Newbie to board and to Gibson products! question about pedals with built in EQ?

[Josh James]

Howdy everyone!

 

 

My name is Josh and I'm from Oklahoma. I recently became the proud owner of a Goldtop LP BFG this past week, my very first Gibson product!

 

I have a few questions about a pedal I have in my rig and about my rig. My amp is a Deville 4X10 and my effects chain is as follow guitar - tuner - ts-9 for lead boost - Fulltone Catalyst - Classic Crybaby - amp

 

 

Ok, I run my amp EQ all the way up. Then if I'm correct my guitars tone knobs affect level of treble coming from guitar and I usually leave those up all the way unless I'm playing some "Cream" =) Then my Catalyst has a bass/mids and treble knobs on it. I want to get the best possible balanced sound out of my rig, but how do I know if the catalyst is messin' with the whole set up? Do I turn the eg up on the pedal and then change it around for different songs? One more question...would it be more effective to run my ts-9 maybe after the catalyst for a solo boost or keep it put where it is?

 

 

Thanks for any help that you can give someone who is fixing to start giggin with a cover band and needs a "tone" advice!

 

My other guitars are MIM Fender Strat with Texas Specials and greasebucket tone circuit. MIM Fender Nashville Deluxe Tele. Taylor 310ce with Fishman Stereo Blender and a old 80's Talkamine with a Fishman Aura pup.

 

 

Thanks again and hope to visit with you soon!

 

Cheers,

 

JJ

[Nick Beach]

Well dude, take a day off work and or school. Sit in the middle of a room with all your stuff around you. Play through your stuff. Turn every possible knob until you find the right sound. Thats really the only way to do it.

 

I'm a touring guitar player. I don't play in any particular band I just play for who ever needs someone for a tour and has cash. So my 'sound' seems to change before every tour. But I use the same stuff for every tour. I just have to take time and mess with everything until I get the right sound for the particular band. Then I have to play with the band and tweak the settings again. Because it's one thing to sound good by yourself but it's another thing to sound good with a band. A lot of guitar players turn the bass up when they play by themselves, but when you play with a band that becomes a problem, as the lower frequencies are for bass and kick drum, not guitar. Just remember the guitar really sits in the midrange of a mix and no two people want the exact same sound and no two bands want the same tone either.

 

Really asking for settings is kind of something that does no use. All amps react different to the way you tweak them. If I told you how I have my Mesa Stiletto set, and you put it on your amp, chances are it would sound quite bad. So just turn knobs until you get the desired effect. Thats the only way you learn to get good sounds.

[Josh James]

What I'm saying is I do not want the eq on the catalyst to adversely affect the tone of my guitar. Do I keep it turned all the way up or all the way down and then just adjust the bass/mids to taste per song since I can control the treble with my guitars knob?

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for the help!

 

 

JJ

 

 

2006 Golptop BFG LP

2003 Strat with texas specials

2004 Nashville tele

Fender Deville 4X10

 

pedalboard guitar-tuner-ts-9-catalyst-wah-amp

[Josh James]

Thanks fellas. I just am really tone obsessed..lol I really am just using the strat as a back up and it does a decent job because of the high output tex specials and the catalyst really helps in that regard beefing it up. For some reason during band practice my solo's do not cut like they should when I hit my ts-9. I run the ts-9 at full level and at about 3 gain and in between on the tone. Any more suggestions? Thanks again, there isn't a ton of advice and people that play here in Oklahoma are suspicious if you ask about tone questions for some reason?

 

 

thanks,

 

JJ

[Nick Beach]

What do you want to happen when you hit the TS 9? Are you looking for more gain, or just a boost in signal? For some reason a common misconception is that gain=volume as where really if you start adding a bunch of gain you'll lose v odd olume. If you want to get a volume boost then you need to boost the mids.

 

I ran a TS 9 a year or so ago and ran it with the Drive at 11:00 the Tone at 2:00 or 3:00 and the Level about noon. Then if I needed extra uph I'd turn the level up. But it's a good idea when looking at pedals to really find out what each knob is essentially. A ton of different pedals label knobs a ton of different ways but when you get down to it a lot of them do the exact same thing. So on a TS 9 Drive could be classified as Gain, Level is like Output, and Tone is very similar to the tone on your guitar, but more sensitive, so don't think just because the tone on your guitar is all the way up all the other tone knobs on your gear should be all the way up. When I have a tone knob on something I typically start with it at noon and then adjust from there. Actually thats the way I set everything. Put every knob at ten and adjust according to what I think it needs, if it needs mids turn up the mids, if it needs less bass turn down the bass, and keep tweaking until you get a good sound.

 

But really man it's nice to get some knowledge from other people, but when it comes down to it your the only one in the world with your ears, so your the only one who knows exactly what they want. I will tell you to not expect to get the 'tone in your head' either. Think about people like Van Halen who have been tone chasing for years and still haven't gotten the sound in their head. Just work with everything you've got. You'd be surprised at how many people buy things thinking, "Oh I need this to get the sound in my head", when the only thing they needed was time alone with their current rig to really find out everything that their stuff can do. Just think I've been playing a lot of my gear for a couple of years, and I still will dial in tones that I didn't know it was capable of from time to time.

[Josh James]

I agree. When my band practices that amp is so loud I can only turn it up to 2 or maybe 3, then factor in the catalyst and everything boosting volume and such. It is too much work sometimes to have to jack with my tone for everyone freaking song. Does anyone else out there own a Catalyst? Thanks for your help Shred!

[Josh James]

I'm looking for a solo boost basically. I'm wanting it to boost my catalyst signal basically. I tried putting it before and after and not really having many desired effects. That might be because of not being able to turn my amp up to loud? The deville just pretty much dosen't sound good until at least 3 or 4 and that is way loud!