Who Only Uses the Clean Channel?

[NDRU]

Anyone out there? I know we're Mesa players, renowned for cascading gain, but I can't seem to dial in good overdrive on my F-30. I don't play metal, maybe that's my problem.

But I love the clean tone and I use a couple overdrive pedals to play dirty.

And yet, I can't help but think I should be using the amp's gain, even though I don't like it!

 

[jab]

Forgive me father, for I too have sinned. My primary setting is a clean channel with a high quality OD. I hit the gain channel for solo's. I never would have thought it would happen, but it did.

 

[NDRU]

I've seen guys playing old style jazz on Boogies, and sounding great. Big ol' Gibsons played on the neck pickup.

But Mesa definitely seems to be more popular for its high gain sounds.

 

[Don]

I don't play metal and I use the clean and dirty channels on my Express. The beauty of the Express is that it gets really sweet mid gain tones (Crunch mode is the best in the amp) and can rock pretty hard (in Crunch or Burn modes).

Back in the early '90s I had my '66 Vibrolux Reverb modified with cascading gain as well as a lot of other Boogie type features. I shoulda bought a Boogie!

I returned the VR to stock condition because I use mostly clean tones. I use my Express mostly for clean tones as well, but seldom need an overdrive pedal for it.

Oh, and I never change channels or step on an overdrive for solos.

 

[edward]

I can't believe I am admitting to this....

But yes, lately, I am staying in just the Clean channel on my DC5, and the R1 (and occasionally R2) on my MKIII. The grit-around-the-edges clean is my standard tone, and in the past year I think I have found myself using less and less gain on the Lead channel ...turning down the drive in the Lead to the point such that "the tone" isn't there anymore. So as a result, I have been using just a bit of pedal-induced overdrive to get that added crunch. Still dip into Lead OD on occasion, more for the occasional solo or driving rhythm, but much less than before. Who knows ...maybe my taste in tone is changing? Maybe age??

Should I feel guilty, like I'm not using my Boogs like they "should" be?? Still, I LOVE them sweeeeet Boogie (hairy) cleans!!

Edward

 

[MJ Slaughter]

Edward say it isn't so

Ok, I too use the clean channel of my DC-10 more as either pure clean or with one of three different pedals to add different character: Luxury Drive clean boost-great for Strats, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Xotic AC+. I still use my dirty channel a lot but with gain around 4 so I can use it more for heavy rhythms and hit it with my AC+ for solos. The music I play is a vast variety of 70's 80's classic rock, disco, country, pop etc and I find this to be a very versatile setup. Now, if it weren’t for the great overdrive pedals available to us giving opportunities for a greater choice of different tones I would be using my dirty channel more than I do, just tweaking it more between songs.

I suppose that if I played in a heavy metal grunge band I'd keep it more in the dirty channel though. It still sounds great, just not for everything. It does seem a bit sac religious though and sometimes a little hard to admit to yourself let alone others. Maybe we need a support group.

 

[jab]

and it's not that I necessarily like the distortion of a pedal better than the distortion on the amp itself, but it's the underlying voicing of the clean channel that can provide a more substantial foundation for the tone. Kind of like Timmons said when he prefers the Mesa loud clean EL34 tone with a distortion unit on it.

 

[NDRU]

and it's not that I necessarily like the distortion of a pedal better than the distortion on the amp itself, but it's the underlying voicing of the clean channel that can provide a more substantial foundation for the tone. Kind of like Timmons said when he prefers the Mesa loud clean EL34 tone with a distortion unit on it.

I have heard some people say that channel switching completely changes the tone, where they want to keep the same tone but add some dirt, which pedals can provide to the clean channel.

 

[NDRU]

Edward say it isn't so

Ok, I too use the clean channel of my DC-10 more as either pure clean or with one of three different pedals to add different character: Luxury Drive clean boost-great for Strats, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Xotic AC+. I still use my dirty channel a lot but with gain around 4 so I can use it more for heavy rhythms and hit it with my AC+ for solos. The music I play is a vast variety of 70's 80's classic rock, disco, country, pop etc and I find this to be a very versatile setup. Now, if it weren’t for the great overdrive pedals available to us giving opportunities for a greater choice of different tones I would be using my dirty channel more than I do, just tweaking it more between songs.

I suppose that if I played in a heavy metal grunge band I'd keep it more in the dirty channel though. It still sounds great, just not for everything. It does seem a bit sac religious though and sometimes a little hard to admit to yourself let alone others. Maybe we need a support group.

