Hi and Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have a few questions that I’ll just drop into here. I’ve done a lot of searches but haven’t really found ones tailored to what I’m looking for. 1) right now I have a Les Paul with a 59/JB setup and an SG with a 490r/498t. I usually run the guitar volumes close to 10. What are the right Gain channel and level to be using on the amp for my guitars. I have seen everything from red crunch all the way up, up to untra gain red channel at around 7. I have pedals but I want to keep it simple and just guitar into the amp. I have largely been using ultra gain green channel set at about 5 out of 10 (12 o’clock). 2) for my Les Paul I have debated swapping out the 59/JB for a paf36/super distortion set up. Thoughts? I mostly play classic metal (maiden / priest / Metallica / guns) to modern country like Jason Aldean and Eric church. Thank you!! Mik
With the stealth version of the amp it is a little hard to see the White Lines on the knobs but check the amp settings.
I use the classic crunch a lot until it's time for leads or heavy stuff, then I use the ultra green (OD1 I think it's called) channel. I don't play the heavy stuff as much as I used to so I spend a lot of time on the classic crunch with gain below noon, sometimes as low as 9 o'clock, like now. The channel volume is at about 2 o'clock. The ultra has gain at about 10:30 and volume at 3:00. I use the classic crunch for country and older stuff on the edge of breakup and it's fun for ambient stuff. I do most of my rhythm playing on there live and swap over to the OD1 or use an overdrive pedal or boost to do leads, sometimes all three. If the pickup is too hot you might find you lose dynamics for that sort of thing. I have a pair of Firebird pickups in my SG wound to about 9 and 10k, which is a bit much for me on paper but it works out. Playing with pickup height can help tune things in a bit. You have a classic pickup set as it is. Not sure I'd mess with it but it's your call.
Hang tight. @Seventh Son will be along shortly to drown you in details. He is our resident Iron Maiden/DSL expert.
Try some NOS RFT ECC83 preamp tubes in V1 and V2. I thought those made my JCM2000 sound a lot like Iron Maiden. Takes some of the DSL fizziness out, too.
When it comes to classic Maiden tones, I think Piece of Mind is the sonic pinnacle of that era, whereas Seventh Son of a Seventh Son has the best progressive Maiden tones on record, but they are a little more difficult to achieve. I provide more detail on those in the Forums-->The Tone Zone-->The Recording Thread-->page 42 (scroll past the middle of the page). For the Piece of Mind/Powerslave tones, the settings on my DSL15C/DSL20CR are Bass 10 Middle 7 Treble 5 Presence 4 These settings also work for the DSL5CR, as verified by a friend of mine, who has the amp. They should also work for you on your DSL40CR. Just make sure you raise the amp about two feet off the floor to decouple it from the floor and avoid some potential low-end build-up, especially in smaller rooms. I set gain by feeling it out while I am playing. Basically, for the Piece of Mind tone, you want as much gain as you can dial in before you feel that there is too much noise and that it is difficult to control the strings. Playing individual notes and single-note-melodies provides a good way of testing for this. I hesitate giving you specific gain settings, because the best way is to set gain by feel. You basically want a nice, clean (i.e., noise- and buzz-free level of distortion). It's one of those things that's hard to explain, but you'll know it when you see it. Most likely that will be somewhere around 4 on the Ultra Gain orange channel. The settings above work great for low-volume playing. For higher volume, you might need to pull the bass back a bit as the volume goes up. The Ultra Gain Channel on the orange mode should be good. If you have a Tube Screamer, feel free to lower gain and clean-boost the amp with a Tube Screamer, but I don't think it is necessary (Adrian Smith used a Tube Screamer back in the day, but I am not sure whether it was always on—probably, yes—or just as a boost on solos, along with the MXR Micro Amp that he explicitly used as a solo boost). As for the pick-ups, your pickups should be fine, but if you have money to spare and want to control as many variables and get them as close to your favorite artist as possible, the Super Distortion with a 36th Anniversary PAF is a classy, timeless combo. I have them in my Dave Murray strat and they are great, but then again, most other higher-output pickups should be fine, too.
Wow - thank you. Just to clarify the orange channel is the red channel right? My choices are green (OD1) and red (OD2) on the Ultra Gain channels. I’ll look into an amp stand too - never thought about that. thanks to everyone else as well. Mike
Yes, I meant to say OD1. OD2 should also work, as long as you keep gain just below 3. Try both and see what you like better.
I am Sorry, I can't help you, I have played in an Iron Maiden tribute band for about 10 years, but I used a Marshall JCM 800, Boss sd-1 and some effects, anything else. For pickups, yours are good, even if 498T are better.. super distortion Is the way to go! I used flat settings, bass mid treble at noon, and obviously, gain maxed. Maiden didn't used lots of bass, specially in the early albums... I have never used DSL, so I can't help you!
