Settings for amp

Bill Baseman · Post by **Bill Baseman** » 27 Feb 2006 10:22 am

I have a DC 3 Mesa Boogie amp. I use it to play guitar and with my PSG. It is the amp I have to use. Any suggestions on settings for a better sound for PSG. It has a clean channel and "lead" channel. Gain, bass, treble, mid, presence and reverb. I know my ability to play PSG is the most important thing for tone but I was hoping someone could give some hints on amp settings. I am looking for a classic or older country sound.

Thanks,
Bill

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 27 Feb 2006 9:28 pm

BIll, I haven't tried the Mesa amp for PSG but I can give you a few generic pointers:

Obviously you will want to take it real easy on the front end and get your power from the power amp end for maximum clean headroom.

As far as EQ goes, Start with your lows and highs straight up 12 o'clock and take a big (-12 to -15) cut out of the mids (if the filter center is at 300 to 400 Hz). Pump up presence to taste. Since you don't have a sweepable mid EQ you will have to experiment a bit more but this is a good starting point for a ShoBud or Emmons guitar to get the classic old country pedal steel sound that it sounds like you are after.[This message was edited by Dave Grafe on 27 February 2006 at 09:30 PM.]

Adam Ollendorff · Post by **Adam Ollendorff** » 27 Feb 2006 9:59 pm

I have the same exact amp. Forgive my ignorance, but how, with this amp, do you cut the front end and boost the pre-amp signal?

Dave Grafe · Post by **Dave Grafe** » 28 Feb 2006 3:18 pm

how, with this amp, do you cut the front end and boost the pre-amp signal?

You can't do that, on this or any other amp. The Pre-amp IS the "front end" and as such is generally the part of the circuit designed to produce harmonic distortion by "overdriving" the signal into a non-linear part of the pre-amp's response curve.

On almost any amp you will get the cleanest signal by keeping this input (channel/preamp/front end) gain low and relying the cleaner power amp section - often controlled by a "master" volume knob - to produce most of the amplification.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 1 Mar 2006 4:50 pm

Keepiong the Master dimed and the preamp lower is the best thing for a cleaner tone. But as for "settings" for tone, there are no guidelines that would be useful. Every amp has to be adjusted differently in different size rooms, and adjusted for carpet/hard floors, curtains/bare walls, parallel walls or odd shapes, etc. All those things can dramatically affect your tone and thereby how you need to set your amp.

And if your guitar has controls, use them as well. Rolling off a tone control on a guitar and using it to "drive" the amp tone from the stage can work wonders.