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Dude Ranch Amp Settings?


MBlink182

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13 hours ago, mil182 said:

I’m going to be posting some videos soon of some different blink tones I’ve dialed in.

Dude Ranch has a pretty distinctive sound. The X2N is a hot pickup but the amp is broken up enough to get some saturation while retaining note definition. There’s definitely some overdubs with more preamp gain (like the intro to Boring) but the main tone seems to be more from cranking the volume and getting the power tubes cooking. The palm muted sections are very clean sounding, individual notes have lots of definition and chords sound full and distorted. There’s a bit more high end because of where the guitars needed to sit in the mix. Being a three piece, even with overdubs, Mark’s bass is going to take up those lower frequencies and some mid range as well. But you definitely do not need to over do it with gain.  

Gear aside, I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is that a lot of the tone is in Tom’s picking hand. Choke up a bit to get those cleaner sounding palm muted sections, really dig in and play tight rhythms when strumming chords and play the riffs as clean as possible. That’s half the battle for getting the sound of the record. 

People will criticize his sloppy live playing but on this record, Tom played super tight! And it’s all recorded to tape so of course you had to nail it, not like today where you can fix anything with the click of a button. 

What amp are you using?

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5 hours ago, blinkstillrules said:

What amp are you using?

I have been able to dial dude ranch tones in with a Mesa Dual Rec (recently sold), a peavey 6505+ and also an EVH 5150iii 50 watt. I use Mesa 4x12 cabs.

 

ive been messing around a lot on my helix since I use it to demo. I made a patch with a JCM 800 head and a tube overdrive (to get it a bit closer to a 900 or an Ampeg) and an IR that is a blend of a Mesa 4x12 with V30s and a Marshall 4x12 with 75 watt celestions.

 

to me, it’s really more about the settings and the playing, as long as your amp is in the ballpark. The settings will vary based on what you’re using but I’m going to do some demos of these tons and try to share my settings as a starting point. 
 

don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be able to match tones with the exact gear, but I understand it’s not practical for everyone. 
 

also, FWIW, the mix and master on dude ranch is very strange. I’m dying for a re-issue of a remixed and mastered version. Getting those guitars right in the mix would sound killer. But blink for some reason never wants to give us any reissues ever. 

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56 minutes ago, mil182 said:

FWIW, the mix and master on dude ranch is very strange. I’m dying for a re-issue of a remixed and mastered version. Getting those guitars right in the mix would sound killer. But blink for some reason never wants to give us any reissues ever. 

You're not alone

 

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14 hours ago, mil182 said:

I have been able to dial dude ranch tones in with a Mesa Dual Rec (recently sold), a peavey 6505+ and also an EVH 5150iii 50 watt. I use Mesa 4x12 cabs.

 

ive been messing around a lot on my helix since I use it to demo. I made a patch with a JCM 800 head and a tube overdrive (to get it a bit closer to a 900 or an Ampeg) and an IR that is a blend of a Mesa 4x12 with V30s and a Marshall 4x12 with 75 watt celestions.

 

to me, it’s really more about the settings and the playing, as long as your amp is in the ballpark. The settings will vary based on what you’re using but I’m going to do some demos of these tons and try to share my settings as a starting point. 
 

don’t get me wrong, it’s awesome to be able to match tones with the exact gear, but I understand it’s not practical for everyone. 
 

also, FWIW, the mix and master on dude ranch is very strange. I’m dying for a re-issue of a remixed and mastered version. Getting those guitars right in the mix would sound killer. But blink for some reason never wants to give us any reissues ever. 

Try using the radio edits of Dammit and Josie off the greatest hits record.

 

Tom Lord-Alge mixed and mastered them. They sound like whole album should.

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1 hour ago, blinkstillrules said:

Try using the radio edits of Dammit and Josie off the greatest hits record.

 

Tom Lord-Alge mixed and mastered them. They sound like whole album should.

Yeah I’m definitely happy with the fact that we ended up getting those on the hits record.

I totally get that blink (in their current form) do not want to be a legacy act and want to continue putting out new music. And that’s awesome, I appreciate their artistic merit. However, I feel like doing re-issues of old records, even if just remixes or remastered, would be appreciated. And if they did some box set type stuff with demos, live tracks, notes and photos, dvds etc.. they would sell a ton. A lot of other bands have been doing that sort of thing and it’s just a nice thing for the fans to have. 
 

I really wish there were photos/videos/production notes of blink recording dude ranch. 

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36 minutes ago, mil182 said:

Yeah I’m definitely happy with the fact that we ended up getting those on the hits record.

I totally get that blink (in their current form) do not want to be a legacy act and want to continue putting out new music. And that’s awesome, I appreciate their artistic merit. However, I feel like doing re-issues of old records, even if just remixes or remastered, would be appreciated. And if they did some box set type stuff with demos, live tracks, notes and photos, dvds etc.. they would sell a ton. A lot of other bands have been doing that sort of thing and it’s just a nice thing for the fans to have. 
 

I really wish there were photos/videos/production notes of blink recording dude ranch. 

I messaged Mark Trombino on Facebook last year about Dude Ranch notes. Never got a reply but since we're not friends he may have never even saw it.

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23 hours ago, mil182 said:

FWIW, the mix and master on dude ranch is very strange. I’m dying for a re-issue of a remixed and mastered version. Getting those guitars right in the mix would sound killer. But blink for some reason never wants to give us any reissues ever. 

yup i make a point on the 182news podcast about this. it's my holy grail, a two disc'r of DR.

