Tone adjustments dialing in Jerry on sms or FTR?

[mijknahs]

Yes. Turn down the SMS and turn up the McIntosh to what ever volume you want (have the pot on the back of the SMS all the way up). You probably want the SMS between 9 and 10 o'clock. Personally, I have mine up to about 2 o'clock but then I like that "lush" tone.

Also try a slightly thinner pick. That definitely makes a difference in tone.

[mgbills]

I'll try everything else...and then the pick. I love my Adamas picks. They've got little grabby-grabs on the face, which works great for my fingers. I couldn't use them until I shielded the hell out of my strat. They would pick up this weird harmonic about 1/4" from the strings. Now...they're awesome.

[mijknahs]

I pretty much use only the Adamas 2.0 for electric and acoustic but occasionally I use the Dunlop Jazz II with the rounded tip (I don't like the sharp tip ones). Those sound good and have a good picking feel.

[Jon S.]

I spent an hour yesterday playing along with Without a Net and ended up with these settings to get my Jerrycaster sounding as close as possible to Jerry (the power amp is a Rocktron Velocity 300 - I'm showing just one side but I'm actually independently driving 2 12" speakers in a 2X12 cab with each side of the Rocktron).

But what's the deal with the SMS rear trim pot? I frankly do not even recall where mine is set (noon, likely). How are you guys setting yours? And what's the relationship between that pot and the front gain pot?

[mijknahs]

[quote="Jon S."]But what's the deal with the SMS rear trim pot? I frankly do not even recall where mine is set (noon, likely). How are you guys setting yours? quote]

Crank it all the way up!

I guess it depends on how hot of a signal whatever you're sending it to calls for. For most power amps you can turn it all the way up (no padding). If you were going direct to a PA or some kind of mixer you might want to turn it down.

[mgbills]

Cranial-Rectal inversion repaired. Thanks Jim & Jon! This board is great for brain-crampy kinda stuff. I cranked the knob on the back of the SMS, but it turned by Boss RC-30 Looping Hiss Generator into a house cat terrorizing device. It sounds just fine without that POS in the signal chain. The biggest thing was backing off on the Gain knob. Now I can balance the crispy '77 tone in my noggin' with my actual ability to play that cleanly.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

I was freakin' out! Everybody is like ice-picky ice-picky ice-picky, and I'm like a jazzy guy with the tone pot on one.

Awesome.

Peace
Marty

[Jon S.]

+1 to Marty.

I should have experimented with the rear trim pot long ago (instead, I set it on 1 o'clock when I received my SMS and never moved it once until over the past hour of experimentation).

Here's what I've found - these are empirical findings, not assumptions (though, of course, my hearing or judgment could one or both suck, in which case it's all useless anyway ):

1. Adjusting the rear trim pot has a very significant impact on all of volume, tone, and dynamics.

2. Cranking the pot up full or close to it both increases the overall volume and the guitar and amp's treble response. I.e., like volume pots on many guitars that lack treble bleed pots, I'm hearing more treble as the rear trim pot is upped to the point where, full on, I'm hearing an almost piezo like brittleness to the tone (that's just my word for it - others may characterize it differently and/or dig it).

3. With the rear trim pot up high and the gain high on the SMS, it is no longer a pure "clean machine." Just as Hendrix recorded searing leads in the studio through a cranked Twin Reverb, you can get plenty of crunch - more than than you might have thought you could - out of the SMS this way. (I.e., it's a far more versatile unit than may appear at first . The unit cranked would be a wonderful recording tool.)

4. But, with the rear trim pot up higher AND the front gain control lowered (say to 9 or 10 o'clock), you can get a very rich tone that is harmonically complex yet remains clean (if I'm interpreting Marty's post correctly, this is what he's found, too).

5. My Jerrycaster has a split Super 2 in the middle position. Through it, I ended up liking best the rear trim pot at around 3:15-3:30 and front gain control at around 10 o'clock. I think I'll keep it there at least for band practice tomorrow to give it a fuller workout and will report back if I make further changes.

6. At these adjusted setting, NOW I'm grokking Brad's and Mike's baseline/preferred settings of treble at 85%, mids at around noon, and bass off - the added girth from upping the rear trim pot makes the difference for me.

7. Lastly, I found the reverb fuller and lusher sounding after I upped the rear trim pot. I had to lower the control some afterwards to compensate!

The quest after tone is a harsh and jealous mistress but you get by with a little help from your friends. Thanks again to everyone contributing to this thread as once in while ...

[strumminsix]

Cranial-Rectal inversion repaired

No fucking way, man!

I've been telling folks for years that they need cranial-rectal-ectomy (remove head from ass)!

Good to see someone using something similar!

[mijknahs]

4. But, with the rear trim pot up higher AND the front gain control lowered (say to 9 or 10 o'clock), you can get a very rich tone that is harmonically complex yet remains clean (if I'm interpreting Marty's post correctly, this is what he's found, too).

6. At these adjusted setting, NOW I'm grokking Brad's and Mike's baseline/preferred settings of treble at 85%, mids at around noon, and bass off - the added girth from upping the rear trim pot makes the difference for me.

7. Lastly, I found the reverb fuller and lusher sounding after I upped the rear trim pot. I had to lower the control some afterwards to compensate!

Very cool discovery!

[waldo041]

4. But, with the rear trim pot up higher AND the front gain control lowered (say to 9 or 10 o'clock), you can get a very rich tone that is harmonically complex yet remains clean (if I'm interpreting Marty's post correctly, this is what he's found, too).

6. At these adjusted setting, NOW I'm grokking Brad's and Mike's baseline/preferred settings of treble at 85%, mids at around noon, and bass off - the added girth from upping the rear trim pot makes the difference for me.

7. Lastly, I found the reverb fuller and lusher sounding after I upped the rear trim pot. I had to lower the control some afterwards to compensate!

Very cool discovery!

+1

i might add that any "crunch" that may be heard is more likely the SMS clipping the front end of the amplifier used. this i believe is the sole reason for the trimpot as the sms can be used with all types of power amps, but not all can handle it's output. the sms and ab763 in general is designed super clean and incapable of clipping.

peace,
waldo

[mgbills]

"The Furthur in you go, the bigger it gets!"

Little, Big, John Crowley

I remember I picked up a Mesa Mark I w/ K120-. Bought & Sold a while back. Dialed in the tone stack Jerry Style, and thought...this is it! Fiddled with knobs for 6 months & said to myself "Self...this is almost it!"

Now my SMS has decided to blow my mind. There's is a thousand great Jerry nights in the whole rig!

I did just buy a Twin Head to furthur up the ante. But that'll be 3 months through a rebuild.

Peace to all.

Thanks so much for all the help. I frankly was embarassed to ask. Felt like I was twisting the treble wrong.