Glad to see a demo that isn't drenched in distortion. It is sometimes difficult to determine what a guitar actually sounds like because the clean tones are not demonstrated. In this case the focus is on the amp settings but I still prefer the clean tone demo. Thanks for that.
Distortion robs guitars of colour… progressively. More distortion, less colour. When it’s all square wave, there’s no colour or richness at all. (Think how a barber’s electric razor sounds…. Or a wasp!)
@@stephensmith799 all depends on what you're playing, or what sound you're trying to achieve...clean, rough, distorted, chorus, reverb, sure, you want to test an amp clean, but, before I buy, I test drive a car in every gear, not just first.
@ I take your point of course. Edge of breakup is nice but truly, unless relying on the whole band mix to create colour, I find distortion driven to the point of a kind of fizzing sound, really not great.
In a mix, the more bass you have in your tone the less you will be heard. Your live tone will be different than your bedroom tone. Don’t be afraid to boost the top end so that you can poke out and be heard. Great tips on tone in this video Thanks
@@philknight6844tell me about it ... and sometimes it all sounds ok on stage with a 9 piece but the desk can miss some bits ... I recorded our headlining gig at Rudgwick Music Festival in 2005 and stuck a camcorder next to the outboard desk .. interesting that you can hear the comments from the engineers but I wish they had turned down my treble ... if I'd known I would have tried to adjust myself but as somebody said it does cut through the mix but needs to be balanced ... cheers
@@BraveheartOBM Its mainly a rule for live work. See guys like Satch or Hammet etc, Billy Gibbons, Johnson, all massively different tones as guitarists but look at the amps and heads live, higher the master volume, lower the treble. Volume creates it in the listeners ear so have too much on board and its harsh as hell out front. Learned that on the desk as well as the stage. Satch is at about 3 usually. Johnson all the way off.
@@philknight6844 bear in mind, their amps are equalized to compensate for the signal chain and shitty headroom on the power stage (or excellent headroom depending on who you ask). Satch also uses moded JVMs so his capped on both channels (balanced 3 instead of the orthodox 5), with the dirty channel scooped.
I haven;t given this much thought for years, but this is almost dead on what my music store taught me back in 1974 when I was smart enough to buy my first Fender Twin Reverb. I was lucky enough to have a music store run by musicians that took the time to explain and teach all of their gear when you bought it. I wanted a Kustom stack, but the owner talked me into the Twin because they knew my playing style. Quite a different relationship than most modern guitar outlets. It's all about letting the guitar be the focus, not the amp or pedals.
@@albeers122 I play pretty well (56 years under the guitar strap), but I have had some amps that just made anything I did sound "off". Understanding that it might not be your playing and how to tackle the amps' settings is what this lesson is about.
The great thing about playing jazz is the volumes are low enough to enjoy the natural tone of all instruments. A valve amp clean set right is beautiful.
@@DanielSeriffMusic I feel the same way about hard rock. It's very satisfying when you can put together a hot, driven sound that still has the warmth and fullness and clarity of the instrument. When big open chords sound rich and beautiful through your distorted "hard rock lead" rig, you're really on to something. ;) Starting with this approach to dialing in that warm clean jazzy tone to begin with, is the best way to get there.
That is a great suggestin! I do it the other way around: 1. Turn every EQ dial to the middle so that you can set the volume. 2. Then turn every EQ dial all the way down. 3. Start with the bass dial and turn it up just until you notice the bass kicking in. That's almost always the sweet spot and way earlier than you'd expect. For bedroom settings go a bit above the threshold, for live settings go a bit below it. 4. Do the same with the mid dial. There will also be a noticeable threshold value where the mids kick in, a bit lilke when slowly sweeping a wah. This threshold is usually easier to locate than with the bass dial. When starting with treble, you'll have a harder time to find the sweet spot of the mid EQ. 5. Dial in treble to your liking until you get the crisp you need or want. Afterwards repeat the same with presence, if available. 6. Tweak minimally to your liking. I've learnt this method way late but it has never failed me since. This way you get to the 'natural' sound of the amp (in combination with your guitar, technique and ears) that utilizes the amp to the fullest. Larger deviations from this natural sound can be fun for certain usages but will mostly sound a bit 'bent'.
To be fare this guys advice is absolutely right. Take your eyes out of the equation and use your ears, every amp is different but the temptation is to gravitate towards a certain pattern that you are used to seeing on the treble middle and bass.
Agree 100%. I found my spot with my Princeton reverb on vol 3 1/4, treb 4 bass 1 reverb 3. Get lots of complements. Used to run 4-6-4 and struggled a bit. So yes adjust with ears not eyes!
He's giving a very specific order and explaining what to listen for and how to dial it in, pretty helpful for people that don't normally do this or don't know how to effectively do this.
Great advise on setting up your amp tone! I would also add that tone settings are also volume dependent, so start with the volume at the level you will actually be playing. Your settings at bedroom volume and gig volume can be very different, as a quiet amp and a loud amp will respond very differently to your tone tweaks.
