richard484767 wrote:Hi; I am new on here; I am trying to find out the setting(s) I could use on a Fender Hotrod Delux amp to get a nice smooth, fairly crisp sound. My music is mostly jazz, etc. I know this is a fairly subjective area, but your feedback would be appreciated.
Thanks
RIch
welcome to BM, rich.
w things being subjective when it comes to stuff like this....it'd be helpful to know what kind of "jazz" you're talking about...straight ahead, old school stuff like Wes, Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell... or more modern stuff like Mike Stern, Scofield, etc.(I mostly play the former so take that into acct when you consider my setup)
and....what is you main axe? i EQ my Deluxe Reverb and Blues Deville differently when i'm playing one of my archtops vs. when i'm playing jazz on my thin line tele.
who are some gtrst's who have a tone you're looking to come close to? also relevant is the playing situation....i EQ my amps differently if i'm playing solo or in a larger (and louder) band format and need to cut thru.
you do say "smooth, and crisp".
as a general rule, on my Blues Deville (that should be roughly in the same ballpark as your Blues Deluxe) i'm on the clean channel and i keep the treble and bass between 3-5 and the mids around 2. the reverb is never higher than two...often it's around 1.
same deal for my Deluxe Reverb (minus the mid control of course).
volume on amps is anywhere from two to six/seven on the Deluxe and never more than 3 on the Deville (60 watts of tube power into 2X12 spkrs gets real loud real quick). i like to keep the volume of my gtr close to full up w just a little bit headroom... to have somewhere to go. when i need
to back off volume for comping i mostly just lighten my right hand attack.
i find that's a fairly neutral starting point that gives me a fairly wide range of tones that i can manipulate using my right hand placement, attack, and working w the tone controls of my gtrs. it also works well w my PEERLESS Monarch that lacks a tone control as well.
