Amp settings

[Synth]

So, i've been trying to recreate some tones, but I have no idea how to set up an amp properly. (mid treble bass gain etc)

What would you guys say the amp settings are for this?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Depends on the amp, depends on the guitar.

[Synth]

Depends on the amp, depends on the guitar.

I know that, i'm speaking in general.

[Darangen]

What kind of tone are you looking for?

There are a lot of different factors that contribute to your tone, the higher ones being the pickups in your guitar, and the guitar amp and settings.

Think of bass as the amount of thud you want in the sound, the mids as the amount of warmth you want, and the treble as the amount of kick/attack you want. If your amp has "presence" on it, that basically makes the sound brighter or duller.

That video sounds like he has a lot of bass maybe a 6 or 6(too much if you ask me, that'd never fit well into a mix), maybe a 4 on mids, and average treble.

[SnappleMan]

Eh, I wouldn't go with the thud/warmth/attack way of thinking because it varies from amp to amp. The relationship between the frequency response and the aural property it creates is dependant on the design of the amps circuit.

Guitar tone is very simple to understand, the main factor is the amp, it's the only thing that colors the sound enough so it has character of its own. Guitar pickups are only responsible for which frequencies they translate to the amp, and the amp itself has controls which can compensate for the pickups. The secondary factor in your tone is the wood your guitar is made out of and the design of the guitar.

You have to look at it in terms of tone loss from the strings to the pickups. The three main types of guitar design are bolted guitars, glue set guitars and neck through the body guitars. The main factor in your tone is not the body of the guitar, but the neck-to-body relationship. A bolted guitar has direct wood to wood contact at the neck joint, so there's a lower loss of resonance between the body and neck. A set neck guitar is glued together at the neck joint, the glue acts as a block for the resonance between the neck and body, the most loss of the three. A neck through guitar has a neck that goes all the way though the body of the guitar, the bridge and pickups are all mounted directly to the neck, this gives you no loss of resonance. But resonance is a broad term and I'm not sure I'm using it right. What I mean when I say resonance is the translation of the woods own tonal properties through the guitar.

Now, don't go thinking that since it has the most consistent resonance, a neck through guitar gives the best tones, because that's all dependant on another factor -- the wood. Lets take the case of the most common woods -- maple neck and alder body. Maple is a very dense wood, which in turn will produce a very bright tone, coupled with a alder, which is not as dense but gives a medium tone, will give you different results depending on the guitar design. On a bolt on guitar, you'll get a very nice balance of the two because the slight stop at the neck joint will damp out some of the brightness. This is why most Strats are made out of these woods, they work well together. On a set neck guitar you'll rarely see this combination because the glue kills the relationship between them, doesn't sound very good. Warmer tone woods like Mahogany are usually used for set neck guitars and yeild very warm and full results (like Les Pauls). On a neck through guitar, this combination gives you a very bright, defined tone. Some companies that pioneered the neck through design (like Jackson and B.C.Rich) are now almost exclusively hard rock/metal guitar manufacturers. This combination is also a "standard" with a neck through guitar, but it's common practice to have a neck through guitar made out of mahogany or walnut. Since this guitar's tone is almost completely dependant on the neck wood, a warmer body wood is needed to counterbalance the brightness of a maple neck. A good combination for this is maple + ash.

What's the point of all this? Well depending on the guitar type you have, the wood it's made out of and the frequency range of your pickups (if you dont know the range of your pickups then you are probably using stock crap which you should change) you can carefully craft any guitar tone you want considering you have a decent amplifier. Granted, it's possible to get any tone out of any guitar depending on the amp you use, but it's considerably easier when using a guitar made to generate the frequencies that make up that tone.

And yes, I did use two long dashes in one paragraph, eat it.

[Synth]

Eh, I wouldn't go with the thud/warmth/attack way of thinking because it varies from amp to amp. The relationship between the frequency response and the aural property it creates is dependant on the design of the amps circuit.

Guitar tone is very simple to understand, the main factor is the amp, it's the only thing that colors the sound enough so it has character of its own. Guitar pickups are only responsible for which frequencies they translate to the amp, and the amp itself has controls which can compensate for the pickups. The secondary factor in your tone is the wood your guitar is made out of and the design of the guitar.

You have to look at it in terms of tone loss from the strings to the pickups. The three main types of guitar design are bolted guitars, glue set guitars and neck through the body guitars. The main factor in your tone is not the body of the guitar, but the neck-to-body relationship. A bolted guitar has direct wood to wood contact at the neck joint, so there's a lower loss of resonance between the body and neck. A set neck guitar is glued together at the neck joint, the glue acts as a block for the resonance between the neck and body, the most loss of the three. A neck through guitar has a neck that goes all the way though the body of the guitar, the bridge and pickups are all mounted directly to the neck, this gives you no loss of resonance. But resonance is a broad term and I'm not sure I'm using it right. What I mean when I say resonance is the translation of the woods own tonal properties through the guitar.

Now, don't go thinking that since it has the most consistent resonance, a neck through guitar gives the best tones, because that's all dependant on another factor -- the wood. Lets take the case of the most common woods -- maple neck and alder body. Maple is a very dense wood, which in turn will produce a very bright tone, coupled with a alder, which is not as dense but gives a medium tone, will give you different results depending on the guitar design. On a bolt on guitar, you'll get a very nice balance of the two because the slight stop at the neck joint will damp out some of the brightness. This is why most Strats are made out of these woods, they work well together. On a set neck guitar you'll rarely see this combination because the glue kills the relationship between them, doesn't sound very good. Warmer tone woods like Mahogany are usually used for set neck guitars and yeild very warm and full results (like Les Pauls). On a neck through guitar, this combination gives you a very bright, defined tone. Some companies that pioneered the neck through design (like Jackson and B.C.Rich) are now almost exclusively hard rock/metal guitar manufacturers. This combination is also a "standard" with a neck through guitar, but it's common practice to have a neck through guitar made out of mahogany or walnut. Since this guitar's tone is almost completely dependant on the neck wood, a warmer body wood is needed to counterbalance the brightness of a maple neck. A good combination for this is maple + ash.

What's the point of all this? Well depending on the guitar type you have, the wood it's made out of and the frequency range of your pickups (if you dont know the range of your pickups then you are probably using stock crap which you should change) you can carefully craft any guitar tone you want considering you have a decent amplifier. Granted, it's possible to get any tone out of any guitar depending on the amp you use, but it's considerably easier when using a guitar made to generate the frequencies that make up that tone.

And yes, I did use two long dashes in one paragraph, eat it.

Whoa, thanks for all of the info. But, in the end, i'm still clueless how to set up an amp.

[SnappleMan]

Gain is not as important as master volume. If you want a very defined, chunky and heavy distorted tone turn the gain up to no more than 6 or 7. The more gain you have, the less definition and more muddiness you get from the amp. In most cases, low EQ gives your tone more body, mid EQ gives it more definition and high EQ gives it a presance. A good way to find great tone is to set every knob to 5, then play with each knob individually until you learn what it really does to the sound. Once you learn everything about how your amp responds you'll be able to dial in your tone like a pro.

Main thing is to treat your amp like another instrument, not as just a speaker for your guitar.

And good luck!