Studio Pre clean mod

[partyofone]

Has anyone done this mod or heard of it? My Parker Fly just seems too hot for the pre and unless I seriously roll back my guitar volume I get a lot of distortion (even at gain of 2). When I roll back the guitar volume that much, I lose some tone and a lot of output.

From Michael Taylor at Boogie:

Hello there,
Thanks for your e-mail.
There is a small mod that can be done to reduce the distortion in the
clean mode:

**change the zener diode Z2 (located just left of LDR #4 when viewed
from the back) to a IN752A 6volt zener (MESA part #517752). This will hold
the LDR supply rail voltage to 6 volts & should eliminate the problem.**
I have attached a schematic to this e-mail. You can take this to your
nearest, trusty technician & have this mod performed.

 

[ytse_jam]

this is interesting... however i have no experience with this mod. could you send me an email with the schematic?

 

[partyofone]

ytse_jam, hi how are you? yes, I can send the schematic. it's in 2 pdf's. what email?

 

[ytse_jam]

i'm fine thanks and you? are you satisfied with your studio pre except for this problem? email is [email protected] thanks

 

[partyofone]

yeah, the pre really is a great little box. I believe I finally have a direct sound that will actually work in a mix. I have a tele with single coils that sounds great with the pre (nice and clean), but I thought it might be worth looking into this mod since I use the parker more often.

 

[4nkam]

Could you please send me the schematic too? [email protected]

I've been quite happy with my studio preamp, ESPECIALLY the clean tone. I can use passives (lower or higher output) or active EMGs and although I have to change my settings, I can still get crystal-clean clean tones.

I *have* heard of some people modding it though for this very reason; to make the cleans cleaner and the lead mode a bit more defined.

mJ

 

[Luijo]

Another request for the schems here, please!
I'm having a channel switching problem in mine and a factory schem would be a big help...besides the clean mod, of course!
Thanks.
luijocm at gmail dot com

 

[jmilic]

Does anyone know what type of effect satch is using in the tapping part of satch boogie. i believe it is a flanger. Would anyone know how it is set??

 

[partyofone]

the fact that some people can get clean sounds with active pickups makes me think there's something wrong with mine. If I put the volume on 2 I get a decently clean sound.

I'm not really familiar with Satch Boogie dude. sorry.

 

[Luijo]

Could you post your settings on the SP so I can try it in mine and see if it distorts like yours?
I have both active and high output passive pickups so I can try both combinations.
Try lowering the Lead gain while playing clean and see if the distortion goes away. I know this is not what we are looking for but humor me please.
Another option would be to use a lower gain tube for the first gain stage, but this should be the last resort.

 

[partyofone]

I emailed you guys the PDFs but got a bounce back warning like you didn't get it so let me know.

I have tried lowering the lead channel gain because I saw someone say the two channels were crossing over somehow, but this didn't make a difference. I also heard I could try some lower gain tubes, but I was thinking the distortion happened before I hit the first tube, is this incorrect?

I will post my settings when I get home. Thanks.

 

[4nkam]

Here's a pic of my studio settings:

I REALLY love the clean tone (very fender like) and lead tone I get with these settings, so I really don't stray too far from where they're currently set. The only one I do mess with is the volume. That one will be higher/lower depending on passives or actives

mJ

 

[Luijo]

The email arrived just fine, thanks a lot.
Still waiting for your settings to check them on my SP.
The previous poster's settings work just fine in mine so should be safe to try on your unit.

 

[Guitarzan]

Here's a pic of my studio settings:

I REALLY love the clean tone (very fender like) and lead tone I get with these settings, so I really don't stray too far from where they're currently set. The only one I do mess with is the volume. That one will be higher/lower depending on passives or actives

mJ

NICE RACK MAN!

 

[partyofone]

cool, yeah with vol on 7 my pre would be distorting like crazy!
Here's my settings to get a somewhat clean sound with my parker:

In Rhythm mode:
vol 2, master 10, Treb 7, Bass 7, Mid 5, Reverb 0, Drive 6, Master 3

No EQ, Rhy Bright on, Lead Fat on Lead Bright on, Output 10

I have to crank output because volume is so low but it's not sound card being overdriven. If turn down the parker I can get clean sound but it doesn't sound as brigh to me.

 

[4nkam]

I must have overlooked the fact that you are running it direct and getting these results, correct? If that's truly the case, then I think your problem isn't settings or the studio itself, it's just running it direct. I tried using mine direct a few times and was never thrilled with the results at all and it's very different to the tone through a poweramp.

mJ

 

[partyofone]

hmmm, I can see your point, however I've heard great tones from a member on here that were direct and this is the sole reason I bought it. It seems like it should at least be clean, but maybe the parker's just too hot at full blast. thanks for the help.

 

[Luijo]

Ok, first of all you should download the manual from the Mesa site. It gives you some guidelines for setting the SP up for a good sound.
Your bass and mid settings are too high for humbuckers. Try lower values and this should clean it up a little. But most of all it will make your lead sound better. With such high numbers on the bass and mid knobs the lead turns out to be too muddy sounding with most guitars. You can then compensate for the lack of low end with the EQ, which is post-distortion. I usually leave my EQ on all the time. Mesa recomends the happy-face eq curve, and that you just fine tune to your own taste and rig.
Correct settings of the SP give good-to-excellent direct sounds, but it never replaces the great sound the SP provides when coupled with a good power amp.
As for your Parker overdriving the SP, I've played quite a few of them over the years and none had a huge volume difference over other high output pickups. So I guess your problem is mostly correct set up of your SP.
Try the settings suggested in the Mesa manual and report back.

 

[partyofone]

I actually did download the manual and go through it a few times, but I must've not dug deep enough. I will try to back those off and see if it helps clean things up. That's a good point of the EQ being post distortion so I'll keep that in mind dialing in sounds for recording. I might even post samples to clarify just what I'm dealing with. I'll let you know the results. Thanks.

 

[partyofone]

O.K, I tried lowering the Bass and Mid to little and nothing, but this didn't do too much as far as cleaning up the sound. I went ahead and recorded a clip of the guitar as an example:

http://pleasurejunkie.net/studiopre.wma.

The first sound is with the Volume on 5 and Master on 10 and the second is with the Parker's volume decreased. I may just have to live with it.