Hey, long time, no post. I've got some gear questions, and I'm a retard at this stuff, so I figured I'd throw it out there - any help'd be appreciated.

I'm playing guitar in a band with Bay-area thrash and doom influences. I've been playing bass for about 13 years, and messing around with guitar for almost as long, but I've never played guitar in a band, before, and I'm not sure how to get the sound I'm looking for out of the equipment I've got to work with.

I've got an ESP LTD M-100 (mine), stock pickups, which plays great. I'm playing through a Fender Stage-100 (not mine), it's a three-channel solid state 100-watt amp with a footswitch, effects loop, and not much else. It's got plenty of power for what I'm using it for, I haven't had it much past 2 and I'm competing with a monster stack.

I'm trying to get a tone with a ton of gain, but not super-noisy and with good definition on palm-muted picking. (Think Sweden.) As it is, I've pretty much got everything all the way up or down - gain on 10, treble on 10, mid on 0, bass on 10, with a tiny touch of reverb. It's not a bad sound, but it's missing a little something as far as a super-saturated distortion goes, and there's not as much bass as I'd like. I'm also thinking about something to get a "lead boost" - the amp has a "more gain" switch, but I'm already playing with that on. I've got a Boss MZ-1 Metalizer, and I was thinking that could see some use either a) to add some oomph to the distortion, or b) to use as a switchable lead boost, possibly with one of the doubling effects switched on.

I'd like to add some higher-gain pickups to the guitar, but I can't afford to, right now. Any suggestions on that would be welcome for the future, though. Besides that, I don't have a lot to spend on add-ons, but suggest'em anyway. Mainly what I'm looking for is any tricks I can pull with what I already have. Any ideas, folks?








Oh, and fuck Joe Christianni.

i'm sure niccolai and blue can answer every question. only thing i can say is go tube. i will never play a solid state amp again. but, tube amps cost a shitload, so i guess i am of no assistance, haha.

tubes

Yeah, I'm in the process of moving now, and money = nope. I may have access to a 5150 combo, which I'm told is loud as shit, but I haven't seen it, yet.

my money is also equalling nope

I also have a Crown CT-1200 power amp - is there any sense in just getting a preamp to go with this, and going that route? I don't know jack about the preamps that are available. (And is the rackmount Line 6 stuff any good?)

Edit: I lied, it's a CT-210.

did you yell at it to sound better?

Take the combo if it's all you can get... and throw an EQ pedal after your guitar and if you can afford another, in the fx loop too, it won't be as chunky as a 4x12, but, you should be able to use the 1st EQ to make up for the guitar a bit and the 2nd one to add a little bass/treb to make up for the cab.

stop scooping your mids so much, lay off on the reverb...
or get a tube amp.

I'd say pickups, but it sounds like you need a better (tube) amp. there are plenty of options, and a lot are cheap. used Laney AOR, ampeg V4, fender bassman, musicman, even newer peavey valve king.

i know this isn't the best option but if you want a modeling style amp line 6 are having a deal on their spyderII's 300 for the 150 watt head and i believe its around the same price.

i know its not a tube amp but if you are looking for an alright sound for the price it is an alright deal

i love the tone i get out of my spyderII

DestroyYouAlot said:

yea, the rack line 6 stuff is really good. it wont be the thickest tone in the world, but for the price your paying you'll probably be really happy with what you can get out of the line 6 pod rack.


blue <3's his 5150, and i know a lot of people who think they sound like shit... all i would say is don't be attracted to it just because of the name, try it for yourself and see if you can get something out of it you actually like.


ultimately, everyone has different tastes etc etc and you should only worry about pleasing yourself, the best thing you could do is figure out what your price range is, go out and try a bunch of shit in that range and make up your own mind.

dertoxia said:



i only still use the spyder ii because i cant afford anything else. for 300 bucks though, its a pretty hard to find a better head for such a low price.

Your mids carry all your volume, they don't belong on 0.

You need a new amp more than you need new pickups.

Most stores are flexible with payment plans.


I have a Crate GT3500HS 350 watt solid state amp and I like it way better than any tube amp I've ever played (short of the pitbull and fireball which are big money).

You might want to look into a used Boss Noise supressor pedal. Used ones can be found for as low as 50$ and will get rid of all your amp's feedback, allowing you to play at a louder volume.

Also, your gain does't need to be all the way up on ten. once your volume is up high, there isn't much of a difference between your gain on 8 or on 10, except the feedback will be higher on 10.

You can buy an EMG HZ H4 for 80$ or less and throw it in your bridge spot, that's your cheapest solution for adding a high gain pickup, but the LH100 pickups in your LTD should work fine, you probably don't need to swap our your pickups as badly as you think you do.

brad weymouth said:

I tried, but I think it speaks Kazahkstani or some shit, it doesn't listen to me.

Thanks, folks, some good ideas there. I'll have to spend some time with it before practice trying to tweak the sound, and an eq pedal sounds like a good invesment. A new amp is so out of the question it's not even funny (and besides, I'm trying to save up for an SVT in the future), but I'll try the 5150 and see if it's closer to what I'm going for.

Cecchini said:

he <3's it so much that he traded it for an engl fireball.

I doubt there's many people who would NOT trade a 5150 for an ENGL, given the chance.

hi steve.

porphyria said:


hahaha nice, engls are nasty.

nope, the kid backed out of the trade. fucking sucks.

and to mister thread starter, your #1 move is to get a new head. there are plenty of heads out there thatll do the job for well( used 5150s and new peavey valvekings will run you 500ish), and there are a few solid staters that do the job surprisingly well for the money (randalls and such). get new pickups after the head.

but your first problem is that your mids are on 0. honestly, thats the kind of shit a 14 year old kid does. scooping your mids is the worst thing you can do to your sound, and for some reason it is commonly known to be awesome. no amp should have a setting on 10 or 0, its useless. try starting your amp at bass-7, mids-5 and treble-6-7 and turn down your gain.

blue said:

Haha, noted. Thanks for the tips.