Using this method since the end of 70’s, a huge thank for showing it. Just great. Listen closely what he explains and open your ears, you will be surprised. Cheers from Brittany ✌️👏
Watch for the voltage dropping resistors getting hot and burning your pcb. I picked up a hot Rod deluxe for 275 knowing it had an issue suspected a heat issue. It took a little work for me to repair by replacing those resistors ( also hard wire one broken trace) and standing them off the board. Also replaced the filter caps and it never cut out. I checked the bias ( still had the original Fender tubes) first version of the amp made in USA Couldn’t get the bias up to where it was supposed to be so changed out the power tubes and no problem getting the ma where it should be but sounded ice picky sharp. Turned the bias down a ways and mellowed right out. Still have other caps to change out to bring it up to date. Plugged a Monoprice cab with Celestion V30 and wow. Sounds even better.
I went from a Vox Mini SuperBeetle to a Hot Rod Deluxe and I’m just a home player. I used to play the Vox around 6-7 but I played it on the .5 power setting. When I got home and plugged in the HRD, I just dialed it up to 6 and hit a G and shattered 2 wine glasses in my bar nearby. I was not prepared for how loud that thing was! Had to buy an attenuator (Lion Tamer for about $25) that plugs into the FX Loop and acts as a secondary master volume. You can get that cool Fender breakup sound without destroying glass in the house. I have since purchased a 90s Blues Jr to play at home. Much more reasonable. Great vid!
Nice that you used a Hot Rod. I have one and your advice makes a lot of sense. I recently added a Dr. Watson Lion Tamer to the amp. It’s a simple volume pot that plugs into the effects loop input and output. Really helped expand the volume control. Hot Rods are notoriously loud.
What I did with my Hotrod was to replace the 12ax7 with a 12ay7 in V1 and a 12au7 in V3, so now I have an amp that doesn't put me in jail when playing at home. Great way to get the good tones. Thanks.
I've been considering the 12au7 to replace at least 1 of the 12ax7s in my Deluxe Hot Rod III. I replaced the main tubes with some paired Russian made JJs - great sound @ a reasonable price. Best upgrade so far was replacing the speaker with a Greenback
I’m a busker and using battery powered amps leaves a lot to be desired. I’ll try this technique. As with most guitarists, I am always chasing tone. Thank you for posting this.
Good idea also is to move away from the amp as far as your cable allows and double check your sound because as you do the tone can change considerably, and that’s the sound your audience is going to hear.
Great advice! Volume will affect the tone significantly as well. The great sounding barely audible tone will behave differently at stage volume, so don't be afraid to tweak. Cheers!
Great video. I do have to say, your playing is so good that you would sound good on a sears silvertone amp with 60 year old tubes that have been shot for 20 years. Love the video and it's great that you used an average tube amp compared to all the amps you have in your studio.
Bonjour from France, When I play live ,I have a Strat Ultra Plus and a Roland Blues Cube Hot . I play mostly in very small venues, where my amp is heard over the P.A. I rarely do gigs where my amp is drowned in the mix, because on bigger stages I take my Blues Cube Artist. Volume on 3. I don’t want to overload the preamp. Master on 5 or 6. I never crank the volume and the master. I use the attenuator ( power control) as much as I can because it’s very convenient. As for overdrive, It's my OD3 or my SD1 pushing the amp. Treble slightly rolled off. Mids on 6. Bass in the middle. Tone on bridge pickup slightly rolled off.
I REALLY appreciate this video...SOUND IS truly how a beginner expects to learn guitar and OF COURSE how to play the notes. Nowadays you have amps with multiple sound setting so I guess this will give a player an idea of how to achieve the sound of the song they are trying to learn...MOST people don't share how to set up sound they are using NOR say what pedal used either : /
I'm gonna try this next. I usually do it like this: I find it easier as a start to middle the EQ on all three levels and then tune minimally from there depending on genre and guitar. You'll basically always start from the middle anyway. Touch of delay and reverb and don't be greedy on the gain for distortion, perhaps 6 or 7 depending on amp and you'll have a great tone 9/10 times.
Very helpfull Daniel! I play a Hot Rod Deluxe and will use more Presence now. But for humbuckers the bass is rather strong so 2-3 for the bass knob is more than enough.
It’s nice to have a professionally developed method for this; gonna use it instead of the “Random Frustration Method” I’ve been using up ‘til now 😑. Many thanks for posting.
Very nice informative video. I'm very curious whether this technique will also work on my Axe FX III...and will find out... I have always struggled getting good clean tones and this may help.
Great demonstration and as someone else said, nice clean tone so the nuances and details can be distinguished. I have always setup my tones starting on the neck pickup and I never seemed to get it quite right and and am constantly tweaking to improve. I just used this method and I was able to setup up two different guitars and amps in minutes and only following with minor adjustments to tone and volume thru the guitar to get what I need. Your video - Unbelievably helpful. Thank you.
I only play my neck pickup, Daniel. I have a fender mustang so does it matter it's not a tube amp? Plus I have to wait until at least 7am because it's 3:46am in an apartment building but I guess I could use headphones but it might be different. Thanks.
Very good approach to achieve tone. If it sounds good clean it will sound good with distortion. If you are playing with a band you may need a little adjustment so you can cut through and if 2nd guitar depending on goals it may require some even more dramatic change.
My method is to find the range, usually about ¼ of the knob's sweep, that has the most and or fastest rate of change and then center it in that zone. That's the amps 'sweet spot' and gives me a little room to fine tune a tone.
