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So someone asks Bruno how he gets his sound, and he says that he turns the amp up much louder then necessary, and then adjusts his sound from the guitar.
This is the opposite of what I do. I have always been under the impression that guitars end to sound best wide open.
So I try it and with my archtops it does sound different, and I'm beginning to find it different in a good way, at least with the archtops. Sounds cleaner somehow. I'm using a sfsr, and a boutique princeton.
Does anyone else do this, and is there any point to it with solid state amps?
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04-27-2018 09:49 AM
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Same as Bruno. I turn my amp's volume up pretty high...about three-quarters...and keep the guitar volume low. I can control things from the guitar, that way.
Things sound quite good, to me, with this set up.
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Yes, although I actually do this more with my telecaster than with my archtops...I suppose every guitar is different.
For example, I really think the P-90 on my Godin Kingpin sounds best with the volume wide open. I like a little "hair" on the notes with this guitar.
My tele and 575 both benefit from running the volume down a little bit and setting the amp a little higher. The volume on the guitar is still pretty high, about "8" or "9" out of "10." It provides a small, less abrupt tone roll off, just smooths things out a little bit.
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For me, it depends on the amp and guitar. If the guitar is a Gibson, it usually doesn't sound that good with low volume, because the tone goes to mud because of the way it's wired. With my Benedettos, and others wired like them, the sound stays pretty much the same all the way down, so they sound fine at low volume settings. And some amps sound better at lower volumes with higher input, some at higher volumes with lower input. You have to play with what you have.
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For traditional jazz yes, amp up guitar down.
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I do the same. Guitar volume is downto @ 5 then I adjust the amp's volume to where I need it. I like the sound better and I can make adjustments on the fly.
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I find it depends on the "guitar" (guitar, pickup, strings, pick, setup, technique) mostly but also on the amp. I usually run my 16" laminate HB pickup jazzbox wide open but I have a smaller/thinner CC pickup jazzbox that seems to sound better with knobs rolled back.
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When my only amp was a 5w Epi Valve Jr (which has no tone stack), I did this for jazzier stuff. The amp was cranked, the guitar's volumes were both down quite low. Nice smoky tone. My current amp (Tweaker 15) has a panoply of tonal possibilities, so I don't need to do it. I have a couple of times, though, and it does sound good.
I generally set my amp with my guitar volumes on 7, anyway, just to have that extra kick handy if I need it.
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I turn the amp up to the loudest I'm going to need.
I leave the guitar volume all the way up, all the time.
I control volume with the volume pedal in an ME80.
Perhaps someone can explain what's going on electronically.
My impression is that the guitar sees the input impedance of the ME80 -- and that's constant.
Whatever changes when you turn down the guitar volume (which bleeds part of the signal to ground) isn't happening.
The volume pedal is, presumably, after a buffer amp of some kind in the signal chain, so it's not affecting the guitar.
The output level of the ME80 may affect the amp tone, but it certainly doesn't bother me. My loudest passages are solos, and a little added warmth/distortion is ok. I'm much more sensitive to distortion when I'm comping.
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Usually i leave the guitar at about 6 or 7 to have some control over volume and dynamics if needed. I often play without messing with the guitar knobs, but control the volume via how hard i hit with the pick/fingers/thumb. I even have a couple of acoustics that dont even have volume controls, although you can do that job with a pedal if you want.
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It depends on a lot of variables, but in a band situation I often start with the guitar’s volume knob about half way up and the amp’s volume set as high as needed to make that work. I like the punchy tone I get from that.
For solo or duo work I usually start with the guitar set closer to the maximum and the amp set lower for a little brighter tone.
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Amp up, guitar down here.
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I've been preaching this for years- can't blame anyone for waiting till Jimmy said it! I turn my guitar to zero, crank the amp till it starts to get noisy and hissing, then back off of that a little bit and slowly turn up guitar volume to where I want it, which is nowhere close to "loud". It just sounds fatter, more singing than you'd get if you had your guitar close to full volume and the amp only turned up the that same SPL.
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This is my MO much of the time. I set my amp near the edge of breakup, and dig in when I want dirt. The fewer moving parts I have to deal with, the more I can focus on my playing -- believe me, my seventeen neurons are working overtime even with that.
Originally Posted by Alter
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I turn mine to '11'.
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ditto Originally Posted by Gramps
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I like this concept, but as someone else mentioned, rolling off the guitar volume too much can be problematic with Gibson's. Much of the top end is rolled off, too. Does anyone else confront this issue?
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Some people like that feature (read bug), because they prefer, for reasons I've never understood, to use the volume control as a tone control. Personally, if I get a guitar that rolls off treble with the volume control, I rewire it. I hate that.
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I have a floating PU so losing some of the highs puts me more into the Gibson tone ballpark. Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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For a Gibson guitar (read here humbucker equipped guitar) through a Fender tube amp, the amp up guitar down equation works great for me. The thickness of the humbucker is offset by the scooped Fender EQ -- which always seems too trebly for my playing situations.
I'm currently playing a Gibson ES-175 through a Fender Pro Junior and this is the way I like to run it. On the amp, tone and volume both around 3, on the guitar, tone from 7 to 10, volume from 3 to whatever. If an increase in volume is needed, I usually adjust the tone on the amp and guitar up too. Easy to dial in and very flexible.
I wonder if the amp up guitar down concept is more meaningful with tube amps in the mix?
It can get pretty organic, dialing in "that tone", not to mention moving from one good tone to another.
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Although my Ibanez has that issue, it worked for me through the VJ because the Ibby is a fairly bright guitar for jazz, to my ears. Originally Posted by sgosnell
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I learned over the last couple years to turn amp volume up (to about 7) and from zero on the guitar volume knob gradually turn it up until I get a blend of my archtop's natural acoustic volume and the amp sound... Love that with my carved tops. I have few laminated top guitars but get a great sound the same way - high amp volume, slowly bring up the pickup volume. There's greater pick dynamics with the amp high and guitar volume set low.
Big
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+1 Me too. Originally Posted by Gramps
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When I use the amp-high/guitar-low method I tend to set the treble higher on the amp, which offsets some of the treble lost by rolling back the guitar’s volume. Originally Posted by D'Aquisto Fan
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Yes, most of the time volume down on guitar. Also for me, amp bright, tone down on guitar.
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