Tiny Terror

patriot · #1 02-06-2009, 01:32 AM

I play a strat with emg pickups into a tiny terror with a 12" Celestion speaker. When I crank the gain it tends to sound harsh and thin. At lower gains it sounds great. I like to increase the gain to create sustain when soloing. I am looking for a fatter more rounded sound. Stevie Ray type. I think my guitar setup is partially the problem. I have a low action with a very straight neck. No noticable relief. I have been playing with the tone control on the amp and the guitar but can't quite find the tone I am looking for. Any suggestions on accomplishing this? Almost forgot, String gauge currently being used are nines. I am thinking about going back to tens.

beach bob · #2 02-06-2009, 10:05 AM

I haven't played a Tiny Terror, but I do know they get good reviews...

The Orange is a British style amp with the EL84 tubes ... you may not get exactly to SRV land with that amp. Probably the easiest / cheapest way to go is to try some different distortion stomp boxes, set to medium [not maxed out] crunch. Also maybe try changing tubes of different makes? You can alter the preamp gain by using different tubes, 12AY7 [lower gain] instead of 12AX7, that might smooth out the tone.

Stevie used blackface Fender Super Reverbs [later a Dumble], traditionally wound pickups, and an old Ibanez Tube Screamer. Considering the components of your rig, you're sort of a long ways off from Stevie's tone. A higher setup and heavier strings will also help, but I think the main issue is, for trying to get at SRV's tone, you're needing a Fender style amp, and a similar setup w/ 'regular' Strat pups and a good stomp box. Basically, every critical component you have [pickups, amp type, speaker] is wrong for that tone ...

Sorry it's not an easier outlook... perhaps you can try out one of the Fender ressue series [e.g., a Deluxe Reverb RI], see if that amp 'voice' is closer to what you're after.

If you're stuck with that particular rig, I'd try to run the amp clean, and emulate the desired tone by trying various stomp boxes...

skyver · #3 02-06-2009, 02:45 PM

Stevie's strings were .013 to .058. You won't get that sound with nines.

Deadduck · #4 02-06-2009, 03:53 PM

If your gain is sounding too harsh with your Tiny Terror, replace the 12ax7 preamp tubes with a 5751 in V1 (closest to input jack) and/or in V2. Experiment to see where it sounds the best. I did this on my Tiny Terror and it will give you a little more headroom and smoother OD. SRV liked the 5751 tube, and is reported to have put them in all his amps.

Another factor are the EMG pickups. I don't know much about them, but I know they sound different, and that may be part of the problem.

I'd definitely go up from 9's to 10's at least. I never have liked the feel or tone of 9's.

You could try setting your amp to a cleaner setting, then boosting it with a treble boost or a Tubescreamer. Or, get a little Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ pedal to shape your tone a bit.

I'm not saying that any of this will get you an exact SRV tone because, as they say, tone is in the fingers. But you should be able to get closer to what you are looking for.

patriot · #5 02-06-2009, 09:36 PM

Thank you for the replies. I don't expect to get that exact with this setup. Just want to round out the tone a bit. Actually the amp sounds great at lower gains and when the gain is full out. It's in between that I don't care for. I will definately try the tube switch and maybe go back to using 10s as well. I also experimented with my pod xt today and there are some good presets that I thought sounded good with the amp. That could save me some bucks for now as opposed to purchasing more. In fact I have some boss pedals I would like to unload in the near future. Just sitting in a box unused and in great condition.