Metropoulos Forum

Hey folks, I just did a clip of my Blankenship VariPlex with the MXR 6 Band EQ and the EP-Pre. I am wandering if I should go ahead and have the mod done to my MXR? I don't know... just listen to the clip and let me know what you all think. I would like some feedback!

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/12-Fr ... R%20EQ.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fantastic clip motrock!! The tone, and playing are top notch. What speaker and mic were used for this?

EDIT:DISREGARD THE FOLLOWING INFO AND SEE MY LATER POST WHERE I REALIZE I SHOULD NOT HAVE USED THE GUITAR HERO ISOS FOR THIS COMPARISON
Regarding the MXR mod, I took a close look at your clips by comparing them directly to the VH1 album cuts and here are the results: This pic shows what eq would need to be applied to your clip to make it match the album cut closely.

I think the mod changes the 800hz slider to affect around the 1.2k zone. It doesn't look like you are missing anything in that 1.2k area, as a matter of fact that's the only frequency between around 700hz to 6k that doesn't need a boost. Of course you may not be trying to get the album tone so YMMV and all that!

I decided to match up the YouRGM portion of your clip too:You're pretty close other than the big high end spike needed to match that super sizzly guitar on YRGM.

Nice! It's definitely got that amp ready to explode sound. If you're thinking of modding it, I would say only do it if the mod would help smooth things out. Sounds a bit too hairy for my tastes. If that sounds too vague, listen to the Eruption bootlegs from London and you'll get what I mean. Other than that, you're pretty damn close.

TWANGGG wrote:Fantastic clip motrock!! The tone, and playing are top notch. What speaker and mic were used for this?

Regarding the MXR mod, I took a close look at your clips by comparing them directly to the VH1 album cuts and here are the results:

Eruption eq.JPG

This pic shows what eq would need to be applied to your clip to make it match the album cut closely.

I think the mod changes the 800hz slider to affect around the 1.2k zone. It doesn't look like you are missing anything in that 1.2k area, as a matter of fact that's the only frequency between around 700hz to 6k that doesn't need a boost. Of course you may not be trying to get the album tone so YMMV and all that!

I decided to match up the YouRGM portion of your clip too:

YouRGM eq.JPG

You're pretty close other than the big high end spike needed to match that super sizzly guitar on YRGM.

Very cool man, thanks for graphs. I am not totally sure how to read them or what I am seeing... LOL... but thats awesome though. What frequencies do you think I should boost? or change? How do I get that sizzle that I am missing?

motrock wrote:Very cool man, thanks for graphs. I am not totally sure how to read them or what I am seeing... LOL... but thats awesome though. What frequencies do you think I should boost? or change? How do I get that sizzle that I am missing?

Basically, you look at the bottom of the graph to find the frequency, and the left side to see how much to boost or cut at that frequency. That gives you a general idea of how to adjust your eq using either software or hardware.

To do it more precisely you could give Voxengo's CurveEQ plugin a try in your recording software if you can.

TWANGGG wrote:

motrock wrote:Very cool man, thanks for graphs. I am not totally sure how to read them or what I am seeing... LOL... but thats awesome though. What frequencies do you think I should boost? or change? How do I get that sizzle that I am missing?

Basically, you look at the bottom of the graph to find the frequency, and the left side to see how much to boost or cut at that frequency. That gives you a general idea of how to adjust your eq using either software or hardware.

To do it more precisely you could give Voxengo's CurveEQ plugin a try in your recording software if you can.

What I don't get is what is the first album and what is me? I see the curved line and the dots. What is what? Maybe its a silly question, but I am still learning this audio stuff!

Zephyr wrote:Nice! It's definitely got that amp ready to explode sound. If you're thinking of modding it, I would say only do it if the mod would help smooth things out. Sounds a bit too hairy for my tastes. If that sounds too vague, listen to the Eruption bootlegs from London and you'll get what I mean. Other than that, you're pretty damn close.

I think the live stuff you are referring too is the Boss 10 Band EQ. That would explain that for sure. The amp doesn't have that much hair when the EQ is not in the equation. Trial and error I guess!

Killer! I love it!

I don't want to come off as being offensive but we shouldn't sugar coat our opinions and this is only my opinion.

That is way too hairy IMO.

I would lose the MXR EQ totally because it sounds to me highly EQ'd like when a Graphic Equalizer dominates the tone to such an extent that the amps natural tone is compromised.

Ed did not always use EQ's and when he did it was mostly for buffering with the Univox or cable loss.

I'd say the same for this clip as well

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=34326" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For a 50w amp, nothing touches the Blankenship.

motrock wrote:

TWANGGG wrote:

motrock wrote:Very cool man, thanks for graphs. I am not totally sure how to read them or what I am seeing... LOL... but thats awesome though. What frequencies do you think I should boost? or change? How do I get that sizzle that I am missing?

Basically, you look at the bottom of the graph to find the frequency, and the left side to see how much to boost or cut at that frequency. That gives you a general idea of how to adjust your eq using either software or hardware.

To do it more precisely you could give Voxengo's CurveEQ plugin a try in your recording software if you can.

What I don't get is what is the first album and what is me? I see the curved line and the dots. What is what? Maybe its a silly question, but I am still learning this audio stuff!

Lol, no problem. Like I said, "This pic shows what eq would need to be applied to your clip to make it match the album cut closely." Just think of each of those blue dots as a slider on a 30 band graphic eq. To make your clip sound very much like Eruption on VH1 the sliders would need to be set as shown.

Here's a direct comparison of motrock vs. VH1. Motrock in green.

EDIT:SEE PHOTO A COUPLE OF POSTS BELOW
Leadguy's ears are picking up on those places in the "hairy" high end from 5k on up where your spectrum is higher than Eddies.

And I agree with leadguy, it would be interesting to hear what your amp sounds like alone, without the MXR eq, just as a baseline for comparison if you're game to record some more clips.

Wow, I guess that means my 5k hearing is sort of functioning then and is probably better than Ed's is now

I like some of the 'nuances' there in 'Eruption' (By Motrock), It's funny, but NOBODY (even Eddie) ever played that album version exactly the same TWICE ! I heard some inflections in there that I havent been paying enough attention to. Great job !

I agree with Leadguy, as far as the MXR 6 band eq goes. I think Ed may have used one at times, BUT, if he did, he managed to keep that precise pure amp type attack, without adding in any extra 'whooly/hair' type sound, which clutters things up a bit.

The part in VH1 Eruption right after the intro 'A' chord, where he starts in 'A' pentatonic minor, right where he shifts it to those palm muted minor triplets on the 'G' string (4 (h) 7 (p) 5 (p) 4 ) . That part has such very quick transient response, that sounds like a 'straight' amp. I alway's lose a bit of 'Natural direct' type tone when using eq's (I got vintage blue, boss Ge10, Boss ge-7).

Just dove a little deeper into this and...Dammit! I used the Guitar Hero isos for the comparisons posted above because you don't have to worry about Alex's cymbals etc. Some of the GH tracks we have were pretty severely eq'ed in production. So some of them are NOT a good source for comparison for this kind of thing...silly me, I've found this before and should have known better.

The good news is that upon realizing this, and now comparing to the actual VH1(remaster f/2000), motrock is incredibly close to the REAL album tone. Good job! I'm sure you've gone over this before, but could you give some detail about your signal chain for this please. Pickup, speaker, mic, etc. Thanks!