Need help deciding which of these tones to go with. Help me decide :)

[Tommy Evans]

It comes down to the Criminal head in POD farm vs my mic'd 5150ii through a peavey XXX 4x12 cab.

I know the default answer around here will always be to choose a real head over a fake one. But listen to them closely and tell me which one sounds better. Tell me which one FEELS better. Tell me which one suits the song best. I've got downloadable Dropbox links for now (I'm not at my computer). If anyone requests direct links I'll gladly put them up later tonight when I get home.

Anyhoo,

TEST A
http://db.tt/hhSgciuH


TEST B
http://db.tt/ian0Af2U

Thanks guise!

 

[Tommy Evans]

Dang nothing yet? heres some direct links. eff this download stuff man!

A (POD)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52578704/APA CriminalTest.mp3

B (5150)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52578704/APA 5150test.mp3

 

[Armorial]

For me, the Criminal Head sounds just a tiny bit better and wider too.

 

[Tommy Evans]

Thank you for your opinion armorial! Moar pleeeaaasse!

 

[jackbraglia]

yea the criminal sounds better at the moment, but it still has that "grainy" amp sim quality about it. With that said, I still think the 5150 is capable of sounding a lot better, maybe if you dial in your gain differently.

I think the podfarm clip has the right amount of sustain and distortion, but not enough low end punch. with the 5150 you really feel the "push" of the speaker cone, so you get that low end punch but your tone lacks the sustain that the pod farm tone has.

and on a side note, my go-to pod farm amp is the treadplate, I always wanted to use the criminal head, but for whatever reason could never get a tone out of it that I was satisfied with. but you got it sounding real nice here. would you mind sharing your podfarm settings?? I'm only curious about the pedal/amp knob settings really, and which cab/mic you're using within podfarm (or which IR if thats what you're using)

thanks bud!

 

[Tommy Evans]

Word up, Jack! Thanks for advice. I'll be able to open up the session later tonight to see what I did then i'll let you know. Totally agree with everything you said btw. Criminal has def has some harsh gainy stuff happening and the 5150 settings dont have the sustain I need for the long chugs. How would you suggest I dial the 5150 in order to get it to do what I need to do?

Right now on the 5150 im at
Gain: 3.5
Low: 8
Mid: 8
Hi: 6
Post: below one
Res: 10
Pres: 9.5

There's 57 an inch and a half from the grill pointing where the dust cap meets the cone.

 

[Tommy Evans]

CRIMINAL SETTINGS

noise gate: threshold at -21db with decay of 5%
Screamer: all knobs to noon.
Criminal: drive6 bass10 middle4 treble8.5 pres8 volume4.
Cab: 4x12 Green 25s no room with a 57 on axis.

And some minor post EQ. If you want deets on that I'll hook you up with em.

 

[hurdy]

Holy shit your 5150II mids is on 8 bro, I havent listened but wouldnt that honk like a mudafuka

 

[Tommy Evans]

Hah you'd think but nah. Not to me at least. I did suck out some 200hz tho.

 

[hurdy]

Were you using a TS boost or anythin??

 

[Tommy Evans]

Ah shiiieet I forgot to mention my TS9. My bad.
Drive: 9 o clock
Tone: 12 o clock
Level: 3 o clock

 

[jackbraglia]

Ah shiiieet I forgot to mention my TS9. My bad.
Drive: 9 o clock
Tone: 12 o clock
Level: 3 o clock

so you're using a real tube screamer on top of the one in pod farm?

(edit: nvm, you're obv talking about the 5150)

I'm also surprised that you had the drive so high on the criminal, and that you we're using the 57 on axis. i need to try this. usually i only use the 57 on axis for lead parts and off axis for rhythm.

 

[thefalloftheheretic]

Fuck, that 5150 sounds so awesome.
Maybe a bit more gain so those dissonant palm mutes ring out?

 

[Tommy Evans]

Fuck, that 5150 sounds so awesome.
Maybe a bit more gain so those dissonant palm mutes ring out?

Thats what i was thinkin.

Here's a new (and hopefully final) version of this song before vox come in. Same 5150 settings as listed above but the gain was upped from 3.5 to 5. Hows it sounding now? I can tell the disonant chords are ringing out better at 0:38
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/52578704/APASongOnecheckthisout.mp3

 

[hurdy]

ahhh i see, no wonder the mids were up tht high. gotta hav a TS for the 5150II imo, brings out the brootz

 

[MEGA DAVE]

Def real amp. the podfarm tracks have ZERO punch. and you're still having problems with the dissonant breakdowns and you need to do two things to fix that. 1st, the bass needs to sit a TON high in this mix, it'll fill in a lot of gaps, as now it sounds almost non-existant. 2nd, quad track that breakdown, maybe use the criminal here to blend with it to give that sustain.

 

[MEGA DAVE]

oh and keep the settings you used the first time on the 5150. it had so much more punch

 

[Jrich4967]

i like the 5150 for the rhythms and the pod for the rest man

 

[Tommy Evans]

MegaDave, I compared the first test to the newer one and your right. Not as much punch as it had before. I'll back the gain down to
3.5 where it was and try blending the pod tone in there on the dissonant chugs. And about the bass, you're saying i need to turn it up as a whole or just through the dissonant part...?

 

[Tommy Evans]

Bump for an answer from Senior Zoll and others' opinions.