Hughes & kettner switchblade tones

[Nyx Erebos]

After hours of tweaking here I am. I bought a switchblade 50w tsc combo and I directly tried to dial a death metal rythm tone in (even though most of people say on the internet that it's not the right amp for it). Surprinsingly it turned out very well, I got that massive sound that I wanted, even though on single note stuff it's a bit loose on the low end.

Now I'm trying to get a decent solo tone. Impossible to get rid of this too trebly, "sharp" feeling. I don't really know how to say it but when I play a lead it just hurts my ears. I put new strings and a new battery (I have an agile interceptor pro 725 with active EMGs) but it changed nothing.

So does anyone have lead tone settings for me ? I'm searching for a solo tone ala Petrucci (haha let me dream), you know the kind of tone that does not get hyper distorded when you play two notes together but which can sing. I saw the video with Stephan Forte demoing the switchblade so I'm pretty sur it's possible to get a good lead tone (well it was the 100w head and his guitar his way different than mine...).

 

[Moolaka]

Get darker speakers maybe, check the crowns on your frets, intonate, mess with shape/contour. A lot of times I see guys not choking up on the frets enough and it makes their notes sound shrill. The tonal timbre comes from the frets and fingers as well as everything else, if it sounds sour intonatation can help, if it sounds brittle or shrill choke up and adjust your shape/presence/contour controls.

EMG's don't lend as well to JP driven tones as others but the compression will still be evident in your cleans. I'd start from a clean setting and dial in your eq and level, then adjust gain and presence gradually.

 

[mike0]

For lead tones i like to cut the treble to around 4 on my amp, and set the mids and bass around 6-7. My amp is significantly different than my friends switchblade that he left over at my house, but you get the idea of where i like my eq to be. I find the settings i use cut back on attack a little and still allow it to be thick and warm. also, using your neck pickup is essential. Since the switchblade has only one eq i know your predicament all too well, i'd suggest an eq pedal in the loop for a lead boost, or to round out those frequencies that help get smooth leads. I'd try out the switchblade with my mxr 10 band to try out exactly what i am recommending to you but i wont be able to do that for a while. Hope it helps.

 

[Nyx Erebos]

Thanks for the reps.

@Moolaka
About the fretting hand position and strength I don't think it's a problem here. I just play something like three notes slowly. I didn't start from a clean setting though, all the knob were turned half way so I'll give it a try tomorrow.

@Mike0
Yes the closest sound from what I wanted was when I pulled down the treble but it takes away the attack a bit too much for me. It takes away the evenness of the sustain too (it fades out fast). When I use the neck pickup it sounds quite like I expect it to sound like but I want to get a decent tone for the mid position. I don't want my "organic singing" bends to sound like a flute

 

[Jahanasaurus]

Hey man, I used to have this amp and totally loved it! i only sold it to buy an axe-fx ultra. They're great however we have 2 at uni and they're always breaking down so take extra care of it! Lead tone wise I used to use the Ultra channel with gain up to "boost" (probably a little excessive). Bass at 11 or 12 o'clock, Mids at 3 O'clock, Treble at 10/11 O'clock and presence at 1 or 2. Then add delay and verb to taste. I think thats roughly right. Let me know how you get on, I loved it!

 

[Nyx Erebos]

Thank you guys, your advice really helped me . I tried your settings and ended up combining them :
presence 5
treble 4
mid 7-8
bass 5
gain 10 + boost
I chose the lead channel over the ultra (I find the ultra too bassy).

It's just insane how the presence knob is sensitive. Just over 5 it sounds very bad (I noticed that my initial problem came frome here) but at five it's perfect.

Another little problem is the gain. At max + boost it sounds good but I don't know if it's my pickups fault, I can hear the noise of my computer in the amp . In particular the sound of my fans. If I roll down the gain it kills the tone but I don't hear my computer speaking anymore (it does all kind of little noises, at the beginning I thought it was aliens who tried to communicate with me ). I guess I'll have to play with my computer shut down .

 

[Moolaka]

Your amp might be picking up ground feedback from your puter, try plugging them in at separate outlets or rooms. Also, I don't know about the SB but most amps you don't get the best results with dime'd gain, try backing it off a little there and compensating with your boost (pedal?).

 

[Nyx Erebos]

The boost is a feature of the amp, when you go to the max level of gain it engages a boost.

The guys from Nile play their marshall with the gain on 11 but they have insanely thick strings (to me). I tried the gauge they use for a month, my fingers looked like ground meat.