Mad Scotsman said:
I tried tweaking the mids to try and cancel some of the feedback as said above which worked to some extent but the tone still sucks. The Gmajor has no effects active on my rhythm channel so doesn't infuence the tone. My 2nd guitarist in the band uses a Line6 Solid State amp head and even that gets a better tone than my setup.....it just doesn;t make sense that I spent twice as much on my gear and the tone is pish! : (
I am so over trying to find this ultimate metal guitar tone...and it seems no one in the music stores is even remotely clued up to giving advice on my situation.
I am still thinking of switching to a head of another brand....buty trying to find a music store that has a good selection in San Diego is near on impossible. Surely it can't be THAT hard to get an awesome tone......?
Ok, what I am about to tell you is going to sound really mean and nasty, but I mean it for the best. You bought a triaxis and a 2:90. did you think about what you were buying before you bought it? I mean besides thinking that spending more money = better tone? now I don't know how much experience you have with tube gear, so here is a brief primer.
the triaxis is a tube preamp. that means there are certain maintenance and tone issues that you will not experience with a solid state amp. See complaint number 1: Squealing. If it has what you deem to be a terrible squeal, the first thing to look at is the preamp tubes. take a known good preamp tube, and systematically replace each one in the triaxis to see if the noise goes away. microphonic preamp tubes are relatively common. If you dont have a known good tube, go to guitar center or your nearest mesa dealer, and pick up an SPAX7. Chances are it'll be just about dead quiet. If doing that seems to help in certain positions, chances are you have one or more microphonic preamp tubes. replace the tubes in the positions that the known good tube seemed to help. If that does not help, there are a number of other options to pursue. Look at the power tubes next, have a friend play, while you tap on each power tube with a pencil eraser. power tubes should be 100% free from any mechanical noise, so if you hear the tapping, or it changes the squeal, look into replacing the power tubes. If you bought it new and it has mesa tubes, they have a 6 month warranty, so you'll be able to get a replacement for free. If that doesn't help, step 3 is the cables. make sure you are using high quality cables throughout. If your using a 10 dollar 24 ga radio shack cable, go get a good cable, you spent over 2000 dollars on your amp setup, spending 100 dollars to make sure you don't lose tone in your cables shouldn't be a major thing. If you are still having trouble, then its time to look at the guitar. Does it have open or covered pickups? covered pickups that are potted improperly will squeel like a stuck pig. also have a tech check the ground in your guitar. pickups that are improperly grounded will howl like a banshee. Don't forget volume also. If you are cranking a 2:90 in your bedroom, its gonna feedback, thats just the way it is. When I record my mark III, I put it in a completely different room altogether than myself and the guitar. they are just that loud. Especially given that you are using a lighter guitar, they are very susceptible to sympathetic resonance, and thus, feedback.
A couple of other things, remember that the triaxis is designed to model the preamp of the mark series, so the same things that go for a mark series go for the triaxis. As with any mark series (really any mesa in general) the first thing to remember is that its not a friggin marshall. you can't crank the treble, bass, and presence and cut out the mids and expect a good tone. These amps just don't work that way. Moderate settings are best, especially when it comes to gain, treble, and presence. As far as gain goes, you want to set it as low as humanly possible. this will reduce noise, greatly increase dynamics, and prevent your tone from becoming muddy. Treble and presence wise, you want to keep the treble to a moderate setting, if its one 9, turn it the heck down. same with presence, with my mark III, I keep the presence on 0. I do this because when you turn the amp up and really get the power section to cook, your presence will increase and more than make up for the low presence setting.
Which brings me to my next point. your running a 2:90 for christ sake. That is nearly 200 tube watts (clean)!!! there is a reason that the 180 watt mark III's and II's were called COLISEUM heads. because thats about the size of the venue they were for. Tone wise, if your not running the 2:90 at relatively high volumes, (6-7), you are missing out on the life of your tone, and to be honest, you'd get the same tone from a SS poweramp. there is no shame in admitting that the 2:90 is more than you need, heck its more than most people need. and if that is indeed the case, there are plenty of other Mesa power solutions for you. the 20/20 is an excellent amp that will give you the necessary saturation without slaughtering your cat. Same with the 2:50. Now I also realize that the 2:90 is the ONLY mesa power amp currently offering simul-class. Now, to me, that is a deal breaker right there given my absolute love affair with that style power amp. So, if you must have simul class, but the 2:90 is too much, its time to grab a weber MASS attenuator. this will allow you to keep the master up, the volume down, your tone awesome, your feedback low, and your ears intact. Your other option is the mark IV. the mark IV is basically the daddy of the triaxis tone wise, with a stereo effects loop return (nice for your gmajor) and a much more manageable poweramp than the 2:90.
Tone wise, my advice here might get a little biting, and I am sorry, but I'm just trying to make sure you understand what you have. Start with the manual. RTFM. that'd be Read the Friggin manual. it has VERY good explanations for all the controls, with recommended setting ranges, and awesome explanations of how they affect tone, and your signal through the whole amp. The triaxis is NOT, I repeat NOT, in any way shape form or fashion, a plug and play amp. you need to spend time with it. and learn how it works, how the controls sound and function, and how to get the tone you want. If you were expecting it to be like your buddy's line 6 that sounds pretty much the same no matter how the tone controls are, you need to look elsewhere. to be perfectly honest, if the triaxis can't get you a good metal tone, the problem is not the triaxis, its you. so anyways, start with the manual. If you still don't have the tone you want, go to the amp settings database here, and read up. there are tons to tested awesome tones in there, especially with your current setup which happens to be relatively common. They can provide you a good baseline to start shaping your tone. But remember, the first, and most important part of the chain that creates your tone, is YOU. Mesa's, especially mark series mesa's, are amps that must be learned. They live and breathe, and they are very complex. And to be perfectly honest, you must play the amp.
In the end, grow up. RTFM, learn your amp, and realize that all the money in the world can't buy good tone if you don't think, and don't bother to learn your amp.
