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  • Registered: 2011-11-12
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Topic: found awesome low volume lead tone for bedroom practicing

This was purely by accident.  I ran my PRS CU22 (lollar PAF's) into my pedal board and out to my little Blues Jr like I have done a million times before to do some shedding.  i wasn't looking for any certain sound.  My Blues Jr is just a practice amp, I don't even particularly like it that much, but who cares its just for practicing.
My pedal board is just a tuner, MXR Carbon Copy analog delay, Fulltone Plimsoul OD. 
I guess by happenstance the gain knobs had gotten bumped all the way to full blast, which sounds pretty nasty on normal amps, so I was about to fix the knobs when I noticed that it didn't sound too too bad.  So purely out of curiosity I messed with the amp settings turning the master all the way up and using the pre/volume knob to adjust the overall volume.  (set at like 2'o clock really low volume) Turned the bass and treble all the way down, turned the mid all the way up and did not engage the little fat switch.  It sounded weirdly good so I figured what the Hell lets also see how much delay we can get a way with.  My current gigging amp doesn't have an FX loop so I only run it in small amounts so I have never really tried to push open the delay pedal.  It actually sounded like it was running thru an FX loop.  The upside to low wattage amps.  I was surprised how well the delay pedal worked in front of the little Jr.  I set it to sound like the speed, mix, and decay of Joe's DD3.  It really worked.  It stayed completely out of the way while playing fast chords or leads but spank that last chord and you can hear 4-5 second of decay.  I promise I would not claim that it sounds like that JB sound unless it really did.  it does.  Its just a practice amp, and makes practicing a little more fun, but thats all it is.  Im not trying to use it for anything else
But if you have a Jr and want a fun sound to screw around with even at LOW volumes, put a hot OD pedal with all its gain/distortion knobs cranked all the way up, a delay pedal dialed in like joe does (DD3 all knobs at 12) or similar.....(actually I wish I had a DD3 or something digital to try. The analog echos are too rounded and muddy when set to a big long decay period.
The trick is getting the brightness down to the right level.  even with treble turned all the way off, it was still a little high so I rolled back the hi cut on the pedal

forgot to mention, the amp has reverb but it didn't mix well with the delay so I didn't use it.
My Jr. is older.  Maybe 10 year or more.  I don't know if newer one sound different or not

  • Registered: 2009-10-10
  • Posts: 438

Re: found awesome low volume lead tone for bedroom practicing

I have practiced this way for a long time.  Usually a RockBox Boiling Point or a Wampler Ecstacy (gain at about three o'clock) into a DD-3 into a clean amp at a low volume. And I even use a plexi glass baffle on this rig for the tone tightening and high end taming.  These pedals work well cranked if you are running into a clean amp.  Sometimes I cut the DD-3 back to almost a reverb type setting if I think my playing is getting sloppy.

  • From: South Brunswick, NJ USA
  • Registered: 2006-04-21
  • Posts: 133

Re: found awesome low volume lead tone for bedroom practicing

I wish I didn't have to, but since I often play while the family is asleep, I have always experimented on ways to find a quality "Marshall tone" at low volumes.  Over the years I've tried sims, headphone amps and attenuators but I find that I prefer the tone of conventional tube amp.

Here's what I've come up with.  It's my take on an ultra-low volume "mini JTM-45":

Les Paul > Maxon OD808 (Tube Screamer) > Z.Vex Box Of Rock > Silverface Fender Champ.

Sometimes I will run this setup into my old Gretsch (Valco) 6152 combo (5 watts) which also has reverb and tremolo.

The Box Of Rock is a very "amp-like" pedal...I leave in on all the time and stacking the Tube Screamer in front of it for that classic kick and tone works nicely at any volume level.  Even at ultra low volume I can still work the volume on my guitar for some decent cleans.

Russ B.
  • Registered: 2011-05-19
  • Posts: 113

Re: found awesome low volume lead tone for bedroom practicing

ModTourMan wrote:

I wish I didn't have to, but since I often play while the family is asleep, I have always experimented on ways to find a quality "Marshall tone" at low volumes.  Over the years I've tried sims, headphone amps and attenuators but I find that I prefer the tone of conventional tube amp.

Here's what I've come up with.  It's my take on an ultra-low volume "mini JTM-45":

Les Paul > Maxon OD808 (Tube Screamer) > Z.Vex Box Of Rock > Silverface Fender Champ.

Sometimes I will run this setup into my old Gretsch (Valco) 6152 combo (5 watts) which also has reverb and tremolo.

The Box Of Rock is a very "amp-like" pedal...I leave in on all the time and stacking the Tube Screamer in front of it for that classic kick and tone works nicely at any volume level.  Even at ultra low volume I can still work the volume on my guitar for some decent cleans.


The Box of Rock should work well with your small tube amps since it adds bass. It should give you a much bigger sound.

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Re: found awesome low volume lead tone for bedroom practicing

These all sound like good ideas as well.  I wish I had the time and resources to experiment with every electric guitar/ amp/ pedal/ accessory   ever made and every possible combination of those to find the best gig, studio, and practice setups. 
As much as I love new gear and talking about gear, I tend to be lazy about actually getting my hands on new gear and trying new sounds and setup techniques.  Im sure there are a million ways to get a good practice tone.  Like I said, this was by accident with some pedals I currently happen to have on my board.  Not necessarily the best pedal/amp combo, just a trick I happen to find with my setup. 

Honestly it does make VERY VERY curious to try adding a second amp in stereo to my live rig EQ'd strictly for that "all mids no bass/treble" lead tone either with its own OD channel or a good pedal.  With a good FX loop for some delay.
...........hmmmmmm (deep thought) hmm