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As I suspect you've already found out, the problem with that approach is that the noise floors for each component in your signal chain are additive and independent of signal level, as are induced noises (e.g. RFI). So more electronic background noise will be passed to the amp by keeping the guitar's volume pot high to compensate for low signal levels from light playing. And keeping the amp's gain up will amplify the noise as well as the signal, resulting in audible noise both live and in recordings.
Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
The more quietly you play and the more you rely on amplification for audibility and expression, the worse any noise problem will be. So choice of equipment is critical. Everything from pickups and wiring to choice of amplifiers needs to be inherently quiet and as resistant to induced electrical noise as possible. For example, we see many posts on JGO about background hiss in amplifiers - it's been a running topic in threads about the Little Jazz, for example (although I did not have this in my own). A very faint hiss that's independent of volume settings is irrelevant in most live performance, but it can ruin a quiet solo gig or a recording.
The club in which I play weekly is in an old building next to a regional rail line and a cell phone tower. The 440V line and associated stuff on the other side of the wall adds some random noise to the house sound system despite serious and expensive filtering etc. And the cell tower injects prominent static and hissing every time a call is initiated through it or handed off to it. The banks of stage lights also cause RFI. The noise comes through almost every electrified instrument to some degree and gives new meaning to the term "the sound of Fender". Even my active EMG and my Lace Alumitones will occasionally pick up a bit of this noise if I get close to the wall and turn in the right (or wrong) direction, as does our Nord and either the Hammond XK5 or the Leslie (or both).
In my home studio, I do not hear any background noise in my Quilters, my Henriksen, or my DV Mark EG250 with gains set at any usable level. Even wide open, none is more than barely audible. You just need to be careful in choosing and shielding your pickup, all wiring / cabling, amp, line power sources, and physical location within in the area in which you play to minimize all sources of noise that might reach the speaker.
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12-17-2022 12:03 PM
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I only have experience with the Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
Bam 200 , and my Metro BG
(Volume wise I could handle the 6db
less offered potentially by the Sblock
no worries)
note the pairing with the bam gives
a totally clean sound ....
IF want any touch sensitive grease on your sound , it won’t do that
At some point I wanna try an amp
with it that’ll give me a bit of grease
too
maybe a Quilter or DV mark
I think I’ll wait till someone makes an affordable one box
50 or 100 watt micro amp with a tube
front end with gain and master volume .... (with a nice reverb too)
It’ll happen at some point ....
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agreed , clean boost the input Jim Originally Posted by Gitterbug
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The SBUS gives a very nice mild but thick and smooth OD from a humbucker with the gain between 12 o'clock and 3, the limiter at 12, and the volume at 12 to 1. It's been fantastic on blues gigs throuhgh my 10" Toob. And the DVMs with a tube in the preamp do this as well or maybe even a little bit better. I think the Quilter reverb is a bit more old school - you have to keep the DVM reverb low or it gets a bit spacey. Originally Posted by pingu
Watch for sales at the big web dealers - 'tis the season to buy wisely. I got $100 off list last year at this time on my DV Mark EG250, but that model doesn't have a separate gain control and stays clean all the way up. They also offer a 60 and a 250 with both gain and volume controls that will overdrive themselves.
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I've given up using amplifiers for recording ... or any other device. I plug the guitar directly into the interface and then use Scuffham's S-Gear VST amp-sim plug-in. Since all of the gain staging is done after the fact and is non-destructive, I can experiment endlessly until I have an acceptable noise level. I'm nine songs into a solo album and it's working remarkably well. (The Universal Audio interface has also helped a lot). Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Milkman ‘the amp’ Originally Posted by pingu
Or better yet- Victory Duchess V4
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very nice .... Originally Posted by EastwoodMike
(but not affordable)
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Sorry if I missed it while skimming above, but why did you choose this rig for the gig as opposed to the Henriksen Blu?
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I wanted to find out if it would do the job. DJs hired to do affairs there don’t bother bringing their own sound systems because the house system is so easy to access and very very good. So I figured I’d just play through that if the Microblock/Metro couldn’t handle it. Originally Posted by oldHaus
It was fine, and now I know.
