Boss GT-X - Page 73

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Section14Preamps
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©Copyright2000-2002BarryS.Pearceetal.  73
the BG Lead. In practice this preamp
produces a light sound, with what is
definitelydescribableasdistortionrather
thanoverdrive.
BGLead
Plentyoflowerendcharacterhere.Again
thebassfrequenciesdropoffatasimilar
ratetoBluesfrom60Hzdown,butadeep
cutat100Hzfollowedbyaslowrecovery
upto6kHzgivesthisampashallowerbut
muchwidermidscoop.Thetrebleendis
not boosted at all and drops off sharply
via a low pass filter from 15kHz. In
practicethispreampgivesaverymuddy
boomy distortion perhaps suitable in its
rawformtofuzz.
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[GTx-PRE-MS1959.jpg]
Well,herearetheMarshalls.Threevery
similar preamps.  All three pretty much
sharethesamemidscoopbetween70Hz-
5kHz, with minor variations due to
extreme cuts in bass or treble. Allthree
giveatypicalMarshalloverdrivensound
butIwouldn'tgoasfarastosayitwasa
distortion sound. Definitely more an
overdrivesound.
MS1959(I)
The(I)dropsofffrom70Hz,buthasacut
bass anyway. Mid scoop is exactly the
same here as the others. The scoop
recovers to a non boosted treble which
follows the GT-3 reference from 6kHz
upwards.
MS1959(II)
The (II) is similar to the (I) except the
bass has not been cut so much. Here it
drops off from 60Hz. The mid scoop is
similartotheIexceptthetreblehasbeen
cutsignificantly,andbeforehemidscoop
has had chance to recover at 2kHz a
rounded lowpass filter cuts in toknock
offalargeamountofhighend.
MS1959(I+II)
A pretty good combination of the two.
The mid-scoop again remains pretty
similar, but here you have the Bass
response from the (II) and the high end
responseabove800Hzfromthe(I).Also,
thispreampstillhas the notchat 125Hz
whichmarksthestartofthemidscoop.
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[GTx-PRE-SLM5MD.jpg]
OK,nowlet’slookat thethree heaviest
distortion preamps. Again, all three
preampshaveacharacteristicmidscoop.
Allthreepreampshaveboostedbassand
trebleindifferingdegrees.Alsoallthree
have low pass filters cutting the higher
frequencies at a lowest value of 15kHz,
which puts them all exceeding all the
otherpreamps.Allthreealsohaveanotch
at 100Hz which recovers partially by
150hzbeforestartingthemidscoop.

SLDNLead
Medium bass boost in the 40-85Hz
region, before notching at 100Hz and
starting the quite deep mid scoop. The
midscoopthenrecovers earlier thanthe
otherby2kHzbeforeboostingthetreble
significantlybeforeitdropsoffat15kHz.
Thispreamphas'medium'bassand'max'
treble of this group. The SLDN gives a
reasonable middle of the range type
distortion. It is slightly crisper than the
Metal5150orMetalDrive.
Metal5150
OfthegrouptheMetal5150hasthemost
boosttothebass,andamediumbooston
thetreblebutonlyjustabovethatofthe
Metal Drive. Apart from the lower bass
boost, the bass and mids of this are
identicaltotheSLDN.However,themid
scoop takes longer to recover, not
recovering until 3.5kHz above which a
medium treble boost is apparent. The
most significant feature here is a very
sharpdropoffofhighfrequenciesstarting
at 15kHz. Definitely a full on metal
distortion comes from this preamp—not
as crisp as the Soldano but definitely
heavier!
MetalDrive
This preamp has a very much boosted
bass region of 30- 90Hz, againwith the
100Hz notch starting the mid scoop.
Unliketheotherswherethemidscoopis
centred on 500Hz the boosted bass has
shifted the scoop to centre on about
630Hz.Againthemidscooprecoversby
3.5khz to enteratrebleboostthat is the
least of these three preamps. However,
whereas the Metal 5150 has an extreme
drop at 15kHz, this preamp doesn't
continuing in a natural drop off instead,
paralleling the GT3 reference response.
Verysimilarto theMetal 5150 withthe
sparkle taken off the highend.Probably
suitedtomoreboomystyles.

AgainIamnotgoingtopresentanynewpatcheshere.Fora
basicsoundstartwith'Clean'andthenaddthepreampyou
want.Thiswillgiveyouabasicpreamppatchtoworkfrom.