LEAD MODES:
(Continued)
YELLOW:
LD1
LD1
RED:
PAGE 16
this mode, making sure it had the softest, sweetest clip possible from a group of tubes. We put it up
against the tastiest vintage snakeskinned Mark I’s, Deluxes, Super’s, JTM 45’s and any other vintage classic we could borrow or
rent and found that Green was in most cases the better sounding of the bunch and in all cases a better feeling on the strings was
totally evident. because it is called a Lead mode, don’t be afraid to dial up some low gain threshold of distortion sounds in Lead 1
Green. It shines at these settings as well. It’s no wonder this mode has become one of the standards by which we judge other
circuits...it is inherently sooo right.
The basic architecture of this mode is identical to Lead 1 Green so all the same qualities, attributes, and tips apply. However, several
different parts switch in when Lead 1 Yellow is selected that give it a personality all its’ own.
First, more gain is added in an early cathode stage which tightens and focuses the sound. This produces a more saturated quality
that greatly enhances the sustain factor of a given note. Then, a boost in the medium midrange through medium treble regions is
added. This changes the envelope of the attack making it less bright and more bold, and you could say, beefy. At the same time, these
two working in conjunction with each other, give this mode a smoother more liquid sound when notes are held out. This is especially
true when the Treble and Presence are set low, say
5.0
or below. Basically the overall voice of Lead 1 Yellow is darker, warmer
and smoother than Lead1 Green. “Fusion” players love this mode because single note lines sing and soar. The tone is so wide it
needs very little processing to produce a lead voice unrivaled in its authority. Yellow works great for more ominous rock solo tones as
well-and if you really want to get out there, try setting the GAIN control and LEAD 1 DRIVE control high say
8.0
and dial in the
Dynamic Voice. Some really crazy and truly huge crunch tones are produced in this way. Be careful with the Bass in this mode
though. It is easy to make the sound tubby or flatulent with the BASS control set above
4.5
in a high Gain / Drive configuration in Lead
1 Yellow. The upper range of settings on the BASS control are specifically tuned and adjusted for use with Lead 1 Red. More
on this later.
Insane, Over the top, Out of control, Straight up sick, Truly Heinous Gain. This is Lead 1 Red Its architecture is very different from
all the other circuits in TriAxis. In fact, this mode gets its own complete circuit board. That’s right! When you choose Red you
are actually sending the whole audio signal up to a completely separate circuit board, that rides piggyback atop the mother audio
board, with enough parts to be another stand alone pre-amp and then some. Red flips the pre-tone control circuit upside down and
inside out to produce the biggest crunch we’ve ever produced in a pre-amp. This basic design was inspired by the Vintage / Orange
channel of our Dual Rectifier Solo Head. It begins there...taking the basic gain structure, tone control values and shape. We then
super tweaked it to respond better into many different types of power sections. (We still think it’s at its’ best when used with our Simul
Class Stereo 290 Power amp.)
This mode is by far the most aggresive of the 6 lead modes. It has more bottom end than most players know what to do with. The
top end is very attack oriented and should be dialed in with discretion. The MIDDLE control, as in the Dual Recto, is extremely
powerful. At low settings, the mode is very sweet, scooped and almost liquid. As the Mid is increased you will hear the fury of Red
kick in. With the Mid way up you’ll be able to scare people with Red’s agro-tude. This is definately the hyper-modified head crusher.
This mode is crunch...redefined. Here are some hints to help you get the most out of Lead 1 Red.
1. The GAIN Control in this type of circuit is traditionally a stage that gets a discrete resistor value in most heads. In TriAxis, due to
it being essential to the other modes operation, you have a “variable resistor” so to speak. This is not a case where “ more is better”.
While this GAIN control can be dialed to achieve gain amounts previously unavailable in this style of circuit, it is not necessarily the
key to the best tone or response. Similar circuits have a hard wired resistor here for good reason. This spot in the circuit is very
sensitive and in fact, determines much about the characteristic of the whole mode or “amp”. The attack is most affected by this
value and if too much gain is dialed in here...no amount of tweaking later in the circuit can put the “attack back” in the right
place. So...It is very crucial to set this control in the right place. A setting of
6.0
on the GAIN control chooses the discrete resistor
GREEN: (Continued)
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