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How much gain does one REALLY need........


fridgit

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The recto doesn't have a lot of gain? Compared to what?

 

 

5150 has more gain and a lot of metal amps have more gain as well. It certainly isn't lacking gain of course, but its voicing matters just as much as its gain. Because of its active EQ and voicing it gets this aggressiveness that works with the amount of distortion you can get. Just mess around with the gain, treble and presence on that amp and you will know what I am talking about.

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5150 has more gain and a lot of metal amps have more gain as well. It certainly isn't lacking gain of course, but its voicing matters just as much as its gain. Because of its active EQ and voicing it gets this aggressiveness that works with the amount of distortion you can get. Just mess around with the gain, treble and presence on that amp and you will know what I am talking about.

 

 

Anything past noon on the 5150 is absolutely useless the recto on 1:30 has almost the same amount.

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Anything past noon on the 5150 is absolutely
useless the recto on 1:30 has almost the same amount.

 

 

Depends how you set the presence and treble for that.

 

Like I said, I'm not going to argue that the Recto isn't a high gain amp, but its voicing and settings have a very big impact on the amount of distortion.

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If you can - do a direct comparison. Set your amp to how you like it, and give your guitar to someone and have them play in a band setting.

 

then turn down your gain and get them to play and listen again, you'd be surprised with how little gain you can get away with, and (i think) it sounds better with *a bit less gain than you thought you wanted*

 

that's really the only way to test it out, you can't listen to someone on the internet that says "oh put your gain on 6.2 on x amp cos trust me it's awesome"

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I love a {censored}load of gain. On my JSX, I used the crunch channel, gain maxed, or the lead channel gain around 7. 5150 lead channel, gain would be between 6 and 7. 6505+ I had the gain around 7 ish. 5150 212 I use the crunch channel, crunch in, bright in, gain around 8-max. On a 5153, I would have the gain on channel 3 at about 75%. Yeah...I like a lotta gain. I usually go to the point of maximum saturation, right before the gain knob starts to really just add compression.

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I'm not one to tell people how to set their amp. Dial in the tone you like.

 

That said, the gain anywhere above 4 on my .50 Caliber + is white noise territory. I keep it around 2 and use my guitar volume knob to get sounds from 70s crunch up to 80s hair metal. 3-4 gets me in Master of Puppets territory. I can't imagine playing with the gain on 7 or above like some claim to do.

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I sold my 5150 head. I want it back. Fuuuuuuuuuggggghh! Asking how much gain does one really need is likely to get you a wide range of personal opinions on what others preferences are. My tone changes depending on my mood. One thing I can be fairly certain of is your rig has plenty of gain. Experiment, find a sweet spot and honk.

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I think most people tend to use too much gain. Even for metal.

 

I love high-gain but I set my amp to where the sound becomes fully saturated. Then I turn back the gain a little. You want some crunch and texture to your distortion. Too much gain and it becomes fizzy and compressed.

 

I'm using a Mark IV which has ridiculous amounts of gain on tap. :o

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Depends on the amp and a ton of other factors...

 

On my Cobra I like to run the gain kinda low and on the dry side.

My Mark III I like to run a lot of gain, in which case I still use considerably less than the amp itself can dish out.

On my VHT I mess around with using more gain, less gain, boosted, or straight in...it sounds great no matter what.

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I returned my Blackstar HT40 because it was broken, but in the brief time I had it I started liking it less each time I played it. When going for a high-gain sound, anything up past 5 just didn't work for me. Where most amps would start getting heavier and meaner, the Blackstar seemed to compress, smooth out and get less aggressive sounding. Turning the volume up louder didn't seem to help, and I can see where some guys say the Blackstars sound like stompboxes. That said, the "Class A" mode that it had was tops for nailing what it was after. Great clean, too.

 

Meanwhile, the Laney I just picked up will also get super fuzzy and smooth, but in a much better way. Generally, I only use one stage of gain on it, and it has a nice 80s metal sound that way. As I've gotten older I've noticed that I'm backing the gain off more and more. It's not so much because I'm getting 'soft' in my old age, but more that I want more of that chunky rompyness and dynamics of what I'm playing to come through.

 

The Blackstar just squashed that stuff flat.

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I returned my Blackstar HT40 because it was broken, but in the brief time I had it I started liking it less each time I played it. When going for a high-gain sound, anything up past 5 just didn't work for me. Where most amps would start getting heavier and meaner, the Blackstar seemed to compress, smooth out and get less aggressive sounding. Turning the volume up louder didn't seem to help, and I can see where some guys say the Blackstars sound like stompboxes. That said, the "Class A" mode that it had was tops for nailing what it was after. Great clean, too.

 

Meanwhile, the Laney I just picked up will also get super fuzzy and smooth, but in a much better way. Generally, I only use one stage of gain on it, and it has a nice 80s metal sound that way. As I've gotten older I've noticed that I'm backing the gain off more and more. It's not so much because I'm getting 'soft' in my old age, but more that I want more of that chunky rompyness and dynamics of what I'm playing to come through.

 

The Blackstar just squashed that stuff flat.

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5150 has more gain and a lot of metal amps have more gain as well. It certainly isn't lacking gain of course, but its voicing matters just as much as its gain. Because of its active EQ and voicing it gets this aggressiveness that works with the amount of distortion you can get. Just mess around with the gain, treble and presence on that amp and you will know what I am talking about.

 

 

5150 have a passive tonestack though. I do agree with what you are saying.

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