If you break the wire, you neuter your pickups. It seems really odd that the pole pieces aren't working correctly. Did you get the guitar new? Do you know how to solder? You know, an important question to ask before suggesting all these modification!! =-o

The guy who has the same guitar model as you said a George Lynch Screaming Demon worked well with the guitar. The EQ is a scooped mids with a bit more bass and a really aggressive treble. I personally think more mids is better for metal since it gives more gain as well as better articulation for tight staccato riffs.

 

[Tone1026]

This is weird with the volume pot. Bad solder joint perhaps?

nope relative to the pickup for sure, both pots measured correctly until the wires from that picup alone were connected.. i think is crossing continuity slightly in the pick up.. possibly...

Yeah i gate through the pedal so the feedback is not that big a deal..

i did notice i had the pole pieces on the bridge pickup pointed closer to the neck..

yes new

yeah i can solder 8) looking forward to cleaning it up a bit in there, it had been worked on by woodwind and brasswind... the wire to the neck pickup was spiced! :roll:

 

[Tone1026]

I gotcha. If you are used to solid state or very saturated amps like a 6505 then the Recto is going to take some getting used to. Try keeping all the knobs between 10:00-2:00 and just jam on it for a few days until you start to feel how a Recto likes to be played. I know that sounds weird but after you get to know this amp you'll understand.

Bingo^^^

gonna try a tung-sol in v1 to brighten things up, im finding my treble knob in the 3 oclock range to pull in those high frequencies, but all in all its growing on me.

also gonna try some new pickups

:lol: :lol: :lol: so funny that i started this thread and now im playing on my amp with the gain set to 3... :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[Tone1026]

What do you mean by "saturation"? What quality is missing from your tone (dynamics, sustain, compression, overdrive etc)?

Well I think i figured out what I thought was missing..

On my processor I run a gate, distortion, and a clean preamp after the distortion to tighten things up. This being run through the Power Amp global output setting on my pedal which has a scooped eq feel. So i decided to try and run my processor through the effects loop using only the gain from the amp, but still using the same clean preamp set to the "power amp" setting, following the amps distorion. With the tone knobs from the amp at 12, It sounds exactly the same if not better.

So the Amp has plenty of gain. Running the processor as described in the loop i can put the gain at 2 oclock and to me its sounds just like my pedals distortion. The clean preamp on the power amp setting is the equivilent to a scooped eq...

I think this was also causing the "sudden changes in tone" i was hearing that i posted under "Tubes", as i was running distortion preamped, with the output setting set to "power amp" into the clean channel :roll:

My appologies to any I have exasperated in this process of figuring this all out...

 

[YellowJacket]

Honest question: Why does one have to further scoop the already massively scooped recto tone?

 

[Tone1026]

It's not that i need to, it's just the tone I've always used. Recto is growing on me for sure. I have been running direct using a preset "lead" eq on my pedal which removed the low end flub from my pickups. Sounds much better! I can actually use my bass dial! Looking forward to new electronics, and a tung sol in v1

 

[ryjan]

You have learned much young one. :wink:

 

[JCDenton6]

Sweet, glad everything is working out for you now!

IF possible try this preamp tube combo, it's the most aggressive tone I've heard out of my Triple, and I rolled a bunch of tubes:
V1 - Tung Sol
V2 - Shugaung 12AX7B (more gain and less noise then the regular "A")
V3 - Shugaung 12AX7B
V4 - Shugaung 12AX7B
V5 - JJ ECC83

 

[domct203]

Sweet, glad everything is working out for you now!

IF possible try this preamp tube combo, it's the most aggressive tone I've heard out of my Triple, and I rolled a bunch of tubes:
V1 - Tung Sol
V2 - Shugaung 12AX7B (more gain and less noise then the regular "A")
V3 - Shugaung 12AX7B
V4 - Shugaung 12AX7B
V5 - JJ ECC83

+1. If you find that a bit harsh you can try a JJ ECC83S in V2 (or swap V2 & V5 :wink: ).

Dom

 

[Tone1026]

Well I picked up a new dimarzio d activator, for the bridge, a tung sol for v1, and also installed new pots and caps in the guitar. The main culprit is this Epiphone 7 string Les Paul copy. It has a low end flub that fights against sizzle. Using a boost to pull low end out, and add some punch has by far produced the most noticeable results. Sounds great! Really liking the feel of this amp. Has a very musical, usable, recordable, gain.

 

[YellowJacket]

Sometimes the hamhanded approach is best. Glad it is behaving now and I'm looking forward to the clips!!!

Les Pauls tend to be muddy in general. The Rebel Yell pickups I have in my Gibby really tighten up the lows which help out immensely.
For more top end, lower the pickup slightly and raise the pole pieces which should work right in the new pickup. The DiMarzio should ROCK!

 

[BrentSSL]

not sure if you fixed the issue,i,was reading this in my phone. Anywho the rectifiers are very odd I've noticed in the preamp section don't try to get tube fancy just get new mesa tubes make sure they are all new maybe a few with the rubber coding make sure they are alll installed right and jam

 

[ryjan]

I know JJ's don't get much love here but I bought the high gain preamp set from Eurotubes and it sounded better to me than the "Dougs Kit" that came with my Roadster. I've tried the Tung-sol and Ruby in V1 but I keep going back to a premium JJ 12AX7 rated for high gain and low microphonics.
Tubes can make a small difference but in my opinion it's not worth agonizing over either. Pickups, speakers, and playing style will make a lot more difference to your sound.