Re: Dialing in that " Tone " Thang

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark Crowley wrote:
"I am getting a tone am 85% comfortable with thru an sm57 and rp200 -
but if I (even gently) play the 3&4 draw or 4&5 draw together it sets up
a crunch like a bulldozer idling - has the floor shaking beneath yr feet
and that has my lead guitarist shooting anxious glances my way -
(I got all gains as low as possible -that's 0 on the rp- bass all way
up, treble dead - reverbs and delays dead - wanting nothing fancy just a
strong clear tone -and yes, practise everyday).
Octaves are ok, low bends are ok (I thought a badly done low bend would
trigger it, when yu lose the control ofthe 'right " note  it and it goes
brrrrr between the different semitiones- but nope) - just those adjacent
notes- though warbling across them is fine.  The amp's no big name brand
(torque) and has 14/15 ins spkr(?) - so that may be the problem there i
wouldn't know."

Given your description of your setup, I can sugegst a few changes that
may improve your satisfaction with your sound.  The bass settings need
attention; you've got a 15" speaker on the amp, which is going to
produce lots of low end, and you're running the RP200 with the bass all
the way up and treble all the way down.  Plus, you're using a Shure
SM57, and I presume you're cupping it, so the proximity effect (which is
common to all dynamic mics) boosts the bass even more.  It's no wonder
you're shaking the floor. 

I'd start by looking again at the RP200 amp model gain settings.  Amp
gain on the RP200 (and other amp modelers) is a powerful tool for adding
edge to the sound.  I set gain to zero for the Stack model, in the
mid-single digits for the Boutique model, and in the low-mid double
digits for the Blackface and Clean2 models.   The RP200 does a very nice
job in particular on Fender amp-type sounds (i.e. blackface-model-based)
if you give it a little gain to work with.   

Next, try setting the bass on your patches only slightly up-- in the
+3-5 range -- cut the mids by an equal amount, and test the sound.  Then
see whether adding a little treble improves matters. The RP200 puts out
a lot of energy in the 600Hz range, so be careful about boosting bass
and low-mids.  Set the overall volume for the RP200 to about 70 before
you feed it to the keyboard amp.

For a short cut, take a look at the RP200 patches I've set up at
http://www.hunterharp/com/effectset.html.  Those are good prototypes for
your own explorations.  Start with those, and modify the EQ until you
get it sounding right with your mic and keyboard amp.  You can also
switch speaker models; that has the effect of changing the overall EQ. 
Some of the RP200's speaker models have a very dark sound to them, so be
careful that you're not using a dark cabinet model with the bass EQ
maxed out and the treble completely rolled off too (unless you actually
want the floor to shake).

Finally, I recommend that you set all tone controls on the keyboard amp
to zero.  You're better off managing EQ with the RP200, because you can
take that and plug into any PA and tell the soundman to set all the tone
controls flat, and you'll still have your sound. If the keyboard amp
won't reproduce a signal cleanly with the EQ zeroed out, then consider
changing the amp.  Before you do that, run the harp directly to the PA
and make sure that what you're hearing there is what you want to hear;
if not, go back and tweak the RP200 until it sounds the way you like,
then check it again with the keyboard amp.

Hope this is useful, regards, RH
http://www.hunterharp.com