Wonderful presentation! On side note, if you have any amp in the Fender hotrod line, and you have, or know of an amp technician, ask him if he can do the "Fromel mod" on your amp. This will make enhancements to improve the tone stack, reverb, and most importantly, the mod will actually make the caca butt dirty channel usable!
EQing for the mix is so important. I play bass and what works for the mix can sound pretty bad in solo which is better than the other way round. I've mixed tracks where they recorded a beautiful full acoustic guitar but what they needed for the song was just a thin jangle for ear candy!
Great in concept, but it can be a little hard to pull off in practice. You can get most of the way there in advance if you just record your own backing track and play against that. Then you won’t need nearly as much time when setting up with the band. Every space is different so it’s a never-ending challenge.
@unclemick-synths the only reason I posted is because I hate my sound when I play my guitar by itself. In the mix sounds great. Wish could find a good balance. Time to play with my tone some more. I get good comments on my tone but for reason it's time to move on. Find the perfect tone.
Great tip, I often crank the amp way up and go from there and love the drive but hate the clean so maybe this will help me find that sound I have been looking for!
I like the concept but it seems playing Gibson Les Pauls, mainly, the front pick ups are always very dark sounding, muddy like and that’s with the tone all the way up. I don’t like too much high treble in my leads so I have treble backed off a bit but keep enough to cut through. So with that said, when I go to the neck p u, it’s dark. Is it the neck p u pot?? Any suggestions would be welcomed, and I’m 70, weeks do southern rock, I’ve been out there for a long time and never had a good front p u sound. It’s better with fender amps, it seems, but I use old superlead amps
I find the neck can be tubby. I back it down from the strings. I also work with Tom Brantley on the perfect humbucker set. I think a lot of folks just put mud in guitars.
I just thought of a good way to describe it...if you know how eq pedals act,,,,pre gain eq is like driving your amp with an eq pedal (fender /mesa) and post gain eq's are like putting the eq pedal in the loop (Marshall and almost all other amps)
I agree with what you're saying if you want a very mellow sound but you're overlooking the most important thing for many and that's the amount of gain that can carry a note into natural compression
Would love to see (hear) you walk through the same process with an overdriven/crunchy/distorted amp setting. Seems like the gain & eq would be interactive such that it would be hard to dial in a good gain level without having the eq dialed in ... and it'd be likewise hard to dial in the eq without the gain setting being tweaked "just right."
Here's a cool way to play with your tone alot of players don't do. Throw on your favorite guitar sound. Take you guitar and dial in as closely as you can that tone. When you turn off the music you'll find that your ear hears something very different than the sound you THOUGHT you dialed in. Most will attempt dialing in the sound in they're head. This is the sound you want the most. But the tone you dialed in with the music isn't as far from that tone in your head.
Matchless has the DC-30, VOX is the "AC"-30... I've wanted a Matchless for so long... Ian Moore used one when I saw him live one Winter... With a broken leg.... He never came back... Oddly enough he relocated from Austin to the North West.. Oregon or Washington State...
have a question - I play with a fender tonemaster and use a super badass distortion pedal. I find if I am right in front of amp it sounds terrible - all muddy - but move slightly to the side and it sounds great. Even just slightly altering the angle of my head or the amp and it greatly changes - I guess my question would be how to I make is sound more pleasant when I am directly in front as opposed to being just, again, maybe a foot to the side and the sound just smooths out?
A friend & great guitarist gave me this simple advice: get as far away from your amp, in the direction of the audience, as you can to check your sound. If you're recording, listen to the sound through the mic, desk and headphones if you can. It should sound good wherever it's being 'listened' to.
This is a great approach. First time I heard about it was by Matt Schofield at The pedal show. I believe though, that presence should be adjusted first because the EQ will behave differently with different values. In other words, if you change presence setting at the end, then the optimum settings for bass, mid and treble will be different.
I have been looking for this video for a long time. Not this exact video but something this good on the topic. I might even hate the hotrod a little less now. LOL Thank you! You have a new subscriber!
I had a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Nice amp, a little heavy. I’ve actually had every amp in that series but I moved on the a Princeton Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb. These are awesome amps and not terribly heavy. I also play (and love the shit out of) a Fender Bass Breaker 007. 7W! All you need. It’s small, relatively light and essentially the same controls as the Hot Rod but the tone is awesome and I think I’ll try this method on this amp with my Tele and my Reverend Sensai!
Thank you Daniel! I just happened to come across your video and was curious to see the method you are presenting. Makes a lot of sense. Some years ago I read that if Clapton is asked to play ... and it's not his guitar or amp, he would go to the amp, turn a few tone controls, and it would sound as good as his own amp. Possibly he used this same method. I also read that he had his tech mod his tone controls so that when they are all at 7, that is the ideal setting.
Last but not least, a clean boost right after the guitar, pushed to just before clipping, will make an unbelievable difference in the noise floor - especially if you use a pedal chain - and in any overdrive you choose to dial in.
Same for neck? Then what about both pickups… how to pull some sweet tones outta that combo? Same process I guess.I’m gonna go try this right now. Thanks Daniel.
I think this is a good method but I wonder if part of the tone setting is the atmosphere you’re playing in. IE: outdoor gig near water, is humid, dry, big hall, small bar, catering hall etc.
