Hey folks, how and where can I learn more about how to set up my amp with guitar better? I have a rudimentary understanding re Gain and Volume and Bass, Mid, Treble but I don’t believe my random set and forget settings are helping me much.
As a note of interest, I note my high E-String has a lot less volume when using hammer-on’s, compared to the other strings although less noticeable than with picking. I appreciate a lot of this will be down to my under developed technique.
Anyways, as I said, I haven’t really had much of a play with the settings so I’m looking for some guidance for the amp settings.
Also, it may help if ya let us know what amp your using.
Myself, I play simple amps w/simple controls. I’ve played with my settings and I end up w/my tone stacks pretty much at 5. Midway. I know, it sounds boring. But that really is where I like to set my tone controls at. Other than that, I don’t have so many controls to play with other than reverb and tremolo. Them I usually use sparingly.
If ya got a modeler amp. I imagine the sky is the limit for settings. Just a guess. I don’t have a modeler amp or a processor.
Check out what Justin has to say. He’s all hip.
Hi, Thanks for the info.
Firstly, I don’t have a particular type of music (rock, pop, blues, jazz etc) that I like to play. In fact I’m dreadful at playing guitar, couldn’t play a single song but I’m enjoying the learning process and practising and learning scales, triads, chords etc.
I’m using a Laney Linebacker 30 Reverb that I picked up from facebook marketplace and my electric is a Yamaha Pacifica 311.
TBH, I found that article more informative regarding pedals.
My perspective - I don’t have any pedals yet, largely because I haven’t been super clear on what each one can do and why there are so many options for a given type of pedal.
For me, this larger discussion about amp settings is a large reason why I’ve gone away from a modeling amp with many settings to a simpler amp with fewer settings. With a simpler amp, I found a tone that I liked a lot with very little fiddling.
And on that end, I’ve taken a more experimental path to get there. I’ve used a sort of “bracketing” technique. Basically, I adjust each knob on its own until I find the sound getting “worse” (or, farther from what I like). There’s always a bit of wiggle room. This is good for getting a range. Then once each control is within a range I like, I’ll make subtler tweaks to them to refine that sound.
Also, I started out with a pretty hands-off method with regards to the control knobs on my guitar. Now that I’m comfortable with the amp, though, I’m starting to use those control knobs on my guitar. On that note, I always found it a PITA to mess with the control knobs on my guitar because I had no markers to ID a given setting. I didn’t really realize that markers were a thing at first but saw them on some other guitars and immediately wanted them. I recently added markers to my knobs (a Les Paul) and so now I can make changes and be able to refer back to a setting I like the way Joe says he uses his guitar’s control knobs.
Every amp/guitar combo are different so a good place to start is
set all the knobs on the amp to 1/2, turn reverb all the way off.
set the volume on the guitar no higher than 7 and the treble and bass to 1/2
adjust the volume on the amp to the volume you’re going to play at.
figure out how the treble and bass affect the sound, find a clean sound you like.
This is the base line to start with any time you’re looking to change the sound, set everything back to these setting to start.
Now just play with the knobs until you get a sound you like. More distortion use more gain on the amp or the volume on the guitar(or a little on both), cleaner sound turn gain down, turn volume down on guitar and adjust amp volume.
Getting to know your equipment is the first step in getting the sound you want, no need to run out and waste money on peddles.
Channel volume to 12, Master to 8. Then use guitar pots to control volume, swell as for the other knobs, set them in the middle. That was 40 years ago, haven’t played since around 1993 so starting again from scratch. I picked an old one a few days ago and found it difficult to play basic chords. Justin, I’m on the beginners course as of January. Perhaps this time next year the Marshall 4 x12’s, will ring to the sound of me…Eh? What the “f” is G key lol
I’m looking forward to starting
