Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I recently got one of these used. Too many knobs and dials to fully check out at time of purchase needless to say. In any event I'm finding perhaps a problem with the AC models, most notably the AC30TB model. Here is the setup: Attenuator in the back at about the third dot.Gain about 11 o'clock.Volume dimed.All EQ's at 1 o'clock.FX using low level reverb.Master volume dimed. This gives a fairly low volume overdrive. I plug in a strat w/SC's and get a really nasty sounding overdriven sound. It can be really heard playing single strings, I really hear it playing the third string at frets 3,4,5. It almost sounds like a blown speaker. But if I up the attenuator and clean up the sound, it goes away. Higher volumes clean, no problem. Not near as bad with humbuckers. The blackface and tweed models, I don't hear it but I'm really curious because I have read that a lot of folks use the AC30 as their 'goto' model with this amp. Now I know that this is modeling an overdriven tube, but is this the way it is supposed to sound or do I have something funky going on? Can anyone owning this amp reproduce this? I can probably record it if it would be of help. Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jbviper4 Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I will set mine up that way tonight and see if it happens on mine, but in the meantime - try the folks over at www.valvetronix.net - they are a friendly and knowledgeable bunch. Good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Highway_61 Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I recently got one of these used. Too many knobs and dials to fully check out at time of purchase needless to say.In any event I'm finding perhaps a problem with the AC models, most notably the AC30TB model. Here is the setup:Attenuator in the back at about the third dot.Gain about 11 o'clock.Volume dimed.All EQ's at 1 o'clock.FX using low level reverb.Master volume dimed.This gives a fairly low volume overdrive. I plug in a strat w/SC's and get a really nasty sounding overdriven sound. It can be really heard playing single strings, I really hear it playing the third string at frets 3,4,5. It almost sounds like a blown speaker. But if I up the attenuator and clean up the sound, it goes away. Higher volumes clean, no problem. Not near as bad with humbuckers.The blackface and tweed models, I don't hear it but I'm really curious because I have read that a lot of folks use the AC30 as their 'goto' model with this amp.Now I know that this is modeling an overdriven tube, but is this the way it is supposed to sound or do I have something funky going on? Can anyone owning this amp reproduce this? I can probably record it if it would be of help.Thanks... An audio clip would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I will set mine up that way tonight and see if it happens on mine, but in the meantime - try the folks over at www.valvetronix.net - they are a friendly and knowledgeable bunch. Good luck... Thanks... I'll get an audio clip up shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Here is a clip. Starts with the AC30TB model, then switches to the tweed. You can still sort of hear it, but not near as bad. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6664237 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C-4 Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Turn the attenuator in the back of the amp up all the way. Don't go by dots, use your ears and don't look at the controls while adjusting them. Keep your master volume full up.Dial in the tones remembering that the dials will react as the original amp does, so start with them at noon and go from there. If you need to, back off the master volume a bit, but this will take some clarity away from the tone slightly. Backing off of thhe attenuator will also take clarity away from the amp. See if this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Turn the attenuator in the back of the amp up all the way. Don't go by dots, use your ears and don't look at the controls while adjusting them. Keep your master volume full up.Dial in the tones remembering that the dials will react as the original amp does, so start with them at noon and go from there.If you need to, back off the master volume a bit, but this will take some clarity away from the tone slightly. Backing off of thhe attenuator will also take clarity away from the amp. See if this helps. I was only providing the dots for point of reference to someone reproducing this. I agree with what you say, but what I'm going for is low volume overdriven sound. I thought that is what the attenuator was designed to do. I works okay on some models, but this one sounds not so good... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I've never dimmed the volume control only the master. Not sure if that might be what you are hearing. I'm not sure how many dots there are on the attenuator, I'm usually at about 11 o'clock Base and treble controls someplace between 2o'clock and dimmed position usually. Mid at noon Not sure I heard what you are hearing on the clip, I heard some buzzing but I heard that on both models Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iron chicken Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but it helps if you can disable the nosie gate. 1: Press the bypass button so that the bypass light comes on. 2: Then hold the TAP button down whilst turning the EDIT 1 knob.3; Turning the Edit 1 knob in a clockwise direction progressively turns on the noise gate earlier. 4: Turning the Edit 1 knob in a counter-clockwise direction, progressively turns off the noise gate. You have to repeat this every time you put the amp on. It might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I've never dimmed the volume control only the master. Not sure if that might be what you are hearing. I'm not sure how many dots there are on the attenuator, I'm usually at about 11 o'clockBase and treble controls someplace between 2o'clock and dimmed position usually. Mid at noon Not sure I heard what you are hearing on the clip, I heard some buzzing but I heard that on both models It is the buzzing, sounds terrible. It is in both models but much less in the Fender model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but it helps if you can disable the nosie gate.1: Press the bypass button so that the bypass light comes on. 2: Then hold the TAP button down whilst turning the EDIT 1 knob.3; Turning the Edit 1 knob in a clockwise direction progressively turns on the noise gate earlier. 