I feel like I just discovered fire, remember Tom Hanks on the beach? Yeah, that. This is an approach I never thought to try and it worked amazingly. I never thought to roll into the eq like that in steps. Nice playing btw, I liked it.
Great video!!! I love a warm tone, but as guitarists, especially lead guitarists, we have to cut through the mix!!! NO MUD!!! Thank you for another great video!!!
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Hey, where'd you get the drum lamp?
@@tbryant1115 Good friend Mac made it for me. Unfortunately not readily available for purchase!
@@tbryant1115police❤oo❤😂r😂 ETH❤😂😊oo😊❤i😊
Coo o❤❤away 🎉e op love o p❤roo 😊😂❤❤i❤😅😂i😂😅t😂😂😂o❤oo I ❤❤❤😂😂😮oo
@@DanielSeriffMusicoewplo😊😊😂p😂😢🎉😂tl
So, we should use those knob things.
I've always suspected it...
Didn’t know they rotated!
@@christophercole8877 So... CIN, Oleg, and Christopher are smart asses who likely missed the point here. Good to know. Enjoy.
@@jdguitar1040 maybe smart asses having fun with the need to get intimate with your gear.
Someone has no sense of humour. Good one guys. 😬🎸🇨🇦😉✌️
Glad to see a demo that isn't drenched in distortion. It is sometimes difficult to determine what a guitar actually sounds like because the clean tones are not demonstrated. In this case the focus is on the amp settings but I still prefer the clean tone demo. Thanks for that.
Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
If you know what you're doing, you can get perfect distortion on 1
Distortion robs guitars of colour… progressively. More distortion, less colour.
When it’s all square wave, there’s no colour or richness at all. (Think how a barber’s electric razor sounds…. Or a wasp!)
@@stephensmith799 all depends on what you're playing, or what sound you're trying to achieve...clean, rough, distorted, chorus, reverb, sure, you want to test an amp clean, but, before I buy, I test drive a car in every gear, not just first.
@ I take your point of course. Edge of breakup is nice but truly, unless relying on the whole band mix to create colour, I find distortion driven to the point of a kind of fizzing sound, really not great.
In a mix, the more bass you have in your tone the less you will be heard. Your live tone will be different than your bedroom tone. Don’t be afraid to boost the top end so that you can poke out and be heard.
Great tips on tone in this video
Thanks
Can definitely do this on the gig as well
When playing live at high volume, Mr Treble is our enemy.
@@philknight6844tell me about it ... and sometimes it all sounds ok on stage with a 9 piece but the desk can miss some bits ... I recorded our headlining gig at Rudgwick Music Festival in 2005 and stuck a camcorder next to the outboard desk .. interesting that you can hear the comments from the engineers but I wish they had turned down my treble ... if I'd known I would have tried to adjust myself but as somebody said it does cut through the mix but needs to be balanced ... cheers
@@BraveheartOBM Its mainly a rule for live work. See guys like Satch or Hammet etc, Billy Gibbons, Johnson, all massively different tones as guitarists but look at the amps and heads live, higher the master volume, lower the treble. Volume creates it in the listeners ear so have too much on board and its harsh as hell out front. Learned that on the desk as well as the stage. Satch is at about 3 usually. Johnson all the way off.
@@philknight6844 bear in mind, their amps are equalized to compensate for the signal chain and shitty headroom on the power stage (or excellent headroom depending on who you ask). Satch also uses moded JVMs so his capped on both channels (balanced 3 instead of the orthodox 5), with the dirty channel scooped.
I haven;t given this much thought for years, but this is almost dead on what my music store taught me back in 1974 when I was smart enough to buy my first Fender Twin Reverb. I was lucky enough to have a music store run by musicians that took the time to explain and teach all of their gear when you bought it. I wanted a Kustom stack, but the owner talked me into the Twin because they knew my playing style. Quite a different relationship than most modern guitar outlets. It's all about letting the guitar be the focus, not the amp or pedals.
Man that is awesome! I started at the end of that era...now it's just GC mostly.
@DanielSeriffMusic thankfully the GC in my town has musicians working there and they're really helpful
After 36 years of teaching literally thousands of people how to play the guitar, there’s NO SUBSTITUTE FOR BEING ABLE TO PLAY THE FUCKING INSTRUMENT!
@@albeers122lots of energy but I agree with you.
@@albeers122 I play pretty well (56 years under the guitar strap), but I have had some amps that just made anything I did sound "off". Understanding that it might not be your playing and how to tackle the amps' settings is what this lesson is about.
The great thing about playing jazz is the volumes are low enough to enjoy the natural tone of all instruments. A valve amp clean set right is beautiful.
I really really love that approach as well.
Awesome video.
@@DanielSeriffMusic I feel the same way about hard rock. It's very satisfying when you can put together a hot, driven sound that still has the warmth and fullness and clarity of the instrument. When big open chords sound rich and beautiful through your distorted "hard rock lead" rig, you're really on to something. ;)
Starting with this approach to dialing in that warm clean jazzy tone to begin with, is the best way to get there.
That is a great suggestin!
I do it the other way around:
1. Turn every EQ dial to the middle so that you can set the volume.
2. Then turn every EQ dial all the way down.
3. Start with the bass dial and turn it up just until you notice the bass kicking in. That's almost always the sweet spot and way earlier than you'd expect. For bedroom settings go a bit above the threshold, for live settings go a bit below it.
