PSA: amp-in-a box to amp sim FTW!

[Moje]

Calling @Twangsta @joebegly , I’m in need of a sanity-check. I’m getting this bizarre unintentional tremolo sound on certain high notes. Tried everything; DAW, standalone, headphones, USB and input cables, everything pointed to the input device. Contacted Focusrite, they seemed great but couldn’t figure it out, sent it up the ladder, I’m still waiting to hear back. Here’s the short audio clip I sent, just some riffing which sounds pretty normal, then the weird warbling high notes:

So eventually I thought "well, may as well plug into the ole’ Katana and play some guitar . . . and the same problem appeared. I don’t have any tube amps left to compare with, what on earth could be causing this? The Katana is about four years old, Focusrite unit older than that. Other than this weird anomaly the sounds are great.

BTW no pedals used in the sound example, just S-gear. There’s a lot of gain but the same issue occurs with the gain turned down. I’m also getting odd static bursts like -Bzzzztt- just for a second, then gone. From my googling, I seem to be the only person on the planet having this problem, any insight would greatly benefit my mental health lol.

[EDIT] OK just after typing that out I had this idea that my pickups were too close to the strings; dug out my venerable Ibanez with a PAF Pro, pickups quite low, no problem at all. If I use the middle pickup on my Strat (all the way down to the deck, of course,) the problem is still there but not as noticeable. If it’s just a case of switching to mini humbuckers I’m fine with that, still would like to hear if others have this issue using stacked single coils. For the record I have stock noise cancelling pickups in one Strat, and a DiMarzio Area 67 in the other, both Strats have the same issue but not the Ibanez. Also pickup height is quite low, approaching 1/4" from the strings on all guitars.

[Twangsta]

Sounds exactly like stratitus, pickups too close to the strings, especially neck. Lower them, a lot and see if it goes away. My pickups are fairly low due to the high gain.

[joebegly]

Firstly, the patch does sound pretty cool

My first thought was maybe you’re getting these “beats” (pretty sure that was the term they used for this phenomenon in the sound physics class I took in college) due to sympathetic harmonics on some of the lower strings. Do you hear the same thing if you intentionally dampen all 6 strings while playing the high notes? Or use a fret wrap/cloth tie low on the neck?

On one of my PRS’s I do occasionally hear this happen too. Could be anecdotal or placebo, but I think when I changed the set of strings the problem went away. I know it was among the suggestions when I googled about hearing these ‘beats’.

I guess if you’re noticing it on both strats though and lesser on the pickup that is lower, it does point to pickup height (which I believe was the number 1 reason this thing happens back when I did my google search)

Good luck!

[Moje]

@Twangsta

Sounds exactly like stratitus, pickups too close to the strings, especially neck. Lower them, a lot and see if it goes away. My pickups are fairly low due to the high gain.

Wow, I’d never heard of Stratitis! That’s definitely it, but even dropping the neck and middle pickups to the deck, and lowering the bridge pickup for more than 1/4" clearance doesn’t really fix it. Very few people use single coils for high gain, apparently the trouble is that the polepieces themselves are magnetic.

@joebegly

My first thought was maybe you’re getting these “beats” (pretty sure that was the term they used for this phenomenon in the sound physics class I took in college) due to sympathetic harmonics on some of the lower strings. Do you hear the same thing if you intentionally dampen all 6 strings while playing the high notes? Or use a fret wrap/cloth tie low on the neck?

Hi Joe, actually all the other strings are muted but you may get a kick out of the explanation; the pole pieces on a Strat are themselves magnetic and the field is very tightly focussed on the string. This causes nonharmonic overtones which in turn leads to phase cancellation.

I’ve had this problem before but only with a ridiculously high-output humbucker, the utterly awful Seymour Duncan Invader; the magnets were so strong the pickup had to be mounted a mile from the strings, totally defeating the purpose it was built for . . . it never crossed my mind this was the same issue as noise cancelling “single coils” aren’t at all high gain.

Oh, back to the point of the thread, I find The Duke makes a good pedal platform but my best tones use the Wayfarer amp with an assist from the JHS Angry Charlie; seriously, what a great pedal.

[Twangsta]

Did you solve your issue? Sometimes a slapback delay can do that too.

I’ve been rather inspired by some of the clips here. I don’t know if he’s improved the amp modeling or the IRs have gotten better. I really love the Duke, before that I had been playing the tweed, that’s of course after hanging exclusively with the Stealer.

[Moje]

Hey @Twangsta I think you solved it for me. Just got a DiMarzio Fast Track 1 today, I’ll know for sure after it’s installed. Honestly I thought I’d “learn to love” single coils and they work great for some of my favourite players/tones but when I dug out a guitar with humbuckers everything just clicked. (I’m loving the strats and hadn’t picked up another guitar in months.)

Also tried a guitar with a P90 and there was no issue, but that’s a bar-magnet.

To me the S-gear just slaughters the Neural plugins I was using before; as you say the transients are where S-gear really shines, the pick attack is very difficult to get right. Hopefully I’ll get the Strat set up today and post a demo soon.

[EDIT] Yep, it was the pickup. Damn I love the Fast Track, very bright and relatively low powered; plenty of clarity but still has tons of humbucky goodness! Forgot how much I hate soldering though, lol.

[Twangsta]

@Moje

Yep, it was the pickup.

Thats cool man, glad you got that sorted.

S-gear and Revival Drive

I lot of fun for sure…

[Moje]

Further proof that S-gear rocks, amazing sound and articulation (well the articulation comes from the player but S-gear allows it to happen!) Your clip really zoned in on the area where many amp sims don’t really cut it, that bright edge-of-breakup zone. Is that the Stealer with the Revival Drive in front?

[Twangsta]

Thanks mate. I think that’s the tweed. Was playing a cheap tele that I’m love with, sadly it’s not mine. Looking at the squire 40th anniversary models.