4: Turning the Edit 1 knob in a counter-clockwise direction, progressively turns off the noise gate.You have to repeat this every time you put the amp on.It might help. I tried messing with the noise gate, it had no effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Some more interesting info. If I plug in headphones, I still get the buzzing sound. Not quite so bad, but still there. So that takes the speaker, grille, cab, and tube out of the equation and seems to put it pretty much on the input modeling ckt. The strat is a Squier with stock pups, but I've also plugged in a MIM tex mex with hotter pups and had the same result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 I think I've determined that the amp has nothing to do with this. I plugged the same guitar into my Fender tube amp and got the same effect when using a Bad Monkey to overdrive it. So it is probably some interaction of single coils and overdriven tube, or cheap single coils and overdriven tubes, I don't know. I think the reason this happened is because I usually only play the s/c's clean or with very little o/d and even the cheap Squires sound pretty nice this way. But what I was trying to do with the vox was drive the s/c's further than I usually do. They sure do sound like crap though - I learned that much. Buckers sound fine in the same zone. False alarm, sorry...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JohnnyLarge Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 My Vox AD15VT was very noisy on some settings when used with my Aria Strat with S/C pick-ups. I did the shielding thing with the copper tape in the routs and behind the pick-guard. I believe this creates a 'Faraday Cage'? Anyway I still had a bit of noise there. I soldered a piece of wire direct to the copper shielding in the routs and soldered it to the bottom tone knob pot by mistake instead of the volume knob. Guess what? No noise whatsoever. The only thing is when the tone knob is all the way up to 10 and I am in a certain pick-up configuration, it acts a a kill-switch. Bonus if you ask me. We all learn by our mistakes. The copper tape was about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dcindc Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 The attenuator is a gimmick. There, I said it.If you look at the circuitry, the atten is just a volume control before the solid state pwr amp. It's nothing like a Hot Plate on a tube amp. I have the AD15VT that doesn't have one. So I use the master. I get great tones. Turning some of the knobs down makes for better tone. I rarely run the gain over 2 oclock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members goodhonk Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 The attenuator is a gimmick. There, I said it.If you look at the circuitry, the atten is just a volume control before the solid state pwr amp. It's nothing like a Hot Plate on a tube amp.I have the AD15VT that doesn't have one. So I use the master. I get great tones.Turning some of the knobs down makes for better tone. I rarely run the gain over 2 oclock. +1, like most amps, this one sounds best loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members samuraiBSD Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Yeah, I've only used the attenuator a little bit, very rarely do I have it anywhere but all the way up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 211dave112 Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 how close are the pickups to the strings, sounds a bit like what I've heard refered to as a "wolf-tone", happens when the pickups are affecting the strings resonance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 25, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 how close are the pickups to the strings, sounds a bit like what I've heard refered to as a "wolf-tone", happens when the pickups are affecting the strings resonance. Just eyeballing it, maybe 1/4 inch 6-7mm.. Maybe try lowering them? Edit: I lowered the pups, and it only lowered the volume. Once bringing it back up on the amp, same thing. I think it's just a matter of knowing what models work best with what guitar and where to dial it in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 211dave112 Posted June 25, 2008 Members Share Posted June 25, 2008 Just eyeballing it, maybe 1/4 inch 6-7mm.. Maybe try lowering them? Edit: I lowered the pups, and it only lowered the volume. Once bringing it back up on the amp, same thing. I think it's just a matter of knowing what models work best with what guitar and where to dial it in. wouldn't hurt, can always just put them back btw, that was a total guess on some information i read many moons ago, but thought it may help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted June 26, 2008 Author Members Share Posted June 26, 2008 The attenuator is a gimmick. There, I said it.If you look at the circuitry, the atten is just a volume control before the solid state pwr amp. It's nothing like a Hot Plate on a tube amp.I have the AD15VT that doesn't have one. So I use the master. I get great tones.Turning some of the knobs down makes for better tone. I rarely run the gain over 2 oclock. I'm sure you are right about it. Through a bit more fooling around this evening I did find a use for the attenuator though. Backing it off a tad from its max tones down the hiss coming from the amp. And you are right, if I have it about 2 oclock, I can use the volume as a 'master', with the real master dimed. Sounds and acts the same as having both top volumes dimed, and using the attenuator as the 'master'. This amp clearly takes some time to figure out what to do for optimum results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mr footinmouth Posted June 26, 2008 Members Share Posted June 26, 2008 It's tricky to find the sweet spots with this amps, It took me awhile to get mine to sound right. I had a similar problem with higher gain models, whre there would be a distorted thump when playing very low or very highe notes. (like an overwhelmed speaker) specially with single coils. It went away when I turned the volume never past 12 oclock and used the atenuator as a volume (the master always dimed). now is smooth as silk, plus I can get the clean sounding models to better match the volume of the higher gain ones so that I can switch back and forth with a foot switch. I still yet to find any real use for most of the efects other than the reverb or delay which I always use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 26, 2008 Members Share Posted June 26, 2008 Here is a clip. Starts with the AC30TB model, then switches to the tweed. You can still sort of hear it, but not near as bad. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6664237Turn down the treble! And bring the lows up a bit and the mids up more. Do you like that thin, bright tone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted June 26, 2008 Members Share Posted June 26, 2008 I tried messing with the noise gate, it had no effect. Shut the gate off. This amp is really easy to dial in. Just use your ears and adjust as necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members savoldi Posted June 26, 2008 Members Share Posted June 26, 2008 I think the reason this happened is because I usually only play the s/c's clean or with very little o/d and even the cheap Squires sound pretty nice this way. But what I was trying to do with the vox was drive the s/c's further than I usually do. They sure do sound like crap though - I learned that much. Buckers sound fine in the same zone. I've had much better luck with buckers or P90's with my AD50. It doesn't like my strat much at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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