Ya know what I hate? When you find a sound that's so orgasmic and perfect that you play it for hours, then turn off power to your rig leaving all settings as they are to save it...then when you come back the next day, it just sounds like ass.
THAT'S what I hate.
In fact, last night I couldn't get ANYTHING to sound good to my ears. Every pedal on my board was just sounding disappointing. Its nights like those that make you want to start flipping gear...which is total madness because that gear sounded heavenly the night before. Maybe its the tubes in my amp are drifting out of their sweet spot? Maybe its the tubes in my head? GAH! So frustrating.
Only thing that sounded on point last night, was shimmering clean guitar.
It happens. I've been through this many, many times. Sometimes you've just got to take a break from effects IMO and play clean, then when you go back, it's like discovering something new again.
"I do not have the ability to think rationally 90% of the time and I also change my mind at the drop of a hat".
Fair point...the night before I had been playing for 3 hours when the magic happened. Last night I tried for maybe 30 minutes. Maybe my amp is just really slow to get its groove on.
I've had a few pedals that were especially tricky in this regard, but I don't think that's what you're talking about, like the noise swash and the great destroyer.
Maybe amp volume as well? I get this when I go from using speaker cab to headphones. Sounds are always a bit disappointing.
Iommic Pope wrote:This is the best you've been.
Suffering suits you.
BitchPudding wrote:Let this be written in our history as proof that ILoveFuzz is one tight knit internet family.
In a way it seemed like equalizer problems...but more. Highs were plastic and shrill instead of warm and angelic, and everything just felt gross. I tried tone knobs on the guitar, then resorted to tweaking tone on the amp...and on the pedals...
If its still doing it tonight, after I let the amp warm up for 30 mins or more, then tomorrow (after those molten tubes cool down), its tube rolling time. I have plenty of other tubes around here I can swap in. That should at least tell me if the problem is in the tubes.
It obviously could be tube-related...but try to account for other variables first before you start spending money or deconstructing.
I'm just about convinced, that more than any other single factor...the power you're using is the culprit in these cases.
Unless you're using a variac/voltage regulator/line conditioner to feed the same voltage to your amp every time... there will be fluctuations between days/time of day.
If you live in/near a major metropolitan area the fluctuations are more volatile...and some amps are more sensitive to this than others. Tube-rectified amps in particular FME. Big difference in sound with my Selmer when fed 226v vs 234v
Barometric pressure probably has something to do with these "off days" as well, acoustically. Seriously. Look up the day-to-day measures online, make notes.
Not sure if you're having to use a low volume at home, but it could just be that your amp's not getting loud enough to sound good—one of my amps really sounds like shit if it's not opened up enough.
Beyond that though, I bet it's just you. Your ears could be feeling different because of barometric pressure, allergies, stress/tension, any number of things. This kind of thing happens to me pretty regularly, and I've found that whenever I notice stuff's sounding like ass and I get pissed off, I just shut it down and come back the next day. Usually everything's fine.
neonblack wrote:They say tone is in the hooks
D.o.S. wrote:I'm pretty sure moderation leads to Mustang Sally.
coldbrightsunlight wrote:Yes I am a soppy pop person at heart I think with noises round the edge
Does sound like a warm up/volume issue here. However, I do go through this myself with gear. I usually just put it down and come back a day or two later. A lot of times changing instruments will help get me out of a funk. Burnin' one always helps find the magic, too.
While leaves shall fall, do branches intertwine, that we remain bound.
oh...ummm...yea...I should have probably mentioned that the night before when it was really blowing my mind, I had some serious Colorado lab-grown shit on board at the time. LOL Can't believe I didn't think of that as the possible difference.
HighDeaf1080p wrote:With tube amps, if you run them at higher volumes, does it heat the tubes more, or faster?
I don't have enough electronics knowledge to explain it from a true technical standpoint, but I do know that in my experience tube amps are happiest at their optimal levels, which is usually cranked or at least half up. If you've got a higher headroom amp and are running it at lower volumes, it's going to sound pretty weak and will greatly affect your EQ, etc. If you're running a low watt amp that's designed for more bedroom levels, it's much less likely to be an amp problem.
Also re: the ganj hahahaha yeah that could be it! Can be excellent for your perception sometimes, others not so much
neonblack wrote:They say tone is in the hooks
D.o.S. wrote:I'm pretty sure moderation leads to Mustang Sally.
coldbrightsunlight wrote:Yes I am a soppy pop person at heart I think with noises round the edge
Happens to me a lot, as it has been said most of the times it's just due to the amplifier not warming up fast enough.
The fact that i mainly use overdrives with low gain and high volume to push the amplifier doesn't help at all.
I'm having this issue mostly with the Hiwatt custom 50, it gests the real TONE after 30 minutes, and this can be problematic when you have limited rehearsal time.
Running the amp open *shouldn't* adversely impact the tubes, but if you're concerned you could check the plate voltages while playing loud to make sure that you're still within the bias range for the tubes. If it's high then you could bias a bit cold to compensate.
Dowi wrote:
The fact that i mainly use overdrives with low gain and high volume to push the amplifier doesn't help at all.
Ah, that's what I run as well...a little drive on the pedals, slamming into the amps front end with strong volume, so I can bathe in those bugle boys, and RCA black plates. Might help to run the amp cleaner, and let the pedals do the heavy lifting...but damn those tubes sound sooooo good pushed past their comfort zone.
Its a VOX Tony Bruno 18W 1x12. Two 12ax7's for preamp, and two 6V6's for power amp. Cathode biased.
Both of these instances happened at medium-loud bedroom/house level...no change to the volume...but I'm just asking if turning up the volume a bit will heat my tubes to that yummy spot faster.
