[Ishan]

As for earplugs, you should buy those:
Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER•20 High Fidelity Earplugs
They are cheap, sound great, and are reusable almost indefinitly. Very good for the money.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

I can't stress enough how important it is to use a boost in front of the amp. It really improves the mid-range tone, more attack while smoothing things out and improves the response and overall tone of the amp. I'd recommend using the tube rectifier setting once you use a boost, as it warms it up and makes it sound more 3 dimensional. The solid state rectifier setting does sound tighter, but also not as organic and rich. So, the tube rectifier w/ a boost is the best of both worlds

It depends on your gain settings though. I actually find I prefer my Recto without a boost for bluesier, more explosive stuff, as while the TS sort of reshapes the way the front end overdrives, it also takes away some of the touch-sensitivity.


My advice?

Take your midrange knob. Re-label it "Suck." Mark "0" as "full" and 10 as "no." Then, turn the suck down to "no suck" for a while, and after you've annihilated everything in hearing range with sheer awesomeness, rachet down the lack-of-sucktitude a little bit to maybe 2/3 of the possible lack of suck. I mean, you can't just bust out that much un-suckiness all the time, you know?

I run my mids at like 2-3 o'clock for lead tones, on my Rectoverb's Modern mode. Seriously.

[JJ Rodriguez]

I run my mids on 9-10 with the Dragon

[eaeolian]

Originally Posted by Ishan

As for earplugs, you should buy those:
Etymotic Research, Inc. - ER•20 High Fidelity Earplugs
They are cheap, sound great, and are reusable almost indefinitly. Very good for the money.

Best bang for the buck in earplugs out there. I use a set when I go to shows.

It does take some time to get used to the mids, and scooping is definitely easier to play, but it sounds like ass with a band.

[DrakkarTyrannis]

Unscooping mids helped me realize my sound. The sound I wanted, ultra thick and heavy with just enough bite so that it cuts through a mix, came about when I gave it some serious thought about where I stood in the band and my role. Bass and bass drum help fill in the low in the overall sound, cymbals and even keys help with the high end, my domain was the midrange.
(Part 1)
Now that being said, I still love gain and low end, but I learned that if I pulled my gain back my playing became more articulate and more defined and in a band situation you hear notes not just " fizz fizz fizz". My sound is thicker due to lowered gain. Season to taste as they say but gain should be high enough to provide the edge you're looking for, but low enough so that it doesn't engulf your playing. It's an effect..an enhancement, remember that.

(Part 2)
The key to the sound I want lies in the relationship between mids and bass. Once you find the right balance you won't need bass on 10 and low mids. My triple X amp said it best involving eq "Bottom"-Bass, "Body"-Mids, "Hair"-treble, and that's the way I think about it.
Your mids are the body of your sound, everything else works around the amount of mids you put into your sound.
The bass is the bottom, it gives punch and backs up the mids to help fill it out. Bass acts to help thicken and provide "oomph" in your sound. You will learn that lowered bass and upped mids will give you that sound you were trying to get with lots of bass. Bass can't do it alone.
Treble is the hair.It rests on the body as a fine edge. It provides the cut and edge that you need to help cut through a mix. It puts the finishing touch so to speak on your sound and I've gone from having it on 10 to having it on about 3. My sound is fatter and cuts better because of it. Treble also helps put a fine tune to your articulation, and if you play a lot of fast stuff, it comes in handy.

(Part 3)
The relationship between presence and resonance is important. Assuming your amp has these features, you need to know what they do. The presence acts as fine tuning your high end to make it bright, or dark. I like a lot of presence, but I counteract that with not having a lot of treble. It helps the "cut" to my sound by making it sharp, yet without the razor ice pick edge. The resonance helps the low end frequencies. To me it's like turning your cab into a "hallway" making it longer, thus low end resonates more, or turning your cab into a "wall" sound hits the wall and there you go..that's it. This also helps to give your low end a little more depth, or to cut it back to give chunk, yet not too much "oomph" for faster playing.

(Part 4)
You can make other instruments in the band work for you. Ever listened to a cd and heard a guitar sound that was extremely bassy and thought "man how'd they do that', then the riff changes and you realize it was the bass, not just the guitar? Let's face it, guitar, especially in metal, is the dominant instrument, and you can use the other guitarist, bassist, even drummer to your advantage. The other guitarist will help fill out the overall guitar sound, the bassist provides ultra low end and when you're playing along with him with your new complimentary tone you'll sound massive. Chord punches also sound killer because the cymbals help the high end, bass and bass drum provide the punch, and your new complimentary tone is there to fill it all in and what the listener mainly hears is you (since you're the mid) and the cymbals, bass drum, bass..all complimentary.

