browser Posted January 16, 2007 Share Posted January 16, 2007 can someone with experience as a guitar tech, or someone who has experience with different amps and setting up guitar rigs PM me? I need help finding a guitar tone. Possibly the amp, but atleast the amp setting and effects.T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max™ Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Tone? Every guitar and amp has 'tone' - it depends on how much you need for the cost to be justifiable.Theres a basic need for a good tone: a good amp. If you don't have this then youre screwed backwards. Settle for nothing except a true valve amp. Not a valvestate like a Marshall AVT, which has just a tube preamp.One of the best amps that I find for tone is a Gibson GA-15RV. This thing is absolutely powerful. You also need a true low wattage amp. A mistake pretty much everyone makes is this - "OMG! A 250w Amp! AWESOME!" - which is just crap since 250w would shake the shit out everyones ass in a 10 mile radius.You need nothing more than a 15-18w amp. 10w of power is plenty enough for a loud pub gig.As for the guitar - Not sure what you'd like but you need a mahogany body for max tone. This implies something like a Gibson, Japanese Tokai or a good Orville guitar (if you fancy going the Les Paul route). The guitar will also need to be set up well and have a bone nut cut especially for your strings, which will further increase your tone from the usual plastic nut used. Strings - The heavier the strings, the more tone you will get. I personally use Ernie Ball .11's on my Tokai, but if .11's are too thick for you then .10's are fine.If you have a strat, then .11's will be harder to bend than the same on a Gibson because of the shorter scale length.A floating whammy bar normally sucks tone. You will need a very good quality tremolo on a Fender for it to be worth your while. Forget tremolo's on Les Pauls, they will kill it.When buying an FX pedal, look for "true-bypass". This means that when the pedal is off, it will not suck your tone out since it truely bypasses the pedal when the button is pressed, straight into the amp.Thats all I can think of right now for the great quest for tone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humbucker Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Very good points Max.About the true by pass, it certainly is the thing to look for if you are using a few pedals however if you end up with a whole load of pedals it becomes less important as the some pedals without true by-pass will prevent too much signal loss and a few non true bypass becomes more desirable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabre Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 Theres a basic need for a good tone: a good amp. If you don't have this then youre screwed backwards. Settle for nothing except a true valve amp. Not a valvestate like a Marshall AVT, which has just a tube preamp.As for the guitar - Not sure what you'd like but you need a mahogany body for max tone. This implies something like a Gibson, Japanese Tokai or a good Orville guitar (if you fancy going the Les Paul route). The guitar will also need to be set up well and have a bone nut cut especially for your strings, which will further increase your tone from the usual plastic nut used. Strings - The heavier the strings, the more tone you will get. I personally use Ernie Ball .11's on my Tokai, but if .11's are too thick for you then .10's are fine.If you have a strat, then .11's will be harder to bend than the same on a Gibson because of the shorter scale length.It's not precisely true that you NEED a valve amp for good tone. There are plenty of valvestate/modeller/even Solid state amps that can sound great.The mahogany thing, that's subjective. Many people prefer the sound of an alder or ash body.Strats have a longer scale length (25.5") than the Gibsons (24.75") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browser Posted January 18, 2007 Author Share Posted January 18, 2007 with all due Max, I asked for help, not being treated like an idiot! I know my basics, it's just the pathways of effects I need some help with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max™ Posted January 18, 2007 Share Posted January 18, 2007 The mahogany thing, that's subjective. Many people prefer the sound of an alder or ash body.Strats have a longer scale length (25.5") than the Gibsons (24.75")Yeah thats the one I find by far that mahogany is the best for tone.with all due Max, I asked for help, not being treated like an idiot! I know my basics, it's just the pathways of effects I need some help with. Some pedals to help with tone:Marshall Bluesbreaker II.Ibanez Tube Screamer.A decent amp will let you go far, the Gibson I can tell you first hand is the best sounding amp I've played. It has a natrual overdrive and has no crappy inbuilt distortion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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