Post by John on Sept 12, 2008 11:15:22 GMT -7
I'm still in the new phase with my Ray....considering I've owned it for only 10 days.
When I first got it, I slapped the Airbrake on it, fired up the tele and it was fantastic. But after a few days with it, and trying to dial in that perfect setting...it seemed to irritate me. I've found when the settings are great for the low E & A strings (especially popping them!)...the high E and B strings sound brittle above the 7th fret or so. And when the settings are best for the high E and B strings, the low E &B sound sort of dull. I'm being REALLY picky here.
I've also A/B'd it back and forth against my Maz Jr...using the same Gold speaker in the Ray combo. I'm more used to the Maz and I have to resist thinking of it as the 'right' sound. The Ray gets more of a percussive sound and glorious clean 'piano-like' bass tones...whereas the Maz is more compressed, a little more dirt if needed and the high end isn't so brittle. (because of the separate tone controls, brittleness can be dialed out easier)
I also thought my problems with the Ray could be from the Gold...a speaker I'm not all that familiar with. I have come to find I like low powered speakers. (I'm still ga-ga over my two month old Blue) But with a big whopping 50 watts available, it's not flinching when hit with an Airbraked Ray. I did gig with it this past Saturday, but it was hard to hear because the stage was so small. I'm sure my ankles thought it was loud. I do remember it being very voxy. It was pretty much a night of drums and bass.
After a few days in the can't-find-the-right-final-tone zone, I soon found myself liking it much more. It's probably a factor of learning to play the amp...an instrument all by itself.
I have always liked that feeling of sustain due to natural amp compression (usually a cranked power section). The Ray doesn't have this feature like the Maz...and it's hard to overcome. One man's 'percussive' amp, is another man's 'no sustain' amp.
I tried hooking the amps up to another speaker...my Avatar Cube (semi open) with a G12H. LOTS more bass....partly due to the cabinet, and partly due to the fact the G12H itself is bass heavy speaker compared to a Gold. At first I thought it was great...but only after a minute or so, I wanted to switch back to the Gold for that not-so-heavy low end.
I guess I should say that I've been running the Ray with Volume at 2:00, tone at about 11:30 and Cut at 8:30 to 9:00. Both the tone and cut are very sensitive in this range.
When I first got it, I slapped the Airbrake on it, fired up the tele and it was fantastic. But after a few days with it, and trying to dial in that perfect setting...it seemed to irritate me. I've found when the settings are great for the low E & A strings (especially popping them!)...the high E and B strings sound brittle above the 7th fret or so. And when the settings are best for the high E and B strings, the low E &B sound sort of dull. I'm being REALLY picky here.
I've also A/B'd it back and forth against my Maz Jr...using the same Gold speaker in the Ray combo. I'm more used to the Maz and I have to resist thinking of it as the 'right' sound. The Ray gets more of a percussive sound and glorious clean 'piano-like' bass tones...whereas the Maz is more compressed, a little more dirt if needed and the high end isn't so brittle. (because of the separate tone controls, brittleness can be dialed out easier)
I also thought my problems with the Ray could be from the Gold...a speaker I'm not all that familiar with. I have come to find I like low powered speakers. (I'm still ga-ga over my two month old Blue) But with a big whopping 50 watts available, it's not flinching when hit with an Airbraked Ray. I did gig with it this past Saturday, but it was hard to hear because the stage was so small. I'm sure my ankles thought it was loud. I do remember it being very voxy. It was pretty much a night of drums and bass.
After a few days in the can't-find-the-right-final-tone zone, I soon found myself liking it much more. It's probably a factor of learning to play the amp...an instrument all by itself.
I have always liked that feeling of sustain due to natural amp compression (usually a cranked power section). The Ray doesn't have this feature like the Maz...and it's hard to overcome. One man's 'percussive' amp, is another man's 'no sustain' amp.
I tried hooking the amps up to another speaker...my Avatar Cube (semi open) with a G12H. LOTS more bass....partly due to the cabinet, and partly due to the fact the G12H itself is bass heavy speaker compared to a Gold. At first I thought it was great...but only after a minute or so, I wanted to switch back to the Gold for that not-so-heavy low end.
I guess I should say that I've been running the Ray with Volume at 2:00, tone at about 11:30 and Cut at 8:30 to 9:00. Both the tone and cut are very sensitive in this range.