Amp Settings for Dimebag Tone?

[ccn]

Why yes.....I most certainly did.

View attachment 183961

The below looks like it could measure up to be a world record krankenstein .

 

[Shask]

I find the secret is putting an eq in front of the amp and lowering the lower mids. It makes the lows chug more, and brings out that metallic scrape quality in the upper mids.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I think part of the Dimebag tone has to do with those Randalls. He did use them. It wasn't just an endorsement like someone was saying.

They sound distinctly old-school solid-state, IMO. Very raspy highs. Not just in the amount, but the quality of them. Kinda hard to replicate with tubes, IMO.

 

[Glencore]

as far as i know its just an 800 with kt88s, this has the GE10 built into the front and the marshall has the button that is fixed on whatever his setting was, with emg 81s it sounds just like divine intervention, im gonna try and get some proper clips today

Sweet! I'd love to hear it!

 

[Banned by IK Multmedia]

I think part of the Dimebag tone has to do with those Randalls. He did use them. It wasn't just an endorsement like someone was saying.

They sound distinctly old-school solid-state, IMO. Very raspy highs. Not just in the amount, but the quality of them. Kinda hard to replicate with tubes, IMO.

If it was part of it, it is the part that reminds a distortion stomp box. There is no way one can get his tone with that amp alone, no matter how many EQs they use in front of it.

 

[Rex Rocker]

If it was part of it, it is the part that reminds a distortion stomp box. There is no way one can get his tone with that amp alone, no matter how many EQs they use in front of it.

Are we talking Cowboys only? Because Cowboys does sound pretty different to Vulgar and FBD.

Becuase he did run a pretty complicated signal chain to get the most of those amps. He did run an EQ before and after the amp, as well as some other stuff. Yeah, you're right, it's not those amps only, but part of the tone is those amps.

 

[Banned by IK Multmedia]

Are we talking Cowboys only? Because Cowboys does sound pretty different to Vulgar and FBD.

Becuase he did run a pretty complicated signal chain to get the most of those amps. He did run an EQ before and after the amp, as well as some other stuff. Yeah, you're right, it's not those amps only, but part of the tone is those amps.

One problem with that amp is that it does not have enough bass, one can't boost a frequency that does not exist.

 

[DanTravis62]

literally any raspy old solid state amp with lots of gain?

Peavey teal stripe bandit? Transtube?

It sounds like youre trying to get a very specific tone (CFH) while not wanting to get any of the gear required.

There's no "magic eq trick" to make any amp in the universe sound like a Randall century or RG100 with 47 rack EQs at various points of the signal chain.

The gain structure, especially in the high end, is completely unique to those amps combined with the jaguar speakers or whatever he used

If you're just talking about "getting in the ballpark" your cheapest route would literally be buying an old Randall RG100

 

[Rex Rocker]

One problem with that amp is that it does not have enough bass, one can't boost a frequency that does not exist.

Pretty sure you can. It's not like the amp is completely devoid of bass either. They may not be Rectos or Ubers, but it's not like the amp has a hard high pass somewhere in the chain.

I understand you might not like the amp, but I feel you're getting a bit biased. The Century and the RG1000 were Dimebag amps. Pretty well-documented. There is no conspiracy theory going with Pantera's recordings either. He did run boosts, EQ's at different spots, and other stuff, and I'm sure Terry Date worked his magic as well. But those were the amps he used.

Plugging straight into one might not give you immedate Pantera tones, but that's the starting point.

Then again, if the OP is not wangint to nail the Dimebag tone, just use his gear, relatively scooped mids and a presency treble rasp is the way to go. Also a slightly scooped and bright hot pickup like the BL he was using. And V30's mixed with Jaguars? Jaguars kinda sound like shit on their own, TBH.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I know this doesn’t help the OP, but you don’t see these pics too often-

 

[Banned by IK Multmedia]

Pretty sure you can. It's not like the amp is completely devoid of bass either. They may not be Rectos or Ubers, but it's not like the amp has a hard high pass somewhere in the chain.