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19 minutes ago, daveyjones said:

yup i make a point on the 182news podcast about this. it's my holy grail, a two disc'r of DR.

Yeah, I heard you talk about that on the podcast and I totally am with you 100%. Getting one disc of DR remixed and remastered and another of the DR Demos would be incredible. 
 

i wonder how much of it has to do with labels owning the rights. They’ve done tons of vinyl and cassette reissues but maybe they don’t want to put in the work or funding into a proper reissue. Even though, if blink reissues were done correctly, they’d be a total cash grab. 

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  • 1 month later...

I was able to dial in a pretty close tone. I did a few videos (I shared one in a different thread. I used my line 6 helix but I did a video explaining what I used settings wise and how it may apply to other rigs.

 

i think it’s important to remember when trying to dial in or recreate tones used on records that even if you have the same exact gear the guitar player (in this case, Tom) used on the record, you still have to account for all of the variables that shaped the final sound. The microphone and mic placement, the room, the outboard equipment, post production, mix and master all play into the sound you hear on the album. The dude ranch mix is strange. I think I got pretty close but everyone’s ear and opinion is different.

 

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On 9/21/2020 at 12:09 PM, mil182 said:

I was able to dial in a pretty close tone. I did a few videos (I shared one in a different thread. I used my line 6 helix but I did a video explaining what I used settings wise and how it may apply to other rigs.

 

i think it’s important to remember when trying to dial in or recreate tones used on records that even if you have the same exact gear the guitar player (in this case, Tom) used on the record, you still have to account for all of the variables that shaped the final sound. The microphone and mic placement, the room, the outboard equipment, post production, mix and master all play into the sound you hear on the album. The dude ranch mix is strange. I think I got pretty close but everyone’s ear and opinion is different.

 

Sounded pretty damn good to me. So what did you end up doing/using on the Helix?

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On 9/21/2020 at 12:09 PM, mil182 said:

I was able to dial in a pretty close tone. I did a few videos (I shared one in a different thread. I used my line 6 helix but I did a video explaining what I used settings wise and how it may apply to other rigs.

 

i think it’s important to remember when trying to dial in or recreate tones used on records that even if you have the same exact gear the guitar player (in this case, Tom) used on the record, you still have to account for all of the variables that shaped the final sound. The microphone and mic placement, the room, the outboard equipment, post production, mix and master all play into the sound you hear on the album. The dude ranch mix is strange. I think I got pretty close but everyone’s ear and opinion is different.

 

FYI I also have a copy of DR that was "remastered" by someone on Reddit. I actually think it's pretty decent sounding (not as good as the radio edits) but he took the jokes out. If you want it let me know.

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7 hours ago, blinkstillrules said:

FYI I also have a copy of DR that was "remastered" by someone on Reddit. I actually think it's pretty decent sounding (not as good as the radio edits) but he took the jokes out. If you want it let me know.

I’d love to hear that! 
 

so basically I used a JCM 800 model, took out a lot of the mids and bass, boosted the treble and gain and through a range master overdrive in front to boost the single. IR was a blend of a Mesa cab and a Marshall cab. 

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9 hours ago, mil182 said:

I’d love to hear that! 
 

so basically I used a JCM 800 model, took out a lot of the mids and bass, boosted the treble and gain and through a range master overdrive in front to boost the single. IR was a blend of a Mesa cab and a Marshall cab. 

Check your PMs for the "remastered" DR.

I'm gonna send you a screen shot of my Amepgs DR settings at the moment.

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On 9/23/2020 at 9:37 PM, mil182 said:

I’d love to hear that! 
 

so basically I used a JCM 800 model, took out a lot of the mids and bass, boosted the treble and gain and through a range master overdrive in front to boost the single. IR was a blend of a Mesa cab and a Marshall cab. 

Here's my current settings. I took @daveyjones settings and dropped the frequency knob from 5 to 4 and just dialed the gain back a little. I tried dialing back the preamp knob too but it sounds tighter with it maxed, which makes sense. The preamp knob is basically just a built in OD pedal as I understand it.YT7g4Na.jpg

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6 hours ago, blinkstillrules said:

Here's my current settings. I took @daveyjones settings and dropped the frequency knob from 5 to 4 and just dialed the gain back a little. I tried dialing back the preamp knob too but it sounds tighter with it maxed, which makes sense. The preamp knob is basically just a built in OD pedal as I understand it.

you roll low and high maxed? woah. i currently rock channel I at low zero, mid and high maxed (i play classic rock on that channel). for channel II, preamp and gain maxed, low at 1, mid and high straight up at 6.

i took your advice and now i play on frequency 4 instead of 5 now.

reverbs at zero. master I at 4. master II maxed. i can play with the attenuator on at two. any more than that and the walls would cave in and kill my next door neighbors.

i think we can all agree. it's the best tube amp head in the world.

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2 hours ago, daveyjones said:

you roll low and high maxed? woah. i currently rock channel I at low zero, mid and high maxed (i play classic rock on that channel). for channel II, preamp and gain maxed, low at 1, mid and high straight up at 6.

i took your advice and now i play on frequency 4 instead of 5 now.

reverbs at zero. master I at 4. master II maxed. i can play with the attenuator on at two. any more than that and the walls would cave in and kill my next door neighbors.

i think we can all agree. it's the best tube amp head in the world.

It's totally one the best amps ever.

 

Yeah I've been messing around more. Low/high maxed isn't terrible. I'm gonna try your low, mid, high settings but with my gain dialed back a little as it is.

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