Blues Tone and Solid State Amps

I'll be a jerk and say get a tube amp.

that would really peeve your wife I bet.
it would give you the warm crunch for blues.

otherwise run your guitar thru an overdrive pedal and into a clean channel.
let the pedal give you the kind (amount) of breakupo your want .
I feel solid state amp gain channels are too tight and dry sounding for my taste in the blues.

Have you tried this setting. Use the bridge pickup. Turn the Volume and Gain controls on the Clean and Overdrive channels to 0. On your guitar turn the volume control all the way up, turn the tone control to about 7 or 8. On the Overdrive channel set the tone stack (Bass,Contour,Treble) set these to their middle positions (we'll adjust later). You'll have to experiment to find the tone that your looking for, these setting are just ballpark figures to put you in the park. On the Overdrive channel set the Gain to around 8 and the Volume set somewhere between 0 to 2 1/2.The volume control on the overdrive channel besides working in conjunction with the Gain to achieve overdrive distortion also sets the final volume or how loud the amp will be.

To get that sustained overdrive tone the amp doesn't need to very loud. It may sound best say at 1 3/4 or 2. Maybe even less. Now with the tone stack (Bass, Contour,Treble) still set at their middel position. Set the Bass to 6 1/2, set the Contour to 4 1/2, and the Treble to 6. You'll have to fine tone all the controls to get what your looking for. Make all adjustments alittle at a time playing a few chords and some lead to see what the overall tone sounds like. Once you get it dialed in without any effects you can start experimenting with effects to see what will enhance what you have.

Most of all have fun experimenting.

Joe

Now that's some good info, Joe. Thanks!
I've got an MG30DFX, and I've never been all that impressed with its overdrive channel. The reverb and other effects are kinda cool, though. But I also have a tube amp ('71 Fender Musicmaster Bass) and a couple of Tube Screamers (TS7 and TS9), so life is good. 8)

Same complaint from La Wife, though. "What are you gonna do with all those guitars?" Sheesh. :roll:

Your Welcome. What's happening is that your overdriving the pre-amp into the power amp. Creating distortion and sustain. When its dialed in to match the guitar and the idea one would have in their mind, it will rock. It takes time along with lots of experimenting. Over the years I've spent lots of time in front of both solidstate and tube amps. I'll always recommend all tube amp first, equalizer second, attenuator third.

Joe

Great info I'll have to experiment with it a little more. I'm with Doug, effects are good, but so far the overdrive channel hasn't been that great especially when I combined it with the Semi-hollow's resonance.

I always prefered the sound of my neck pickup, gave me a warmer tone, but I'll definately try your suggestions.

The Ibanez TS-808 is considered to be "the" pedal for blues.

Your Welcome. What's happening is that your overdriving the pre-amp into the power amp. Creating distortion and sustain. When its dialed in to match the guitar and the idea one would have in their mind, it will rock. It takes time along with lots of experimenting. Over the years I've spent lots of time in front of both solidstate and tube amps. I'll always recommend all tube amp first, equalizer second, attenuator third.

Joe

I agree with the last sentence 100%.

i always agree with joe, imo, tube amp, eq, attenuator is the only way to go 8)

I don't agree at all with the fact you *need* a tube amp for blues but I do agree you'll be hard pressed to find a smooth crunchy sound out of your MG. And I doubt pedals will help much, if at all. Famous pedals like the TS9/TS808 only work well with amps that gradually overdrive, the MG doesn't do this too well. The Behringer blues pedal sounds pretty decent as booster if your amp responds well but is hopeless as standalone overdrive unit.

What to do? Probably a new amp. The MG is fairly mediocre so if you sell that one and get an overall better one the financial aspects would work out ok. Epiphone and Ibanez (among others) sell low-wattage tube amps (Valve Junior and Val(ve)bee series respectively) that should run you no more then $130: well within your budget if you sell the MG. You could also take a look at the valvetronix amps from Vox, their simply and tiny VR15 shouldn't be out of reach either. Any one these should give you a much better blues sound with just your guitar and amp.

Well I've tweaked and tested and played and gotten frustrated. I just can't get it to sound right, I've gotten close but it seems to be either too much, or not enough.

dogbite's description is good on what it's like...
I feel solid state amp gain channels are too tight and dry sounding for my taste in the blues

The Clean on it is great, and with most of my playing being jazz related, and in smaller settings, I'll probably stick with it, and try a pedal, so should I look for an overdrive, or a 'blues' pedal?

Although, I still haven't ruled out Arjen's suggestion of trading up.

Thanks guys for the suggestions.

The Clean on it is great, and with most of my playing being jazz related, and in smaller settings, I'll probably stick with it, and try a pedal, so should I look for an overdrive, or a 'blues' pedal?Done right, an overdrive is a blues pedal. By that I mean not only the "right" pedal, but tweaking its settings as well as the amp's to get that perfect tone.
I still have much experimenting to do with my TS7 (modded by Analog Man) and TS9 Tube Screamers, but it's kinda fun. (Even if I can only do it when it's just me, the cat, and the dog here.)
Tonight will be my last chance for a few days to hook all the gear up and wail on it, so I'm gonna get in some serious practice time. 8)

To help narrow this down, is there an artist with the tone you are looking for? 'Blues' really covers a lot.
You might try one of the tube based overdrive pedals, but they're fairly expensive.

I like the idea of narrowing the field down by artist.
I got my tone figured out. it is defined by Clapton's tone in the Cream reunion concert. whereas he played humbuckers in the original Cream he plays strats now. me too. his tone on that show sounds like mine.
lucky me. if only I could play as well as him.

my Tubescreamer was modified by Analogman. actually, twice, the first mod I didnt care for as the result gave me a more modern tight and grainy overdrive.
when I explain to analogmike what I wanted he said ," oh, you want a flabbier overdrive".
flabbier. that made sense.

so an overdrive pedal, any make, will give the older 'flabbier' girt.
Van Halen has what I call , a modern grit. tighter, creamy not loose.

it is a great quest in finding ones tone. fun getting there.
I learned much abpout what I didnt like before I found what I liked.
each trial brought me closer to understanding how to get there.

I have recommended the Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive pedal many times. I own one, and I think it is excellent. Extremely versatile, you can get everything from a clean boost to almost Metal distortion with this pedal. What truly makes it outstanding is the 3 band EQ. You would be amazed at the different tones this pedal will produce. And it is very reasonably priced too.

Danelectro Daddy-O

Read the reviews, you will see most owners are very impressed with this pedal. It would really be hard to find a pedal more versatile than this one.

And.... if this pedal sparks your interest, Musician Friend has a special where you get the Chicken Salad pedal FREE. Can't beat a deal like that.

Daddy-O/Chicken Salad package

Don't let the low cost of Danelectro pedals fool you. They make very good pedals that last. I own at least 7 Dano pedals and they all work as good as the day I got them. They have outlasted other pedals I owned that cost 2-3 times as much. Dano is good.