Grateful Dead Music Forum

Does anyone know what settings I would use on my Qtron to approximate Jerry's tone from the Mutron? It is the full size Qtron with the effects loop which I never use.

Thanks all.

This has definitely been answered elsewhere on here, but I feel like typing.

Drive - Up for FotM, Estimated, Catfish John, etc. Down for Dancin
Range - Lo
Mode - LP
Response - Depends. I like fast sometimes, and slow some other times.
Peak - I set this at about noon. Too high and it gets quacky, too low and it doesn't work.
Gain - Set this so that the overload light flashes when you bang on a chord. It will depend on your pickups.

Take it easy,
Zach

The old envelope filter, or pain in the ass filter, can be sketchy under many circumstances. Try to run just a guitar signal into it if possible, you may find the octave needs to be before it, but maybe not depending on its tracking capabilities. Once you set your filter for a certain guitar like a Les paul, afterward a strat would need to be reconfigured when plugged in. Its so sensitive that one could only give a ballpark setting. I like to use the mix mode rather than the LP depending on the tone you want from it.

Messing with a few EF's I think the Qtron+ gets closest to the Mutron by some splitting hairs, but the Mutron has its own tone thing going on that has yet to be exactly copied. Those above settings should be very helpful for you. You will have to tweak it from there to get it close. I prefer to have the gain at the point the envelope opens on a medium pluck which may be about the same as above.

Thanks folks.

I have messed with it for a while and have tried multiple settings.....your's sound good Zach, Thanks!

It just seems to be missing the ...I'll call it warmth for lack of a better description that the Mutron seems to have. One of these day's I'll spring for a vintage one.

Thanks again.

When I play mine through an ultra clean Vox it lacks that "warmth". Then when I plug into a Twin, BANG. It sounds just right. What kind of amp and guitar are you using? I have a really hard time getting that nice vocal sound with Gibson-type humbuckers or P-90's that are too hot.

Another thing is paying attention to your picking. The low E will set off that overload too easily, so I strum it lighter, but then high E above the 9th or so fret requires quite the strum to get it to sound right.

schmidtz wrote:
Another thing is paying attention to your picking. The low E will set off that overload too easily, so I strum it lighter, but then high E above the 9th or so fret requires quite the strum to get it to sound right.

I like to pick right over the pick up I'm using - the bridge one 99 % of the time - to get a good quacky sound.
I find my picking hand likes to hang around the neck pup .... so I try to keep that in mind when using my Mini Q

Like mentioned above, I just realized how much the amp settings have A LOT to do with the good tone of that pedal. On my Gdec of many voices, it is drastically different through different models. The blackface set to Jerry parameters is PERFECT. More proof to the Gdecs capabilities. It is soft, not over bassy, it is the best I have ever got my Qtron to sound.VERY IMPORTANT I do have to mention I also set a Boss EQ before the Qtron with the exact settings on dozin's site of Jerry's 90's Rig. Tweaked the Gain to get the signal in line around 9 oclock, and took the peak about 10 oclock. Maybe this will help too, its worth a try if it comes out as good as mine did. I have yet to try it on my Twin preamp, hoping for the best, and the Gdec voicing was A/B'd for a few hours to get identical. The only difference is the tube preamp has a little more harmonics or is less sterile, but by a splitting hair, it can barely be heard. I was Using a super II in the middle Humbucking.

JB

I've found single coils work better than HB's, and,

you need OD/Dist and reverb too.