Ya'll might find this cool

[Heady Jam Fan]

[sour d]

The bad cat unleash seems really cool.

[Heady Jam Fan]

The bad cat unleash seems really cool.

I honestly can't imagine not having it now!
Hardly using my Mesa since I got it because you can't beat 100 watts of 6V6 tone in 45lbs. I also push the Unleash a bit and it compresses kinda like an additional gain stage - that compression with the extra volume rattling my guitar and a pushed speaker results in some wild leads where the amp sounds like its about to explode.

[the_great_lemon]

Looks great! I would be very inclined to get a DR with an unleash if it weren't $450 

sure it sounds schweet!

[Heady Jam Fan]

Looks great! I would be very inclined to get a DR with an unleash if it weren't $450 

sure it sounds schweet!

Yeah, I hear that. It was really hard for me to buy, especially knowing I am probably going to have to sell stuff in a few months when my bank starts looking kinda barren. I got mine used and you can get new ones a bit less than $450.

[Jkendrick]

Came across this article which makes the case for eq》OD》eq and an attenuator as the trick to great tone. Any thoughts?

http://www.amptone.com/truesecretofamptone.htm

[Heady Jam Fan]

Came across this article which makes the case for eq》OD》eq and an attenuator as the trick to great tone. Any thoughts?

http://www.amptone.com/truesecretofamptone.htm

Certainly gives you a lot of flexibility... A lot of people like one in the effect loop of their amp too, kinda like how Mesa Boogie has a 5-Band GEQ on some of their amps.

EQ can be extremely helpful and offer a lot of versatility, but if you using some always-on EQ's, I'd say there is a problem with your gear and you'd get better tone by fixing whatever it is you dislike. Any extra circuitry between your guitar and speaker will have some detrimental effect: even something as simple as a buffer - one might push your signal to the amp and sound great, but five of them will destroy your tone.

The EQ before dirt will effect the nature or texture of the distortion, but not so much the EQ after the dirt pedal (the EQ innate to the dirt pedal will probably take over at least to some degree). This can have a really cool effect, but if you find you always need that EQ, I'd say either your pickups (or guitar) needs to be changed, or your dirt pedal just isn't right for you.

The EQ after dirt will reshape your tone after the dirt pedal. Again, this can offer a lot of versatility - I use mine as a lead boost. But if its always on, then I'd say its time to consider if your dirt pedal is the right one for you, or if you actually like the tone of your amp or speaker.

I think one of the ideas of EQ surrounding dirt is pushing the dirt with a dark midrange voicing that gives you a smooth overdrive, then adding a paradoxically scooped EQ after to give you back the bass and treble. The bass before the dirt could make it muddy, the treble before the dirt would make it grittier. Think about how a lot of (heavier) musicians use a Mesa Boogie: the preamp has a ton of mids compared to a Fender, but the Bass and Treble can be added back in after the distortion on the GEQ. Thus Mark-series lead tones are both liquid smooth but searing.

I believe a TS can be described somewhat similarly. There is an R-C circuit (resistor-capacitor) (R6 & C3) just prior to the clipping stage (chip & diodes) that sets the EQ bend (around 700hz) and the bass bleed off, thus contributing to a good deal of the midrange before the signal is distorted. IIRC there is another resistor or capacitor that affects the EQ (midrange) later in the circuit too. I think a TS loses a good deal of its smoothness without the midrange. I suppose you could smooth it back out by using Ge rather than Si diodes and get some headroom back by dropping the R5 resistor to 10ohms (and maybe the drive knob to 250k ohm). [Not to mention a popular mod is upgrading the quality of a couple of caps that keep the bass from distorting in the clipping section - this would have a similar effect to decreasing bass with an eq before a dirt pedal and adding it back in with an EQ after].

A TS into a Fender is so popular because it gives you that smooth, pushed midrange and the somewhat scooped tone of a Fender adds back the bass and treble bite - you've already got what I'd consider the ideal pre & post dirt EQ.

Adding a few EQ pedals can be cool, but if you going for the smooth TS-Comp jam sound, I'd argue that just using the correct gear already covers this. PAFs have a particular tone, a TS kinda has a preset built in EQ, a Ross comp adds some more mids, you can set your preamp tone, and a speaker is ultimately another fixed EQ that adds the final touch.

