How much does your guitar amp contribute to your sound?

[hans halmackenreuter]

In my opinion the amp is often underrated if people talk about sound. I don't know if I would be able to point my finger to certain percentage-number but in my experience a decent guitar + a great amp mostly result in a better tone (if the guitar set-up is right) than a great guitar + a decent amp. But I guess my approach may differ from others since I view the guitar as an interface for the notes or the music I have in mind and the output-system (amp) should be able to fullfill this information.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Question: with an archtop (especially with a carved top/floater setup) does anyone prefer an "acoustic guitar amp" to an "electric guitar amp"?

[JazzNote]

I think the player's individuality is so important that it cannot be excluded in the judgement of an amp's sound. If i play a bad sounding amp or a good sounding amp it's still me shaping the notes. If i would play both with the same guitar the difference wouldn't be as strong to a listener as i would experience it while playing. The sound of the amp its certainly contributing much less than 50%, but if i feel comfortable with it then it makes me play way better which is the main thing i aim for with any amp.

[2bornot2bop]

Unfortunately, no Twin is in my future. I can't spend $1000 on an amp, and it's so heavy no way I could every carry it! I wouldn't mind finding a small tube amp, but don't know what would be the closest approach to the twin.

Craigslist...you can find used twins occasionally as low as $600. I tried the Deluxe Reverb, and the Princeton...I wanted to like them because they were smaller. Their problem was I had a Twin in the same room and had played it for a month. It wasn't anywhere near the same sound, and I'm not talking just volume...I could care less about volume, as I only use a minimum of volume.

Most Twins will come with stout rolling wheels. I'm talking home use...park it and leave it. I'd not lug a Twin around for gigs myself.

[christianm77]

I use a number of pedals, mostly dialled to subtle (you notice when you turn them off):

chorus -- I know there are haters out there, but my TC Corona has a tone knob that lets me roll off the highs on the wet sound and avoid shimmer.

tremolo -- nice and slow

booster -- I use the TC Spark set on "fat" to warm the tone a little.

delay -- again, if the wet signal is dialed down it just adds some air

reverb -- only if the room is dead, like my shaggorific basement

I know there are some "preamp" or character pedals that are supposed to make clean amps sound like tube amps, for example the Tech21 Blonde, but I haven't tried any yet.

Well, I use all of those effects from time to time apart from the boost.. the PRRI has a very fine built in chorus, and I do like my MXR Carbon Copy. I've even.... gasp! used chorus from time to time:

So, a new pedal beckons. I will audition boost pedals!

I think I will stay away from your shaggoriffic basement if it's all the same to you.

[neatomic]

Yeah when I play Tele it's nice to have a bit of tube screamer in the mix. Actually, I'm wondering if I shouldn't also get some sort of preamp like the Echoplex. My amp is set up to have more headroom but for lead lines on the Tele it can sound a bit non descript - but I don't always want a driven sound. Any ideas?

the early tape echoes (echoplex [both tube & ss], roland space echo, etc) had distinctive front end preamps that players liked and used even when the echo was dialed down...these preamps gave the signal a boost, but were not overdrives or distortion..nor were they clean boosts..

clever techies learned to build pedals based on the pre-amps of those echo units..sans the echo part

one of the pro level guys designing these, is tavo at nocturne amps...he has quite a few variations on the theme...very well regarded...send him an email..a very helpful friendly guy as well

Pedals ? The Nocturne Brain

cheers

[neatomic]

SoOOoo I'm getting close to buying a Twin, I'm checking one out on Monday and hopefully I won't be out more than $CAN 600. I think I should buy the hand truck first!

for big clean sound, nothing beats a twin..it was an industry standard for years....unfortunately for many now the weight of them is a deal breaker..understandable, but a shame as they are great amps for any number of styles..and they can be further tweaked by judicious tube and speaker changes..they also take pedals extremely well...

handtruck... and hernia belt

haha

cheers

[GNAPPI]

I think it's kind of all over the map. Some guitars sound good plugged into anything, others are fickle. Some amps make anything sound good. Some require lots of tweaks, some it's plug and play. Some amps really color the sound, others sound completely different with every guitar.

Ordinarily when you write, I read and agree and or learn but in this case I really think which crap amps make anything sound good would be fair to list.

[neatomic]

in the case of the op...a magnatone with its totally unique stereo vibrato effect will shape the tone 95%!!..nothing sounds quite like it..and maggie fans recognize it immediately...

the sound of lonnie mack...listen to this for a maggie in action

cheers

[mr. beaumont]

Ordinarily when you write, I read and agree and or learn but in this case I really think which crap amps make anything sound good would be fair to list.

Oh, I'm definitely not suggesting a flat out bad amp can make anything sound great, I'm just saying the percentages of where tone comes from depends on the amp.

For example, my polytone. Now, I think every guitar I've ever used through it sounds great...but the amp really imparts it's color. Makes all guitars sound similar. So I'd say, when playing through that amp, the amp is a BIG part of the tone.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I'd rather plug a good guitar into a great amp than plug a great guitar into an amp that can't do it justice.

[gcb]

For me it was about finding the perfect match, the end product, in terms of the sound that I like, and it is a Gibson archtop (100%) through a Twin Reverb (100%).

[vinlander]

The perfect match "for the required job".
In a live setting where you need to cut through the mix and be more focussed in frequencies, that match will be different than in one's living room where you choose what frequencies your instrument shine at. A reason so many high end guitars sound the same as plank with a pickup in high volume situation.
In my living room the guitar is truly the one shining at more than 51%, but in live situation I suspect a complete opposite

[Boston Joe]

The perfect match "for the required job".
In a live setting where you need to cut through the mix and be more focussed in frequencies, that match will be different than in one's living room where you choose what frequencies your instrument shine at. A reason so many high end guitars sound the same as plank with a pickup in high volume situation.
In my living room the guitar is truly the one shining at more than 51%, but in live situation I suspect a complete opposite

I think that's pretty accurate. In a live situation, other instruments are sharing the frequency spectrum, so you may have to end up changing your amp settings - sometimes pretty drastically - to get a good sound in that situation. And I suspect that if you used those settings at home, it'd sound pretty bad (never tried it, personally).

