volume in the Clean mode

[badjohnny]

I'm not getting much volume out of my Clean mode in my 5:50 1x12. I have the gain set at noon and the master at 2 PM. Shouldn't that be louder than hell in a 50 watt boogie? But it's not. Perhaps a preamp tube? V1? I should have flipped the switch to Crunch to see if that would be a clue or not. What say you all?

Johny

 

[J.J]

I'm not getting much volume out of my Clean mode in my 5:50 1x12. I have the gain set at noon and the master at 2 PM. Shouldn't that be louder than hell in a 50 watt boogie? But it's not. Perhaps a preamp tube? V1? I should have flipped the switch to Crunch to see if that would be a clue or not. What say you all?

Johny

Are your tone controls set very low ? Dropping the mids will significantly reduce your volume. Is that amp set to 5 watt mode or 50 Watt mode ?

 

[soundchaser59]

Clean headroom is possibly the biggest single drawback with the 5.25. I woulda guessed the 5.50 would have plenty......

When all else fails, I put a clean boost in the fx loop.

 

[badjohnny]

I'll have to look at the EQ settings but treble is set fairly low due to ice pick trebliness. But the second channel has no volume probs in Burn mode. Gain is at 10:30 and Master at 10 AM. Plenty loud. Seems the clean mode should be a lot closer in settings than I have to make it.

JT

 

[Anonymous]

Since the treble is "first" in the chain, if you have it dialed down a ton, wouldn't that affect overall level a lot? I'm not sitting in front of my amp right now, or I'd try...

If you're having "icepick" problems (I'm a tele fan, so I have experienced this in the past), I'd start at the guitar. Anytime I find myself wanting to lower the treble lower than say, 10, on this amp, I'd look to that first. Lower the treble side of the pup. I run my tele bridge pups level most of the time, which if you get the action dialed in still gives plenty of chime and spank, but with a more balanced top end.

My settings are generally gain at noon, treble at noon, mid at 8, bass at 11:30, and master at noon... On the 5 watt mode of my 5:50 strumming with my tele bridge pup at full volume puts me around 104db sitting about 12 feet from the amp. That's pretty loud. I haven't measured in the 50 watt mode, but anecdotally I can say it's too loud for me at home.

Now, all that said... If twiddling the knobs doesn't help, try replaving V2. During tube rolling, I put a tube in V2 that gave me essentially no volume on Clean/Ch1, but I had somewhat normal sounding volume in Blues/Burn. Replacing it fixed the issue. But when I noticed this, I had to put my ear to the speaker to hear it on Ch1, so my hunch would be this isn't your issue.

 

[badjohnny]

The manual has a few sample setting which I assume result in fairly equal volumes in both channels. I'll try those out, see if my clean volume is where it should be. I have a new set of preamp tubes from Mesa in the amp but I can switch around V2 to see if there's a tube problem.

 

[Don]

I use mine in a band with the clean channel gain at 1:00, treble at 1:00, mids at 11:00, bass at 9:30 and master between 9-10:00 and have no trouble being heard, even outdoors.

I suspect that something is wrong with yours.

 

[THE TUBENATOR]

You wrote about an "ice pick trebleness". Have you tried other guitars with your 5:50? You wrote that you keep the treble setting very low because of the trebleness. Fender tele's are very bright sounding guitars. I like teles to a point but I had to get rid of mine because I couldn't stand it through the 5:50 and I have a head with a 4x12 cab that is normally too, too bassy!

 

[Don]

I wasn't paying attention when you said that you keep the treble down because the amp is too bright. Mine is just the opposite. I find it to be a very warm, thick sounding amp, even the clean tones. I'd look into replacement tubes.

 

[soundchaser59]

I wasn't paying attention when you said that you keep the treble down because the amp is too bright. Mine is just the opposite. I find it to be a very warm, thick sounding amp, even the clean tones. I'd look into replacement tubes.

Are you playing a Strat or a Tele?

I've had that "too trebley" problem with my Strat no matter what amp I plug into. Finally realized it isn't the amps, it's the guitar and pickups that sound too bright. These amps are too far evolved and too good to be the first thing that gets blamed for any hint of bad sound (assuming the amp is operating correctly). So many players grow up conditioned to overlook the first source of sound, the pickups, and move straight to pointing the finger at the pedals and the amp and the speakers.... I'm just saying.....

 

[Newysurfer]

I use mine in a band with the clean channel gain at 1:00, treble at 1:00, mids at 11:00, bass at 9:30 and master between 9-10:00 and have no trouble being heard, even outdoors.

I suspect that something is wrong with yours.

+1
The 5:50 has a ton of clean headroom.
Somethings wrong with Badjohnny's amp.
I'd start with the tubes. :mrgreen:

 

[badjohnny]

I do have brand new preamp and power tubes from Mesa but you never know. I'll switch some tubes around next time.

Yeah, I know Teles are bright but I love how it feels. Maybe adjusting the tone knob would be a good direction to go. Wouldn't explain the low volume, though.

 

[Anonymous]

Teles do not have to be icepicky. Mine is not. Sounds great thru the 5:50.

Do this, irregardless of tone: turn the treble (and all other tone controls) up to noon. Does the volume increase?

 

[Don]

Teles do not have to be icepicky. Mine is not. Sounds great thru the 5:50.

Same here. My Tele is actually a USACG T-Style, built like an old blackguard with a swamp ash body, fat. solid maple V neck, tall frets, Fralin Blues Special pickups, Glendale saddles and Fender hardware.

It's fat and bright (when I want it to be). Twangy as heck but never ice-picky. It's great for all styles and is enhanced by the fatness of my 5:50 (in all modes).