Garbage Tone

[marnold]

Does anyone have this happen to them besides me? A couple of days ago I was playing and really enjoying both playing and my tone. Life was good. Yesterday I played and couldn't seem to get a decent tone out of my ampf to save my life. No knob tweaking or pedal additions would help. Everything sounded like garbage. I can't really define how. Needless to say, it was very frustrating.

 

[R_of_G]

Happens to me quite often Marnold. Some days I can find good tone in seconds, others I seem to spend more time tweaking that than I do playing. Those days I often just grab the acoustic and play that instead.

 

[sumitomo]

This sounds like a job for Duhvoodooman!!!! Sumi

 

[Robert]

It's some kind of voodoo that happens to all us.

 

[Spudman]

Voltage sag in the main transmission lines.
It won't just happen on different days but at different times of day based on the area draw and whether or not anything has kicked in to compensate for the voltage change.

 

[Ro3b]

Usually when that happens to me, it means I've forgotten to turn off my wah pedal.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

I go there every now and then, but I wonder if it's more of a lack of inspiration on my part than a "tone" problem. When I have a real fire in my belly to play, my rig always seems to sound great.

 

[M29]

Probably a bad case of ear wax or worse yet... toe jam:thwap:

 

[Robert]

When I have a real fire in my belly to play, my rig always seems to sound great.

Or, you ate too many jalapenos.

 

[Plank_Spanker]

Or, you ate too many jalapenos.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Voltage sag in the main transmission lines.
It won't just happen on different days but at different times of day based on the area draw and whether or not anything has kicked in to compensate for the voltage change.

I always forget about that. It always seems to me so "Ray Bradbury" to think of the effects of electricity flow. But I guess it would definitely exist. I guess that makes the case for those power conditioner things.

Before I read your reply, I was going to say it happens to me too, and it must be our own ears, or brains perceiving things differently on different days.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Or, you ate too many jalapenos.

If that's the case, just wait 'til TOMORROW, if you think you have problems now!!

 

[Rocket]

I sometimes get the "Garbage Ears"... sounds like crap to me but everyone else says sounds fine to them.
Maybe that's what you're experiencing.

 

[duhvoodooman]

I sometimes get the "Garbage Ears"... sounds like crap to me but everyone else says sounds fine to them.
Maybe that's what you're experiencing.

Kidding aside, I think this is exactly what happens. Some days, the problem is what's between our ears, rather than what's going into them....

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Probably a bad case of ear wax or worse yet... toe jam:thwap:

You beat me to it. Ear wax. Just clean your ears and try popping them open with a big yawn or by holding your breath and blowing out and closing your nose.

 

[marnold]

Whatever the case, I'm glad it's not just me. I didn't think of a power situation, although I don't know why usage would be high around this time of year with no one running A/C. The thing that really threw me is that my EX-7 usually sounds really good through my AD30VT. I was trying to play "Unchained" with the A/DA flanger model and it gave this most horrific metallic (as in iron, not Dio-secret-"Satan"-sign metal) twang. I'll have to try it again--although I really don't want to.

 

[M29]

Spud had an excellent example, I often wondered what effect the line voltage fluctuation had on our amps sound. It would be cool to see a demo of that.

M29

 

[Spudman]

Spud had an excellent example, I often wondered what effect the line voltage fluctuation had on our amps sound. It would be cool to see a demo of that.

M29

I experienced it nightly at a local gig a few years ago. The club was close to the transformer station and at peak times like after work the juice just wasn't happening and my amp sounded like (technical term) poop. I even disassembled my pedal board looking for a bad connection. This was an on going issue for a few weeks until I figured it out. I simply couldn't get my Crate VC5212 to sound and perform the way it usually did. My effects lagged as well. Around the end of the first set everything would mysteriously return to normal. I was baffled.

One day while talking with merchants in the same area they mentioned that for years they have had electrical problems and the guys working for the utility company told them what was going on. I don't know if I ever would have figured it out if I hadn't heard from those other people what was happening in that area.

 

[tjcurtin1]

Oh - I just thought that Spud was pulling our legs with a little technical/electrical voodoo talk (apologies to DVM...)

 

[ShortBuSX]

Does anyone have this happen to them besides me? A couple of days ago I was playing and really enjoying both playing and my tone. Life was good. Yesterday I played and couldn't seem to get a decent tone out of my ampf to save my life. No knob tweaking or pedal additions would help. Everything sounded like garbage. I can't really define how. Needless to say, it was very frustrating.

Do you think that maybe youre just now beginning to notice the limitations of the Vox AD?
I had a similar experience trying to dial in my LP on my Vox...I could never really find a setting that agreed with it. And even when I did get close I could begin to hear the digital-ness of that amp...if that makes any sense?

I also purchased that "Chicken Salad" pedal that a few were raving about...I was never able to get that to play well with my Vox...I returned it(the pedal) for store credit shortly thereafter.

 

[marnold]

Do you think that maybe youre just now beginning to notice the limitations of the Vox AD?

Maybe, but I don't think so. I've had this amp for nearly three years now. I go through this every so often. My main problem right now is trying to find a heavy distortion sound that will sound good with both my Fender and my Floyd. The Screamin' Demon is so much brighter and lower output than the Fender's Atomic II, that it's almost impossible. I think I'm about to give up on the U.S. Higain model too because it seems to me that it jumps from shrill to muddy very quickly.

I think that mayhaps a new speaker could help deal with some of the shrillness. In that way I think I am seeing a limitation of the AD30VT's speaker. I usually played more quietly before. Since my office has been in the basement, I can crank it up more and some of the limitations of that speaker (flubby bass and shrill highs) become apparent. Maybe a Rajin Cajun or a MOD will be in my future. We'll see.

 

[ShortBuSX]

Do you think that youll ever be able to change the tube?
I just seem to think that would be the first change Id make...especially after 3 years of ownership, and definitely before a speaker swap...but then again, maybe thats just my logical order, as I understand the tube is somewhat difficult to change...I think Id find a way.

 

[marnold]

The majority of the reports I've read have said that a tube swap made just about no change at all in the tone of the amph while a speaker swap made a dramatic one. I haven't played since my "garbage tone" day, but if it still sounds weird, I'll at least check to make sure the tube is still glowing.