Yesterday, a friend of mine came over to record a lead guitar track on a song I was producing. We started with a sound check and I recorded his amp with 2 AKG D22 microphones. It sounded like he wanted it to and we started recording over the track. We did four separate takes to make sure we got it and were satisfied with it.

Here's where it gets weird. Upon listening to all four takes, we noticed that his tone was changing each time without notice. I turned off the track and listened to the guitar by it self and edited all four so they would play side-by-side. Each take kept getting brighter and brighter. We did not change mic position or any EQ setting on Amp or guitar.

The Amp it a Fender blues deluxe and we let it warm up about ten minutes before playing.

Anyone know what's wrong? Could it be the tubes cause they are quite old(2 years).

_________________
No matter how much you pay for an instrument, in the wrong hands it will always sound "cheap."

Gear:
2007 MIM Stratocaster (Lace Sensor Golds)
Peavey Valveking 112
Behringer TU300, CS100, NR100
Dunlop Crybaby Classic
Marshall BB-2
Ibanez TS-9

That's odd. I have noticed the entire hot rod range to be very bright amplifiers. It's possible that as the amp was warming up it's true tone was showing through.

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Custom Shop '59 Strat with John Cruz Master Design Pickups
Vibro King
Fulltone Clyde>Deja-Vibe>TS-808>TS-9>Boss Tuner

Tube amp gurus have told me that simply leaving the amp on doesn't really warm it up... you need to play through it for a while to get it in its final zone.

So, yeah, it could be that. It could also be that with each take, he got more confident and played a bit harder.

That is possible but I forgot to mention that it has never done this before. It's very strange.

_________________
No matter how much you pay for an instrument, in the wrong hands it will always sound "cheap."

Gear:
2007 MIM Stratocaster (Lace Sensor Golds)
Peavey Valveking 112
Behringer TU300, CS100, NR100
Dunlop Crybaby Classic
Marshall BB-2
Ibanez TS-9

That does sound odd... the most obvious variable I can think of would be your friend's playing. Did he dig in a bit more with each successive take? I find that the tone of a responsive tube amp varies greatly according to the player's attack. Were there any effects such as tremelo or wah involved? If you end up working your guitar a bit harder than you were expecting, those can definitely increase the bite.

No his dynamics stayed the same all the way through. The lead he was playing required no aggressive pick attack or hard bending. No effects were involved. It was guitar straight into amp.

_________________
No matter how much you pay for an instrument, in the wrong hands it will always sound "cheap."

Gear:
2007 MIM Stratocaster (Lace Sensor Golds)
Peavey Valveking 112
Behringer TU300, CS100, NR100
Dunlop Crybaby Classic
Marshall BB-2
Ibanez TS-9

Tube amps can be quite bright. That's why a lot of the "best" speakers that go with them have rather drastic high frequency roll offs ... put them together and you get a perfect sound. But pair a tube amp with the wrong speakers and it'll cut your head off with brightness.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

were the 3rd and 4th takes closer in brightness than 1st and 2nd.
sounds like it took about 15mins to get to its sweet spot.
also the presence knob may be turned up beyond 5or 6. presence emphisizes high end on tones. possibly the tubes that control that outcome were still warming up

firststrat wrote this
Hi

It just an wide band eq knob that is centered in the mid-high frequency ranges generally. Less presence=darker sound more presence=brighter.

It can be used to fine your tone quickly for different rooms and noise levels, as more presence helps to cut through then mix better. too much can sound brittle in an empty room or playing alone, but might be exactly what you need onstage to cut through a full room of bodies while playing with a band

check which tubes control prescence, and maybe replace them...
i dont know much, however i know some amps have pre amp, power, and output tubes, right?

were the 3rd and 4th takes closer in brightness than 1st and 2nd.
sounds like it took about 15mins to get to its sweet spot.
also the presence knob may be turned up beyond 5or 6. presence emphisizes high end on tones. possibly the tubes that control that outcome were still warming up[/quote]

The 3rd and 4th takes still had quite a difference. Each take however was very far apart (almost 20 minutes apart because of computer problems.) Also, as I mentioned before this has never happened in the past 2 years of him having that amp. I'm guessing maybe it's the tubes that are to blame.

Does anyone know how a tube's influence on tone changes throughout it's life? Is it always a loss of high-end or could it also be the other way around?

_________________
No matter how much you pay for an instrument, in the wrong hands it will always sound "cheap."

Gear:
2007 MIM Stratocaster (Lace Sensor Golds)
Peavey Valveking 112
Behringer TU300, CS100, NR100
Dunlop Crybaby Classic
Marshall BB-2
Ibanez TS-9

I guess it's nice that you've gotten some answers on you amp question, considering this is the Stratocaster forum, but c'mon, why not ask this stuff on the amp forum?