Less gain was never my philosophy, fully saturated screaming compressed long delays had been me. Am I getting old or am I listening to to much zeplin. Both maybe. I purchased house of the holy on Saturday and a mixture of over the hills and no quarter (incidentally how much does Brant bjorks solo work sound like no quarter. Check out jalamanta on duna records its worth a listen). Its the lack of bite that I'm enjoying. I feel you can hear the tone of the wood coming through. The explorer with both pickups selected and less gain has a roomy quality to the sound an airyness. It has the lower darker tones of the neck both the brighter tones of the bridge. But there is a separation. It sounds like birth pick ups are working apart, together but apart. The guitar to me compared to say my rg 470 has more of the piano about it. This is what I feel I've been missing with high gain.  So away with preset 1a (which was modern hi gain #2 which is sort of a soldano) on the pod and in with Brit class a which is sort of modded ac 30.

So into a brave new world well preset 1b.