jdot
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by jdot on Jan 12, 2019 6:47:13 GMT -7
I have played nothing but Fenders for many years, but I recently bought a new Les Paul Classic with 57 Classic PU’s. I realized right off I have no idea how to dial it in, so I thought I’d check with those of you who play LP’s with your Plus’ to get some recommendations.
I play at home and play rhythm, so a good rhythm setting is primarily what I’m after. And I normally play clean and dial in a little crunch when needed. Never any heavy distortion and only use delay and trem pedals.
can you guys get me pointed in the right direction? My son told me to get a Marshall. 😂
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Post by Russell B on Jan 12, 2019 7:26:05 GMT -7
I'll tell you what I did, but it's just my opinion and preference. I played strats and teles all my life until September 2017 when I got my first Les Paul. I was in the same boat that you're now in, "now what?" I had to learn how to play it and what was the best way to use it. I figured out pretty quickly that I couldn't use the same settings for the LP that I used for strats and teles because they break up differently, react differently, and sound differently.
Ultimately, it took getting a Therapy to find the Les Paul's sweet spot. Again, this is my opinion. The Les Paul loves rock and roll crunch and I ended up setting the Therapy for some pretty high gain (high for Therapy anyway) and used my volume pots to roll back the overdrive. This works very well with the Therapy. Also, I find the LP a little bright, so I tend to roll both Tone controls back to around 7.
When I got my ES339, I had to completely change everything again even though that's a humbucker guitar as well!! Good luck on your journey! Everyone has a different approach to the LP.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Jan 12, 2019 7:29:33 GMT -7
Love my Z-Plus with my Les Paul Custom. Try this, and back off on your guitar volume to clean up: Vol 1:00 - 2:00, Treb 1:30, Mid 1:00, Bass 10:30, Reverb 9:00, Cut 2:30, Master to taste. Hi input on the amp. Use the amp's Volume control to control how much crunch you want...
PS, We kid around a lot here. Welcome to the forum!
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Post by ME on Jan 12, 2019 8:02:47 GMT -7
I’d love to try my Lester though a Z Plus... pretty sure I could get a good sound or two out of it! More seriously, it would depend on what music your playing. Though I don’t have the Plus, I find that with the master volume and a BrakeLite I can dial in a huge number of tones through the Z amps I’ve owned. Currently I have a Remedy. I twiddle the knobs all over the place for various tones, sometimes similar sounds with adjustments made to the guitar volume, tone, and pickup selection. Experiment and let us know where you end up! ME
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Post by doctorice on Jan 12, 2019 8:49:26 GMT -7
To become familiar with the guitar, I suggest setting the amp up quite clean: use the lo input, keep the volume below noon, etc. You want to get a feel for the tapers on the various guitar knobs. For example, I have a LP with volume knobs that add a lot of guitar signal when you dial up from 9 to 10. Your LP may be quite different. Fwiw, I usually set up the amp so that with the LP volume knob around 7 to 8.5 the amp is pretty clean with a light right-hand touch and gets some grit when I pick harder. The remaining range on the volume knobs is for leads As always, ymmv.
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Post by GuitarZ on Jan 12, 2019 9:30:52 GMT -7
I'm kind of with DoctorIce. Although, I have a little grit for rhythm at 7, but then dial up to 10 for leads as he does.
Dial around with the tone controls. I bought a Strat and then bought my Z's for the Strat. The same tone settings on my Maz Jr just didn't work for my Les Paul. So, one morning I was determined to figure out something. I ended up with the mid at 5 o'clock, bass almost off, and treble around 2:30. It seemed extreme, but my ears said "yes". I figured I'd just throw out what I thought and mess around.
So, that's what I did for my P-90 LP and Maz Jr. My gut says you'll dial in some nice tones with that new ax and they'll look different vs your Fenders.
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Post by freddieg on Jan 12, 2019 9:51:00 GMT -7
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Jan 12, 2019 11:49:17 GMT -7
Sage advise from a great.
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Post by justjoshinya on Jan 12, 2019 17:03:54 GMT -7
With my Gretsch Guitars which are closer to the LP in how they break up, I’ve been able to get great sounds! I’ll look tomorrow at my settings, pretty sure I was using the lo input, though!
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Post by justjoshinya on Jan 13, 2019 11:12:21 GMT -7
Mine was low input volume 10, all tones at 12, cut 10, master 2. Pretty clean with just a tad of overdrive when playing harder. I love this amp, it sounds SO good!
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Post by GuitarZ on Jan 13, 2019 18:36:42 GMT -7
Joe B's tone lesson was nice. But, man, can that dude play!
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jdot
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by jdot on Feb 23, 2019 6:33:14 GMT -7
Thanks so much for the advice from all. The Joe B video was short and to the point, but covered allot of ground. And as GuitarZ said, “man, can that dude play!”
Turns out my first LP had some grounding issues (hate the circuit board Gibson is using) and I had to get a replacement. Helps when you can concentrate on the sound instead of worrying if there will be a pop every time you move. I took in all the advice and after much experimentation I think I’ve finally figured the LP out. Russell B was point on when he mentioned learning how to play the LP as part of the process. There was much to learn, but worth it. The LP is a different animal for sure and I love it. And did you notice how low the bridge PU was on Joe’s video? Mine is much lower now too. :-)
So I use the amp’s high input most of the time. Probably the opposite of what it should be, but it just sounds better to me. I keep the bass low, 10 o’clock or below, and use much more reverb then I’ve ever used with any other amp. I’ve never been a big reverb fan always preferring to use a delay until now. Does this amp have the most beautiful reverb or what? I actually keep it at about 1 o’clock most of the time. At this level most reverbs I’ve used would have washed out the sound, but not this one.
Thanks again to all. I’m loving the LP and the Plus. But, the Plus sounds good with everything. Big home run, even by the Doctor’s high standards.
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