Beginner Help on Guitar and Amp Settings

Bill Hampton · From: Colorado, USA

I am a beginner to amplified music (and to lap steel) and looking for some help on my guitar and amp settings.
I'm currently playing a Gold Tone LS-6 with a stock pickup through a Roland Street Cube and am getting more distortion than I like.
Can some of you old pro's give me some general guidelines for getting a cleaner sound? Do I need to turn down the volume on the guitar and turn up the volume amp or vice versa? What about tone control?
Any help you can offer would be appreciated. Confused

Bill Hampton · From: Colorado, USA

Is my question just too dumb to warrant a response? Sad

Is my equipment just not conducive to a clean sound and won't ever get there?

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Hey Bill.....the pup shouldn't be a problem on the GT as others have them and like them.

Doesn't the Roland SC have different amp settings...for style of amp? If you're playing thru a hi-gain amp setting, it's going to come out sounding "dirty". Is there a GAIN control on the amp? If so, turn that down.

Short of the above, I'd say VOLUME on the amp shouldn't be a problem unless you're maxing it out. If you're at 7/10 or under, the amp volume wouldn't be causing it.

Uh....does the Roland SC overdrive like this on your other guitars??

Bill Hampton · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks for the reply Stephen.

The "JC Clean" and "Accoustic Sim" settings seem to be the cleanest sounding to me -- but still overdriven. I have the gain set way low -- about two or three.

I have an old Gretsch lap steel (60's maybe?) with a single coil pickup and it sounds a lot better, but it's tuned to C6 and the GT is tuned open G. Maybe it's just the higher register that makes it sound better to me?

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

What about your VOLUME on the amp? What number is set at out of the max? The tuning of one git to the other (C6 compared to G) should have NO bearing on sounding overdriven.

My only idea is that your Gretsch pup is "livelier", hence you don't have to pump up the volume on it like you do with the GT??? Confused

Keep the Roland on JC Clean and that is your best bet.

Bill Hampton · From: Colorado, USA

Typically at home I'll have the volume set around 4/10, and when I play out I don't crank it above 7/10.

I stay pretty close to the same amp volume on both guitars, but I've never tried opening the guitar volume all the way on each guitar to see which is the hotter pickup.

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Bill.....post your query over on the ELECTRONICS section and maybe one of those guys can figure this out.

It sounds like the ONLY difference is the pup. Hmmmm....maybe the pots aren't shielded properly?

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Moved to Electronics from Steel Without Pedals.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Brad Bechtel · From: San Francisco, CA

Usually a cleaner sound comes from turning down the gain and turning up the volume. Since you're getting a cleaner sound from your other lap steel, I'd investigate that lap steel as the source of the problem. For example, you could visit a local music store and try the same guitar through another amp, or you could borrow a friend's amp and see how it sounds through that amp.
_________________
Brad’s Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars

Ron Whitfield · From: Kaaawa, Hawaii, USA

Sounds like you must have your 'gain' setting too high. If it's over 4 you're pushing it into distortion territory, depending on the strength of the PU.
Accoustic/JC/black face are the clean settings, w/bf giving the better bass response.

Bill Hampton · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it.

Jason Lollar makes a pickup for the GT and he says it will give a nice fat clean sound so maybe I'll try one.

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