Favorite VH brown sound in a pedal solutions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mentoneman
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I think the atomica needs to be revisited in addition to something you said..."it’s a formula to get to the finish line. attenuate. PAFs. gh30s in a 4x12. the right delay. verb. and for me i had to hit the front end with the right something."

Too bad there aren't more Atomica amps out there. I'll never forget that post from back then but this thread is making me want one now!!
 
Just saw this. Apparently 3.5 dB is essential for boost? Let's talk about that.

 
Arch Stanton said:
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once i grew out of high school levels of high gain, it was about how to get cleaner and more articulate, with sustain, touch sensitivity and dynamics. it’s what eddie was doing fundamentally, what dumble did, boogies to a certain degree…and why everyone and his mother has an attenuator now!
 
Exo-metal said:
I think the atomica needs to be revisited in addition to something you said..."it’s a formula to get to the finish line. attenuate. PAFs. gh30s in a 4x12. the right delay. verb. and for me i had to hit the front end with the right something."

Too bad there aren't more Atomica amps out there. I'll never forget that post from back then but this thread is making me want one now!!
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the atomica has that greasy forgiving boogie feel with the clarity and punch of a great cranked marshall. the modded marshall growl, sheen and chirp. dynamic single treble notes, tight but oily low strings. and more than enough gain!

the closest thing i’ve played to it is the steve stevens siggies 1 and 2

 
Back in post #20 this od was mentioned. @7.45 it happens but I don't hear evh tones.

 
Exo-metal said:
Back in post #20 this od was mentioned. @7.45 it happens but I don't hear evh tones.

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me neither. maybe there’s more to it in person but the clips of that thing have never done it for me. the tonebone classic i used to have got in the ballpark:

 
Exo-metal said:
I think the atomica needs to be revisited in addition to something you said..."it’s a formula to get to the finish line. attenuate. PAFs. gh30s in a 4x12. the right delay. verb. and for me i had to hit the front end with the right something."

Too bad there aren't more Atomica amps out there. I'll never forget that post from back then but this thread is making me want one now!!
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Did you know Ceriatone makes an Atomica clone called the Molecular ? Leon Todd has videos...
 
Exo-metal said:
Back in post #20 this od was mentioned. @7.45 it happens but I don't hear evh tones.

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No EVH tones. I had the Atomic on my old pedalboard and it was a killer distortion pedal but not bright enough or having the right frequencies for VH.
 
Any discussion of getting these tones is useless without discussing pre and post gain EQ, which is really the key to getting anyone else's tone...graphic or parametric (or both). VH1 has a nice 1K spike pre gain, which is why the MXR 6 band works for that. The post gain EQ is just do what your ears tell you, not your eyes.
 
Rdodson said:
There was no re-amping. I promise.

What re-amping DOES sorta/kinda approximate is the 1176 adding a bit of compression, the Pulteq EQ adding a tiny bit of compression, quite a bit of tube color, and scooping things out a bit.

12301 was a fantastic-sounding Marshall but it was the "record/mix it like it is a vocal" that Ted ordered Donn to do that is the magic. 12301, which you can hear in some of the raw (non-mixed/eq'd) tracks doesn't sound the same as VH1. It is the foundation of the sound on VH1, obviously.

In the front end, you can add a BOSS or MXR eq to pump the mids.

If your 68 clone has a very good loop (like a Friedman or Metro loop), you can add an 1176 pedal (I'd suggest the Origin Cali '76). The Pulteq EQ sound is harder to pull off from a pedal, but probably the Empress ParaEQ MkII could get close. Run those two in the loop to match the production. This assumes a very high headroom from your power section and a fully post PI placement.

If you go this route, then the speakers are out of the tonal part of the mix and you want a flatter response. I'd suggest the CL80, which sound decent anyway.

So, now you should be seeing something interesting...the signal chain looks a bit like a Mark II with EQ option.

We boost the mids and cut the lows going in, and reintroduce those frequencies going out...and the power section is basically clean. (see Ed's choice of the 6CA7 which responds more like the M2C's 6L6 glass.

Make sense?
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Is the CL80 the same as the Boogie 90 ? Or similar ?
 
paulyc said:
Any discussion of getting these tones is useless without discussing pre and post gain EQ, which is really the key to getting anyone else's tone...graphic or parametric (or both). VH1 has a nice 1K spike pre gain, which is why the MXR 6 band works for that. The post gain EQ is just do what your ears tell you, not your eyes.
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aFbPAw6.jpg
 
mentoneman said:
i’ve chased vh pretty hard over the years and arrived at results i was very satisfied with. not perfect but inspiring.

i don’t have any intention to recreate his rig. it’s 2024 for goodness sake….i expect a pedal to do it all in this day and age without sounding detached or synthetic like most digital recreations! ?
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Yet the main question you have been asking that adorns your thread title is.......:unsure::giggle:

Favorite VH brown sound in a pedal solutions?

I love the tones too so I get it.... but to really nail the album tones to a tee you would need to go digital somehow to replicate the entire recording chain like Jim Gaustad does with the Sunset sound package or you could use the OX BOX like Ossie Ahsen does that has the sunset sounds in it but it still needs processed through a computer and home monitor system to get the all the reverbs and such with all the ambience effects. The only live rig that would be the rig David Phillips built with SDE3000's and PCM81 for the plate verb and then everything else. I just don't think any pedal can truly replicate a two gain stage plexi circuit cranked up, some really great minds have been attempting to do this and still the real amps reign supreme.

The only pedal that kind of comes close to responding like a real amp was the BEOD deluxe that I tried, but I never really got the same clank and chirpy goodness compared to my real amp but it was good. Maybe if you experimented with Ed's signal chain in front of that pedal you might get something you like. I imagine you have have already tried one since they have been out quite awhile.

Can you not get great VH1 tones out of that Peacemaker like Victor did....add Ed's signal chain some delays and plate reverb between the Peacemaker and a stereo or mono power amp at any volume you want and you already own just about everything to build that without another pedal to make it happen. I mean what Victor setup couldn't be that difficult to replicate? Could it?


That should be all you need to get your VH1 fix?:dunno:
 
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One of my buddy’s bought a Mojave and all the pedals etc based on Victor’s rap years ago and it wasn’t close… but we didn’t explore OD pedals at all, which I now think was a huge mistake.
 
Atomica #1 in Zachmans' clip is far from any of the clips. Post one of yours so we can agree with you.
 
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