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Topic: Method for Dialling in Peavey Amp |
Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 17 Jan 2019 6:12 pm |
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This is how I have been adjusting my amps. Interested in other methodologies as well. What makes me think I am onto something is I converge on Buddy Emmons published settings 
Take an indirect sound from the amp.. wall reflection etc.. to get a room (non beaming) representation of amp tone.
Starting settings:
Presence full on
Treble: noon
Mid level: full off
Mid Shift: noon
Bass: noon
Continuously grip open strings 6 to 9 of C6 neck. Adjust midshift until they ring with maximum note separation while maintaining fullness.
Grip strings 7 to 10 and adjust bass to balance string 10 with the rest of the grip.
Grab strings 3 and 5 on the E9 neck at about fret 15 or so.. the highest 90% of your regular play region. Adjust treble control such that the harshness / shrillness just barely disappears when ypu pick and work A+B pedals.
Then on open E9 strings 3 to 5, back off on presence control and find the spot where the notes ring out but with no more articulation
(crunch) than needed for clarity.
Add mid level to find the boundary where you have as much mids as you can stand before ugly harmonic resonances start pronouncing.
Repeat from this new point for an iterative final tweak.
If your upper registers of E9 are shrill.. back off treble a few percent. If you need more clarity add a few percent presence. If you need better low cluster definition. Tweak the mid shift and back out mid level a bit.
Last edited by Tom Gorr on 17 Jan 2019 11:30 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 17 Jan 2019 8:03 pm
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| If you happen to give this method a try, let me know how it worked out for you... does it improve your tone from your regular settings? If not.. what do ypu set differently? |
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Tommy Mc
From:
Middlesex VT
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Posted 19 Jan 2019 12:29 pm
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For years I wrestled with getting a decent tone out of my Session 400....an amp revered by many. I tried methods similar to yours, as well as reading how others set theirs. Most of my approaches started with the premise that mids needed to be tamed.
Then I came across an old post from Brad Sarno where he did a frequency analysis on the Session 400 tone stack. Click Here I'm sure this is varies in other models, but it got me thinking. On the E9 neck,(which is all I play) the lowest note is B at 123 hz. At the 15th fret, your highest note is around 1047 hz. The point is that the majority of the notes on the steel fall solidly in the bass and midrange. Why would I want to cut those frequencies? The treble and presence are really just controlling the overtones.
With this in mind, I now use a different approach. I now start with the Mid cranked, and the bass turned up most of the way. This covers the fundamental frequencies. Then I adjust the Shift to even out the mids. I generally like presence because it adds life, so really it's a matter of adjusting the treble so it doesn't pierce.
I'm not saying this is the definitive way to approach setting the tone. It just made logical sense to me after comparing the frequencies of the notes and the tone controls. After trying it, I'm much happier with my tone.
This is how my amp is currently adjusted.
Bass 7-8
Shift 7 (750-800hz)
Mid 10
Treble 1-2
Presence 10 |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 19 Jan 2019 3:59 pm
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Thanks for your input Tommy.
My method is to dial in for a D10 (or U12) which requires the mid shift to be used to create clarity on the lowest 5 strings of C6 which is an octave ish lower than the low strings of E9. (Alot of my current play is in the lower ranges of C6).
I end up with my midshift around 11 oc plus or minus depending on the speaker. This is in the 300 to 400 range i believe which is a frequency range also associated with the mid scoop on tube amps like Fenders. There is a lot of mud in that zone.
If I dialed in specifically for E9 it may very well end up in a different spot. I will give your settings a try.
Since eq is relative. Boosting ranges at 700 to 800 is not totally unlike scooping in 300 to 400 on a broad and coarse resolution view of the eq spectrum, as the result is that those upper mids are strengthed relative to lower mids. The difference is the shape of the eq curve between those points.. although a peak at 800 will never sound like a trough at 400 |
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Tommy Mc
From:
Middlesex VT
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Posted 25 Jan 2019 8:48 am
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| Tom Gorr wrote: |
Thanks for your input Tommy.
Since eq is relative. Boosting ranges at 700 to 800 is not totally unlike scooping in 300 to 400 on a broad and coarse resolution view of the eq spectrum, as the result is that those upper mids are strengthed relative to lower mids. The difference is the shape of the eq curve between those points.. although a peak at 800 will never sound like a trough at 400 |
The interesting thing I learned from reading Brad Sarno's analysis is that even with the Mid and Shift on 10, the *Session 400* has a mid scoop built in. As I understand it, Mid on 10 (full) is still a 3db cut. Shift adjusts the center of the scoop. Apparently this is unique to the old Session 400. Newer models like the Nashville can boost or cut the mids. So if I was playing through a different Peavey amp, my settings would look different. I don't think I'd want to actually boost mids, but it makes sense to me that since they're right at the center of the frequency range I'm playing in, I don't want to cut them too much. Rather, I'd try starting with mids somewhere around flat, use Shift to clarify it, then adjust the other frequencies. The resulting Shift setting would probably vary widely depending on the instrument, pickup, room, speaker....and personal preference.
Of course, I'm only playing E9 so I'm not in any way suggesting that *my* settings will work for you. (Heck, they may not even work for me next week) It sounds like you have a good approach worked out for yourself. |
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Tom Gorr
From:
Three Hills, Alberta
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Posted 26 Jan 2019 2:47 pm
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Interesting there is a built in mid scoop.. maybe thats why the Sessions sounded so good...it was likely a passive tonestack with a variable slope resistor.
My amps are:
- Heritage Vtx refit with the original N112 speaker.. a two Ch with a passive fender type stack on Ch1 and a Peavey paramid active stack on ch2.
- a Vegas 400 with the 1502.
I prefer the Heritage all day long every day.. but understand that with a speaker change and the tonestack mod the Vegas would improvetoward fulfilling its mandate as a 2 channel dual purpose amp.
The Heritage dials in tones beautifully with any instrument I have plugged in and the 4x6L6 seems to sweeten and smooth things nicely also. Exemplary amp. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 27 Jan 2019 7:10 am
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| Tommy Mc wrote: |
...The point is that the majority of the notes on the steel fall solidly in the bass and midrange. Why would I want to cut those frequencies? The treble and presence are really just controlling the overtones.
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To me, too much mid-range simply leads to a sound that's thin and trebly. Oh, it cuts through the mix just dandy, but there's no real depth or quality to it. I look at it this way, all I have is a bridge pickup, so I can't get a full sound if I'm running the mids very high. It's not like a regular guitar where I can just switch on the neck pickup to get some fullness.
That said, tone is subjective, and most have their own favorite sound. I tend to like using different tones for different songs. Whereas, most players like only one tone, and they use that one sound for everything they do. |
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Jerry Horch
From:
Alva, Florida, USA
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Posted 5 Feb 2019 4:21 pm 400
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7-7-4-7-7
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Franklin D10 /Walker Sterio Steel JBL's /DigiTech Quad4/ Korg Toneworks/ Dobro DM 1000 / Santa Cruz Guitar VA |
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