One of the things I really like about my Maz is the "cut" control. It works like you wish most amps' "presence" control would work. It does something to the high end that doesn't really change the tone, per se, but it makes it more "cutting" for lack of a better word. (I guess Dr. Z didn't have a better word for it, either.) Usually in live situations, I can turn up the "cut" a bit, and have my same basic tone. Sometimes I need to tweak the mids a little.

[West LA Jazz]

One time I show a young man my Fender American Standard Stratocaster With fender Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 40W 1x12 Amp , sound nice ( ok ) same amp but when I play with PRS HB I 10 top ( $3.8K ) guitar sound terrible , then I change to Dr.Z amp then sound is much much batter, much batter then Stratocaster

Attachment 35095

Some people say the amps sound muddy or fat ~~~ May be is " his guitar ( low-end ) or hearing( setup ) " " not the amp "

I played this amp at a local boutique amp store and was blown away. Undeniable clarity. And then right after that, I tried the Magnatone Twilighter and was mesmerized! I got distracted and have been thinking of that Vibrato Magnatone sound ever since.
This amp is definitely on my bucket list.

[999369]

I played this amp at a local boutique amp store and was blown away. Undeniable clarity. And then right after that, I tried the Magnatone Twilighter and was mesmerized! I got distracted and have been thinking of that Vibrato Magnatone sound ever since.
This amp is definitely on my bucket list.

This is very good guitar amp , clar & transparent , what you plug in ( guitars ) what ( sound ) you get , very less coloration for the sound , and this amp is Discontinued , so I call Dr. Z what is model ( Amp ) can be replace this amp ? They said " Z Wreck "
I got this amp is specific for my fender " Danny Gatton telecaster " guitar

" Good Match "

[West LA Jazz]

This is very good guitar amp , clar & transparent , what you plug in ( guitars ) what ( sound ) you get , very less coloration for the sound , and this amp is Discontinued , so I call Dr. Z what is model ( Amp ) can be replace this amp ? They said " Z Wreck "
I got this amp is specific for my fender " Danny Gatton telecaster " guitar

" Good Match "

Beautiful art!

[yebdox]

For about $400, you can get a matching head and 2x12 cab to split the difference and have about 35 lbs apiece in each hand, and still have a glorious Twin on the gig! And you get to pick the color.... Carolina blue tolex, anyone?

[entresz]

I had a gig this yesterday with a big band I play in where I used a vintage Fender Twin. It was the 'house' amp. My Gretsch G400 with VV floating CC sounded super through it. Punchy, stringy and warm all at once. I had the reign in the tops a bit, but once that was done the sound was beautiful. My Quilter is much easier to get a good sound from- EQ seems a bit easier to work with, I've decided nothing sounds like a nice Twin Reverb.

[Gitfiddler]

To me, amps are more important than guitars for getting great tone. That conclusion is likely based on my history of owning great amps and crappy guitars as a young performer. This was validated by rave reviews of my tone from a Harmony bolt-neck 335 copy into a '60's Fender Pro 1x15 non-reverb. That amp made ANY guitar sound fantastic!

Later that same guitar sounded great through an Ampeg VT22.

Over the years I've been blessed to own many wonderful guitars, but I still focus on quality amps. My current favorites are the now defunct Heritage amps (Patriot, Liberty and Victory) designed for a few years by Paul Cochrane and his team.
No matter what I plug into these things, magic comes out of the speakers. If you get a chance to play through a Heritage amp, you'll understand.

[West LA Jazz]

To me, amps are more important than guitars for getting great tone. That conclusion is likely based on my history of owning great amps and crappy guitars as a young performer. This was validated by rave reviews of my tone from a Harmony bolt-neck 335 copy into a '60's Fender Pro 1x15 non-reverb. That amp made ANY guitar sound fantastic!

Later that same guitar sounded great through an Ampeg VT22.

Over the years I've been blessed to own many wonderful guitars, but I still focus on quality amps. My current favorites are the now defunct Heritage amps (Patriot, Liberty and Victory) designed for a few years by Paul Cochrane and his team.
No matter what I plug into these things, magic comes out of the speakers. If you get a chance to play through a Heritage amp, you'll understand.

Very Cool! I too started out on ho hum amps and crappy guitars. When I eventually played a Collings I35 it was a revelation in terms of craftsmanship. Incidentally, I tried it through a Heritage amp - go figure! Who knows, the am probaly flattered the guitar. I recently tried a Magnatone Twilighter and a Dr Z Maz 18. The clarity of these amps were also a revelation but I don't want to trust my ears due to the fact that I haven't tried that many boutique high end amps. Have you tried these two? The Panoramic stereo is also very good I think.

[999369]

Then you need try the amps " Victoria Golden melody & Silver Sonic "
" in a large room "

[neatomic]

yes mark b's victoria amps...classic..he uses fender brown era harmonic trem on those...one of the best trems ever...in maggie territory

cheers

[West LA Jazz]

Interesting!!! I’ll need to find out where these are sold locally.
I hadn’t heard of them to be honest.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRAo3kyanPg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dxzyTClpiA

[999369]

Good amp need good guitar & Good guitar need Good amp

Good amp

Dr.Z ROUTE 66 with Z Best 2X12 cab ( celestion gold X 2 ) and good speaker cable