Marshall AVT100 EQ Settings. Help!

[Mick Maverik]

Hey guys, any advice on how to get: 1) a good Hard Rock tone (GN'R / BuckCherry etc)

2) a good Heavy Metal sound (Megadeth etc) and 3) a good Lead sound (Helloween / Maiden etc)

Just looking for a guide as to where to set the: Channel, Gain, Presence, Bass, Mid, Treble & Reverb. Thanks

[threeornothing]

Don't know the amp, but I'm guessing for a hard rock tone keep the gain below 5, give it plenty of mid, bring in the bass for a bit of depth, maybe even only 2 or 3, keep the treble reasonably low and brighten it with the presence.....that may sound awful, sounds good on the DSL, maybe a bit more bass than 2 or 3, the DSL has a bass boost switch so you don't need to go raming up the bass....

As for the metal tone, almost the exact opposite. You're going to need a lot more gain, I used to think gain at 10 was standard although if you listen to your music collection you'll notice bands don't pour on the gain so much, cos if they did, the definition of what they are actually playing would be lost. Definitely try 10 though Depending how brutal a sound you want, keep the mid very low, even try cutting it out all together if its a thrashy sound you want. Plenty of bass, you're going to need it to make up for all the mid you've cut out, I'd have presence about 5 and then bring up the treble just to sharpen it up, too much presence and treble just kills your ear drums...this might work for your lead sound, I don't really listen to the bands you mention but I'd guess use the neck pickup for a smoother sound.....

This is going off memory as I don't have an amp or guitar here, but might help?? Experiementation is the key

[Mouse]

I have it but the best thing you need to do is play around and see for yourself. I have the gain on both OD channels 3/4, treble 3/4, bass midway, mid 1/3 and presence full & it's great for heavy metal & rock in general

[Graham]

I dunno, I just can't get a good overdrive sound from my AVT100. And the clean channel is much louder than the overdrive channels. I can get a nice clean sound from it though. I'm still trying to find a pedal that gives me a distortion/overdrive sound that I like.

[Mouse]

You gotta be good at setting the volumes for all channels equal, then controlling the loudness with the master volume

[threeornothing]

I dunno' date=' I just can't get a good overdrive sound from my AVT100. And the clean channel is much louder than the overdrive channels. I can get a nice clean sound from it though. I'm still trying to find a pedal that gives me a distortion/overdrive sound that I like.[/quote']

That pedal is the BOSS DS1!!! Will only set you back 39 and contains the best distortion I've ever heard (almost...) just 3 controls, dist, level and tone, which is more of a sweep....the range is amazing, the key is having a good clean sound, as this pedal doesn't mud up what you're playing, preserves everything crystal clear....really a pedal that needs to be tried at "more than R&B acceptable" volume

[Tav]

I had a DS1 I enjoyed it...however it's a not a pedal for just providing distortion all by itself really. Would b much better suited to pushing vavles than stand alone distortion on a purely solid state amp. But since you have a valve state I am sure it'll sound better than it did on my Marshall combo.

[IamScrooge]

From someone with the same amp, heres what I suggest...

1)OD1, Presence 5/6, Bass 5, Mids 7, Treble 6, Reverb1 -Adjust 5 -Mix 4

2)For megadeath; OD2, Presence 10, Bass 4, Mids 10 Treble 10, Reverb1 -Adjust6 -Mix4

A more useful tone: OD2, Presence 5/6, Bass 5, Mids 7, Treble 6

3)Throw in plenty mids, boost the presence a bit, throw on a short delay (the delay effect has reverb on it too!) and mix it in about 5, then use OD2 as a lead boost channel.

But bottom line, your guitar will effect the tone so you'll need to experiment. The pickups you have will effect the gain so much I'm not even going to bother guessing gain settings. And please please please DONT SCOOP YOUR MIDS. Thank you.

To return the favour, heres a small secret about the AVT 100 amp. Leave the master volume on full. Then forget about it, just use the channel volumes, the amp sounds MUCH better, and, you'll get more volume too (well, not really, but its satisfying when you only need to keep your amp on '3' or '4' at a gig).

[Tav]

From someone with the same amp' date=' heres what I suggest...

And please please please DONT SCOOP YOUR MIDS. Thank you.

[/quote']

Shite. If your playing in your bedroom (where mouses AVT resides amoungst millions of pieces of Iron Maiden stuff), at relativly low volumes and want a metal sound in the style of Metallica or Mega Death then scoop your mids you must. As volume goes down then so too do your mids for that kind of sound.

[IamScrooge]

As volume goes down then so too do your mids for that kind of sound.

Thats a good point, however all too often it seems that people relate what they're doing in their bedroom is going to sound the same live, and you simply cant take a lot of mids out when you play live because it just DOESN'T work. Do you know how much more volume I got from my amp when I learned that lesson for myself?

I wish someone had told me scooping mids was bad when i was a bit younger, so many practices struggling to hear myself over the lead guitarist (treble treble treble) which was completely needless.

Mind you, I did actually 'get more' volume when I tried that master volune trick described in my last post as well. With the channel volume full up I'd have to have the master on 5 or 6 and still struggle to hear myself when the other guitarist was on volume 3. Now the master stays full up and the channel volume stays between 2 and 3. And the world makes sense once more