Grateful Dead Music Forum

So... is it possible to closely (not exactly) replicate that Garcia overdrive/distortion tone at low volume? I am a hobbyist. My Fender Super 60 (red knob) rarely goes over 1 or 2 on either Clean or OverDrive channels for fear of blowing out windows or neighbors or both. I have a Danelectro Cool Cat Transparent Overdrive that is a warm sounding, inexpensive overdrive pedal. It has been compared to the Cochrane Timmy but only about $120 less. I can drive the tone and get clean distortion (I know thats an oxymoron) but I don't get that air moving that like I have read about in so many previous threads. I guess what I am referring to is that crackle that Garcia achieved (and by so many of you that have stage JBL rigs and play live).

Is it possible to come close to that elusive tone at low volume? By adding a Distortion pedal to the chain, will that help or just muddy it up? Would I be better off attempting to model the tone with software and simulate the tone because it cannot be achieved with natural speaker "break-up"? I have both NI Guitar Rig software and M-Audio Blackbox hardware, as well.

Your opinions are always valued.

Thanks.

~Brutus

You won't get "air moving" at low volumes, period, and speaker breakup is not really a factor, that's why JBL 120's were chosen to begin with.

However your tone might be anemic because you are running your 60 w tube amp power section too quietly, out of it's "sweet-spot" or range of optimum response. That red-knob 60 wants to rage!!

That's one more great thing about tapping the preamp, converting or adding a jack, and running it to a solid state power amp to run the speaker: consistency of tone across the volume range. You can optimize your preamp and effects settings and then have them respond the same way whether at very loud or very quiet volumes.

My 2 cents, now let the experts speak.

I'd say get a much lower power tube amp. Maybe a Blues Jr. or a Princeton Reverb or some kind of 12 watt or 18 watt combo. Or check out the amazing 8 watt Reason Bambino. It can get all kinds of preamp drive or true 8 watt push/pull pentode power tone. Personally, I can fill up most bars with a 12 watt Tweed Deluxe type amp with a JBL. My 24 watt Deluxe Reverb is too loud most of the time.

Brad

I use an attenuator between the amp and the speaker. You can drive the tubes as hard as you want on the amp and keep the volume low using the attenuator.

Axe-FX will do it.

Whatever you do, I wouldn't start adding more distortion pedals.

Hey y'all,

Thanks for responding. Distortion is not the answer... drive the tubes but limit the volume. Seems like either getting ahold of a less powerful amp or go the attenuator route.

Thanks all... and I am sure that my neighbors will thank you too!

~Brutus

I always thought that an attenuator did just exactly this.

Or...how about a volume pedal after the preamp and before the power amp?

mk

I have a Weber Mini-Mass that I’m pretty happy with. It runs the load through a dummy speaker and doesn’t seem to color the sound at all.