Optimum clean module - Clean, KH-1... ?

[joey_truelove]

I'm looking for a module that stays clean no matter gain setting. It should have a sound of remenicient of a blackface Fender Twin more or less or perhaps gravitate towards a singing vibe. Or in other words and to stop beating about the bush: something closer to EJs Dumble SSS that can be dirtied by pedals and not the amp itself.

Cheers!

 

[Julia]

Hold on for a week and I'll let you know because I bought a KH1 from the classified Randall3 (Kevin) and I hope to see it around Black Friday (11/27). I'm looking for the SRV Dumble SSS tone to use for cleans. No breakup.

I've got it in my Fender HRDvl, and this module will determine if the HRDvl goes when the 6505+ goes when the RM22 combo comes out. This Fender amps clean channel will not break up. Period. For the DOS tone you can get by with a Zendrive 2 and this amp as that's Robben Ford's live sound.

 

[chrisolson]

I found the KH-1 to be BORING. Too clean to have any personality. I use a JTM for my clean sound. Way more depth.

 

[Julia]

It all depends upon what you're trying to accomplish. You can also change your cables, too. Vaughn used to complain that the expensive cables let too much electricity through and had Diaz go to Radio Shack and get the grey spiral cables for him. Not the black. Not the white. The grey ones. A little more capacitance did it. You can get a similar effect rolling off the highs with an EQ going into the amp.

For jazz and stuff like that you want the amp to stay clean.

It's just that sometimes I'm playing and I'm playing my strat and the Deluxe module is clean fine for it or with my Mustang and it's clean fine with that too. then I go onto something else I need to play clean, but I need a humbucker tone, and the Deluxe or JTM or Tweed breaks up like mad. Make that an active humbucker and you end up turning the gain back to about 9:00 or lower and you have to cut back the pickup output before it hits any effect in line with the amp.

That's the purpose of the KH-1.

 

[joey_truelove]

Hold on for a week and I'll let you know because I bought a KH1 from the classified Randall3 (Kevin) and I hope to see it around Black Friday (11/27). I'm looking for the SRV Dumble SSS tone to use for cleans. No breakup.

I've got it in my Fender HRDvl, and this module will determine if the HRDvl goes when the 6505+ goes when the RM22 combo comes out. This Fender amps clean channel will not break up. Period. For the DOS tone you can get by with a Zendrive 2 and this amp as that's Robben Ford's live sound.

Cheers, Julia! Looks like we got pretty similar tonal requirements, here. If I got it right Eric and SRV knew eachother well and Eric having played through SRVs SSS he wanted one too, which he got. Roben Ford is yet another Dumble user, btw.

I'm even thinking about putting 6500s in my Marshall power-amp, if it can take the current and has the bias for them. Those or some KT type valve, I figure.

I'll eagerly await the outcome from your findings of the KH-1. From the clips I heard on U-tube it sounds kind of dark, but having read up on a thread about the signature amps on here, it could be the actual amp shading the module slightly.

 

[joey_truelove]

I found the KH-1 to be BORING. Too clean to have any personality. I use a JTM for my clean sound. Way more depth.

That's just the thing: usually you want some warmth or breakup from the valves but here what we want to achieve is an absolute neutral tone that lends itself to be coloured by pedals. You could look at it as if we just as well could be using SS, but then valves somehow allow for more detail. I'm not sure how much an SSS like the ones SRV and EJ owned/ own would be but every dollar spent is on headroom for that purpose.

The pedal I'm thinking about using with the module is the MI Audio Tube Zone. A demo clip of it I heard was recorded using a Roland JC120 http://www.mieffects.com/Samples/Brett%20Garsed%20-%20Tube%20Zone%20Demo.mp3 This clip wouldn't have been possible to do using a too coloured amp, though perhaps the Roland is a tad too jazzy for my taste.

 

[joey_truelove]

It's just that sometimes I'm playing and I'm playing my strat and the Deluxe module is clean fine for it or with my Mustang and it's clean fine with that too. then I go onto something else I need to play clean, but I need a humbucker tone, and the Deluxe or JTM or Tweed breaks up like mad. Make that an active humbucker and you end up turning the gain back to about 9:00 or lower and you have to cut back the pickup output before it hits any effect in line with the amp.

