52
votes
Accepted
Why do guitarists put tape on their amplifiers?
If you look closely at the picture, you'll notice that pieces of tape are placed in very specific positions: one in the middle of speaker cone and the second one on the edge of speaker cone. ...
30
votes
My guitar has no sound when the gain knob is turned off. Do all amps need need a little gain to be able to output sound?
Gain is the input level control, it decides how hard the input signal hits the preamp. Guitar amps often exploit the effect of hitting it HARD, overdriving it into distortion.
Volume controls how ...
- 89.7k
21
votes
Why do I get electric shock from my guitar when I touch the floor?
Tim basically has answered your question but I think this deserves larger type:
Your amp is trying to kill you!!!
Stop using it and get it replaced or repaired
This kind of problem is most common ...
- 55.7k
16
votes
Accepted
Guitar - How to switch from clean to hi-gain
Around time stamp 0:46 he steps on a gain/distortion/fuzz pedal with his left foot. Watch his leg under his fretting hand.
Then he plays single notes in the neck pickup with a higher gain sound than ...
- 55.7k
14
votes
Accepted
Theoretical difference between amp distortion and distortion from a pedal
As Todd Wilcox commented, there isn't a completely clear-cut classification, however the three categories of saturation-type effects are tube overdrive, fuzz, and transistor overdrive / distortion.
...
- 35.2k
14
votes
Guitar - How to switch from clean to hi-gain
You can get (mostly) clean tones from a high-gain amp setting if you go into the amp with a very low-amplitude signal. To put it simply, the amp has a maximum signal level that it can handle cleanly; ...
- 2,490
13
votes
What is the value of having tube amp in guitar power amp?
It's an oversimplification to claim that "the tone change is done in the preamp". It's the complete signal chain that results in the final sound, including the power amp and the speaker ...
- 20k
12
votes
Can I play a electric guitar through a bass amplifier?
Bass amps have been used by guitarists for many decades. In some instances, they work better for guitarists than other amps designed for guitars, especially the speakers. If you are going to use ...
- 188k
11
votes
Can you play two guitars through the same amp?
It is possible to mix the signal of two guitars before going in the amp. You can even plug two simultaneously into a single input with a simple Y-adaptor; you can mix the relative loudness with the ...
- 35.2k
11
votes
Using a bass guitar on a guitar amplifier through a bass pre-amplifier?
The basic problem with a bass guitar in a guitar amp is that speaker and cabinet are not built for the low frequencies of the bass guitar.
That means that at the low notes, the speaker will convert ...
- 111
10
votes
Should I connect my multi-effects pedal to PA or Amp?
It depends, really. If you decide to connect it to the input your amp, you do want to disable the amp modelling in the pedal (assuming that's possible).
I can think of three ways to hook this up. I'...
- 55.7k
10
votes
Bass effects through guitar amp
I haven't found any comments on this question online from someone who actually knows a lot about amplifier design. I also have not been able to find any horror stories such as "I did this once ...
- 55.7k
10
votes
Why do guitar amps only use one type of speaker cone?
Hi fidelity reproduction of high frequencies is undesirable in electric guitar amplification. If you look at what actually comes out of a guitar amp, things get really messy around 5 - 6 kHz and then ...
- 55.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Why do metal guitarists boost crunch channels on high gain amps?
Overdrive pedals like the tube screamer have a boost to the mid frequencies. When you turn up the output of the O/D pedal in the amp, the middle frequencies get more distorted, while the bass and ...
- 116
10
votes
Should I use PA speakers for a full band all the time?
I went down a similar path to eventually starting a full band to accompany me on stage in paying gigs vs playing just for fun. My band has bass, two guitars, drums and vocal mics for all four ...
- 27.1k
9
votes
Accepted
What do "Uber" and "Plexi" mean in an electric guitar part?
They are almost certainly to both distinguish between the two guitar parts and also indicate the two different guitar sounds.
"Plexi" refers to the classic Marshall model 1959 100 watt head. This amp ...
- 55.7k
9
votes
Accepted
My guitar has no sound when the gain knob is turned off. Do all amps need need a little gain to be able to output sound?
Yes it is normal.
The gain is the volume control of the input of the amplifier.
The signal flow of the tube amplifier goes:
Gain (preamp input) to tone stack (eq) to phase inverter stage (input to ...
- 124
9
votes
Why guitar amplifier manuals require turning on with master volume down
Depending on what amp, and what's plugged into it, when the master volume is at 0 there is nothing at all going to be amplified. Master is most important, as it controls everything on the amp. There ...
- 188k
8
votes
What is the difference between an amp and a head?
To elaborate and visualize the previous answers a bit further, here's a legend:
Amp/head: the device that amplifies the electrical signal. This is an electrical processor that does not produce ...
- 2,003
8
votes
Accepted
Can you play two guitars through the same amp?
Plugging two guitars into a guitar amplifier that is designed for one guitar at a time, can be done - but it's not recommended for reasons suggested in other answers.
You can find many guitar amps ...
- 27.1k
8
votes
How can I prevent clipping when using a microphone with a tube amp into a PA?
As already said, mic-preamp clipping cannot possibly be an issue if you use any amp that's legal to operate without a strategic weapons license, and the sound guys know what they're doing. I would add ...
- 35.2k
8
votes
Why do metal guitarists boost crunch channels on high gain amps?
There are actually as many "metal" tones as there are metal guitarists.
Some of the best metal guitarists in the world use no effects, but simply crank up their Marshall. Others will run a fuzz into ...
- 36.8k
8
votes
What is the characteristic reverb effect on Fender amps?
I'm not sure what you mean by the "aggressive"sound, but yes it's a thing, and it's called spring reverb.
It's essentially a couple of transducers, connected at either end of one or more metal ...
- 815
8
votes
Accepted
What is meant when a guitar amplifier does or does not "take" guitar pedals?
First, an amp "taking pedals well" has little to do with modeling amps specifically or internal effects of any kind. I don't have much experience with modern modeling amps but I'd guess that they are ...
- 4,103
8
votes
Accepted
Why does an open guitar cable buzz or hum?
The circuit isn't completely open. The cable acts as a capacitor (around 500 pF, depends on cable length and insulator properties), parallel to the input. That by itself wouldn't cause hum (it just “...
- 35.2k
8
votes
Speaker impedance: rewiring four 8 Ω speakers for use with 8 Ω amp output
What you have described is inaccurate. Four 8 ohm speakers wired in parallel would result in a 2 Ohm load not 32 Ohms. To achieve an ideal load for you amp, you'll need to wire 2 of the speakers in ...
- 7,730
8
votes
Accepted
Does instrument cable impedance matter?
You've correctly analysed why the cable impedance does not matter in the way it does for HF transmission lines. (Though, the assumption of vacuum light speed is actually not completely valid – the ...
- 35.2k
8
votes
Impulse response: does it represent a cabinet only or the whole chain used to record it?
The impulse response can represent any linear time invariant parts of the signal path. In practice this means frequency response and delay, so it is good representing room response and equalisation, ...
- 2,772
7
votes
Acoustic Guitar in the Live Mix
In a lot of mixes, it's normal and even intentional for the acoustic guitar(s) to get hidden behind the electric guitars and other instruments during the loud parts. If you listen to the Led Zeppelin ...
- 55.7k
7
votes
Accepted
Why do people use a microphone to record an electric guitar
Yes, in a way it would indeed be "easier", as long as there is a line output on the amp.
The reason for using a microphone when recording an amplified electric guitar is that the speaker is a ...
- 1,447
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible