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Vintage threads from the first ten years
Gain Stageing/Stacking/Voicing
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 4/14/2003 7:03 PM |
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Ace Pepper |
Gain Stageing/Stacking/Voicing Hi All, How do y'all go about voicing high-gain-type amp gain stages? Should the first stage have more gain to slam the second stage, or should one add more gain down the signal path? Or is it better to have multiple gain stages that add up gain? What about a later overdrive section, like d*mbel? Is that a smoother tone, or could it drive the PI too hard? What about cathode followers; can they be slammed fairly hard, or does that sound too harsh? I've read/experienced that you don't want to slam the PI too hard 'cause it sounds nasty/fuzzy, but what about CF? What do y'all think? What about the tone stack? Should it be earlier (fender-style) or later (marshall-style) in the chain for the smoothest overdrive? What do y'all think about the SLO-type overdrive where there's a couple "normal" gain stages and a stage with very little gain (39k cathode resistor) that seems to act like a buffer for the stages before it? Does this smooth the sound? Is it a good idea? How 'bout "crunch"? My amps seem to crunch better if there's more gain early in the path, what do y'all think? Is this from driving one stage really hard, or more from one stage driving the following stage? How 'bout power amp distortion? How important is that for "crunch"? I know it makes for a good "growl", but doesn't seem to be enough without a nice, hot preamp. Waddaya think? I hope this generates discussion/several different opinions. Tryin' to get my mind around the big picture 
Thanx! Ace!  > |
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