4. Do the same with the mid dial. There will also be a noticeable threshold value where the mids kick in, a bit lilke when slowly sweeping a wah. This threshold is usually easier to locate than with the bass dial. When starting with treble, you'll have a harder time to find the sweet spot of the mid EQ.
5. Dial in treble to your liking until you get the crisp you need or want. Afterwards repeat the same with presence, if available.
6. Tweak minimally to your liking.
I've learnt this method way late but it has never failed me since. This way you get to the 'natural' sound of the amp (in combination with your guitar, technique and ears) that utilizes the amp to the fullest. Larger deviations from this natural sound can be fun for certain usages but will mostly sound a bit 'bent'.
Very cool! I dig different approaches. Will try it.
To be fare this guys advice is absolutely right. Take your eyes out of the equation and use your ears, every amp is different but the temptation is to gravitate towards a certain pattern that you are used to seeing on the treble middle and bass.
Agree 100%. I found my spot with my Princeton reverb on vol 3 1/4, treb 4 bass 1 reverb 3. Get lots of complements.
Used to run 4-6-4 and struggled a bit.
So yes adjust with ears not eyes!
Thank you
*fair, but yeah.
Knew a bass player who always, ALWAYS set his graphic EQ to a perfect 'V' shape. Sounded like dung but ..."yah buddit luks kool"
@@RideAcrossTheRiver *Facepalm*
Another great tip! Thanks, Daniel!
Thanks Rob! Have a great one.
So turn the eq knobs til you like the sound? Great. Thanks
👍👍
Lol
😮 cool
He's giving a very specific order and explaining what to listen for and how to dial it in, pretty helpful for people that don't normally do this or don't know how to effectively do this.
Great advise on setting up your amp tone! I would also add that tone settings are also volume dependent, so start with the volume at the level you will actually be playing. Your settings at bedroom volume and gig volume can be very different, as a quiet amp and a loud amp will respond very differently to your tone tweaks.
Great point.
Advice
Using this method since the end of 70’s, a huge thank for showing it. Just great. Listen closely what he explains and open your ears, you will be surprised. Cheers from Brittany ✌️👏
Hey!! Thanks so much. Appreciate the kind comment.
Found this helpful and useful, and I’ve been playing off and on over 50 years. Thanks for sharing, Dan!
Excellent! Glad to have you here.
Watch for the voltage dropping resistors getting hot and burning your pcb. I picked up a hot Rod deluxe for 275 knowing it had an issue suspected a heat issue. It took a little work for me to repair by replacing those resistors ( also hard wire one broken trace) and standing them off the board. Also replaced the filter caps and it never cut out. I checked the bias ( still had the original Fender tubes) first version of the amp made in USA Couldn’t get the bias up to where it was supposed to be so changed out the power tubes and no problem getting the ma where it should be but sounded ice picky sharp. Turned the bias down a ways and mellowed right out. Still have other caps to change out to bring it up to date. Plugged a Monoprice cab with Celestion V30 and wow. Sounds even better.
Nice. Thanks for the tip!
Those cheap monoprice cabs are pretty killer for ~200
@ black Frida 183$
@@Mike_S_Swift +tax = ~200
Killer way of listening and dailing in....sounds great
Thank you!!
Turn everything up to ELEVEN! Job done!
ALWAYS AND TYPE IN CAPS ONLY
@ Ha Ha! WILL DO! TINNITUS BAD TODAY! Lol!
Simple, easy, works! Just tried this with Tweed patch in my JS10 processor and it worked nicely.
Super cool! Thanks for sharing.
Man! Simply amazing! I hav a Randall RT100 since 2022 and I never achieved "that sound" till today! Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for watching!
I went from a Vox Mini SuperBeetle to a Hot Rod Deluxe and I’m just a home player. I used to play the Vox around 6-7 but I played it on the .5 power setting. When I got home and plugged in the HRD, I just dialed it up to 6 and hit a G and shattered 2 wine glasses in my bar nearby. I was not prepared for how loud that thing was! Had to buy an attenuator (Lion Tamer for about $25) that plugs into the FX Loop and acts as a secondary master volume. You can get that cool Fender breakup sound without destroying glass in the house. I have since purchased a 90s Blues Jr to play at home. Much more reasonable. Great vid!
Nice! Yeah, that amp can be LOUD!
Get a Two Notes Captor X.
Nice that you used a Hot Rod. I have one and your advice makes a lot of sense. I recently added a Dr. Watson Lion Tamer to the amp. It’s a simple volume pot that plugs into the effects loop input and output. Really helped expand the volume control. Hot Rods are notoriously loud.
Very nice. Super loud and ONN at like 1.5.
What I did with my Hotrod was to replace the 12ax7 with a 12ay7 in V1 and a 12au7 in V3, so now I have an amp that doesn't put me in jail when playing at home.
Great way to get the good tones. Thanks.
Excellent! Nothing like a great tube upgrade to make it fit your needs.
I've been considering the 12au7 to replace at least 1 of the 12ax7s in my Deluxe Hot Rod III. I replaced the main tubes with some paired Russian made JJs - great sound @ a reasonable price. Best upgrade so far was replacing the speaker with a Greenback
THANK YOU!!! Thank you for this video. I think you just freed up hours of time for me. I've needed this video for 40 years.
