Does Anyone Near Me Own A Reverend Goblin?

[phaeton]

By "near me" i mean either "Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, USA" or "Madison, Wisconsin, USA".

 

I'm in both places frequently.

 

Why do I ask? I have a Reverend Goblin 5/15 combo amp and while i completely adore its clean sounds, I cannot get it to match the clips I've heard of the distorted sounds, either from the Reverend site (Actually a Kingsnake, but Naylor swears they'll sound identical) or mp3s of other MP members who own them. I can't tell if my guitars just aren't up to snuff or if maybe something's up with my particular amp. I hear clips of all these magnificent saturated-gain sounds, but mine just doesn't seem to be able to produce anywhere near that amount of distortion.

 

What I'm proposing is meeting someone somewhere for a couple of hours, maybe less. Essentially I'd want to A/B them with the same guitar(s) and same settings and see if they sound about the same. I'll bring beer and/or buy lunch. Let me know what you like.

 

I realize the Goblin is not a high-gain device like you'd expect out of a Peavey XXX, but All I can get is a slight rattle out of it. I have a few clips myself

here but they actually sound more distorted in the recording than they did to my ears at the time. All recordings were done with the gain maxed out on the goblin (schizo on UK), and i'm playing an Ibanez RG 470DX with high-output humbuckers. Said Ibanez will distort most anything i plug it into if I'm not careful.

 

PM me if you have one and would be interested.

[Blue Strat]

Maybe the other guys have swapped preamp tubes? Maybe your amp is biased cold on the power tubes? Maybe the clips you've heard were done with a signal boost in line before the amp?

 

Just a few things to consider.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Originally posted by phaeton:

"I have a few clips myself

here

 

but they actually sound more distorted in the recording than they did to my ears at the time."

That may be it right there, you may have answered your own question!

 

Remember that recent thread, about "perceived tone"?

 

That being said, I'm sure that you can get some more Myles- ehr, miles ( that's a hint there)- out of that amp as far as overdrive and distortion are concerned by trying different tubes in it, particularly the preamp-tubes...

 

Now, while you've had the pre-gain dimed, what was your master-volume set to, not to mention your guitar's volume? (I just don't want to assume that you had the guitar's controls wide-open, if you didn;'t...)

 

How about the midrange?

[phaeton]

That may be it right there, you may have answered your own question! Remember perceived tone...

 

Yeah I know, and recording puts in all these variables, hence why i want to have 2 side by side in the same room withe same guitar. But listen to this which is from the Reverend Sound Samples Page and compare the two. Note the complete saturation on their clips, and note the ragged and stale sound i'm getting. Sounds like i've got the volume turned down to 2 on the guitar. In that clip, that's a Kingsnake (Naylor swears they're the same as a Goblin, only louder) bone-stock factory condition- no mods, no boost, no stompboxes. When I dial my Reverend to those settings (the EVH '78 settings from the sheet that came with the amp) I actually get something closer to the AC/DC sound like this.

 

The other sound samples being a few clips that Lee Flier shared with me. I don't have those on tap, unfortunately.

 

In my clips there, I have the eq knobs set flat at 12 o'clock in all cases except for "war_gallop_mids" where I cut the mids out. Turning the amp up doesn't really change the distortion (interestingly) it just gets damn loud.

 

Misbiased cold? maybe. That's my guess. I'm not an amp tech though. I could have it retubed and rebiased, but these clips suggest it shouldn't be necessary. Or what if something else is wrong? Or what if i'm mis-hearing what i think i'm hearing, and that my expectations are off? I built a boost pedal for it which is interesting, but it makes it kinda soupy/mushy sounding and only adds a little more grit to it.

 

I suck, i know...

[DC Ross]

There are some more variables to consider, like the type and configuration of your pickups vs. what was used for the samples. That first sample you pointed to was done with the Rocco guitar. Looking at the Reverend site, it says the Rocco's bridge pup is "... wound slightly hotter than a vintage PAF". If your pups don't have as much output, that'll translate to less overdrive.

 

Wish I lived closer, I think it'd be fun to hang with you for a couple hours and figure this thing out

[phaeton]

Wish I lived closer, I think it'd be fun to hang with you for a couple hours and figure this thing out

 

Yeah! it'd be fun!

 

I realise pickups and everything make a huge difference. Unfortunately i don't know how "Wound slightly hotter than a PAF" compares in output to "Ibanez INF1 and INF2 humbuckers on an RG". Which is why I wanna A/B two of them with the same guitar

 

Speaking of mods, i've never owned a tube amp before so I dunno what all can be done by changing tubes, biasing or other things. Like anything else it's a trade-off i'm sure, like:

 

Tube Longevity<------biasing------>Great Sound

 

So what am i giving up in this 'slider'?:

 

????????<-------------------------->Higher, fuller gain (distortion)

 

And how is that done?

 

thx

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

When I got mine, I asked Miles, who, we must agree, knows something about tubes. He said that it was fine the way that it comes stock, but I could improve it a little by adding some other tubes. I thought about it and passed, since mine sounds great to me just as it came from the factory. You could find what he wrote in the 'ask Miles' thread, I think at about pages 64-67... somewhere in there.

 

Bill

[Gifthorse]

Bet it would sound better with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge.

[phaeton]

When I got mine, I asked Miles, who, we must agree, knows something about tubes.

 

We must, and we shall!!

 

He said that it was fine the way that it comes stock, but I could improve it a little by adding some other tubes.

 

I like the way it sounds now, I just want to be sure it is up to 100% of its potential.

 

I thought about it and passed, since mine sounds great to me just as it came from the factory.

 

Yeah, IIRC you liked most of the factory suggestions with the schizo on the US setting instead of the UK for a little less grit.