That's the purpose of the KH-1.

I'm with you. I'm having the dilemma that if I'm to do an EJ, the amp has to keep up with a fully clipping Plexi, yet stay clean all the way. Most other modules maxed out will start to break up sooner or later.

I already got a Twin module that I just love, and it gives me just a slight timbre feeding two channels of the Mesa Fifty/ Fifty. But then these speakers have pretty much headroom left. Where this clean module is to operate the speakers would be compressing a great deal and all, so additional dirt and compression is unwanted of this reason as well.

 

[nihilism]

The KH1 was a bit too clean and a bit sterile. I really liked the Blackface for all of my cleans...

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I really wonder if each stock module is it's own flavor :? ...I had a KH1 and thought it was a great piece with flavor

 

[headown]

I really wonder if each stock module is it's own flavor :? ...I had a KH1 and thought it was a great piece with flavor

I guess that?s just the guitar-PUs-tubes-speakers thing that you are using and of course your taste...
:wink:

I?m still waiting for some twin face clips...

 

[joey_truelove]

The KH1 was a bit too clean and a bit sterile. I really liked the Blackface for all of my cleans...

I got the Eggie Twin module, and it's gold for clean Fender tones. However it does tend to break up by the turning of the gain-knob and it does so not in a very nice way, so for an ultra clean platform to be dirtied by pedals it's not ideal. Anyroad I would need a module dedicated for this, so I thought I'd go with a flavour other than the Twin for versatility.

 

[GtrGeorge!]

fwiw: consider a Salvation LoneClean...I think it does a fine job..very,very clean...and versatile with it s cleans. Made with a switch to handle emgs.
GtrGeorge

 

[joey_truelove]

fwiw: consider a Salvation LoneClean...I think it does a fine job..very,very clean...and versatile with it s cleans. Made with a switch to handle emgs.
GtrGeorge

Cheers, I will consider that as well. I read about that mod elsewhere on this forum and it sounds very interesting indeed. Any clips online you know of?

For now I'm trying to get my head around the module design, so I can suss out what's the business with this Randall Plexi module and how a back designed Eggie SL+ -> SL would be compared to the Randall. Hopefully I will gain some insight into the intricate design of the modules along the way myself, too.

I may end up rebuilding/ modifying the Plexi module into something clean sounding or have somebody do that for me, depending on the knowledge gained from the SL project. I also spotted a used Top Boost module I can get my hands on for not so much that I can fiddle around with on my leisure.

Non-signature modules are SeK 2750 new here. Add to that the cost of shipping and labour of modification... I think it's a bit sad the mod section of Grailtone sort of died with the addition of the JCM800 mod. As far as I know it hasn't been updated since then.

 

[Nigel T.]

Have you checked out Egnater's C.O.D.?

What would you say if we told you that you could have one of the most famous boutique amplifiers in recent history- and you wouldn’t have to get in a bidding war with John Mayer to have it?

Well, welcome to the module that lives comfortably between the Dumble Overdrive Special and the Mark IIc, except with it’s own little twist. Even Marshall die-hards who don’t care for Fender amps really like this module because it cuts differently and you play differently. It feels and responds like a Marshall, but with a Fender EQ. You’ll get a module that brings out the mid range in single coils and just loves the neck pickup on a Les Paul. This module is perfect for both Robben Fordabees and Dream Theaterrites.

 

[joey_truelove]

Have you checked out Egnater's C.O.D.?

What would you say if we told you that you could have one of the most famous boutique amplifiers in recent history- and you wouldn?t have to get in a bidding war with John Mayer to have it?

Well, welcome to the module that lives comfortably between the Dumble Overdrive Special and the Mark IIc, except with it?s own little twist. Even Marshall die-hards who don?t care for Fender amps really like this module because it cuts differently and you play differently. It feels and responds like a Marshall, but with a Fender EQ. You?ll get a module that brings out the mid range in single coils and just loves the neck pickup on a Les Paul. This module is perfect for both Robben Fordabees and Dream Theaterrites.

I for one like the description of it. Perhaps a resistor change to allow for cleaner headroom and we're about where I would like to go.