[LAU] help with guitarix settings

[Jeremy Jongepier]

On 03/25/2011 05:27 PM, Q wrote:
> Cedric Roux wrote:
>> ----- "Q" <lists at quirq.ukfsn.org> wrote:
>>> Presumably you mean the lead guitar rather than the rhythm? I can't
>>
>> yes, the solo. Sorry.
>>
>>> But that said, you've omitted a crucial bit of information -- what
>>> type
>>> of guitar are you using? I'd be very surprised if you'd get near that
>>
>> "jackson fusion std" is written on it. There are 3 "mikes" (pickups?).
>> One is near the attach of the string (sorry, english vocabulary
>> missing) and is doubled and 2 are closer to the middle of the strings.
>> There is a switch to select which mike to use, one button for volume
>> and one button for "presence" or whatever, it seems to do some EQ,
>> like removing treble. There are pictures on the internet.
> 
> Okay, so it's HSS Strat-style guitar -- that's humbucker (the double
> size pickup, at the bridge), single coil (middle), single coil (neck). I
> can't find any info on the body material, but as I said before, I can't
> see that sort of body style/material having the weight needed to get
> that sort of tone, but someone will no doubt prove me wrong.
> 

It's basswood, so it will sound muddier than Brian May's guitar.

> I couldn't see for certain which pickups May meant by "one and two" in
> that video, I suspect the bridge and middle. Having a humbucker will
> give a bit of extra body to the sound, but try for yourself which sounds
> closer bridge and middle or neck and middle.
> 

The pick-up of the Jackson Fusion Std (a Jackson J-85) seems to be quite
an ok pick-up. No way you could split the humbucker pick-up? that would
give you a single coil in bridge position and that might enable you to
get closer to May's sound. May also uses treble boosters.

>>
>>> doing a solo like that. I'd say you don't want too much distortion --
>>> plenty of gain, but not much drive -- and probably a fair amount of
>>> compression going into the amp. (I do wonder though just how close
>>> it's
>>> possible to get with modelling software rather than hardware.)
>>
>> okay, I'll dig in that direction.
>> I usually put input gain to max, drive to max, bass&treble to max
>> and medium to min. I don't know how to use a compressor, so I don't.
>> I get a nice sound for extreme metal stuff, but for those solos it
>> does not seem to work. Something does not fit, too much treble when
>> I attack the string I would say but I don't know...
> 
> Hmm, you turn the treble to max (and no mids) and then wonder why it
> sounds too trebly?! Queen were not, to the best of my knowledge, an
> extreme metal band, so the settings that work well for that are not
> likely to work well for Queen, so fiddle with the settings. For a start,
> I don't think scooping out the mids is going to help at all, especially
> with those gain settings.
> 
> I'm into prog rock/classic rock sort of style of playing and I have my
> Marshall set with the mids to max (10, not 11!), treble at about 8 and
> bass at about 6. My compressor pedals have tone controls and I often
> turn the treble up a bit on those as well, when they are in use.
> 
> I've spent countless hours trying to get my three-channel amp set up to
> my liking. For a metal sound (not something I do often) I might turn
> both the channel drive and level up quite high, but for other styles you
> don't need that amount of distortion -- it's a balancing act between the
> drive and volume for each channel, plus also the master volume.
> 
> I don't actually use Guitarix or GX_head, but having found a screen
> shot, it has the same three controls. You can have high gain, low volume
> and have the master volume high to drive the power amp (assuming the
> models are this intricately modelled), or low gain/high volume and
> master volume to taste -- as I say, it's a question of getting the right
> balance.
> 
> I used to crank the amp up to get those searing lead sounds, but they
> always ended up too distorted, until I discovered stompbox compressors
> -- instead of using (distorted) gain for the sustain, use a compressor.
> Stompbox (pedal) comps are usually really simple to use -- for a solo,
> turn the attack right down and the sustain level right up :-)
> 
> Also, are you using an appropriate amp model? For May, you want a Vox
> AC30. I don't know anything about amps and tubes, but I don't think
> GX_head has the right models for the AC30's valves.
> 

Guitarix/gx_head has an AC-30 gain stage.

Best,

Jeremy

>>
>> Maybe I just should put an example of raw input sound for people
>> to play with it.
>>
>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmbTA9CAr30&feature=related
>>
>> the sound is different, no? Is it just my ears (I mean brain)?
>>
>> thanks for your suggestions.
>>
> 
> I've seen your other post about this whilst I was typing, but don't
> forget that one is a mixed and mastered recording that has since been
> trashed into a very low quality MP3 and the other looks like a video
> recording of a TV broadcast, recorded some time after the original
> studio recording, that will have been trashed by YouTube's compression. :-)
> 
> If I were a better player, I might try learning it and installing
> GX_head myself, but sadly I'm not very good and not a very experience
> guitarist, so take everything I say with a lethal dose of salt ;-)
> 
> Hope this perhaps helps a bit.
> 
> Q
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