104 6L6 mic'd recording...

THE NEW #1. Series One Amplifiers.
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TheMonkii
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:30 pm
Location: Auckland

Wed Feb 08, 2017 12:06 pm

Any serious S1 6L6 pro users had trouble getting a usable recorded high gain tone with their head? :?

We've been working in the studio with it for a couple of days now and try as we might, just can't seem to capture the sound I've been hearing in the live situation for the last couple of years. Bearing in mind, working with a solid engineer who know's his shit and even he is scratching his head on this one!

We've gone through numerous different styles of mics, placements, speaker arrangements/combinations, overdrives, pickup/guitar selection but it really does sound piss poor recorded. Dialing in the gain and bottom end thickness makes the top end fizzy and unattractive. But getting the mid/highs sounding right results in a lack of bottom end crunch and body. It's almost like the amp needs two adjustable gain stages to dial it in properly.

Just to caveat this with the fact that this head sounds absolutely frikken brutal live. Has been on a few tours with me now and the thing is a bloody tank. So I know it can cut it on stage... :twisted:

I'm not really looking for advice on how to mic a cab or dial in a tone or anything like that, as we really do have that covered but more if anyone's had the same experience as us, and if not do you have any audio examples to prove us wrong :D

Getting to the point now, where money is burning and we're gonna have to switch back to the Peaveys to get the job done. Which really wasn't what I had planned at all...

Cheers ya GC's

illini
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:58 pm

Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:30 pm

I have heard them mic'd up in a live setting and they sounded very good. Sammy Hagar uses them and his live album also sounds great, so although that isn't much help to you, it must be possible.

Do you like any of the mic'd clips on youtube.

TheMonkii
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:30 pm
Location: Auckland

Sun Feb 12, 2017 12:30 am

Live is a very different beast to a controlled environment like a studio though to be honest.

Like I said, have been using it live for the last couple of years and the thing is brutally good. But since isolating, it's just not cutting the mustard compared to other heads we've been a/b'ing it against.

Have definitly checked out quite a few youtube clips (not live as pointless in this context) and even one of Blackstar's own vids with Andy James doing a demo shows exactly what I'm talking about.... At high gain (for reference I use OD1 - gain around 1 oclock - which certainly isn't that high gain), the bottom end becomes undefined and 'flubby'. :(

illini
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:58 pm

Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:39 pm

I believe Sammy has been using the Series One on some of his new recordings as well, but this is a different type of tone than you are after.

I haven't yet tried it in the studio. I did do a couple of quick/crude clips using Garage Band, and found the tone to be more fizzy than I was expecting. Still sounded very good using an overdrive pedal over the warm clean channel. I plan on trying a few more using the Mbox.

TheMonkii
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:30 pm
Location: Auckland

Mon Feb 13, 2017 6:33 am

You have to gun the power section a bit to get more sizzle as opposed to the fizz from the preamp and presence settings.

Try taking a bit of presence off (where some of that fizz resides) then give it a bit more treble, to add some bite back in.
The top end can be quite twitchy on this head, but it does cut very well once it's dialed in...

illini
Posts: 42
Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2015 7:58 pm

Mon Feb 13, 2017 8:05 pm

Thanks. I look forward to trying that out this weekend.

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