Tone shaping: I could use some serious help

Hey All,

After a few years of going through amp after amp after amp in search of "the tone," something struck me. Maybe I'm the malfunction in the operation here.

I have a Mesa Stiletto Deuce Stage II. Near mint. I love the clean sound I dialed in, but I can't seem to get on with a dirty solo sound. I know it can do it, but I'm not able to achieve it for some reason. I was hoping someone could help.

Here's my problem: I feel like the sound is a bit thin and brittle. I'm looking for more of a smooth tone. Full-bodied notes. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Stiletto users, please, don't hesitate to lay into me.

what cab/ speakers are you using? and what guitar/pickups?

Back down on the master a little, and compensate with the output. You'll get a bigger and fatter tone that way. Also, fiddling with the mid control might help a little. Of course there's the option of valve rectification as well...

Are you using your neck pickup? If not, try that first.

Run your Output & Solo knobs past noon. This head likes to be LOUD. But, you can still achieve great tone at reasonable levels. The key is to run those two knobs at least at noon, then Master volumes to as loud as you can tolerate for the given situation. Try not to scoop out the mids. Mesa says the best tones are with the eq knobs almost straight up and I agree. I do run the presence OFF, and the treble bestween almost off, and maybe 10:00 MAX (when playing in a band). The bass is about 1:00 and the mids are between 10 to 11. Ch 2 - Tite Gain. Diodes, and Bold (live) Spongy (at home). 50W at home and 100W for live use. I also only run my gain about 1:00. Plenty for most situations (for me).

Good luck.

Fluid Drive with a Fulltone FD II gets me from AC/DC grind to Santana mercury using guitar volume / tone etc. Took me a year to find it and work in the pedal set up, so I know what you are going through. Stick with it ... whisky helped in the voyage of discovery and Mesa frustration :wink:

I agree,

Dialing in this amp can be very hard is some situations. Try different settings, keep dialing and know your amp so it has no secrets for you.. Amp resonds very different on different guitars, pickups etc. When not dialed in correctly, the amp can get very harsh. I've installed the bias mod. This helped a lot, but use your ears and listen. Sometimes the settings seems weird, but in the end the TONE is what matters.

My experience: Try get the output as high as possible. Around 11 / 12 oclock is best. Compensate this with the channel masters to achieve the right amount of volume. FX loop level is important. Do not back off the mids!! Try to get this as high as possible.

Keep treble en presc. low, and do not turn the bass too high to keep it tight sounding. Watch out with gain. Keep it as low as possible. You'll notice you don't need as much gain as you think in a band situation!. last one... change tubes. !

rock on!
alie

I like everything around noon except the treble and presence almost off. Tite gain. I like the amp best with the loop engaged, a splash of reverb and or delay in the loop and something to control the volume in the loop since I usually have the master and output at noon also. It sounds harsh and brittle only when the masters are to low.

Ever try an EQ in the Loop to bump the bottom a bit? I had that going and a good OD boost in the front on titegain and it was thick and creamy

You guys realize this is a 6 month old thread, right?

yes, realise that, but why not share all our info. There are always players with good tips we all can try. I keep learning because it's an amp with very much diffent sounds..

(Just a fanatic Boogie player)

screamingdaisy said:

You guys realize this is a 6 month old thread, right?

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Im outta work and bored....

why do u care how old this thread is? the dude needs help ,so lets help him. i agree ,keep the MIDS up and TREB low. i bring the PRESN up just enough til the amp opens up and doesnt sound compressed or muffled.

fbomb said:

why do u care how old this thread is? the dude needs help ,so lets help him. i agree ,keep the MIDS up and TREB low. i bring the PRESN up just enough til the amp opens up and doesnt sound compressed or muffled.

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I'm pretty sure he's sold the amp...

Or still trying to

screamingdaisy said:

fbomb said:

why do u care how old this thread is? the dude needs help ,so lets help him. i agree ,keep the MIDS up and TREB low. i bring the PRESN up just enough til the amp opens up and doesnt sound compressed or muffled.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure he's sold the amp...

Click to expand...

lol thanks for the help, guys.

I've actually yet to sell the amp. I really do like this amp. It's really hard because I keep thinking since I'm not gigging I don't need this much power, but the options and the cleans on it are just so good that I'm having a hard time finding another amp that does what this does. Given that it still has stock tubes in it after 3 owners I think I'm going to try some JJs from Eurotubes and maybe some KT77s to get a better low end. I corresponded with Eddie from Eurotubes.com and was a HUGE help because I'm kind of lost when it comes to retubing anything, so I think that's where I'll start first if I decide to keep it and not get an Orange AD30 or something for home recording. The only thing really stopping me is the lack of an FX loop.