VH4 tone help, cab situation valve question

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Paradigma_bizarro

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Hello,

As a recent VH4 owner I have some questions;

In the last rehearsal my tone was kind of sucking ass...I am in a band where we use 8 strings (no Djent or anything similar) and my Ibanez Rg2228 is equipped with bareckuckle Cold sweat (bridge) and VHII (neck).

I was running the Diezel through an Orange PPC412 with V30, and my tone was a bit muddy and with too much mid, as if there was a blanket over it. I also have a Mesa rectifier traditional slant 4x12 cab but it is in a friends studio for recordings.

I had a VH4 from a friend not a while ago there and his sounded darker and smother overall, and a bit more focused maybe, his had EL34s and mine has KT77s

I believe that this is due to the Bareknuckle pickups because with my ESP with Bill Lawrence L500XL it's much more open and tight.

Any thoughts and tips on this?

Thanks
 
I had a VH4 Blue face for a couple weeks and HATED it...it had hum and buzz issues too, but I just didn'y dig the tones so I returned it and got a Herbert...much better.
 
Being a VH4, Herbert, BKP and Ibanez 2228 user, I would say for sure that the problem is not in the VH4. BKPs are sensitive for pickup height and VH4 on the other hand does not sound its best with too high output pickups and too high gain settings. Check your bias and play with the EQ. Also remove everything from the signal chain before the amp to see whether it makes any difference - Some pedals really do suck tone.
 
Paradigma_bizarro":2oi74vkm said:
I was running the Diezel through an Orange PPC412 with V30, and my tone was a bit muddy and with too much mid, as if there was a blanket over it. I also have a Mesa rectifier traditional slant 4x12 cab but it is in a friends studio for recordings.
Click to expand...

That's what that orange cab does for the sound and exactly how I could describe the sound of my VH4 when I plugged it onto that cab for cab testing.

Paradigma_bizarro":2oi74vkm said:
Any thoughts and tips on this?
Click to expand...

Go to your friends place and grab the mesa cab ;)
 
I too just got a VH4 and was wondering about the tubes that came in mine. Mine have the BHT STR EL34 tubes and so far I find it lacking some cut on the attack notes especially when I drop D. I was wondering what people thought of these tubes and what you guys would recommend for aggressive attack and punch. I believe Peter said the JJ KT77's were not as aggressive as the EL34's.
 
I had the same issue. I found that lowering the channel volume to about 9:30 and cranking the presence completely fixed my issues. I finally started hearing the vh4 tone that I bought the head for. Try it and let me know.
 
andiggity":2thlgkna said:
cranking the presence
Click to expand...

This sounds pretty extreme. :confused: Im glad you got your tone back again, but I can't help myslef wondering that are you speakers and signal chain in shape?
 
So the thing here might be the Orange cab right? my friends VH4 sounded more saturated and dark, still clear, he has EL34s, does this make such a difference?
 
Tubes make some difference. But it definitely is not that straightforward question as it would require to have pre and power tubes in similar condition and proper bias to compare them. My VH4 sounds good with either EL34s or KT77s and there really is no big difference - Personally I liked EL34s more, but the difference in terms of tone is subtle.
 
I would point to your cabinets and V30s.
I find Orange and Mesa Cabinets too Dark or Muddy... But Speakers contribute too.
I love my Diezel 4x12 that came with G12K100s, but wanted some Mids especially for Solos.
I put 2 V30s in an X-Pattern and that was a nice Mix.
Now my Mesa Rectifier 2x12 Cabinet sounded worse to my ears with my EVH 5150 III 50 Watt. The same was true of my Diezel D-Moll on the Same cabs as well as my Home Setup which is a H&K Tubemeister 36. I found having only V30s is Muddy to me, I recently put in a G12T-75 on one side of that 2x12 cab and it helps, but not quite as nice as the G12k100, but there seems to be no 16 ohm K100 so now I landed a Diezel 1x12 so I can pop 1 of my 8 ohm G12K100s into that.

Note: Please take no offense if you are an Orange, Mesa Cab fan or a fan of all V30s. This is what my ears like, and it sounds like the OP may have similar tastes and was just trying to share my findings.
 
I had also some tone problem on the low end side with Dmoll and my Diezel cab (2x12 Rearloaded with v30). Below the drop D I had no power. Further to some discussions with rig talk dudes, I got a Diezel 2x12 Frontloaded with G12K100 and it solved my problem for recording and low volume playing for detuned high gain sound. Huge sound and great tightness. I don't talk about stage situation, only home recording.

Concerning the load, I have been told that Celestion does not manufacture 16 Ohm G12K100, but only 8 Ohm. So for my 2x12 I wired them in serie so I have 16 Ohm for my Dmoll. But I have no more stereo mode or split mode.

To be honest, I feel like cabinet and speaker change had major impact on my sound than tube change.
 
Krugmeister, no offense of course, there´s opinions and tips, I´m going to listen do them all, thanks for your imput ;)

I think I found the problem and a rather cheap one to resolve, I talked with BK pickups and he said that the Cold Sweat Ißm using is not suitable for the style I play so I will switch it for a Juggernaut (not a djent fan, it just sounded good and BK recomends that or the aftermath).

about the cabs, how much would my VH4 improve with a Diezel GK100 4x12? I can´t try any so could you give me some insight about them?

To show what I play here´s the 2 videos for the upcoming album in 2014, we are also going to re-record the guitars, this time with the VH4 and 5150 :)

studio rep:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2xUOAC9xSg

teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkF29UP_W4

thanks
 
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