As for the attenuator - I set my pedals and amp for the perfect tone (well, as good as I can get) and I don't want to change my amps volume and lose that sweet spot. I set the volume as high as I can go while still having enough headroom for a lead boost, thus working the tubes as hard as possible and getting most of my compression naturally from the amp rather than the Ross that quickly gets noisy. The attneuator lets me keep that 'perfect' setting at any volume, as long as the speaker is working a bit, but not distorting too much itself. An EVM is a great choice for a speaker like this, but I prefer a smoother darker midrange focus with my Fender amp and lighter weight is always good. I find my Weber holds together really well across the volume sweep of my Unleash: I lose some of the magic if I attenuate too much, but the 100w voice coil, ceramic magnet, doping and hemp cone all help it handle the higher volumes really well. I really can't imagine not having it - just adds some much consistency that I don't get a surprise when I have to crank up twice as loud as normal at an outdoor gig or turn down for a smaller space.

[Jkendrick]

Yeah the article talks about how the bracketed eq is built in whether we're conscious of it or not. I think the point is that if everything is perfectly matched, you'll be fine but rather than going out and spending a ton on new guitars,  pickups, pedals, amps, etc., try strategically placed eq and attenuation.

" The true foundation of classic amp tone comprises the following factors:

Control of eq1 - involves pickup selection and an eq pedal.
Control of preamp distortion - involves having a variety of distortion boxes or voicings to choose from, including the amp's preamp distortion.
Control of eq2 - involves the amp's tone stack or an EQ pedal in the amp's FX loop.
Control of power-tube saturation - involves a power attenuator or equivalent (pulling tubes, Variac, Power Scaling).
Control of eq3 - involves speaker selection or high-level EQ controls on a good power attenuator.
Control of the speaker volume - involves a power attenuator."

[Heady Jam Fan]

Yeah the article talks about how the bracketed eq is built in whether we're conscious of it or not. I think the point is that if everything is perfectly matched, you'll be fine but rather than going out and spending a ton on new guitars,  pickups, pedals, amps, etc., try strategically placed eq and attenuation.

" The true foundation of classic amp tone comprises the following factors:

Control of eq1 - involves pickup selection and an eq pedal.
Control of preamp distortion - involves having a variety of distortion boxes or voicings to choose from, including the amp's preamp distortion.
Control of eq2 - involves the amp's tone stack or an EQ pedal in the amp's FX loop.
Control of power-tube saturation - involves a power attenuator or equivalent (pulling tubes, Variac, Power Scaling).
Control of eq3 - involves speaker selection or high-level EQ controls on a good power attenuator.
Control of the speaker volume - involves a power attenuator."

Yep, exactly the same thing I'm describing - I think I've seen that article or a similar one in the past (sorry I didn't read it before replying). I agree its a shame to waste a tone of money on testing gear, though some people really enjoy that. For those of us who have rigs inspired by Trey, he did the work at finding gear that already has the ideal "built-in" eq. If I just had a board full of cool pedals and switched between vastly different guitars (ie Strat to LP), or played in a band that covered a lot of artists, that guitar>eq>dirt>eq thing would be really helpful.

Several years ago I had a guitar with Joe Barden pickups, which have a very powerful broad frequency range - I think they are meant to be used with an EQ right after them - they are like a blank canvas that needs to be sculpted.

[Jkendrick]

Cool. No matter what amp I end up with, I'm budgeting in an Unleash. One of the reasons I liked the UniValve, in addition to the fun of swapping out tubes, was the built-in attenuator. I used to live in a townhouse and it was essential. Now with a proper finished basement jam space, it's too quiet even cranked. Lol.

[Heady Jam Fan]

Cool. No matter what amp I end up with, I'm budgeting in an Unleash. One of the reasons I liked the UniValve, in addition to the fun of swapping out tubes, was the built-in attenuator. I used to live in a townhouse and it was essential. Now with a proper finished basement jam space, it's too quiet even cranked. Lol.

Yeah, I hear that - volume is very relative: I would never have thought it before, but playing in a particularly loud group, I've run out of headroom on my MKIII at times! My SFDR + Unleash is louder and doesn't have the enormous bass that shakes everything in the room (which is related to the huge output transformer that makes the amp so heavy).