Road King Feedback

[HelloNewman138]

Hello,

This is my first post to the boogie board. I recently acquired a lightly used Road King combo. Since i've gotten it, i've had trouble with feedback. I didn't have this issue before with my Stiletto Trident/Mesa 1x12 rig. If i reach anything close to high gain on channels 3 or 4, i get the squealing any time i'm not playing. This happens with my Gibson Les Paul Studio and my Schecter Corsair.

Also, on channel 4. I have to crank the treble and presence wayyy up to get any sort of clarity out of it.

Does anything jump out at any of you about what could be causing this? Possibly a tube issue?

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions!
-Derek

 

[Daxman73]

Yeah, my first thought would be to check the tubes. Start with V1 and systematically work your way through them.

 

[HelloNewman138]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just tried the pre-amp tube replacement idea and unfortunately it didn't seem to change anything...

 

[Daxman73]

Ok. Where are your channel and master volumes set? Also, where is you fx loop mix knob set?

 

[peterdenny]

I have the 2x12 Road Kind 2 combo and I dont have that issue. I do recommend retubing because while you think it may be lightly used, you have no real way of knowing how much use those tubes have really seen. As far as feedback, Im curious if this is occurring on only a specific channel with say a specific guitar etc. Also where is the placement of microphones and stuff. I know that mic's were usually my biggest issue on my previous mesa at shows with feedback. I pretty much only play at home in my studio in a 120sf place and i have zero feedback for the most part. Im using EH tubes for power and old mullards for preamp but I am going to put in some new Mesa 6L6GCs I just got. My biggest issue is punjabi radio on the weekends...

 

[HelloNewman138]

Thanks for the replies. My channel volume is at about noon. And my master volume is usually somewhere between 9 and 11 o'clock. I don't use my effects loops, but the level knobs for them are all at noon.

I plan on retubing after my next paycheck. It happens on channel 3 and 4. I keep the gain on channel 3 pretty low (10 o'clock) when i play with the band and there isn't an issue, but if i turn it up to be comparable with channel 4 (2-3 o'clock), it happens on both channels equally. I also keep channel 4 on the "raw" setting, which has the weakest gain. It happens with my les paul and my schecter corsair. The corsair is a semi-hollow so it's naturally a bit more sensitive to feedback than the les paul, but they both do it. It currently has all Mesa brand tubes in it, but i'll probably swap them out with a set of JJ's from Eurotubes. This is happening with no mic usage and direct into the amp.

 

[afu]

I would drop the channel volumes a little and increase the Output volume control. For Raw on Ch 4, the channel volume could be around 10:00 and the Output could be at Noon to 1:00. Personally, I might turn the gain down and use a boost on Raw or just use Vintage mode with the Gain at 10-11:00 and the bass turned down to 10:00 (to be like Raw with more gain).

If you can't hear yourself, the bass is too high or the mids are too low. The Recto series creates a massive low end and the EQ needs to be treated a little differently than most other brands or modeling amps. It also filters out treble, to eliminate the harsh top end. High presence settings on the distortions can cause hearing damage, except maybe Raw with moderate gain.

Also, the Gain control has a treble boost on it for getting bright sounds at low settings. As it's turned up, the lows are being passed more easily. After about 2:00, quite a bit of bass is passing to stage 2 and might dominate the sound, unless the bass control is turned down. Other than Modern mode, I've found that Noon is a good maximum setting for most sounds and decreasing it can make the guitar pop out in a mix of instruments, because the mids become more apparent.

I have a whole bunch of articles on my blog about this stuff if you want to access it from my signature. I would also recommend setting up your band tone with the drummer, perhaps early, before practice. Once you turn up the amp, the sound changes and what sounds good isolation might not work for a band setting.

 

[HelloNewman138]

That sounds like good advice. I have band practice this evening and I am going to try to arrive early and do a fair amount of this tinkering. I'll let you know how it goes. I'll check out that blog too. Thanks!

 

[noiseordinance]

I had an issue once where I had a guitar that I swapped the stock Seymour Duncans with Gibson Burstbucker 2 pickups, resulting in constant squealing on my 3 channel dual recto any time that I wasn't playing. It was super annoying and completely unusable. I tried rewiring and re-soldering connections with no improvement. I ended up switching to some EMG pickups and the squealing resolved. I know that doesn't help, but it could be something funky with the pickups / wiring.

 

[HelloNewman138]

Hmmm, yeah... Something to consider for sure. Hopefully that isn't that case...

 

[afu]

I had an issue once where I had a guitar that I swapped the stock Seymour Duncans with Gibson Burstbucker 2 pickups, resulting in constant squealing on my 3 channel dual recto any time that I wasn't playing. It was super annoying and completely unusable. I tried rewiring and re-soldering connections with no improvement. I ended up switching to some EMG pickups and the squealing resolved. I know that doesn't help, but it could be something funky with the pickups / wiring.

Old BB2s were not wax potted. That could cause massive feedback with a high gain amp. If the pickups were microphonic, they would squeal like a bratty 3 year old. That's the drawback of truly vintage style pickups with modern amps. I believe Gibson BBs were wax potted from 2003 onward.

 

[noiseordinance]

These were brand new BBs bought from guitar center in 2007. They definitely weren't wax potted though... Maybe they were an old supply or something.

 

[silentbob]

I thought the aftermarket BBs weren't potted but the ones installed in guitars at the factory were potted.

As for channel 4, that doesn't sound right at all. Channel 4 has way more presence sweep than any other channel.

 

[afu]

I thought the aftermarket BBs weren't potted but the ones installed in guitars at the factory were potted.

As for channel 4, that doesn't sound right at all. Channel 4 has way more presence sweep than any other channel.

I was talking about factory installed, since he has a Gibson.

 

[HelloNewman138]

My Gibson is a 2011 with the stock BB's in it. I haven't gotten a chance to tinker with the amp's EQ yet. My band's rehearsal was cancelled. But we have a gig tonight and i'll probably have a couple minutes to play around with it. Gonna see if tanking the presence and turning the mids up a bit will cut through mix, get rid of the feedback, and hopefully not be too nasally...

 

[peterdenny]

I am not a fan of the Gibson pickups etc. I rip them out on all my LPs. My last combo I really like is a Duncan Custom paired with a Slash Neck. My others are all JB\59 combos. no feedback on any and sound a hell of a lot better than Gibson stock. One big thing is switching to the 500k pots. I think Gibson uses 300k and that tends to choke the tone output etc imo. Peter

Thread on this: http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?128011-Gibson-300K-Pots-why

 

[HelloNewman138]

Cool man. I may look into this as well if all else fails..

 

[silentbob]

The Corsair comes with Duncan Designed pickups, similar to a '59, if my memory serves. Those are generally pretty functional pickups, as are the Burstbuckers. Hotter output pickups like a Custom work pretty well for heavier stuff, but you lose some of the articulation with the higher output. It's rather unlikely that both sets of pickups are bad, especially with the presence issue that you mentioned. However, with enough gain, and volume, any pickup will feed back. I don't mean this as an insult, but you may want to take some time to read the manual about using the tone controls. They don't react like most other amps and turning something up or down often has an impact on other parts of the tone stack.

 

[afu]

My Gibson is a 2011 with the stock BB's in it. I haven't gotten a chance to tinker with the amp's EQ yet. My band's rehearsal was cancelled. But we have a gig tonight and i'll probably have a couple minutes to play around with it. Gonna see if tanking the presence and turning the mids up a bit will cut through mix, get rid of the feedback, and hopefully not be too nasally...

How did the gig go?