The Anti-Boost

  • some of the greatest live performances I've witnessed involved a guitar player (or bass player - Hansford Rowe, Gongzilla) that played an wide open amp and controlled his or her tone only with the volume pot.
    simply turning down the gain doesn't give you the same results, there's something about a weaker signal hitting a higher gain stage as opposed to a stronger signal hitting a lower gain stage.


    anyway,
    while you can easily control your rig's distortion with the aforementioned volume pot, here's a very simple way to make this process more controllable and repeatable:


    Insert a Pure Boost in slot A, if you already have an effect there, use the 'move' function to create an empty slot there.
    My personal sweet spot for less gain on my guitar is around '7' of the Volume pot - I can recreate this by setting the Pure Booster to -2.6.
    Bingo - instantly switchable alternate gain setting!


    [Blocked Image: http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e229/donelectro/DSC_0046_zpsceb0de1e.jpg]

  • For even more control, you can use the Graphic EQ - you get -5db from the effect's volume knob, and another -12db* by turning all of the bands down. Even better, you can high bands up a tad to keep your sound from getting muddy as the gain drops.


    I use this when I'm jamming to this tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLFzyqRXhx8 to go from the wet, heavy tone of the main riff to the clean verses.


    * Yes, I realize it's probably not a flat -12db in between the bands, but whatever.

  • If anyone is having problems getting vintage amp sounds, your tip may be exactly what they need :)


    Turning the guitar down, or this GREAT tip for people who don't use the volume knob, can be the key to getting dynamic guitar sounds that are more like the ones on the original songs.


    Before amps had channel Switching, before Master Volume, amps like Fender Bassman and Deluxe Reverb became popular because of what they sounded like when controlled this way. On a large enough stage, they can be turned up all the way (or nearly all the way), with the guitar wide open for solos, and pulled back for everything else. The amps react very well to small adjustments of tone and volume on the guitar, and to the player's touch.


    When I was in junior high school, there were some local bands with older guitarists who used their Marshall stacks that way, playing Teen Dance gigs in school gymnasiums - imagine how loud a 50 or 100 watt Marshall can be, turned up all the way, controlled with just a Les Paul. No pedals needed for those guys.


    None of us could understand why the adults kept telling the bands to turn down! 8)

  • That's a great tipp.
    Personally I'm still a volume pot player and the first thing I do with all my guitars is I put a treble bleed in.


    But a treble bleed cap is not very vintage. It can't sound good like that!!


    Kidding aside: I use the Pure Boost for the exact same thing - works really good. Sometimes it's nice to have the "volume pot" footswitchable.

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar

  • But a treble bleed cap is not very vintage. It can't sound good like that!!


    Kidding aside: I use the Pure Boost for the exact same thing - works really good. Sometimes it's nice to have the "volume pot" footswitchable.


    There was a time when the purest of all guitars, the Telecaster, had a treble bleed built in...
    There 'ya go! :)

  • I'm a vol pot player. I keep my pinky on the gas most of the time. I also install a treble bleed. I always try various cap values while listening for the tone to get slightly brighter when I roll off. I like my strat to get a little fatter on 10. That's just my preference.

  • Being a volume pot player myself, I think one the absolutly greatest things is, how extremly well and dynamically our little toy reacts on this. There some profiles where you can go from absolut overdrive to pure clean.

  • Being a volume pot player myself, I think one the absolutly greatest things is, how extremly well and dynamically our little toy reacts on this. There some profiles where you can go from absolut overdrive to pure clean.


    True! I've discovered whole new world with Kemper. Didn't used to touch volume pot before and with that "toy" I can play all song with cleans and high gain solos on ONE PROFILE! Thats amazing.
    And tone is really differen then just rolling the gain off. Now I usually prefer high gain profile with volume pot down for low gain.

  • I'm a patch man myself. Hit little switch, change tone. I find the problem with relying on the volume control is that replicating the sound heard on a record while playing live difficult and vice versa. Even the old argument that tube amps trump everything (they probably still do) is starting to wear a bit thin. If I can get 99% of the way with a digital device that lets me have spot on sound night after night, I'm all for it.

  • This is a great tip...thanks. What I like about this tip is the consistency it affords. I often record part of a lead and may come back days later to do more. It would not be as easy to get the exact tone from days before by lowering the pot unless I noted the exact setting at the time...I'm too lazy. I like the idea of just having different profiles with the "anti-boost" engaged on off....VERY COOL!

  • Hi,


    I like using the guitar volume pot on my guitars, single coils and humbuckers with and without treble bleed.
    BUT ...
    I alos like to use a volume pedal before the amp as that gives possibilities of other sounds and textures. With the KPA I use a Boss FV-500 as an expression pedal to control the volume inside the KPA before the stomps. Works great!


    Cheers,


    Mats N

  • This is a great tip...thanks. What I like about this tip is the consistency it affords. I often record part of a lead and may come back days later to do more. It would not be as easy to get the exact tone from days before by lowering the pot unless I noted the exact setting at the time...I'm too lazy. I like the idea of just having different profiles with the "anti-boost" engaged on off....VERY COOL!

    Agree - I know what you mean!!! :D