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Post subject: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2018 9:49 pm
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At the risk of making myself look like an idiot I'll ask the following question. I play a Stratocaster through a Blackstar HT Club 40 MKII. The clean channel isn't as clean as I would prefer. I know preamp tubes can be changed in tube amps that may help, but here is the question: Does a pedal exist that makes a clean channel sound cleaner in tone? :oops:


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 1:26 am
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martycanaday wrote:
Does a pedal exist that makes a clean channel sound cleaner in tone?

Keeping this short:
AFAIK, designed for that purpose, no. :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 1:29 am
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If you have a pail of muddy water, adding clean H2O to it will not render it fit for human consumption -- there will always be an element of crud to spoil the taste and possibly present a toxic hazard.

The same for an amp......you can add dirt to a clean amp via a pedal but the inverse is a physical impossibility. If you're joined at the hip with your Blackstar, embrace the grunge.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 11:46 am
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Thanks for the replies! Someone told me not long ago that a Blackstar isn't quite a Fender, nor quite a Marshall. The reason I purchased it is because it has good reverb and distortion. It has a crunch button on the clean channel, but when the crunch button is disengaged, it still isn't quite as clean as I like. A preamp tube change may be just the thing I need.


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:27 pm
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One simple, free and fully reversible thang worth trying is to diminish the signal from the guitar; spells out as lower the pickups & see if that helps at all. BTW on that thought, which Strat and how hot are the pups?

Retroverbial wrote:
If you have a pail of muddy water, adding clean H2O to it will not render it fit for human consumption -- there will always be an element of crud to spoil the taste and possibly present a toxic hazard.

That's one way great description of the situation.


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 12:48 pm
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If the distortion is coming from the clean channel preamp, you can bypass it by plugging a cleaner preamp into the FX return.

You'd lose the amp's dirty channel. But there are lots of pedals that allow 4-cable connection, so you could use the pedal for cleans or the amp's dirty channel by stomping a button on the pedal.

A used Boss multiFX or similar could do that, plus give you a multitude of models and effects to play with.


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:06 pm
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Use the volume control on the guitar.

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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:42 pm
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jmattis wrote:
martycanaday wrote:
Does a pedal exist that makes a clean channel sound cleaner in tone?

Keeping this short:
AFAIK, designed for that purpose, no. :wink:


That's clear enough!


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:48 pm
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jmattis wrote:
One simple, free and fully reversible thang worth trying is to diminish the signal from the guitar; spells out as lower the pickups & see if that helps at all. BTW on that thought, which Strat and how hot are the pups?

Retroverbial wrote:
If you have a pail of muddy water, adding clean H2O to it will not render it fit for human consumption -- there will always be an element of crud to spoil the taste and possibly present a toxic hazard.

That's one way great description of the situation.


It's a made in 2014, 1954 60th Anniversary American Standard Strat with 1954 spec single coil pickups. I don't know how these pickups compare to other Fender single coil pickups.


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 4:49 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
If you have a pail of muddy water, adding clean H2O to it will not render it fit for human consumption -- there will always be an element of crud to spoil the taste and possibly present a toxic hazard.

The same for an amp......you can add dirt to a clean amp via a pedal but the inverse is a physical impossibility. If you're joined at the hip with your Blackstar, embrace the grunge.

Very clear illustration!

Arjay


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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:33 pm
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The bypassing that strayedstrater suggested is, perhaps, worth a try, and yes the quality of the source is a good characteristic to include. However, the techs that I worked with used to make all kinds of amps from op amps to building and maintaining others - solid state and tube. It was said, hypothetically, that the cleanest most efficient amp is a straight wire. This means anything added will definitely take away or add to the system. Even high end audio gear can be found that is truly simplistic without tone controls and certain filters. Some like that approach while others find it bland. I’ve had both. A happy medium is my preference. Not that it is a good or bad thing, but it certainly will not be clean . . . . unless, it is another better wire to begin with. It may be difficult at that stage to tell the difference unless side by side and likely, all things being equal, not even then. But, we’re speaking of a straight wire. A simple change of the speaker can change things, and so on, and so on, and so on. :wink:
Long story short, I once asked a Sony engineer about a piece of their touted equipment, and why or how they came to a conclusion to add filters to change the sound, when it could have been spec’d without when comparing similar equipment to the competition that was also worthy. He put it this way, “If it sounds better, we’ll add or take away anything that improves the experience regardless of the competition”. Point made.

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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 12:53 pm
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stratmangler wrote:
Use the volume control on the guitar.


I messed around with the master volume control on the amp and the volume control on my guitar and was able to get a cleaner tone from the clean channel!

Thanks, everybody. A great learning sesson for me!


Last edited by martycanaday on Sat Dec 29, 2018 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Clean Channel Tone via a Pedal?
Posted: Sat Dec 29, 2018 2:33 pm
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Thanks, for the reply and how you made out, martycanaday. Now you have something you can pass onto others in the same boat. :wink:
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