Seventh Son - would you change any of the above settings (b,m,t,p and gain) for a 498t (I have that in my SG)? It feels like I’d bump the gain closer to 5 with that. I tried the b,m,t settings as I was running all 5s with my guitar tones at 7, and your settings just floored me. I never would have guessed putting the bass up that high...or even the bass that high with my pickups (jb in LP and 498t in my SG). And I’ve been playing the resonance at 3-4. Does that seem right? I’m tempted to move up the guitar tone a tad higher than 7 as well. this is all with me playing in my basement for fun. So no big/live venues. thank you again! Mike
Wow - I can't imagine putting the bass at 10 on the 40CR. At low volumes I take it all out. Gig volumes I put some back but I don't think I've ever gone above 3. That's with an LP and no pedals. And I use an isolator on the floor. I don't play Maiden but classic rock. I also don't like any resonance. I suppose everyone's ears are different.
That's funny because i dimed the bass on my 900 for the first time this morning boosting with the BE-OD and the thickest juiciest creamiest gain i ever heard came through my 3/4 stack .Yet it still retained a great midrange and treble cut with Pres 5, treble at 6, mids 4 . I don't know why i waited 4 years to try that but that's where it will stay at least at bedroom volume . I haven't tried that at band volume but since your ears hear more treble at higher volumes i can't imagine it not sounding good there to. But i play 80's Metal and Death Metal where a nice thick tone is wanted. As far as your question goes i'd say bass 7, mids 6, treble 5 with a good overdrive should get you there.
That last sentence is the kicker, so true imo. It seems to me that we all hear sounds slightly differently.
I am not familiar with that pickup, so I can't say what tweaks you might need to make to the recommended settings to optimize for your setup, but the settings I gave you work with the Super Distortion, which is a very bass-heavy pickup, so they should work just fine for you, as well. Setting the resonance around 3–4 sounds fine. I usually run the volume and tone knobs on my guitar wide open. I have recently experimented with rolling those back a bit, but it just didn't work for me. For what it's worth, there's a video on YouTube by Brian Wampler, in which he discusses the topic of the tone knob on the guitar. His recommendation is to set the tone on your pedal (e.g., Tube Screamer), rather than guitar. He believes it sounds much better that way, if you really feel the need to fine-tune the top end. The DSL's sound very thin at bedroom volumes, so it is necessary to push the bass in order to achieve the desired thickness. This is especially the case with the open-back combos. As I mentioned above, you can back off the bass, as you increase the volume, but if you are playing anywhere near bedroom/living room/basement levels, you will want to crank the bass in order to get the required thickness on individual notes. If you are a melodic player, you need those notes to fill out. My DSL15C and DSL20CR are a bit of an exception in the DSL range in that they don't start benefiting from the power amp stage until you turn volume past 8. Your DSL40CR is known to do a bit better in this area, plus it benefits from a larger cab, so you get more warmth at any level, but if you are unhappy with your tone at lower levels, it is probably because your bass setting is too low. And, again, putting the amp on the ground can excite some really nasty resonances around the 170–190Hz range. Raising the amp off the ground helps minimize that.
I get an almost exact match with the Piece of Mind tone running my amp with the settings I recommended to Mike above. Now I finally enjoy playing at home, because everything sounds the way I always imagined it should. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but as you said, cranking the bass sounds freaking amazing with distortion, at least as far as playing at practice volumes is concerned.
I played along to Maiden's Piece of Mind yesterday using the settings I provided above, and it sounded just glorious. It gave me goosebumps all over to be able to play those beautiful harmonies and hear my single notes sound just as thick as those on the CD. I know it sounds counterintuitive to run bass that high, but with the open-back combo and low-volumes used at home, those settings get me the exact tone I want.
I agree i like a nice thick saturated low end with enough treble/pres for a sharp bite. Thin guitars no bueno.
Thanks everyone. Seventh Son - I’m running with the JB and not a Super Distortion but imagine the settings would be similar. It sounded great with the JB at that setting. I keep toying with the bass between 8-10, but before I was at 4-5 and your term, “thin” was exactly what that got me. Thanks to all! Mike
What tubes did they replace? I'm still using the original Ei's that came with the amp in 1998. I like using a Tube Screamer when playing Maiden, DSL100 Green boosted and maxed. For the EQ settings, I think what matters is the pickups and speakers being used. For my DSL100 with G12T-75's I have one set of settings. For my DSL1HR going through a bassy 4x10, I use much less bass.
I don’t remember what tubes I replaced when I put in the RFTs. I rolled a bunch of different preamp tubes at the time, and I didn’t end up settling on the RFTs. I just remember they had a distinct midrange crunch that reminded me of Maiden.
