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Post subject: jeff healy like tone
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:04 am
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I have a 1996 bassman reissue and I want to get some more gain, right now I have a tube screamer, a blues driver and the boss bassman pedal. What I want is a jeff healy kind of gain. I dont have a lot of money because I'm a student but I do need professional sound because I am a gigger. I don't know how much of a difference this will make but for those of you that don't know the older model I have has a tube rectifier not a solid state one like the newer reissue.


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Post subject: Re: jeff healy like tone
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 10:17 am
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dylanger wrote:
I have a 1996 bassman reissue and I want to get some more gain, right now I have a tube screamer, a blues driver and the boss bassman pedal. What I want is a jeff healy kind of gain. I dont have a lot of money because I'm a student but I do need professional sound because I am a gigger. I don't know how much of a difference this will make but for those of you that don't know the older model I have has a tube rectifier not a solid state one like the newer reissue.


Not to be presumptuous, but you've got more than enough great gear to achieve some wicked blues tones -- like Healy or anyone else for that matter. To really get the most of your gear, I'll share with you a little secret I've learned over the years: the art of using an overdrive pedal lies not in the "drive" knob, but in the "volume" knob. Set your Bassman up so that it's more or less on the verge of breakup so that you can move from grit to clean-ish as you alter your picking dynamics. Then use either your Tubescreamer or BD-2 with the volume set high and the drive set low or right off (tone to taste). That should, in theory, "kick" the amp up into its natural overdrive without altering its true tone much. This sort of trick works with virtually any tube amp, and seeing as you've got a great amp and a good selection of pedals, I'd say muck about with it and see what you can get.

In my own live rig I use a Tele or occasionally a Les Paul into an ancient Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1) with these settings: Volume full, tone at slightly less than half (less for Tele/strat, more for LP), and drive set at maybe one. Then it runs into a Crybaby and into my Pro Junior which is set on the cusp of proper breakup -- although I'm always tweaking it onstage depending on the song. It works great and just by manipulating my guitar's volume and tone controls, as well as regulating how hard I beat on it, I can get a wicked variety of bluesy, rocky tones.

I've played the Boss Bassman pedal and I failed to get anything workable out of it. On the other hand, the Tubescreamer and BD-2 are great little boxes. I've got a friend who, as a professional musician, uses the BD-2 for exactly the purpose I've described above. My best advice is spend a bunch of time mucking about with the pedals you've got; tone is subjective and you'll find many, many good tones with that combination of gear! Good luck and keep us posted on what you figure out!


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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:10 pm
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thanks a lot for the input. Will I still get that natural distortion when I'm on only 4 and the pedal volume way up?


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Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:17 pm
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I'm not really familiar with the exact model of amp you've got, but if it goes to 12 (and 4 is therefore a third), I'd imagine that with the pedal cranked, you'll start to get some nice gritty sounds. It all depends on the amp though and, to a smaller degree, how much volume the pedal can give you. I'd say find the place on your amp where it starts to break up, and then use the pedal volume to tweak it. It's all preference, really. Also, make sure you use both your Tubescreamer and Blues Driver to see which works best. You can even use them together -- a trick, if I'm not mistaken, used by none other than Stevie Ray Vaughan. In that case, drive both pedals hard on the amp for more distortion. For example, you could use the BD-2 to kick the amp up into toneville, and then use the TS to get even more boost for solos or lead lines, anything where you need more volume/grit.


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Post subject: Re: jeff healy like tone
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:08 am
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Vulkan wrote:
dylanger wrote:
I have a 1996 bassman reissue and I want to get some more gain, right now I have a tube screamer, a blues driver and the boss bassman pedal. What I want is a jeff healy kind of gain. I dont have a lot of money because I'm a student but I do need professional sound because I am a gigger. I don't know how much of a difference this will make but for those of you that don't know the older model I have has a tube rectifier not a solid state one like the newer reissue.


Not to be presumptuous, but you've got more than enough great gear to achieve some wicked blues tones -- like Healy or anyone else for that matter. To really get the most of your gear, I'll share with you a little secret I've learned over the years: the art of using an overdrive pedal lies not in the "drive" knob, but in the "volume" knob. Set your Bassman up so that it's more or less on the verge of breakup so that you can move from grit to clean-ish as you alter your picking dynamics. Then use either your Tubescreamer or BD-2 with the volume set high and the drive set low or right off (tone to taste). That should, in theory, "kick" the amp up into its natural overdrive without altering its true tone much. This sort of trick works with virtually any tube amp, and seeing as you've got a great amp and a good selection of pedals, I'd say muck about with it and see what you can get.

In my own live rig I use a Tele or occasionally a Les Paul into an ancient Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1) with these settings: Volume full, tone at slightly less than half (less for Tele/strat, more for LP), and drive set at maybe one. Then it runs into a Crybaby and into my Pro Junior which is set on the cusp of proper breakup -- although I'm always tweaking it onstage depending on the song. It works great and just by manipulating my guitar's volume and tone controls, as well as regulating how hard I beat on it, I can get a wicked variety of bluesy, rocky tones.

I've played the Boss Bassman pedal and I failed to get anything workable out of it. On the other hand, the Tubescreamer and BD-2 are great little boxes. I've got a friend who, as a professional musician, uses the BD-2 for exactly the purpose I've described above. My best advice is spend a bunch of time mucking about with the pedals you've got; tone is subjective and you'll find many, many good tones with that combination of gear! Good luck and keep us posted on what you figure out!
I have a 96 Bassman Reissue too.I have Phillips 6l6wgb power tubes in it and mine starts to breakup between 4.5 to 5.Some tubes breakup later.You definately need to find that point on your amp and use the pedals to push the amp into that threshhold.One of the beauty of the Bassman is that it is touch sensitive.The softer you pick, the cleaner the soundand the harder you pick, the dirtier your sound.I would recommend playing around with your eq on your pedals and amp and also your levels on your guitar.Alot of times getting the tone is more about the right settings than the right pedals.The tone knob on your guitar factors in with the equation too , dont be afraid to use it. I am a little curious as ro why you are using a bassman pedal with a bassman amp though.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 1:51 pm
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i actually found a boss OD-1 on kijiji for 80$ so im going to try that out in my pedal line too


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Post subject:
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:16 pm
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I've never actually played an OD-1 -- I use an ancient old SD-1 that I liberated from my father when his garage rock days were over. They are great pedals, but I've heard people say that the OD-1 rocks too. Maybe I'll have to check it out, but it will have to wait because the next thing on my GAS list is a Way Huge Pork Loin "Soft Clip Injection." It is apparently the best sort of non-boutique OD pedal on the market today.

Really though, don't feel you have to invest in a ton of pedals because you've already got a lot of wicked gear. GAS is fun, but it can be really rewarding to play with what you've got and maybe wind up seeing it in a whole new way.


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