Home › Forums › Tips, Tricks, Clips, and Pics › What are your favourite Black Finger settings?
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May 11, 2009 at 10:36 am #78214MartinSMember
For guitar I currently have mine on LED, SQSH, pre-gain: max; compression at 11 o’ clock, post-gain at 10 o’clock.
Would be interested in trying other people’s settings.
This works well for recording vocals into my Mac as well. I just switch from LED to Lamp and raise the post-gain to 12 o’ clock.
Cheers.
May 11, 2009 at 11:48 am #96586danhappysaladParticipantI mainly use a setting I cribbed from the pro guitar shop preview video, but it works for me!
Lamp, Squash, Compression 1:30, Pre-gain Max, Post-gain 10:30.
This sounds great clean but if I add dirt there is too much noise so I turn the pre-gain down to about 2:00 which seems to be where the noise tails off best, and turn the post-gain up to 12:00 to compensate.
May 12, 2009 at 7:28 am #96613freshchopsMemberLamp / Squash
Compression @ 2:30
Pre Gain: 12:00
Post Gain: 2:30I have added aftermarket “Ruby” matched tubes so these settings would likely be different if it was the stock tubes. I will add that I have absolutely no breakup or even noise at those levels. The replacement tubes greatly helped cut all of the unwanted noise right off the bat.
May 12, 2009 at 5:27 pm #96627BrianzeroParticipantQuote:Lamp / SquashCompression @ 2:30
Pre Gain: 12:00
Post Gain: 2:30I have added aftermarket “Ruby” matched tubes so these settings would likely be different if it was the stock tubes. I will add that I have absolutely no breakup or even noise at those levels. The replacement tubes greatly helped cut all of the unwanted noise right off the bat.
So how does it sound on the normal setting?
The squash setting is quiet but i would be interested to hear how things are in the normal mode.May 12, 2009 at 9:15 pm #96629Fender&EHX4everModeratorLamp/SQSH mode
Compression = varies between 4:00 – max depending on how much attack I want to preserve
Pre Gain = 3:00
Post Gain = varies, but usually between 12:00 – 3:00In Normal mode, I like to max the Pre- Gain and Compression, but back off of the Post Gain to around 9:00.
May 13, 2009 at 8:39 am #96644freshchopsMemberQuote:So how does it sound on the normal setting?
The squash setting is quiet but i would be interested to hear how things are in the normal mode.I’ve been playing through mine in Squash for a so long, you’ve got me curious again. I experimented with it through the day while playing and it sounded super fantastic in normal mode too. I’ve gotten away from the normal setting due to the previous tubes being too noisy. Everything was well and pleasant, and as you could imaging, a quicker attack than the squashed mode. I didn’t notice any unwanted noise today. In this mode I like the settings a little on the moderate side:
Normal / Lamp
Compression @ 2:00 / Pre Gain @ 9:30 / Post Gain @ 12:30I find that punching the pre-gain adds unwanted filament and noise, opposed to pushing the “post” signal. Everything sounded great amped, but I didn’t spend any time closely sampling through the normal mode through headphones, where I’ve noticed noisy filament in the past.
For those curious, I can assure you that there is no other compression pedal available that has as much tasty character. It’s such a full, lush and warm compression. The 300 volts (do not touch) flowing into this box is plenty enough to push your signal while thickening it all the same.
May 13, 2009 at 11:30 am #96646BrianzeroParticipantQuote:Quote:So how does it sound on the normal setting?
The squash setting is quiet but i would be interested to hear how things are in the normal mode.I’ve been playing through mine in Squash for a so long, you’ve got me curious again. I experimented with it through the day while playing and it sounded super fantastic in normal mode too. I’ve gotten away from the normal setting due to the previous tubes being too noisy. Everything was well and pleasant, and as you could imaging, a quicker attack than the squashed mode. I didn’t notice any unwanted noise today. In this mode I like the settings a little on the moderate side:
Normal / Lamp
Compression @ 2:00 / Pre Gain @ 9:30 / Post Gain @ 12:30I find that punching the pre-gain adds unwanted filament and noise, opposed to pushing the “post” signal. Everything sounded great amped, but I didn’t spend any time closely sampling through the normal mode through headphones, where I’ve noticed noisy filament in the past.
For those curious, I can assure you that there is no other compression pedal available that has as much tasty character. It’s such a full, lush and warm compression. The 300 volts (do not touch) flowing into this box is plenty enough to push your signal while thickening it all the same.
Thanks for that,
I play mostly thro the normal setting and find that great for lead work. Great sustain there too.
So yes at the moment there are sovtek valves in it. so i might go down the road of higher quality valves I have a feeling that is the key.
Yes, its an awesome pedal for sure, so very smooth and warm sounding.May 13, 2009 at 12:08 pm #96648danhappysaladParticipantI was wondering, can you put different kinds of valves in the Black Finger e.g. 12AU7s? How would this change the sound if it’s possible?
May 13, 2009 at 12:27 pm #96649BrianzeroParticipantI did try this with less gain valves and all that happened was the volume dropped by half and it didn’t evenen start to compress. So you need to use valves of the same rating
May 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm #96650danhappysaladParticipantAh, interesting, thanks!
May 13, 2009 at 12:35 pm #96651MartinSMemberGreat replies – thanks. I’ll try a couple of the settings this evening. I had a tinker yesterday; having played on SQSH/LED for a long time I might move to LAMP / NORM — the guitar just sounds more natural. We’ll see.
Re valves: I think there’s a tendency — among guitarists particularly — to always be looking for “something better”, especially with regard to pedals. I would assume, perhaps naively?, that EH would issue a pedal that contains the optimum valves for its intended function / performance. My Black Finger went hissy after a couple of years’ use a few weeks back. I replaced the tubes with Electro Harmonix 12ax7-eh, albeit gold-pin.
May 14, 2009 at 10:08 am #96679MartinSMemberTried this last night. I find NORM quite noisy. Maybe it’s not meant for guitar? Anyway, I didn’t have much time to try things out but for the time being have settled on LAMP/SQSH, compress: 11 o’clock; post gain 10 o’ clock, pre-gain max.
May 18, 2009 at 4:34 pm #96821BrianzeroParticipantI really like to use the black finger as a lead boost pedal. The setting I like is Lamp/nornal, compress on about 3 oclock, pre-gain about 2 oclock and the post gain 11.30/12.00. Its a really full tone, nothing lost just really filled out and rich. This is really a great pedal and i’m loving it more and more. Viva!
June 2, 2009 at 9:52 pm #97265toescantalkMemberJust to quickly add that I got my Black Finger second hand and it was very noisy. I replaced valves with the EHX 12AX7 gold and can’t believe how quiet it is now. More so than my other non-tube compressor. This pedal is genius, it just creates tone, and now I can use it clean too it will never be off!
Sorry no go to settings to add to the thread yet, though I have enjoyed playing with the ones above.
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