To boost or not to boost...

[Derek Ageless]

I'm having a hell of a time deciding whether or not to use a tube screamer in front of my 6505+ for my ideal tone...

Today I recorded a few of my riffs boosted and without boost.

I used an UNmodded Ibanez TS9 into my 6505+, which I recently retubed with a standard set of JJ's from Eurotubes.com. The guitar used was a Schecter Baritone C-1 tuned to B standard.

1 track on each side, with some minimal EQing and compression.

Originally rendered as .m4a files but I had to convert them to .mp3s to upload them to soundclick...they lost alot of quality. BUT, if anyone is interested, I can email you the better sounding .m4a files.

Your opinions would be much appreciated!

SoundClick artist: Derek Ageless - page with MP3 music downloads

 

[Hollowway]

^^Just a thought, but if I were you I'd reload them withOUT the TS in the title, and just call one A and one B. And remove the notes about which one is quieter, etc. Otherwise you'll get the boost camp lining up behind the TS labeled tracks almost before they listen to them. Make it blind to the listener which is which and you'll get a much better opinion. Or as much as you can with the lossy compression.

 

[Randy]

Boost

 

[Derek Ageless]

I'll give that a try...but in the meantime, what do you think?

 

[Isan]

meh I dont like it either way .... your tone is mediocre in those recordings it needs sum oomph

 

[budda]

Recording settings should be different then live settings IIRC

 

[Derek Ageless]

"Oomph" as in low end?

...and please don't tell me to scoop out the mids.

 

[warped]

Hey - I really like the tone you are getting here - it seems to have a nice ambience and smoothness and it's a little different to any 'generic' sound..

I think it does sound a little dark, maybe a touch more treble/presence? Maybe it's the darkness that I like in the tone?

And I'd have to say I always use a boost and based on the tones your pulling on those tracks a boost would be a bonus (was resolve(b) boosted)?

Nice work...

 

[budda]

You don't scoop out the mids, you just leave it on 5 or 6 instead of 8. also, what were your boost settings?

 

[col]

B sounds fuller. That tone would sound pretty good in a mix, I think.

I'd personally record 4 tracks, 2 each side.

 

[drenzium]

To be quite honest, i heard no difference in the tones. You either aren't boosting right, or the way you recorded these tracks is making it lose the elements which make boosting so prominent.

When im playing my Bugera 6262, which is probably the closest thing to a 6505 besides a 5150, when i turn off my tubescreamer, there is a NOTICEABLE loss in gain and clarity and increase in flubby bass. The difference is amazingly clear with my setup.

I know everybodies ears and equipment is different, but i still couldn't help but feel your tone should sound more different with the pedal activated.

EDIT: I actually did notice on Resolve, track b is significantly louder and has more presence. That big change in volume leads me to believe it wasn't mixed the same in your program though, because on the rest of the tracks there is no volume change.

 

[Harry]

Can you make clips with a full mix. Unless you bought the amp specifically to play it by yourself at home, it's a much more realistic setting to see how the tone works in the mix and that can dramatically change your perception of good tone

 

[Cheesebuiscut]

Also what he said^

5thdawn: A
resolve: B
Thenewblack: A
Waves: B

 

[newamerikangospel]

Its seems like (B) is your boosted track, but that may be because of volume; however, it sounds like you threw a boost in front of the amp in (a) but didn't adjust the gain settings. When you back the gain off, your amp will start to become brighter since its compressing less of the bass/mids, so your eq settings will also probably change. Unboosted gain at 6, should sound close to boosted gain at 2-3.

What are your settings at (eq, gain, resonance/presence)

 

[mazzy maz]

'a' sounds better to these ears.

I'd say the best thing you can do to improve your tone is improve your picking technique, there's way too much pick scrape coming across in the palm muted parts.

 

[groph]

The B versions of all tracks but "Resolve" sound better to me.

Also, 5th Dawn is a fucking SWEET riff.

 

[Derek Ageless]

I appreciate all the opinions.

The tracks on which I used the boost were: 5th Dawn(b), Resolve(a), The New Black(b), and Waves(a)

My settings for my unboosted tracks were: Lead channel, Pre-5.5, Low-6, Mid-5.5, High-6.5, Post-1.75, Resonance-4, Presence-3.75

For boosted tracks, the Ts 9 was set at: Drive-1.5, Tone 5.5, Level-10(dimed, full, all the way up!) Amp Settings for boosted tracksre-3.9, Low-7.5, Mid-3, High-5.3, Post-1.75, Resonance-6, Presence-3

These were all recorded through my Avatar 4x12 w/V30's. The mic used was a large diaphragm studio mic, which didn't sound as good as I would have liked, and also could not handle much too many decibels being thrown at it.

As you can see, I did make adjustments all across the board for my boosted tracks. The TS9 seems to really boost the upper mid and high frequencies, while taking out some bottom end, which I compensate for.

Like I said initally, these tracks lost alot of quality and had some weird compression that happened when they were converted to .mp3 files and uploaded. And the tracks on which I used the boost actually lost volume! Before converting the files, all the tracks had received very similar EQing and compression.

So, these aren't the greatest hi fi example of my tone, or the results I actually got. I was basically just curious to see peoples opinion of which gain sound was preferable and more saturated.

I think my ideal tone is a bit different from the average metal dude's. I'm looking for a mid rich, smooth, saturated tone without an immense amount of gain. Definitely not a scooped death metal sound, or a processed, gain heavy deathcore kinda thing.

Also, my band is a symphonic black/death metal band, emphasis on the black, so I'm carving out a specific tone that will stick out in a mix with bass, drums, and ever present keyboards.

After listening and obsessing about these tracks for the last 24 hours, I think I've made my decision. I prefer the sound of the boosted signal for the most part. But I plan on returning the TS9, and purchasing a Maxon Od808. I've watched and listened to clips of the Maxon, and I'm digging that more than the standard Ibanez TS9.

 

[Zehailiu]

I liked a, b, a, b, so incidently all the unboosted tracks.
The main reason was there sound how sounded like they have a less boomy bottom, and the top was clearer.

 

[budda]

Try these for boosted settings when the Maxon gets in:

Drive: 9 oclock
Tone: 12 oclock
output: 1 oclock

5150:
Pre: 11 oclock
Bass: 1 oclock
Mids: 1 oclock
treble: 1 oclock
Post: 11 oclock (You're not really hearing your amp with it as quiet as you have it now, fyi)
Resonance: 12 oclock
Presence: 9:30 oclock

I'd try that for live use