Adding "Gain" to amp.

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by Rayman

I just happen to have a used Mustang 1 v2 sitting in a closet. Maybe I should haul it out and learn how to use it. Thanks.

Yeah if you have a Mustang 1 I would try that rather than buying a new pedal.

If money were no object I would still choose a decent valve amp over a cheap modelling amp.

[Eric_M]

Originally Posted by Rayman

Glad that you asked. I've been playing acoustic guitar for awhile then decided to try my hand at electric. This is a whole different world. I am currently attempting to learn a song called "Someone Like You" by Edele. The song is an instrumental performed with an electric guitar.

The musician is making some amazing tones with hammer ons on hammer offs. It sounds like he is actually striking the string but he isn't. I understand that some of this is accomplished with technique. I think that what he is getting is called "sustain", if I understand it. Also, some of this is related to guage of strings, thickness of pick, quality of guitar and probably some other things. But some of it is also accomplished with pedals and amp adjustments with things like gain, compression, overdrive and God knows what else.

I've been playing with a software program called "Amplitude" which is an amp and pedal simulator. Amazing that and I've improved my sustain a tad but it is still not as bodacious as what this musician is doing. I'm just trying to figure out how in the devil he does it.

This is the YouTube URL to his performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVLadCqRShA

1:34 pull off
1:43 amazing (to me) example of a pull off and hammer on that sound like picked strings...

The song is full of this stuff and I'm trying to figure out how to do it.

Any guidance is appreciated.

You know, I bet if you messaged him he'd tell you how he's getting that sound. Wouldn't be surprised at all if he was using a plug-in too. Good luck!

If you're starting with a clean amp, I think there are several Boss overdrive or distortion pedals that can get in the ballpark of what he's got going.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

...If money were no object I would still choose a decent valve amp over a cheap modelling amp.

Money isn't an object anymore, as long as your power/feature demands are relatively modest - I own two Bugera combos (V22 and V5 - neither of which cost me more than $300 brand-new/in-the-box), and nearly every major manufacturer offers something in the under-$500 (street)/under-25W range. With the availability of surplus Soviet-era military stock (their equivalent of the old American JAN stuff the hard-core vintage Fender guys would sell their 'nads to get) as well as premium-quality Chinese tubes (yes, there really is such a thing - and they don't come cheap), these low-buck boxes can be goosed to tonal levels usually associated with similarly-powered boutique amps at two and three times the price; swap in the right speaker - something with a higher efficiency rating (the sonic equivalent of "free watts") that offers more dynamic range before the onset of amp distortion - and many a bedroom practice amp can be turned into a viable no-frills small-stage rig...

[paulp1960]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

Money isn't an object anymore, as long as your power/feature demands are relatively modest - I own two Bugera combos (V22 and V5 - neither of which cost me more than $300 brand-new/in-the-box), and nearly every major manufacturer offers something in the under-$500 (street)/under-25W range. With the availability of surplus Soviet-era military stock (their equivalent of the old American JAN stuff the hard-core vintage Fender guys would sell their 'nads to get) as well as premium-quality Chinese tubes (yes, there really is such a thing - and they don't come cheap), these low-buck boxes can be goosed to tonal levels usually associated with similarly-powered boutique amps at two and three times the price; swap in the right speaker - something with a higher efficiency rating (the sonic equivalent of "free watts") that offers more dynamic range before the onset of amp distortion - and many a bedroom practice amp can be turned into a viable no-frills small-stage rig...

All true Steve but it seemed to me that the OP didn't state that he wanted to spend even that much on a new amp. I still have my Mustang 1 amp and they are not that bad. I think it would sound much better than the 10 watt solid state Squier amp he was trying to get a decent overdrive sound out of.
And since he already has the Mustang amp it would be a $0 upgrade.

[MC5C]

Gain is a term I dislike, because it says one thing but does another. Most people say "gain" and mean "distortion". What gain actually is just the amplification ratio of an amplifier stage. In a tube amp, having control over the gain of a stage (how much it amplifies the signal) can let you simply control volume, or it can let you overdrive a subsequent stage and create distortion. In your solid state amp you get a switch to kind of simulate that with the "clean/OD" switch that simulates an over-driven tube stage, but that's all you get. You can't realistically add "gain" or a "gain control" to a simple solid state amp like that. What you can do is add pedals or modelers to simulate an over-driven tube sound before the signal gets to your amp, and there are a multitude to choose from.

[TwinandTwang]

This is the YouTube URL to his performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVLadCqRShA

1:34 pull off
1:43 amazing (to me) example of a pull off and hammer on that sound like picked strings...

The song is full of this stuff and I'm trying to figure out how to do it.

Any guidance is appreciated.[/QUOTE]




Compressor pedal, slapback delay, pick notes cleanly and hold them long enough to get the full length of the note ringing . low gain pedal as a bonus