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Oh okay, makes sense.
If you could have only one amp to gig with, would you keep the Henriksen though? Or is this set up good enough to use instead of the Henriksen?
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Its all relative... Originally Posted by pingu
I have over time built up a "deconstructed" version of the same-
Namely :
Duchess V1 Drive/Preamp -> EQD Dispatch master -> Mooer Trelicopter -> Blackstar Dept10 Tube buffer -> Bam200
Funnily enough the sum of the individual pedals gives me the same price of the all-in-one Victory V4 (earlier version without the 2note CabSims) and probably sounds damn close.
The deconstructed method will give you more control of the individual makeup of the signal chain but has the added cost of a Pedal board & supply and stuff to carry around and patch cables. I also added in a freeze pedal, a looper and a tuner.
The All in one solution also gives you an effects loop and additional an 500mA DC supply. So yeah overall better value especially as you can use the effects loop for alternate tonal characters.
The DVMark GH250 tube is the same price again (if you can find one)
An equivalent output Quilter (TB202) costs a bit less. To obtain a Hendrickson Bud head here would cost me 1.5 times as much. Blackstar recently introduced a competitively priced and pretty flexible digital modelling pedal amp (Amped1) No tubes in any of those options if that is important enough. All some flavor of a ClassD output stage.
To obtain a high headroom all Tube head solution would cost me at least twice as much with the added cost of weight.
So all being relative, I think they are priced right for the market they are in.
Cheaper still? Perhaps Artist, Beringer or Nux will come out with something.
Cheers
EMike.
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that's cool to hear but I used a microblock on a gig and it was vastly underpowered. Same experience with the dvmark jazz 1x12 amp.
I noticed the bass player on your gig using the small GK amp on your gig.
The bassists around here use a rig more like this, sometimes only 1 12" cab but often 2 for a loud gig at a jazz club.
I don't like depending on FOH for my stage volume. Too often they get the tone/vol wrong in the monitors and then I hate the sound. Also, many places around here don't have a house system.
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If I could only have one, it’d be the Blu for sure. It lets all my guitars sound their best. It’s built like a tank, looks great, has decent reverb, and its EQ is both versatile and effective. It’s powerful enough for any gig I’ll ever play. If they call me to do the afterparty for the Academy Awards, I’m sure they’ll have sound reinforcement Originally Posted by oldHaus
The only thing it doesn’t offer is an overdriven sound. The Superblock US has gain and output volume controls plus a limiter. They don’t make it a Dumble, but they work pretty well together. So I can dial in both the slight “puffiness” of a tube amp and a decently creamy lead tone for blues and fusion. It’s also nice for a “smooth jazz” Carlton tone. I have to use my Tumnus Deluxe to do that with the Blu.
A SB and a 10” Toob are hundreds of US$ less than a Blu 6. A SB and a Metro are half the cost, and a Metro with a Gnome, BAM or other under-$200 head is even less. Any of these would be great for jazz and commercial gigs in restaurants, clubs etc. They’re all great for any gig if there’s sound reinforcement at the venue, except that you’ll need to add the effects(s) of your choice for heads without them. The 10” Toob is more efficient than the Metro, so it lets you cover those few dates on which a Metro would struggle.
I could also live happily ever after with my 10” Toob and DV Mark EG250 for a combined cost at least $300 below a Blu 6 when the DVM is on sale (a common occurrence at the big online retailers). The EG has reverb but lacks separate gain and volume controls, so it’s clean ‘way past making your ears bleed. But there are a few versions of their 250W (into 4 Ohms) with drive channels, adjustable gain etc if you need it. And you can drive two 8 Ohm Toobs with any of the the DVM 250s, so that’s another combo for every gig.
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The DV Mark 50/60 versions are loud for the wattage and not as bright as Quilter's 101R, which is nevertheless 50% lighter. As the latter can no longer be sold in Europe due to some regulatory snag, they say, I'm hoping too see a successor soon, with SuperBlock voicings and other recent Quilter features in a max. 2 lbs enclosure.
Last edited by Gitterbug; 12-19-2022 at 03:20 PM.
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