1086 tube debate

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tung

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It seems like there's tons of people here who either hated it or love it. I personally hear a lot of potential with my 1086, but I just don't hear it right now. Contrary to to many experiences here, I find only one setting that's really useful. The tone controls are also not that responsive compare to my other modules, i have to crank the bass way up. The module just sound kinda flat to me.
This led me to believe that I may need to throw in some other preamp tubes , it has EH in there right now.
I love the JJ for gain and Tung Sol for clean, what's the best tubes you guys came across for really exploit the 1086 potential?
T.
 
I have mix feeling with the 1086...sometime I like other times I don't.I find the tung-sol tubes sounds the best in the 1086....from the one's I've tried. I also keep the gain switch to the left and set it around 11o'clock then boost it with the BB preamp.

but I use the Brahma about 90% of the time from clean to leads..to me it's the best module I've tried.
 
1086 with the Tung Sol ax7 re-issue was the best I heard one..the JJs seemed to add to the generally lifeless character for me.
 
That's the deal with me on the 1086, I can hear the potential, but it's not there right now, the bottom end seems lifeless, no oomph to it, and the mids sounds good but again, no balls. It seems to work well when I'm cranking the **** out of it with the band, but doesn't cut through like the XTC does for leads.
I'm not giving up on it yet, going to try some different 12ax7s and see. I even talked to Pete about modding it awhile back, he'll give it some mojo for sure if it comes to that.
T.
 
some people seem to love this mod, some don't eh. The clips I have heard seem pretty good no? I have this mod on order, should be interesting to see if it fits me. hmmm
 
IMO it has the best sound without being tweaked and grabs your ear right away. Then when you start learning a lot of the other mods it turns out to be the least tweakable (even with all the switches). I liked mine so much when I first got my MTS stuff that I kept going back to it, but it just never sounded as good as those first few days...

Again, thats just IMO, but a lot of the other mods can just do it deeper and wider, with more conviction... :oops:
 
What modules would you say could do it better. I am looking for something that has some girth, though not necessarily all for metal type of tones.

I will be getting an XTC as well for a different flava
 
I'm probably not the best person to ask because of my setup (Palmer instead of speakers). I was searching for my own kind of rhythm sound (haven't searched for lead yet), so I can't really relate it to who it sounds like...

I like really snappy (as in neck-breaking crunchy) sounds and bite, not too boomy, not too trebly and not too compressed that fit really well with heavier music. I don't like liquid gain, but I really like to hear nice pinch harmonics, etc, so its been a tough search.

I ended up settling on an Egnater EG5 (set mid-high channel volume, low gain), but with single-channel mods I think my top choices were Egnater Erect and the Grail. I haven't found a Brahma yet, but I suspect it would make it a "top 3" list.

The Erect and the Grail are very similar, I think with just a slightly different mid emphasis - I prefer the Erect, but they're so close I'm not sure I'd hear the difference if not back to back, and I'd take either one if I wasn't given a choice!

For more lead type sounds (to me that means compressed and higher gain) I liked the KH-3 and Ultra XL almost equally, though I haven't put enough time in with either to have a comparison. I'm thinking the EG5 with high gain is going to be a contender as well.

FWIW, my means of comparison was re-(and re-re-re) recording a track I'm working on and listening back. I've gotten good sounds out of all the modules, but then when I recorded with them it just didn't sound the same with drums, etc. I gave up on dialing the sound by itself and just pop a module in and lay down rhythms. If I like it I tweak, and re-do until I feel I got the best sound I can out of that mod. I've tried around 15 of the gain-oriented ones and I think I'm done.

I think in all I have about 70 mp3s of that one song done with different gear as I tried out different amps, modules, guitars, etc. Now I'm ready to start tracking other songs ;)
 
audioholic said:
What modules would you say could do it better. I am looking for something that has some girth, though not necessarily all for metal type of tones.

I will be getting an XTC as well for a different flava

If you would like to buy my XTC let me know. Other then that, i'm still waiting to try the ULTRA that i just bought. After doing a shitload of research, seem's to be the most favorite out of all of them, according to people on this site. I still read iffy review's about the KH-3. All my modules get boosted which take them to the next level into sweet tone land.
 
lurid said:
IMO it has the best sound without being tweaked and grabs your ear right away. Then when you start learning a lot of the other mods it turns out to be the least tweakable (even with all the switches). I liked mine so much when I first got my MTS stuff that I kept going back to it, but it just never sounded as good as those first few days...

Again, thats just IMO, but a lot of the other mods can just do it deeper and wider, with more conviction... :oops:

+1. I thought the same thing, virtually word for word. Coincidentally, whenever I hear Disturbed now, I listen to the guitar and realize I don't think it's anything special.

my .02
 
is this the ultra??

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MTSUltraXL/


As of now, I got my RM4 on order from sweetwater, where I can pay it off over the year. But I still have time to swap things out I think


People generally like this better then the 1086?
 
lurid

woiuld love to hear some of your palmer clips, of these different modules, any chance of taking a peak?
 
after hearing some more clips, I ended up changing my order from a 1086 to a KH2. I really liked the tones from the Kh2 that i heard!
 
audioholic said:
after hearing some more clips, I ended up changing my order from a 1086 to a KH2. I really liked the tones from the Kh2 that i heard!
I think you're better off with the KH2. Let us know how you like it.
 
thanks, I think and hope so too

my stuff is on back order waiting for randall, so will be about 2 weeks or so, I will try to post clips
 
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