Now all of this is just my take on guitar playing, so don't take it as the gospel, but the morals of the story still hold true. Recognize and realize your role and purpose in the band, relate to the band in such a way that your tone helps the band, not hurts it. Learn what the knobs on your amp do exactly and pay close attention to how it effects your sound. Once you find that sound without the dreaded "10-0-10" eq type, you'll never go back

[JJ Rodriguez]

The way I find the appropriate amount of gain is I start low, and start doing pinch harmonics until they scream at me enough I'm a pinch harmonic WHORE so that's my only real requirement from the gain, like you said, the lower the gain the more articulate shit is, so I just go with the bare minimum for harmonic whorage.

[pulse]

so i tried some things today.
im alright with the mids at around 11 oclock, and bass at around 9 oclock. but i just cant find the sound i want without turning the gain past 1 oclock. the TS 808 with the tone at 12 oclock, drive at 0, and volume at 12 oclock still gives me some feedback, and with the gain at 1 oclock, i find that the noise gate i have gives me just enough sustain, if i lower the gain.. it kills everything. so my rythym is okay. i like the treble at around 12, but i cant really get my presence above 9 oclock either, things get too bright and "buzz saw"ed. its just been rough, im not sure if its me using my chorus and dl4 out front... or using the noise gate first [i tried re arranging the pedals but it was a disaster] and when i use my neck pickup to do sweeps, it just sounds really bad. so i found an okay rythym tone with the mids up. it could be cause my cab is facing towards me. i have APC pickups.. a persuader lead and a Felony X. they are top notch pickups.. and an ibanez s.
my pedals are mxr smart gate-ibanez ts808- line 6 dl4, crybaby classic, volume pedal.

all my cables should be fine!!

maybe i could try channel 3 for rythym.

[-Nolly-]

Basically, DrakkarTyrannis has hit the nail on the head on every single point he made.

TS, playing with low gain and lots of mids will be very very weird at first. Stick with it for a bit though, maybe take the gain down incrementally as you get used to is, likewise with increasing the mids. Next time you rehearse with your band, walk to the front of the room and face back as you're playing - remember that the Orange cabs are very directional, and up close, the sound can be very different to the sound the audience hears.

If you're still not convinced, try making two recordings of your sound, one with your old, scooped settings, and one with plenty of mids and lower gain. Compare the two in a band mix, and you should find the non-scooped will punch through and have way more clarity.

At the end of the day though, it's your rig and your sound. If you simply prefer the sound of scooped mids, who are we to change your view.

[budda]

you're not playing with your band when you're EQ'ing, are you?

you said you use a toneport at home..

record a band practise. mids are KEY. as far as i know, ch3 and ch4 are the same, with modern mode having a slight difference between the two. i'd use 3 for lead and 4 for rhythm.

i leave my TS on 0-5-8 as far as knobs go, but on 0 i have some serious crunch (w00t modded TS7 ).

if you lower the gain, you will find you dont need the gate. Think of lamb of god - they dont run very much gain at all, that's how their palm mutes slam you so hard.

EQ your amp with your band. listen to feedback from them. you want crushing palm mutes? have the bassist play when you play. you want sizzling highs? get the drummer to use some cymbals to help out.

DT had a good post

(hey Drakkar, what do you run your EQ on these days? how are those tubes workin out for ya? )

how high are your pickups? pickup height plays a role in tone as well. the EQ will react differently at different volumes, remember this.

spend some time with your amp, get to know it. see what it can do. EQ and re-EQ, train your ear. it took me quite some time to get the right tone out of my jsx, but now i have it and i dont think of buying another amp often except as something different, not something better.

having great gear is all fine and dandy, but knowing your gear matters more IMO.

[pulse]

my pickups are as high as i can get with no buzz.
i just dislike the lack of sustain, but i think its just my noise gate. i did EQ with my drummer and keyboardist today. i should probably direct my cab out like a show though, rather than in toward the drummer. i hate feedback! and the hizzzz i get when im not playing.

what kind of settings are best for a lead tone??