 

Different Strokes and all that. (I also frequently use your phrase "I just want to X, not pilot the Space Shuttle" )

 

You could find what he wrote in the 'ask Miles' thread, I think at about pages 64-67... somewhere in there.

 

lol thanks. I'll have to grab my shuttle and dig.

 

Bet it would sound better with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge.

 

It might. I've been meaning to look into other options. It's kinda mushy sounding with certain types of distortion.

 

I wish i knew what kind of pickups washburn put on the 335 knockoff i have- THOSE belong on a rock guitar. The 335 oughta have some soapbars, IMHO.

[BillWelcome Home Studios]

Originally posted by phaeton:

...I wish i knew what kind of pickups washburn put on the 335 knockoff i have- THOSE belong on a rock guitar. The 335 oughta have some soapbars, IMHO.

The Washburn 335 knockoff my neighbor bought had "special-designed" (read: Pacific Rim) Duncan

pickups.

 

A 335 with soapbars is a 330. (or an Epiphone Casino.)

 

I was playing the Goblin last night, using a Reverend Drive Train in front. Creamy smoothe distortion, all night long. Great fun.

 

Bill

[DC Ross]

Originally posted by phaeton:

I wish i knew what kind of pickups washburn put on the 335 knockoff i have- THOSE belong on a rock guitar. The 335 oughta have some soapbars, IMHO.

That knockoff wouldn't happen to be the Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn) OE30, would it? If so, I have the same guit-box, and will be receiving my very own Gobbie in "5-8 weeks" (or so they say) so if you can wait two months ( ), I'll plug it in and have a listen & see if I get the same results. I do know that those pups in the OE30 are relatively low-output and on the mellow, bassy side meant for jazzier tones.

 

-DC Ross

[phaeton]

A 335 with soapbars is a 330. (or an Epiphone Casino.)

 

Ahh I see.

 

I was playing the Goblin last night, using a Reverend Drive Train in front. Creamy smoothe distortion, all night long. Great fun.

 

I get decent results with a Tubescreamer in this fashion. I'd like to try out a DriveTrain as well. I'll have to look and see if they're getting out of the pedal business too..

 

That knockoff wouldn't happen to be the Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn) OE30, would it?

 

Yes indeedly doodly it is. Black of course. It's sitting in a real Gibson case that cost more than it did

 

I didn't have the guitar yet when I recorded those clips, and actually to my ear it's rather loud. Of all my guitars i think it's got the highest output, and creates the most distortion. Maybe it's just an illusion from the 'bassiness' like you say. IIRC i have a hard time getting a 100% squeaky clean sound out of it because of this. (I'm not complaining at all, it's a great sounding guitar for $100).

 

I still haven't replaced those crap anti-slinky strings and gotten it set up yet. Been too busy but still, shame on me

 

When I do that we'll have to swap clips

[DC Ross]

Hey, phaeton, you still around?

 

I received the Goblin and Kingsnake last week. I A/B'd the two with identical settings on both using a Lehle Dual. Here are a couple of thoughts:

The Kingsnake is definitely higher gain with an all-around fuller sound. This is probably due to the 12" speaker.

I was listening to the clips on Reverend's site, and saw that some of them were recorded using a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde pedal. This is where some of the high gain sounds are coming from.

 

I'm really digging these amps, they sound great on thier own, but together -- wow!

[Caevan O’Shite]

Twelve-inch speaker, larger cab, and considerably more ooomph in the power-supply and output stages, too...

 

The preamp and driver stages may be essentially identical in gain and voicing, but the stouter power-supply and output-stage will most definitely give a bigger overall sound, with stronger lows and mids and more attack and headroom.

 

Imagine yourself talking through a smallish megaphone (the kind that's just an open cone, not a powered unit), and then a really big one; same basic voice, but bigger bolder and with enhanced lows and mids. Not too different from the Goblin vs. the Kingsnake.

[LPCustom]

Originally posted by DC Ross:

That knockoff wouldn't happen to be the Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn) OE30, would it? If so, I have the same guit-box. I do know that those pups in the OE30 are relatively low-output and on the mellow, bassy side meant for jazzier tones.

 

-DC Ross

Hey, DC. I know what you mean about that OE-30. I bought one and I keep it in the bedroom. I usually play it (unplugged) for a while before I go to sleep while watching TV with the wife.

 

It sounds great plugged into my Mini-Z. It has a nice healthy bark to it as well as a nice growl. It is a little twangy on the third string using the bridge pickup. But I think that's just the pickup. It doesn't do that on the neck pickup.

 

I'm not having great luck getting super clean tones out of it myself. The best clean tones I get on it are on the clean circuit on my Fender 65R. Cut in a little reverb and it sounds sweet.

 

I'm amazed that a guitar that cost $150 can sound this good.

 

And mine lives in a Gibson case, too. And the case cost more than the guitar. LOL My wife thinks I'm crazy. But that's nothing new.

[phaeton]

I received the Goblin and Kingsnake last week. I A/B'd the two with identical settings on both using a Lehle Dual. Here are a couple of thoughts:

The Kingsnake is definitely higher gain with an all-around fuller sound. This is probably due to the 12" speaker.

I was listening to the clips on Reverend's site, and saw that some of them were recorded using a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde pedal. This is where some of the high gain sounds are coming from.

 

Ah ok... More oomph from the Kingsnake. Not really surprising, but iirc they trumpeted on the site that they should be identical (only one is louder). Marketing

 

I did read the part of the Jekyl & Hyde pedals, but kept that in mind when comparing. There are a number of clips (i.e. the VH clip above) that supposedly are guitar-->chord-->amp.

 

(speaking of Visual Sound, stay tuned.)

 

I still might look into swapping some tubes and things to make the gobbie a real monster. Not sure where to go on that but I bet Myles could point me in the right direction at least.