It is hard limited, i do not have that amp(RG100) anymore but someone here probably does and could confirm that.

I have seem him live using three amps at once. A Wizard, a JCM800 and a Randall (not RG100, it is probably the other one mentioned here).

 

[phil b]

Furman PQ-3 does it... Good luck finding one thats not stupidly priced. Theres a guy on Reverb that sells it in a pedal but I cant remember who it is. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

 

[Bloodrock]

Old Randall, blue MXR six in front set to a frown. PQ3 in the loop to scoop and tweak.. Pretty simple. Go listen to the CFH demo tapes and you'll see how much of his sound came from studio mixing on that album.

 

[braintheory]

Then again, if the OP is not wangint to nail the Dimebag tone, just use his gear, relatively scooped mids and a presency treble rasp is the way to go. Also a slightly scooped and bright hot pickup like the BL he was using. And V30's mixed with Jaguars? Jaguars kinda sound like shit on their own, TBH.

The BL 500XL in the Dean CFH I used to have seemed scooped like you described, but I’ve got now lots of ‘70’s & ‘80’s BL’s (a bunch of 500L’s & XL’s) and they all actually have a pretty noticeable midrange bump (opposite of scooped), but they are hot and bright. Either way, I think they’re also a key ingredient in getting that sound

 

[braintheory]

Furman PQ-3 does it... Good luck finding one thats not stupidly priced. Theres a guy on Reverb that sells it in a pedal but I cant remember who it is. I'm sure someone else will chime in.

Yeah I have a feeling that was likely also a key part to getting his lead tone. It makes for a very juicy sounding boost. Very few other boosts IME get that kinda juice except maybe my Klon

 

[phil b]

Yeah I have a feeling that was likely also a key part to getting his lead tone. It makes for a very juicy sounding boost. Very few other boosts IME get that kinda juice except maybe my Klon

I think Psychodave actually bought the pedal that was basically a PQ-3 and I think it wasnt too expensive. Give him a shout for details but I think he said it was actually a good sounding unit. Might be worth checking out.

 

[braintheory]

I think Psychodave actually bought the pedal that was basically a PQ-3 and I think it wasnt too expensive. Give him a shout for details but I think he said it was actually a good sounding unit. Might be worth checking out.

Was that master effects one? If so, not interested. Sounded too sterile and filtered/plastic-y to me in those clips. Part of what makes the pq3 special to me is the organic, warm sound it has that I don’t hear in recent made pedals

I have now the earlier ‘70’s PQ3 with the green back/silver knobs and it sounds even better to me than I remember the 2 later versions I used to have being with red knobs/black backs. It was expensive, but for me worth it. They have a unique midrange character these units

 

[phil b]

Was that master effects one? If so, not interested. Sounded too sterile and filtered/plastic-y to me in those clips. Part of what makes the pq3 special to me is the organic, warm sound it has that I don’t hear in recent made pedals

I have now the earlier ‘70’s PQ3 with the green back/silver knobs and it sounds even better to me than I remember the 2 later versions I used to have being with red knobs/black backs. It was expensive, but for me worth it. They have a unique midrange character these units

It may have been. There was a thread dedicated to it a while back. I never herd it so I cant comment on how it actually sounded.
The PQ-3 is the one thing I never pulled the trigger cause I have so many other rack eq's, but I remember when they were going for 250-300 yers ago. Last I looked guys were asking 800 and over. LOL

 

[braintheory]

It may have been. There was a thread dedicated to it a while back. I never herd it so I cant comment on how it actually sounded.
The PQ-3 is the one thing I never pulled the trigger cause I have so many other rack eq's, but I remember when they were going for 250-300 yers ago. Last I looked guys were asking 800 and over. LOL

I’ve got several other vintage rack PQ’s I also love, some maybe more overall than the pq3, but they don’t quite have the same inherent midrange character to them like the pq3’s. Yeah I paid for all of mine in the price range they used to go for lol. I luckily bought most of the sought after stuff I wanted before 2020

 

[MistaGuitah]

I've played the Randall Thrasher before, and now that I think about it, that might be the way to go.