benadrian wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 3:05 pm

Owen wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 12:25 pm I don't have any solutions at the moment, but I want to say, I SO wanted to be a guy that just messed with my volume knob to get the right saturation, but failed miserably and was just never happy doing it + felt awkward on stage. I wanted to simplify, but in trying that I just wasn't getting what I wanted. So now my board is basically a tuner, 3 different gain stages (that are all friendly with each other after a lot of trial and error; one of those pedals stays on 90% of the time, leaving me with only two big foot switches to hit), a delay, and reverb. Here's to finding a solution that works for you!

About a year ago I was sick of worrying about gear, so I just decided that I was going to go "no pedals." I set the gain a bit higher on my amp than usual, set my guitar volume to about 7, and off I went. Practices were super fun. I was paying more attention to my playing and "singing." I was just more present overall. I kept this up until the Caterwaul show in May. I just went guitar, cable, backline amp. It was rad. I don't know if I'd EVER done a show like that before. It felt great.

But yeah, like you the volume knob is sometimes unpredictable, and the rhythm sound is a bit of a compromise with the volume at 7. So I went back to my classic setup; guitar amp set for medium gain, an overdrive to push into saturation, and a gate. I roll off the volume to clean up more, but it still seems a little meh. I've since thrown in another overdrive. So I'm kind of doing what you're doing, but there's just no cleanish sound unless I turn down. Your set up also sounds a lot like what Kowloon does as well... the "all boost" pedalboard.

Nico Adie wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 9:02 am Rather than a volume control, could you rig up say a 3 way switch that applies varying degrees of resistance and/or capacitance to the signal from the pickups so one position could be clean, then crunchy then full output? I don’t know if this is possible but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. You could even make each position adjustable via pot/trimpot. Would certainly take the unpredictability out of it.

Nate Dort wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 7:33 pm There's no way the popping gain knob blew the ribbon upstream. Current doesn't flow that way in amplifier stages.

Bubber wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:30 pm Hi,
One of the mics I've got going right now, it's a Beyer m160 ribbon, through a Sytek channel (transformerless) through a KT-2A (the budget Klark Teknik comp) which has been annoying me with its scratchy popping gain knob, into my interface.
Well, that scratchy popping gain knob—I'd thought it was merely super annoying on the headphone side, but uhhh any chance it just blew my ribbon on the other side of the Sytek? Sure seems it.
Doing a little rerouting now to double-check but preliminarily it sure seems fuckin' blown. Really , really irritating.

losthighway wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:27 am

Bubber wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:30 pm Hi,
One of the mics I've got going right now, it's a Beyer m160 ribbon, through a Sytek channel (transformerless) through a KT-2A (the budget Klark Teknik comp) which has been annoying me with its scratchy popping gain knob, into my interface.
Well, that scratchy popping gain knob—I'd thought it was merely super annoying on the headphone side, but uhhh any chance it just blew my ribbon on the other side of the Sytek? Sure seems it.
Doing a little rerouting now to double-check but preliminarily it sure seems fuckin' blown. Really , really irritating.

Ribbons go sometimes. Somewhat inevitably after years of use. My m160 actually needs to go to Beyer to get re-ribboned. Just be sure you test it through a different mic pre without the compresser to be sure that's what it is.

Bubber wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:36 am

losthighway wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:27 am

Bubber wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 5:30 pm Hi,
One of the mics I've got going right now, it's a Beyer m160 ribbon, through a Sytek channel (transformerless) through a KT-2A (the budget Klark Teknik comp) which has been annoying me with its scratchy popping gain knob, into my interface.
Well, that scratchy popping gain knob—I'd thought it was merely super annoying on the headphone side, but uhhh any chance it just blew my ribbon on the other side of the Sytek? Sure seems it.
Doing a little rerouting now to double-check but preliminarily it sure seems fuckin' blown. Really , really irritating.

Ribbons go sometimes. Somewhat inevitably after years of use. My m160 actually needs to go to Beyer to get re-ribboned. Just be sure you test it through a different mic pre without the compresser to be sure that's what it is.

Fair. Yup, was still out of commission on another channel and cable. Btw I asked Cole in Nashville yesterday what he charges for doing an m160—currently $150. What's Beyer charging?

losthighway wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:27 am Good question. I seem to remember their site listing the fee, but now it just says to email them, but mics are $60-80 plus parts. I'm guessing it's similar. I should suck it up and get it done. That mic is probably my favorite overdriven rhythm guitar mic.