Hammer Time! (Post your Tone Hammer settings)

[EricF]

Upon gleefully opening the box on my new Tone Hammer yesterday, I noticed the little user's manual said to check Aguilar's website for presets. Uhh...okay...where? No presets are to be found on the site. Thanks for that, Aggie!

Knowing full well that this forum is a way better source for useful bass info than anywhere else on the intarwebz, I think it's time we get this party started...

Post your favorite settings, and a description of the sound (especially if you've nailed an emulation of a specific amp).

 

[NoHomework81]

Using a passive P Bass (my only bass ATM);

The other night with the band I noticed my ToneHammer landed on these settings, and I was really diggin the sound. This is also the only preamp I have At The Moment.

AGS: On (always)
Gain: 12:30
Bass: 1:00
Treble: 12:00
Mid Level: 2:30
Mid Freq: Between 11 and 1:30 for old school mid bump
Mid Freq: Closer to 2 - 2:30 for aggressive upper mids

With passive pickups, I get a great all around rock n roll sounds with this setup. Classic Rock, Blues, R&B, a little funk, it's all there. Also, the amount of overdrive you get is very responsive to the dynamics of your playing.

 

[unclekebm]

'08 Am Std. P w/TI jazz flats (rock gig, 70's 80's 90's covers)

AGS: on
gain: 10:00
treble: 12:15
bass: 1:30
mid freq: 5:00
mid: 10:30

wooly, thick, growly, tamed upper mids but still bites
like NoHomework81 says, the overdrive is very responsive to dynamics
I play pretty hard so I set the gain low so i'm not always overdrive-ing...

this is an amp-less gig...

 

[Puru]

Yeah man

 

[Nyarlathotep]

YEAAAAAAAAHBOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!

 

[OhThePeacock]

:scowl: I'm still yet to hear this thing in action. Someone make some freakin' clips already!

 

[unclekebm]

YEAAAAAAAAHBOIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!

it's Hammer time...

 

[tornadobass]

I'd agree with the comment on gain/attack impact on the amount of overdrive.

For a recent gig, I switched to a Brown Dog fuzz instead to get consistent fuzz.

But the Tone Hammer does indeed react the way an amp would to playing dynamics.

 

[Antman3820]

Found this on the Aguilar website today.

Clips by Steve Jenkins. I actually went to a small clinic he had a couple of years ago in NJ.....Great guy and a phenominal player....His solo CD is good too.....

Enjoy

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Oh and Im enjoying my Tone Hammer

 

[Ebelow]

Thanks for the link! It was helpful! My TH is on it's way,

 

[sjcak]

Hey everyone, this is my first post , just got my tone hammer, my tone has gone very deep and warm as expected, great mids control, DI with post switch gives great clean sound, just like coming from a bass head. The AGS gives a growly distortion, it boosts the signal, that's a really bad flaw IMO, since you go really up in the mix if you want to give a dist line in just a part of the song, i still would use it when guitar solo accompaniment or soloing. Overall its a + to my rig, i play hard-heavy rock thru the return input in a Ampeg b3h and a GK 4x10 head using an 80's Peavey T-40. I got a little problem with the string height in my bass, this box is actually very reponsive to your left hand attack, so expecting to the tone get thicker when that is solved. (Excuse english writing from santiago Chile). Cheers!

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[bedui]

Hi, I'm new to this forum! I've read your reviews for quite a while, although I consider myself to be a newbie for most of this stuff. I was just wondering, after you find the settings you like in your Tone Hammer, do you leave your ampr EQ flat? What works best? I'm using a passive P-Bass btw. Thanks!

 

[Christian Waiau]

interested in seeing more settings you guys found! I've been messing with this thing all day and its crazy how versatile it is.

 

[thumpmonkey]

I've been playing with my tone for a while. My goal is to get a warm tone while still maintaining punch, all around articulation, and a nice growl. I recently got the rh450 head and last night got the tone hammer. I settled on having the gain almost off at 7:30, the treble fully cranked at 5, bass at 2:30, mid freq at 4, and the mid level and master at 12, the ags is always on.

