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Post subject: What are your Favorite Settings on Blackface
Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:49 am
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what are your favorite settings on a old blackface Fender (l use a Twin Reverb) for a compressed Strat middle/neck pickup clean bell like tone

just curious what you guys use for your go to cleans and what compression pedals you may use

or even your OD tones on these blackface Fenders using a strat mostly


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Posted: Sat Sep 04, 2010 7:50 am
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wsrSCsv ... re=related

this ls a great example of what lm looking for that chimey bell tone with using heavy finger picking on a strat


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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:26 pm
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Yeah Jebus, I'm also a finger pickin' Strat player. '89 Am Std, rose board, double blocked trem block( maple hand formed blocks- with springs in place), Lindy Fralin Vintage PUPs, with blender control. '67 Band Master,with tube rect., Victoria Bassman OT & PT, 250uf cath bypass(first tube), .02uf's and 250pf for the tone stack. I play almost exclusively on the normal channel, either straight to the input or with a Weber 5G15 reverb unit. The tone controls are usually; treble-8 to 9, bass-7 to 8. I'm pretty much looking at that older Mark Knofler type of sound, but that Robert Cray sound has to be in the guitar controlled reach for me. Art

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Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 10:51 pm
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Most of the odd-order harmonic distortion begins to occur in the blackface amps when the treble control is set higher than "6". When driven hard (sans any outboard effects pedals) the bass control turned beyond "7" seems to generate modest amounts of IM distortion which may not be pleasing to the ear. On amps with a middle control (Twin Reverb, Super Reverb, Showman) a setting of "6" is generally flat -- neither a boost nor a cut. This is also the fixed value for the mid frequencies on amps lacking a variable middle control. A middle control setting of "8" and above will fatten the tone, especially with SC pickups, and enhance the onset of naturally-occuriring compression (especially at higher volumes).

I normally use an amp simulator to give me whatever tone I choose at any volume level, but for those occasions when I plug straight into an amp (usually an original '65 Princeton Reverb or my "Spankmaster Reverb") I'll dime the volume and treble controls and set the bass control to "6" or "7" then let the amp honk all on its own. To clean it up, I'll back off on the guitar's volume. Dimed amps usually yield the best picking dynamics even when the instrument isn't wide open. Diming a TR or a Showman onstage is a great way to get oneself banished from a club -- hence, why I opt for the amp simulator when gigging. I use both channels, with the tone controls set differently for alternate EQ's. An A/B/Y footswitch gives me instant access to either channel or both to suit the song.

HTH

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:39 am
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I usually start around 7 on treble and 4 on bass on my BF amps,(mostly DRs and a Pro Reverb) and tweak a little ways from there if plugging straight in,with a Tube Screamer it will vary some from that,it's the only pedal I ever use anymore.
I set the volume for the room I will be playing in,and then play around with tone....I don't leave amps on the same knob settings,my ears aren't the same on different days. :(


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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:23 am
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wow great settings, l noticed that when l cranked the Bass up lt would have a odd distortion to the sound especially with a strong attack

l keep the middle at 8 now and lt sounds very good, not to thin but not to bassy and muddy , l love lt


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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 9:01 am
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jebus91 wrote:
l keep the middle at 8 now and lt sounds very good, not to thin but not to bassy and muddy , l love lt


Boosting the mids is also a great way to fatten up a Telecaster for rock tones.

Of course much of a blackface amp's timbre is determined by speaker type and the configuration of the enclosure.

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:23 am
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Fender "Magic 6":

http://www.singlecoil.com/docs/magic-six.pdf

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 10:37 am
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Intermodulation distortion is less of a perceived factor through the midrange with single-coil pickups when using a particularly bright and articulate speaker (such as the alnico JBL's that I favor). I'd concur with the other facets of the "Magic Six" theory though, contingent upon room acoustics.

Arjay

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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 12:59 pm
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Guitar - usually a TelePaul with Duncan JB in the rear, 59 in the neck and coil taps on both.

pedalboard -
Dunlop Wah with Fasel inductor and Keeley true-bypass mod
Boss Tuner
Keeley compressor - sustain @ 9:00 and Level @ 12:00
Paul Cochrane Timmy Pedal - for grit
Barber Direct Drive - crunch
Keeley Katana Boost
A/B Loop Pedal

Loop A: Keeley Fuzz Head, Ibanez AD9 (original)
Loop B: Phase 90, Ibanez Super Stereo Chorus, Boss DD6

Radial BigShot Amp Switcher

Bandmaster - Vibrato Channel, Input 1
Volume - 2-3 without Dr. Z Brake Lite Engaged, louder with it on
Treble - 5
Bass - 5
Tremelo speed - varies, intensity on 6

Dr. Z Mini Z into Dr. Z 1x12 Cab
Volume : 12:00
Attenuator - varies on the room

Sounds great!

On my Princeton Reverb, tend to leave treble and bass at 5 as well.

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'59? Bogen Challenger CHA-33, '65 Bandmaster, '65 Tremolux, 65 Showman;
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Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:07 pm
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Yeah, I see the reasoning behind the "Magic 6" approach. Good reading, Bluesky ! Arjay you make a good point concerning the fixed resistor on the bass pot governing the mids( on amps without a mid control). These are the very reasons I've modified my "67 and '68 amps. While the stock tone stack can sound great, I have a problem with the inherent restraints in the high-low-mid scooped format. IMO a more balanced tone stack allows a wider range tone control and openess. Yeah, I replace the 6800ohm mid resistor with 12K-18Kohm, depending on the channel and amp. There are plenty of places in these amps to personalize the voicing, but for most folks it's not really worth the effort. Not when you can use the "Magic 6" method, change speakers, or tubes. Art

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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:55 am
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What is the "magic 6" ?....I can't pull up the link here @ work....we're blocked out of a lot of sites.


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Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 8:39 am
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The "magic 6" is a dissertation on how to coax the best clean-and-loud tones from a blackface Fender amp, primarily one equipped with a middle control in the tone stack (TR, SR, Showman).

Here's the high points......

It was some time in 1979 when one of the "big guys" showed me how to dial in
that Fender or Music Man amps that always seemed to be on stage wherever you
play: "Easy" he said. "It's the magic six". Volume to 6, Treble to 6, Middle to 3
and Bass to 2 (6, 6, and 3x2=6). Bright should be on, reverb set for two and
master volume (if one) set so that you can be heard above the drums without
drenching the vocals. "The rest of the knobs you can just ignore" because no one
used tremolo in late 70's and the footswitch was always disappeared…
The effect was almost like having the key to Holy Grail - I have to admit that he
was right and I joined the Magical Six Choir.
It wasn't until years later, when I was absorbing schematics that I understood
why there is magic in the six. In an amplifier with the topology input stage, tone
control, volume control, voltage amplifier (tremolo- and reverb amplifier if
fitted), phase splitter and output stage it is the first four controls that will set
what is going to distort and how much.
The first stage runs essentially clean if nothing else but a guitar is connected.
The voltage amplifier will hit the ceiling as volume is turned pass 4.
The tone controls are placed before the volume control and will control what is
being fed into it.


There is some validity to the author's assertions but I'm at variance with several of his theorems.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:10 am
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Thanks Arjay,
I don't have the Mids on mine,but I have seen some of the "666" guys before,I still like to tweak the tones without being locked into that.
A BFDR I have had red fingernail polish on the numbers of the 1st stage so the guy could be sure he was in the sweet spot....at least to his ears. :lol:


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:15 am
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Rebelsoul wrote:
I still like to tweak the tones without being locked into that.


That's precisely why Leo put the pots in the tone stack.

:mrgreen:

Arjay

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