Recording a LSS

[F.Ace]

Hi guys,i'm in studio this summer for a little demo with my friends and a few of our songs are close to european metal with a twist of french folk(yeah we're french...that's why my english is not good).

I know that a LLS is not made for that type of music but we're searching for a high non-muddy gain and each track i've record disapoint me.My tone is not definite(not clear),its not the tech(he's real good)he makes me listen a few other bands he recorded and damnit it sounded like a ton of bricks.

He suggest me to use the 30w setting but he've never worked with a LS(S)before and he's not familliar with class A amp,in fact Marshall seems to be part of his religion.

I've tried many guitars for the recording and my singlecoil Hagstrom gives me more what i wanted to hear but it noise as hell on the bridge pick-up.Does anyone have a few setting to share for that type of distortion and do you think a noise reducer pedal can help(even if the noise comes from the guitar).

My guitars are:
Ibanez FGM 96(made is Japan)
Hagstrom Deluxe(Les Paul type made is china)
Hagstrom F-300(Strat-Sg Hybrid,made in china)

I dont use any stump box or effect,should I?

Thank you.

 

[tele_jas]

I find that when I record that sometimes I have to adjust the amp differently than how it sounds to my ears when playing with my band.

I usually have to add more highs, mids and presence and turn down the bass just a bit. I've also tried different mic-ing techniques.. Try different angles, go with the speaker angle and then againgst it... Aim it at the center and then try aiming it at the edge... Pull the mic away 6 inches and then maybe 12 inches and try different angles like that. I've used all of those and they do make a difference for what I'm needing. Usually I end up just sticking a Shure 57 just off center at a slight angle (pointed inwards) up against the grille.

Also, I've had to back off the gain just a tad... what sounds good to your ears might be mud to a microphone (Lonestars tend to sound a bit muddy sometimes), so turn down the gain just a bit. But if you're needing more gain, try a boost pedal in front of the amp - like a Tubescreamer or ZW distortion pedal. Like I said, sometimes what you hear is different than what the microphone hears and you gotta be open and expieriment around with different things to find your setting.

If you have different tubes available, you might try a different brand of tubes too?

Good luck, and send us all a link when you get done with your recording!! (If it's gonna be on line).

 

[timmerel]

For touch sensitive, singing overdrive at 30 watts use the 8 ohm out and normal or thick setting, set the drive low around 10.30 and then use every control pre-presence as decreasing gain stages. So say Gain at 3, treble at 1.30, mid at noon, bass at 10.30 - all higher if you want more dirt. Then presence to taste (say noon) and master set low. Add a compressor in the loop for some boost and sustain without grit, guitar pickups and tone on full.

I would highly recommend a Sequis Motherload for what you are trying to do - its a speaker emulator for direct recording, and in particular can give your little LSS a much bigger rectifier cabinet sort of sound.

The other thing you should consider is replacing your EL84 power tubes with something less muddy than the stock Mesas - JJs are good and not very pricey.

Also humbuckers give much better overdrive/distortion on the LSS to my ears than single coils.

On noise pedals, the Decimator seems to work well with any amp, LSS included.

 

[SabuJSE]

I completely agree with the above - I'd even turn down those channel 2 settings a bit more.

But yeah, humbuckers sing on Channel 2 with the LSS.

 

[F.Ace]

Thank you guys,helped a lot.But there is something i'd like to know,i've never experience the 35 watt option before and i feel like there is more bottom whitout mud on each channel(Maybe i'm wrong.).Why does the amp dont come like that out of the factory?

 

[timmerel]

I find the clean channel sounds sweeter with the 4ohm outputs, and suspect most people buy the LSS for its clean sounds. That said, the clean channel with the 8ohm out still sounds pretty good to me.