Sean! Thanks for the comment. So glad it was helpful!!
I’ve been trying to dial in amp sounds for 45 years and I never thought of this trick. I sure wish I saw this video years ago. Thank you 🙏
Incredibly kind. Thanks for the comment!
I’m a busker and using battery powered amps leaves a lot to be desired. I’ll try this technique. As with most guitarists, I am always chasing tone. Thank you for posting this.
Excellent and hope it helps!
Good idea also is to move away from the amp as far as your cable allows and double check your sound because as you do the tone can change considerably, and that’s the sound your audience is going to hear.
Excellent point
Exactly! I've never used the overdrive on my Hotrod Deville; but the clean sound is great.
Excellent video!!!
Thank you!
Great advice!
Volume will affect the tone significantly as well. The great sounding barely audible tone will behave differently at stage volume, so don't be afraid to tweak.
Cheers!
Yes! I’d definitely set it based on the space you’re in and volume as well.
Been doing this for 30+years now. Great tip for all players.Thanks
Thanks man!
Great video. I do have to say, your playing is so good that you would sound good on a sears silvertone amp with 60 year old tubes that have been shot for 20 years. Love the video and it's great that you used an average tube amp compared to all the amps you have in your studio.
Very kind of you. Thank you for watching!
Thanks for the tip. I’ve got the Deville 4x12 so when I saw that you were using it in this video I happily kept watching.
I love that amp, so much fun!
Bonjour from France,
When I play live ,I have a Strat Ultra Plus and a Roland Blues Cube Hot . I play mostly in very small venues, where my amp is heard over the P.A. I rarely do gigs where my amp is drowned in the mix, because on bigger stages I take my Blues Cube Artist.
Volume on 3. I don’t want to overload the preamp.
Master on 5 or 6. I never crank the volume and the master. I use the attenuator ( power control) as much as I can because it’s very convenient. As for overdrive, It's my OD3 or my SD1 pushing the amp.
Treble slightly rolled off.
Mids on 6.
Bass in the middle.
Tone on bridge pickup slightly rolled off.
Bonjour!
A great method for dialing in amp tone - especially for beginners or guitars players stuck in a tone rut.
Thanks so much!
I think a lot of us have had a hot rod deluxe, mine had the green back Jensen and I have always wanted another one since
Upgraded speaker is huge.
I REALLY appreciate this video...SOUND IS truly how a beginner expects to learn guitar and OF COURSE how to play the notes. Nowadays you have amps with multiple sound setting so I guess this will give a player an idea of how to achieve the sound of the song they are trying to learn...MOST people don't share how to set up sound they are using NOR say what pedal used either : /
Hey! Thanks so much for the kind comment.
Any videos on adding pedals into the mix once the amp is ‘right’?
Great suggestion!
THAT's why I've been looking for!
Appreciate your tricks,i'll be using it 👍
Thank you
I love my hotrod deluxe including the distortion channel
It's a great amp! Glad you enjoy it! I love pedals through it.
The overdrive and more drive sound great on the Hot Rod Deluxe if you change the V2 tube to a 12DW7
Oh wow! That’s an awesome tip.
12DW7?
Do you mean a 12au7? That can be an improvement of better low volume at the cost of some top end.
I'm gonna try this next. I usually do it like this:
I find it easier as a start to middle the EQ on all three levels and then tune minimally from there depending on genre and guitar. You'll basically always start from the middle anyway.
Touch of delay and reverb and don't be greedy on the gain for distortion, perhaps 6 or 7 depending on amp and you'll have a great tone 9/10 times.
👍
Great video 🙌🏻
Thank you!!
Very helpfull Daniel! I play a Hot Rod Deluxe and will use more Presence now. But for humbuckers the bass is rather strong so 2-3 for the bass knob is more than enough.
Excellent!
I followed your advice & got the most wonderful tone out of my amp! Thanks!
Too cool! Thanks
Great tone. Very rich sounding.
Thank you! Glad you dig it.
It’s nice to have a professionally developed method for this; gonna use it instead of the “Random Frustration Method” I’ve been using up ‘til now 😑. Many thanks for posting.
So glad it was helpful!
Would you do anything differently using a guitar with 3 pickups and a 5 position selector, and just one vol and tone knob.
Nope. I’d set it the same way. Bridge pickup wide open tone and volume. Then just confirm you like the sound with the other pups.
Very nice informative video. I'm very curious whether this technique will also work on my Axe FX III...and will find out... I have always struggled getting good clean tones and this may help.
I would highly recommend it.
Great demonstration and as someone else said, nice clean tone so the nuances and details can be distinguished. I have always setup my tones starting on the neck pickup and I never seemed to get it quite right and and am constantly tweaking to improve. I just used this method and I was able to setup up two different guitars and amps in minutes and only following with minor adjustments to tone and volume thru the guitar to get what I need. Your video - Unbelievably helpful. Thank you.
Wow!! Such great feedback. Thanks so much.
Thanks for an informative tutorial Daniel 🎸✌️
Thanks so much for watching!
