Playin' at home

Hootsmon

Anyone have the same problem....my clean amp tone c/w some nice OD pedals at polite TV volumes always seems to me to have a kind of.....glassy sheen high end that I don't care for at all. clean tone is fine, OD and distortion does not inspire confidence

Les Paul or Tele or tweed champ or Boogie it's all the same

I have good valve amps,good guitars and pedals but what I may not have is good technique....:) is it a low volume thing you think?

Hootsmon

Well?

Hootsmon

Fine thanks

Keefy

I’ll play.

Turn it up! Screw polite TV volumes ffs!

chrisj1602

I live in an apartment so I mainly use headphones, previously a HX Stomp and now a Pod Go. My recently acquired Supro Blues King does sound pretty good at low volume though, it has boost and gain switches and a master volume so I can get a good clean or driven sound without pedals.

Sassafras

Guitar always sounds better the louder it is. Just on the verge of feedback is my favourite volume.

SteveRobinson

I like guitar best *past* the verge of feedback. That's when it comes alive!

Keefy

Also a distortion sound that works solo at polite volumes is going to be pretty tame. A distortion sound that works in a band is a different thing altogether.

SPECTRUM001

If it is any consolation, yes I am stuck in a similar rut.

My sound veers between brittle (cleans or just breaking up) and mud (overdriven).

Whatever guitar I seem to use. Hence I have been trying to rethink for a home use tube amp that works at low volume. Did wonder if Jamie’s Laney 15r would be an option, but still not sure.

Usually end up blaming myself though. All the demos of my Vox AV15 sound great, so why can’t I ??!!

Much better at rehearsals - which is encouraging.

slacker

I don't use the same pedals at home. TS and Klon(e) circuits don't sound great at low volume i.e. with a clean amp. 

This is where I recommend my extremely rare pedals and the king of tone circuit works well but so does the Friedman BE and the Rockett Dude. The Fuzz Factory is great with a clean amp but probably too crazy.

Teetonetal

Get rid of the amps and replace with a modeller and headphones.

LPManic

I play cleans through the amp and distortion and riffing through GarageBand. Keeps the wife and kids happy that way.

Alexlotl

I found my lower-volume tones with my Telecaster + Vox AC15C1X (TB channel) greatly improved when I set the MV to at least halfway, to get the power tubes working a bit. It does mean that I can no longer run the pre-amp on the edge of breakup, but I'm compensating for that by dialling in a tiny bit of dirt/compression using an MXR Timmy (switch in asymmetric clipping mode). My Mudhoney II then stacks on top of that very nicely for medium/high gain. I haven't had a chance to try things out in a louder setting, but I'm guessing I'll be able to drop the Timmy when I can turn the pre-amp up.

That's family-tolerable volumes though, not polite TV volumes. I'd definitely go modelling for the latter.

NelsonP

Teetonetal said:

Get rid of the amps and replace with a modeller and headphones.

Or an FRFR. Or studio monitors. You can eq the modeller to sound good at lower volumes. Playing with headphones is so different that it will never really compare to playing an amp.

munckee

slacker said:

I don't use the same pedals at home. TS and Klon(e) circuits don't sound great at low volume i.e. with a clean amp. 

This is where I recommend my extremely rare pedals and the king of tone circuit works well but so does the Friedman BE and the Rockett Dude. The Fuzz Factory is great with a clean amp but probably too crazy.

I think this is it, TS doesn’t sound too great at lower volumes. I play a zen drive into a silver face champ at home and it sounds great. 

Nobels odr1 was also a great home pedal. 

PudWud

I think the whole 'tube amp for home use' is a way to sell those small amps. 
I've found my Kemper into FRFR or Line 6 Powercab (only recently tried one) sound much better than any amp at home/TV volume quiet levels. 

As for when everything is turned up to stage volume, thats a different question. But I've hapily switched to Kemper for home use, as I was just getting frustrated at trying to get expensive amps to sound good at home. 

slacker

munckee said:

slacker said:

I don't use the same pedals at home. TS and Klon(e) circuits don't sound great at low volume i.e. with a clean amp. 

This is where I recommend my extremely rare pedals and the king of tone circuit works well but so does the Friedman BE and the Rockett Dude. The Fuzz Factory is great with a clean amp but probably too crazy.

I think this is it, TS doesn’t sound too great at lower volumes. I play a zen drive into a silver face champ at home and it sounds great. 

Nobels odr1 was also a great home pedal. 

I forgot about the Zen Drive, good call.

Slash'N'burn

Not really had this problem with valve amps at home, I would say the type of pedals you have may be the problem.

Have you tried reducing the amp presence/treble and rolling off the guitar tone pot?

Maybe try something like a Tubescreamer for overdrive (or Boo instruments TS808 clone) these do not colour the EQ very much and work well for me at home.

An attenuator would also help you hear some of your valve amps natural power amp distortion that you won't be getting if you have the master volume really low. 

Jalapeno

Maybe Use Helix/Kemper/AxeFX with IRs to give you the missing dynamics, or purpose built practice amp like Yamaha THR

NPP

Sometimes there just isn't enough volume so that you're hearing too much of the unamplified guitar sound. In that case it would be unfair to blame the amp or pedals. Headphones are indeed the only solution.

Playing at slightly higher volume I've had some luck stacking OD pedals. Boosting an amp-in-a-box pedal set at low drive with a Soul Food for some reason gave me a much livelier sound than with just one pedal set at medium drive. 

Depending on the amp, having the master as high up as possible and the preamp low may also work - I guess I could just have quoted @Alexlotl ;'s post above as he's basically saying the same thing. 

  

Jim-Bob

I reckon it's a low volume thing.  I reckon proper kit for gigs is not suited to use at home (well my home) as you can never get it to the point where its working at the levels its been designed/spec'd to work at.  Right at the bottom of the volume range tiny tiny rotations of the levels have a big difference that I don't get when the amps working and the amps and pedals just don't sound so good as they are not in their operating range.  Same if you have a big amp in a small venue (I just don't take a 50 Watt mesa to a coffee shop anymore...) 

Practically, this lock down, I found the hassle of getting amps, cables and pedal boards unpacked in order to have frequent requests to "turn it down" in a crowded loaded down house to be a complete pain.  I really like the Katana Air I have but I only use it clean and even that is said to be too loud!

That all means most playing is done sans amp... or silently recording and listening to playback on headphones.