CR120C

[MisterB]

OK, I've had my CR120C for a few years now and absolutely LOVE this amp! I'm planning on purchasing a second one and running them thru a couple of old Marshall 412 cabs. I tried it once already and beside being just stupid loud it convinced me this is the amp I've always been looking for.
My question is: I run thru my clean channel with the volume set just below one o'clock so I don't start tapping into the second gain stage and then set my master volume to taste. I use overdrives for all my dirt and when I roll my volume knobs down on the guitar it cleans up beautifully....but I'm having a devil of a time coming to grips with is the tone controls! I'm going out on a limb assuming that it's a baxandall tone stack, so when I have the controls set at five o'clock its essentially flat. Reduce them below 5 and it introduces more mids, above 5 and it starts to scoop mids. I've been chasing the "Jimmy Page tone" dragon as long as I've been playing and the CR120 setup that I'm using has brought me about as close as I've ever come. I'm trying to figure out how to dial out more of the lower mids, add more upper mids and treble and cut the bass, but not to the point that it becomes muffled/woofy and loses clarity...
Anyone have some wisdom they want to throw this guys way?

[afjungemann]

Small note, I am guessing you mean noon on your eq as 5 o clock would be dimed.

I find with the 2 band eq that I like to run my treble at about 2 or 3 o'clock and my bass around 9 or 10 o'clock. I also use les Pauls and play through an orange 412 so there is a surplus of low end. You might need more bass with the Marshall cabs.

Do you not use the dirty channel? The dirty channel on those is incredible and I would think you would have better results than using most pedals. Plus then you would have a 3 band eq on that channel.

[MisterB]

Yes, I did mean 5 (noon).
I'm playing Les Pauls (primarily) a 335 and Tele.
I'll have to try an Orange cab....I'm personally used to the sound of a Marshall cab, there is a certain "knock" that I just haven't found in other cabinets.
Oh yes, make no mistake I do use the dirty channel...I just look at it as another flavour of drive.
I tend to use higher end boutique pedal like Catalinbread as foundation overdrives on the clean channel.
I use their RAH pedal and I've got a modified Hi-watt. I use their Dirty Little secret and I've got a gamut of the best vintage Marshall tones...the list goes on.
What's nice is the Orange has got an amazing power amp section that really lets the character of these pedals shine through and allows them to be as responsive and touch sensitive as any vintage tube amp.
Give it try sometime, you might be surprised

[afjungemann]

Oh good! I was concerned for a minute that you had this amazing amp and weren't using one of the best parts about it. I have seen it happen... a CR120 on clean only with a metal zone in front...

Yeah, those drive pedals are awesome.

My experience has been that Marshalls have a bit more clarity but the orange has a ton of beef. I probably eq wonky to get the extra clarity but the set up works well for me.