I only play my neck pickup, Daniel. I have a fender mustang so does it matter it's not a tube amp? Plus I have to wait until at least 7am because it's 3:46am in an apartment building but I guess I could use headphones but it might be different. Thanks.
I still like to set it on the bridge but you could do the same idea with neck only.
Very good approach to achieve tone. If it sounds good clean it will sound good with distortion. If you are playing with a band you may need a little adjustment so you can cut through and if 2nd guitar depending on goals it may require some even more dramatic change.
Totally agree. And you can get used to changing it quick in a band or recording context.
My method is to find the range, usually about ¼ of the knob's sweep, that has the most and or fastest rate of change and then center it in that zone. That's the amps 'sweet spot' and gives me a little room to fine tune a tone.
Nice
Thanks Daniel will try and re-set up my amp , been looking and tweeking this and keeping an index card with setting notes for each guitar/ amp. Cheers
That’s great! Have an awesome day.
I gleaned that same process from Eddie Berman (great player) when buying a Carr Hammerhead in 2008/9! Cool to see it shared here!!! 👊🙏
The best!! So cool.
Nice sound and playing.
Thanks so much for watching
Wonderful presentation!
On side note, if you have any amp in the Fender hotrod line, and you have, or know of an amp technician, ask him if he can do the "Fromel mod" on your amp. This will make enhancements to improve the tone stack, reverb, and most importantly, the mod will actually make the caca butt dirty channel usable!
Thank you!
I tend to EQ to how it sounds in the mix wirh drums and bass. I could dial a nice sound like you did. Sounds great if I'm recording only guitar.
EQing for the mix is so important. I play bass and what works for the mix can sound pretty bad in solo which is better than the other way round. I've mixed tracks where they recorded a beautiful full acoustic guitar but what they needed for the song was just a thin jangle for ear candy!
Yep. You can still use this technique to dial in with a band.
Great in concept, but it can be a little hard to pull off in practice. You can get most of the way there in advance if you just record your own backing track and play against that. Then you won’t need nearly as much time when setting up with the band. Every space is different so it’s a never-ending challenge.
@@iamgumbydammit2217 especially bass - every room is different and the room changes depending on the people.
@unclemick-synths the only reason I posted is because I hate my sound when I play my guitar by itself. In the mix sounds great. Wish could find a good balance. Time to play with my tone some more. I get good comments on my tone but for reason it's time to move on. Find the perfect tone.
This is a great, GREAT video. Absolutely gold. Thank you, sir.
Thanks so much
Great tip, I often crank the amp way up and go from there and love the drive but hate the clean so maybe this will help me find that sound I have been looking for!
Can totally crank the amp and use this approach as well. But I'm a clean pedal platform kinda guy.
@ yes I mean maybe I should try this approach for the clean first and then try the drive on the top two clean amps.
I like the concept but it seems playing Gibson Les Pauls, mainly, the front pick ups are always very dark sounding, muddy like and that’s with the tone all the way up. I don’t like too much high treble in my leads so I have treble backed off a bit but keep enough to cut through. So with that said, when I go to the neck p u, it’s dark. Is it the neck p u pot?? Any suggestions would be welcomed, and I’m 70, weeks do southern rock, I’ve been out there for a long time and never had a good front p u sound. It’s better with fender amps, it seems, but I use old superlead amps
I find the neck can be tubby. I back it down from the strings. I also work with Tom Brantley on the perfect humbucker set. I think a lot of folks just put mud in guitars.
Went online to buy a cheap amp... (HRD...that is actually the expensive amp I own).. how great is to find this approach..thanks
Glad to hear it!
I just thought of a good way to describe it...if you know how eq pedals act,,,,pre gain eq is like driving your amp with an eq pedal (fender /mesa) and post gain eq's are like putting the eq pedal in the loop (Marshall and almost all other amps)
Nice
I agree with what you're saying if you want a very mellow sound but you're overlooking the most important thing for many and that's the amount of gain that can carry a note into natural compression
You can definitely set an amp with gain this way as well. This is my baseline clean tone. I stack pedals on top and it sounds great.
Very good practical approach!
Thanks for watching!
Would love to see (hear) you walk through the same process with an overdriven/crunchy/distorted amp setting. Seems like the gain & eq would be interactive such that it would be hard to dial in a good gain level without having the eq dialed in ... and it'd be likewise hard to dial in the eq without the gain setting being tweaked "just right."
I definitely think it’s worth dialing in differently. I really like this approach with pedals
Here's a cool way to play with your tone alot of players don't do. Throw on your favorite guitar sound. Take you guitar and dial in as closely as you can that tone. When you turn off the music you'll find that your ear hears something very different than the sound you THOUGHT you dialed in. Most will attempt dialing in the sound in they're head. This is the sound you want the most. But the tone you dialed in with the music isn't as far from that tone in your head.
Nice tip
Eddie, Eddie, Eddie...if Eddie said it, its gospel. Had privilege of listening Eddie 50 years ago around Va Beach
The truth!
Matchless has the DC-30, VOX is the "AC"-30... I've wanted a Matchless for so long... Ian Moore used one when I saw him live one Winter... With a broken leg.... He never came back...
Oddly enough he relocated from Austin to the North West..
Oregon or Washington State...
They are truly killer.
Matchless has
HC for head.
SC for single speaker combo.