I think that maybe the clean channel gets overlooked on Mesas. I have looked at youtube clips of F-30's and they're ALL shredders. Nothing wrong with metal, but I like my amp for clean country sounds (occasionally), and nobody else seems to be doing that. Except you fine people!

 

[NDRU]

I don't play metal and I use the clean and dirty channels on my Express. The beauty of the Express is that it gets really sweet mid gain tones (Crunch mode is the best in the amp) and can rock pretty hard (in Crunch or Burn modes).

Back in the early '90s I had my '66 Vibrolux Reverb modified with cascading gain as well as a lot of other Boogie type features. I shoulda bought a Boogie!

I returned the VR to stock condition because I use mostly clean tones. I use my Express mostly for clean tones as well, but seldom need an overdrive pedal for it.

Oh, and I never change channels or step on an overdrive for solos.

I feel like the amp's gain is the natural way to go, but it's harder to dial that in than it is to find a pleasing pedal. I have twisted knobs on the gain channel so much I think I'm developing OCD. However USING an OCD doesn't take nearly so much thought!

 

[MJ Slaughter]

Many times when a non Mesa Boogie havin musician finds out I play Mesa and I have a PRS they assume my tone is that of a triple recto and I play in dropped C tuning. Mesa Boogies, and for that matter PRS's, can be very versatile. That's one reason I use them. My clean channel is one of the best of any amp I've ever owned; Fender, Marshall, Ampeg, Carvin because of the versatility and tone. It's hard to beat a good Fender clean but all things considered, the Boogie is more versatile and I trust it not to break down at a gig.

 

[phyrexia]

Most metal players wouldn't call the F30 a good metal amp.

I only use the one channel on my blue angel. :wink:

 

[kingster911]

F-30 can be dialed in for good distortion from what I've experimented with in a store awhile back, but I could see it being brittle and too punchy at the same time. Look into its reformed self: the Express. Just a thought. And on the subject of gain/jazz on Boogies - One of my favorite things to do is fool around with jazzy chords and sounds on the brit channel of my amp without too much bite so it's just a very open clean.

 

[SBG200]

Last night I was getting ready for some upcoming gigs with a provided backline, so wanted to tweak my pedal board for whatever amps are thrown at me. I have an Ace and run some effects in the front and some in the loop, but wanted to set up for front-end only. Last night I used the Ace on fat clean, loop bypassed, gain at about 10:00. I had an MI Crunch Box running into a Boss BD-2, both on low to moderate gain (the secret to the CB is to run it into a slightly overdriven environment, either a slightly hairy clean channel, or a low gain pedal). Man what a great sound! I would have no problem using the amp that way going forward. Of course I wouldn't since Channel 2 is really where it's at on the Ace, but the clean channel is a perfect platform for effects in the front end. That amp never ceases to amaze me.

If anyone's interested, the full pedal setup was BudWah > MI CB (vol 1:00; tone 11:00; gain 9:00) > BD-2 (vol 12:00; tone 10:00; gain 9:00) > DD-5 > DOD Chorus > EB Volume pedal > amp

 

[jab]

I'll be gigging Fri/Sat night this week on Fat Clean (gain 2:00), and Xotic AC+ (left side of pedal, similar to RC) with gain at 9-10:00. It's got girth for sure.

 

[darren]

I really like the crunch drive sounds i'm getting on Channel 2 of my F-30 head.

You need to be REALLY conservative with the gain. I play fairly heavy music, and i don't crank the gain past 10:00 or 11:00 on Channel 2. When i kick in the Contour mode, it goes from a nice crunch to a full-on grind.

But if you back off the gain, you can make it purr nicely.

That said, i see nothing wrong with using any pedal you want if it gives you the sound you hear in your head. I have a Chaos-modded TS7 on the way from Bodenhamer Electronics, just to give some more options on the boost and gain side of things. I tried out a friend's, and it was quite possibly one of the best overdrive/distortion pedals i've heard.

 

[kidprint]

My problem is that although I love the dirt sound and I love the clean sound, switching dynamically between the two is terrible. There is an audible 'lag' or delay in switching channels on the amp (Single Rec Solo 50 head) which makes a sudden change from clean to dirty (or vice versa) completely off-time. I have been experimenting with using my MXR GT overdrive pedal and a Micro Amp on the clean channel (set up with a bit of grit) and its sounding pretty good. I do think its a bit of a waste of the amp though... :?