Live Jerry Tone Too Bright?

[mijknahs]

Yes, I find a big difference between a 1x12 and a 2x12 cabinet. 2x12 is much fatter and warmer sounding. Never tried a 3x12. That might fatten the sound up even more (or maybe 2 x (2x12) stacked).

[mijknahs]

I wonder why both preamps have cables in them?

they don't! the blackface appears to but if you zoom out of that picture you will find that is the counter weight on the end of a mic boomstand, and not a cable.

peace,
waldo

I see now. Thanks for pointing that out. At first I thought it was some heavy duty cable connector going into the blackface.

[tapestry]

I just hooked up my new Mcintosh 2100 to my 67 blackface twin tonight. BIG difference in tone. (thanks bpg21)

Without the mac and with Jerry's twin settings - the twin by it self was VERY bright and thin.

WITH the mac and the same settings - I have yet to get a thin sound at any setting. Much more full sounding and rich. Very BIG sound.

I am playing through a HT style cab with 2 jbl e-120s.

I would have to agree with most and say a mc250 is more than enough. I am only hooked in to one side of the 2100 in stereo and I couldnt imagine running in bridged mono!

[mijknahs]

WITH the mac and the same settings - I have yet to get a thin sound at any setting. Much more full sounding and rich. Very BIG sound.

+1

[JonnyBoy]

welcome to the club.... the big mcintosh club.

Yes the 50 watt, (or 80 watt) amp is very loud. It has the overhead of a twin reverb combo running one side only. Warm like a tube amp, and dynamic like a SS. It is truly the exact amp I have always wanted, and in reality I actually wish it wasn't due to its cumbersome nature and price. The Tubeworks Amps are close to my liking, but still the mac runs much warmer, enough that I will lug this boat anchor around. I think Vic mentioned he used a super warm SS amp too in the past, maybe a Crest?? I couldn't imagine running Jerry settings into something brighter. It is amazing how the twin preamp seems to be made for this power section. Wild!! Congrats on finding your gem!!

[tapestry]

Thanks. Im planning on bringing in to my teach to test, but already it looks mint (except a small dent in the cage) and sounds incredible.

I guess there are some components that can be replaced, ill see what my tech says about it. Seriously, its clean...the chrome, knobs everything looks mint.

I have to really thank this community and Brian, BPG21, for hooking me up with this amp. Brian lives an hour away from me and he put up with my "i have to have it now" and invited me to his place to try it out before I bought it. He is a really cool, stand up guy...and has some serious guitar chops! He got to play my warmoth tiger and I got to play his Carvin wolf! I had to take my daughter shopping, so I could stay longer to play!

I will post a couple of clips once I get everything over to the practice space. I am extremely excited to practice wednesday!

[mijknahs]

I used to have a Crest and it was a bit harsh. Great for a bass power amp though.

[playingdead]

I first tried a Crown XLS 402 power amp, it was too harsh for my ears. I switched to using the power section of an Acoustic Image Focus 2R, which was nice and warm and sounded wonderful.

Half of the "problem" getting reproducible Garcia tone that is not too bright or piercing is dealing with your stage environment. Dialing it in in your living room is not the same as at the bar ... remember that Garcia's rig was always sitting out on a big open stage through the same speaker mic and PA ... much easier to keep it dialed in and consistent. The stacks of equipment cases behind his cabinet were constant, too, that makes a difference.

When I was using the old school rig, two of the bigger venues we played were exact opposites ... Johnny D's has a brick wall right behind where the cabinet went, made it bright as hell. Harpers Ferry has a stage that just swallows treble for whatever reason. I used to throw a moving blanket behind the cabinet at Johnny D's and sometimes turn the bright switch on at Harpers, I never used it anywhere else. And I only knew to do that because we played each place multiple times each year. The one-off venues were more of a crapshoot.

(It's nice not having to worry about that part of the equation any more.)

But having a power amp that's not adding to the shrillness is going to be a big help.

[tapestry]

Vic...I just noticed this - even in the living room!

Last night when I hooked everything up, I had the cab solid on the floor. Very full sound and not bright or crispy.

Today, I put it back on top of my sideways twin and - BAM - much brighter and more high end, but still full. I took a few minutes to crank up the twin to about 6 and the mac to about 4, lowered my volume knob on my guitar and dialed in the tone with my guitar's tone knob. For some licks/songs it sounded perfect with the tone wide open, some sounded better with the tone rolled off a bit.

One thing I noticed was that when playing with my tone knobs on my guitar using the mac, there are a few sweet spots that add in certain frequencies or harmonics that really nail the tone. Above or below those spots and it sounds more "normal".

Then i kicked on my od and wow! the mac really reacts differently than just the twin. I had to dial down my tone knob to almost all the way gone and then that sweet Jerry harmonic overdrive kicked in! I had never been able to get this kind of sound just with the twin! The tone knob is reactive and really makes a difference like never before. When just playing the twin, the tone knob was just two settings, muddy and clean. I remember reading on the yahoo boards about how Jerry would roll down his tone knob to get a horn like OD going - I never understood that or had it work for me until today.

So I found that I can set the volume levels higher on the twin and mac and roll down the volume on the guitar to find the right level - then I play with the ton knob on the guitar till I get the right quack. Adding more volume on the twin gives more more tube breakup and I can easily control the breakup with pick dynamics.

Adding the Mcintosh is like having a whole new rig! Now I just need to save up enough for the Sarno sms!

[helio]

Thought folks on this thread might find this interesting: Seems that Jeff Beck shares Jerry's penchant for dialing way back on his amps' bass controls, and controlling highs from guitar.

See the attached video, wherein the tech says rolling off the bass is the first thing Beck will do in dialing in an amp (JTM 45, in this case).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wg-9WrMxf8