DC for two speaker combo.
have a question - I play with a fender tonemaster and use a super badass distortion pedal. I find if I am right in front of amp it sounds terrible - all muddy - but move slightly to the side and it sounds great. Even just slightly altering the angle of my head or the amp and it greatly changes - I guess my question would be how to I make is sound more pleasant when I am directly in front as opposed to being just, again, maybe a foot to the side and the sound just smooths out?
A friend & great guitarist gave me this simple advice: get as far away from your amp, in the direction of the audience, as you can to check your sound. If you're recording, listen to the sound through the mic, desk and headphones if you can. It should sound good wherever it's being 'listened' to.
As Ross said. It's best to get out in front of the amp so you can actually hear closer to what the audience will hear.
Hi Daniel. Thanks for that. What kind of guitar are you playing? Sounds wonderful.
Thank you. It’s a Haritage 535
That was very informative. Thank you
Thanks so much for watching
Great tip! Thank you Dan.
You are most welcome!
Was debating selling my fender deluxe. This made me have a change of heart 😁
Hahaha. Thanks so much Mitchell!! You’re the man.
Great info Thanks
Thanks so much for watching
This is a great approach. First time I heard about it was by Matt Schofield at The pedal show. I believe though, that presence should be adjusted first because the EQ will behave differently with different values. In other words, if you change presence setting at the end, then the optimum settings for bass, mid and treble will be different.
Ahh very cool
Some really nice informative info to get your amp sounding like you like!!
Thanks David!
I do something similar to this, but there are some differences. I think I'll try this out.
Let me know how it works out!
I have been looking for this video for a long time. Not this exact video but something this good on the topic. I might even hate the hotrod a little less now. LOL Thank you! You have a new subscriber!
Haha!! It’s a solid workhorse. Thanks so much for watching!
Good tips. Had to figure it out myself back then... This would have been helpful some time ago. All good.
Excellent. Thanks!
Very nice tip. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Great suggestions! Many thanks...
You got it! Thanks for watching.
I had a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Nice amp, a little heavy. I’ve actually had every amp in that series but I moved on the a Princeton Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb. These are awesome amps and not terribly heavy. I also play (and love the shit out of) a Fender Bass Breaker 007. 7W! All you need. It’s small, relatively light and essentially the same controls as the Hot Rod but the tone is awesome and I think I’ll try this method on this amp with my Tele and my Reverend Sensai!
Awesome! Thanks!
Great mellow neck tone and nice playing.
Thank you!
Where would you put the tone cut knob on a Vox amp in this process?
I keep it wide open and then tame it after dealing with treble and bass.
Love Eddie and Sound Pure
Eddie is the best!
Thank you Daniel! I just happened to come across your video and was curious to see the method you are presenting. Makes a lot of sense. Some years ago I read that if Clapton is asked to play ... and it's not his guitar or amp, he would go to the amp, turn a few tone controls, and it would sound as good as his own amp. Possibly he used this same method. I also read that he had his tech mod his tone controls so that when they are all at 7, that is the ideal setting.
Very cool. Thanks for watching!
Great amp and guitar to start with imho ! Good info, thanks!!
Thanks!
Some amps are more subtractive in the EQ and everything on 10 and rolling it back might get you there quicker. Especially some old Marshalls.
Thanks for the thoughts
Last but not least, a clean boost right after the guitar, pushed to just before clipping, will make an unbelievable difference in the noise floor - especially if you use a pedal chain - and in any overdrive you choose to dial in.
I do love a clean boost. Don't always use it that way, I like it after the drives as well.
Beautiful playing 🙂
Thank you :)
Great, thanks so much. Simple and it works. Thumbs up
Excellent!
Thank you, this was so helpful
So glad!!
Same for neck? Then what about both pickups… how to pull some sweet tones outta that combo? Same process I guess.I’m gonna go try this right now. Thanks Daniel.
Bridge sets those brightest points so if your pickups are balanced the neck should sound great!
I think this is a good method but I wonder if part of the tone setting is the atmosphere you’re playing in. IE: outdoor gig near water, is humid, dry, big hall, small bar, catering hall etc.
100% set your tone anywhere you go
When I set the pickup to Neck, does that mean I am playing high up on the neck. And when do I set the bridge?
Nope. Pickup choice is more based on the tone you’re choosing for the song or part of the song. Not the position you’re playing on the guitar neck.
This is excellent. And I don’t see any reason it wouldn’t work just as well on a solid state amp.
Thanks Josh! It's worked on nearly every amp I've ever tried. Didn't work on amps that have bass in the circuit first.
I feel like I just discovered fire, remember Tom Hanks on the beach? Yeah, that. This is an approach I never thought to try and it worked amazingly. I never thought to roll into the eq like that in steps. Nice playing btw, I liked it.
Great!! Thanks so much.
Good stuff Daniel!
Thanks!
Thanks so much!
This was really useful. Excellent video.
Glad it was helpful!
Do you think the same process would work with my 335 through a bass amp? Reason is that's all I have right now.
100%
Great video!!! I love a warm tone, but as guitarists, especially lead guitarists, we have to cut through the mix!!! NO MUD!!!
Thank you for another great video!!!
Thanks for watching. Using this method you could totally dial in a cutting sound if you want. On the gig. At home. Either way.