So I've been tinkering with my Jet City 50 combo the past couple days, specifically the odd Soldano fx loop that runs line level between the gain stages and the tone stack. It distorts most pedals so I hadn't messed with it much, but I decided to see if I could get some post overdrive delay/reverb happening.
First discovery was that the DigiTech iStomp works well in the loop for delays/reverbs. Second discovery was that the amp sounds better with the iStomp's buffer in the loop with the effect bypassed. Tried the same length cable with no pedal as a jumper in the loop, but no, it was the iStomp's buffer improving the tone. A little googling brought up reference to this effect with Soldano amps, where loading the tube-buffered loop with a line level buffer can remove fizziness in the same way having the loop removed from the amp tends to. Well that's cool...
I had already found that my other DigiTech pedal, an EX-7 Expression Factory, sounded good as a buffer between the guitar and amp input, so I was becoming a DigiTech buffer fan.
I also stumbled onto a post where someone had the idea to use this pre-EQ line level loop return as a clean channel via a switcher/preamp, so they could keep the crunch channel and overdrive channel both gained up.
I looked at the second buffered out on my EX-7, my RM4 with it's own hot loop output, and my Rocktron Loop 8 switcher and realized that may not be a bad idea.
I realize running an RM4 into an fx return is pretty standard practice, but I hadn't really messed with the Jet City because the Soldano loop comes before the tone stack. I plugged the second buffered output of the EX-7 pedal into my RM4, took the Jet City's fx send into one of the Patchmate's loop inputs, the RM4's output into that loop's return, and then the loop's output fed the iStomp, which was patched to the Jet City fx return.
With the looper off, the Jet City normal and overdrive gains switched normally. Then engaging the looper fed the Jet City's tone stack from my RM4's modules, and it switched instantly with no pops. So how does having two tone stacks in series sound? Pretty **** nice. My Jet City also has presence and depth controls, so you end up with a pre-fx tone stack, post fx tone stack, as well as power amp low and high negative feedback adjustments.
One thing that was noticeable, if I left the Jet City on the overdrive channel when switching to the RM4 input, there would be a drop in volume. Since the normal channel was using a low pre-amp gain setting and a high master, that channel would naturally be much louder when you switched out the preamp feeds.
I ended up using the MIDI channel switching from the RM4 to solve this using another loop on the Patchmate. I use the 4 button foot switch for channel selection with the RM4, so I ran another MIDI cable from the RM4's thru jack to the Patchmate's MIDI input. Then I plugged a guitar cable from an empty loop to the Jet City's foot switch input. I programmed scenes 1-4 to leave just the loop with the RM4 on, and scene 5 to turn it off while turning on the loop that switches the Jet City's overdrive on. Scene 6 had all loops off, which leaves just the Jet City's normal channel on.
I had a Salvation TwinFace in slot 1, and the difference between it and the Jet City's normal channel was not subtle. The extra EQ stage really brought out the quality of the MTS mod, even considering I was EQing the module against the settings that had to be left on the amp to keep it's own two channels sounding good.The second slot was a JF Mark X and it also seemed improved by the extra EQ stage. Third slot was a Mr Scary, which needed the highs and mids pulled back to get it's bottom end balanced with the others. The last spot had a JF XTC, that seemed the trickiest to EQ but the Plexi mode was now more useful than it ever had been before.
Previously I was running the RM4 straight into a Mesa Simul-Class 395 and a 4x12, but I think I'll try the rest of my mods out with this cascaded EQ arrangement after comparing it to the straight power amp rig tonight. The preamp switching is extremely smooth so Fender Twin to Mesa Mark V to Bogner Ecstasy to Soldano SLO worked great. I think each mod having it's own EQ and then an overall amp EQ makes it easier to optimize the individual tones.
I actually got the Jet City thinking about changing to a dual amp non-MTS rig. Nope, here come the mods again, working their way back in...
First discovery was that the DigiTech iStomp works well in the loop for delays/reverbs. Second discovery was that the amp sounds better with the iStomp's buffer in the loop with the effect bypassed. Tried the same length cable with no pedal as a jumper in the loop, but no, it was the iStomp's buffer improving the tone. A little googling brought up reference to this effect with Soldano amps, where loading the tube-buffered loop with a line level buffer can remove fizziness in the same way having the loop removed from the amp tends to. Well that's cool...
I had already found that my other DigiTech pedal, an EX-7 Expression Factory, sounded good as a buffer between the guitar and amp input, so I was becoming a DigiTech buffer fan.
I also stumbled onto a post where someone had the idea to use this pre-EQ line level loop return as a clean channel via a switcher/preamp, so they could keep the crunch channel and overdrive channel both gained up.
I looked at the second buffered out on my EX-7, my RM4 with it's own hot loop output, and my Rocktron Loop 8 switcher and realized that may not be a bad idea.
I realize running an RM4 into an fx return is pretty standard practice, but I hadn't really messed with the Jet City because the Soldano loop comes before the tone stack. I plugged the second buffered output of the EX-7 pedal into my RM4, took the Jet City's fx send into one of the Patchmate's loop inputs, the RM4's output into that loop's return, and then the loop's output fed the iStomp, which was patched to the Jet City fx return.
With the looper off, the Jet City normal and overdrive gains switched normally. Then engaging the looper fed the Jet City's tone stack from my RM4's modules, and it switched instantly with no pops. So how does having two tone stacks in series sound? Pretty **** nice. My Jet City also has presence and depth controls, so you end up with a pre-fx tone stack, post fx tone stack, as well as power amp low and high negative feedback adjustments.
One thing that was noticeable, if I left the Jet City on the overdrive channel when switching to the RM4 input, there would be a drop in volume. Since the normal channel was using a low pre-amp gain setting and a high master, that channel would naturally be much louder when you switched out the preamp feeds.
I ended up using the MIDI channel switching from the RM4 to solve this using another loop on the Patchmate. I use the 4 button foot switch for channel selection with the RM4, so I ran another MIDI cable from the RM4's thru jack to the Patchmate's MIDI input. Then I plugged a guitar cable from an empty loop to the Jet City's foot switch input. I programmed scenes 1-4 to leave just the loop with the RM4 on, and scene 5 to turn it off while turning on the loop that switches the Jet City's overdrive on. Scene 6 had all loops off, which leaves just the Jet City's normal channel on.
I had a Salvation TwinFace in slot 1, and the difference between it and the Jet City's normal channel was not subtle. The extra EQ stage really brought out the quality of the MTS mod, even considering I was EQing the module against the settings that had to be left on the amp to keep it's own two channels sounding good.The second slot was a JF Mark X and it also seemed improved by the extra EQ stage. Third slot was a Mr Scary, which needed the highs and mids pulled back to get it's bottom end balanced with the others. The last spot had a JF XTC, that seemed the trickiest to EQ but the Plexi mode was now more useful than it ever had been before.
Previously I was running the RM4 straight into a Mesa Simul-Class 395 and a 4x12, but I think I'll try the rest of my mods out with this cascaded EQ arrangement after comparing it to the straight power amp rig tonight. The preamp switching is extremely smooth so Fender Twin to Mesa Mark V to Bogner Ecstasy to Soldano SLO worked great. I think each mod having it's own EQ and then an overall amp EQ makes it easier to optimize the individual tones.
I actually got the Jet City thinking about changing to a dual amp non-MTS rig. Nope, here come the mods again, working their way back in...