What i found is that my axe is now super articulate and versatile. I prefer to have my bass and treble completely boosted with my mids a quarter turn from completely cut or at 12. It seems like this has allowed the mids in the RH450 and the Tone Hammer to come through. My axe has a P/J set up and has, with the tone hammer on, all sorts of great articulated tones between the two extremes, I still prefer to just on either side of balanced though.

It even helps with articulating my Qtron. For me this is what the TH is for. I needed a tool in my tool box to get the most out of all my tones.

Now, between the RH450 and the TH I can really dial in pretty much anything.

 

[Eublet]

I've been an ardent Tone Hammer user for a while, but haven't really posted much info about this little guy. Perhaps I've taken it for granted. I'm selling the 3 other pedals I never use (VT Deluxe, Sansamp Deluxe, and MXR) because I never need them with the Tone Hammer.

So, I decided to search for a settings thread, thinking there would be a big one, but this is all I found. Bummer. I'll post my favorite settings here, and then hopefully you guys who have posted before will contribute again, and we can get something going here for everyone to feed off of.

Anyway, the TH is nearly infinite in it's tweakability. I have a few go-to settings that I use depending on the bass and tone I'm after. Here are a couple for a retro tone that works in any setting:

For my Pbass with TI Jazz Flats:
AGS: On
Gain: 9 o'clock (which for the output of my bass, is warm with some slight hair but no overdrive)
Treble: Noon
Bass: Noon or as high as 1
Mid Freq: 1
Mid: 10:30 or 11

I also roll my passive tone on the P back about 50%, and it's just thumpy old-school goodness. I dream I'm Pino Palladino when I use this setup.

For the Jazz bass with Nickel Rounds:
AGS: On
Gain: 9'ish (same as above, no overdrive but warmth)
Treble: 1:30
Bass: 2
Mid Freq: 1:30 or 2
Mid: 11 or 11:30 (just taking a small dip in the upper mids here)

I also roll the tone back on my jazz around 30%. This is a funk machine when set like this. It's chunky enough to be fat in the mix, with enough upper mid to burp and grind a little, but the treble is relaxed enough that you don't have to worry about taking someone's head off no matter how hard you play. I love this tone! I could never get it with my Tech21 VT because the highs were always too harsh, and the mid scoop was too intense to overcome.

The Tone Hammer is possible the best piece of equipment I've ever owned. Aguilar knows what they are doing!

 

[phmike]

Tonehammer sound clips link has settings that helped me.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Eublet]

Yeah, that Aguilar page got me going early on.

 

[p0k]

It would be swell if others posted their favorite settings in here! I generally use this as my default with my '74 Jazz:

AGS: off
Gain: 8 o'clock (Gain super low so I can hit the AGS as a boost)
Treble: Noon
Bass: 1
Mid Freq: 10
Mid: 1

However, lately I've been wanting to try keeping the AGS on all the time, so I'm going to mess with the settings Eublet had for his jazz and see how I like it. I have an AGRO pedal too so I can always hit that for some extra grit/boost.

 

[Eublet]

This past weekend, I used the setting below with my jazz bass:

Gain 10 (no overdrive, just a little grit)
Treble: noon
Bass: 12:30
Mid Frequency: 2:30
Mid: 10 o'clock

This provided a bit of that vintage mid scoop a lot of people go for an the Ampeg stuff, but not nearly as drastic such that it doesn't get lost in the mix and sound like boomy clank. Mids were still present and warm, and the bottom was tight with nice authority. Treble was clear and clean. I've been using this setting more and more lately.

 

[p0k]

This past weekend, I used the setting below with my jazz bass:

Gain 10 (no overdrive, just a little grit)
Treble: noon
Bass: 12:30
Mid Frequency: 2:30
Mid: 10 o'clock

This provided a bit of that vintage mid scoop a lot of people go for an the Ampeg stuff, but not nearly as drastic such that it doesn't get lost in the mix and sound like boomy clank. Mids were still present and warm, and the bottom was tight with nice authority. Treble was clear and clean. I've been using this setting more and more lately.

Tried these settings last night...granted I was just playing in my house, but sounded great! Did you say that you have the TH 500 amp as well? That's what I have and I feel like I have a hard time using both. I put the amp to no drive and low gain if I'm using the pedal, or bypass the stompbox and use the EQ on the amp, but together I can't seem to get a good sound. Probably because they have the same pre so it's somewhat redundant. Have you used them together?