Ever buy a guitar and have it outclass your amp?

[roburado]

Ever buy a guitar and have it outclass your amp? I tried my 20th Ann. Silo through a Mesa F-100 combo at the store. The combination blew me away. Now, I've got the guitar at home with my F-30, and the amp is just holding the guitar back. I know the guitar has so much more to offer, but I'm just not hearing it through my amp.

Well, okay. Maybe, "outclass" isn't the word, but something tells me if my .50Cal+ were out here in Detroit with me instead of sitting at my mom's house in California, I'd be a bit happier. I think I just need to hear the guitar through that round, juicy 6L6GC tone.

 

[FoxMustang]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I tried out my JP6 in the store through a Dual Recto and a 4x12 cab and it sounded godlike. I brought it home, and surprise surprise, my old Crate (my first amp from way back) just didn't cut it anymore. Few months later I was back buying a Mesa, and now it's all good

 

[Astrofreq]

Yeah, dude. In 1987 I bought a Lotus Electric with tremolo and 1 pickup and I knew my Gorilla 10 watter was just holding that guitar back.

 

[phatduckk]

most definately! i love playing guitar. its great... but in bands n stuff i play bass. so with that - i have a handful of good/great guitars and 2 not so awesome amps.

i have a little vox digital thing and the fender blues junior. so i have about $450 worth of amps... both combined cost less than 1/2 the price of any of my guitars.

ive wanted to get a proper guitar amp but since i dont gig w/ guitar i just cant justify spending the money right now.

one of these days tho im gonna have to start a band and play guitar dammit!

 

[Jonny Dubai]

most definately! i love playing guitar. its great... but in bands n stuff i play bass. so with that - i have a handful of good/great guitars and 2 not so awesome amps.

i have a little vox digital thing and the fender blues junior. so i have about $450 worth of amps... both combined cost less than 1/2 the price of any of my guitars.

ive wanted to get a proper guitar amp but since i dont gig w/ guitar i just cant justify spending the money right now.

one of these days tho im gonna have to start a band and play guitar dammit!

Yo mate I am with you all the way on this one money is tight with another kid on the way. I love my vox. It does a great job, but live it needs a bit more...........valve.

Dubai is a crap town for playing music and musical instraments. You think they have it all here........sorry not a valve in the town! Decent guitars are like hens teeth!

To play in a club you need a licence and have to be approved by the Ministery!

Boll*ck$

Jonny

 

[Colin]

my Gorilla 10 watter was just holding that guitar back

A good friend of mine has two gorilla's in stereo and I don't know how he does it, but he does and with some success I've gotta tell you

 

[brentrocks]

when i got my 1st EBMM EVH, i had a peavey 208 combo amp, like 20 watts, maybe. it sounded ok, but.....

then i got the 5150 combo, oh boy, them the EVH really came alive!!!

 

[GuitarHack]

I think the amp is actually more important than the guitar in a sense. Plug GREAT guitar into a CRAPPY amp, and then plug a CRAPPY guitar into a GREAT amp. Which sounds better?

I realized I'd spend $1200-$1800 on a great guitar, and do this ten times over on different guitars, but my amp limit was something like $500. So I bought/sold a half dozen $300-$500 amps looking for "that tone". Sure, most of them sound good, but move the amp price range up to that guitar range I mentioned, and you have a universe of magical amps to choose from. When I realized this, I bought a Dr. Z. They're not cheap, but not absurd either ($1200, in the ballpark of the price of a nice new EBMM ).

Does a $500 Peavey or Fender combo sound good? Absolutely! But up that limit to $1200, realize you don't need to spend it on 120W and 412 cabs you can never use, and you can get a damn good 18W-30W rig that will complement that sweet guitar collection, challenge you as a player, and grow with you as you grow.

My $0.02,
Hack

 

[jaxadam]

All of my guitars are better than my amps.

 

[jaxadam]

and then plug a CRAPPY guitar into a GREAT amp. Which sounds better?

This is very true, though. I have a set up that you could play a mic'd acoustic through, and it would could sound like either brutal death metal or techno if you wanted it to.

Amps really can make a difference. I have a gauntlet of guitars down here, and they can all pretty much sound the same through the combo amp I'm playing through. I've got a pretty good setup in VA, and it's unbelievable the differences you can hear from each guitar played through that conglomeration.

 

[roburado]

I think the amp is actually more important than the guitar in a sense. Plug GREAT guitar into a CRAPPY amp, and then plug a CRAPPY guitar into a GREAT amp. Which sounds better?

Yeah. I've believed that for a long time ever since I heard a Mesa .50Cal+ half-stack make one of these Gib$on Corvu$ II (or is it a III) guitars sound good.

Every other time I heard that same guitar, it was just awful. Through the Mesa it sounded pretty good.

I never expected my 20th Anniversary Silhouette to sound so limited by the F-30 I have. That's the thing that bugs me. I know there's so much more the guitar has to offer, but the F-30 isn't extracting it.

 

[Eilif]

I never expected my 20th Anniversary Silhouette to sound so limited by the F-30 I have. That's the thing that bugs me. I know there's so much more the guitar has to offer, but the F-30 isn't extracting it.

I'm beginning to think the same thing, especially with the clean channel. I'm going to have to play with the amp more to see if I can coax some better sounds out of it. Unfortunately, a new amp isn't in the cards for me at the moment.

 

[TimSz]

Without actually bashing my guitar...

So, I now play through the Dr. Z Delta 88 and a 2x12 vert cabinet. I certainly love my EBMM guitar, and can't wait to get the LUKE in February (or whenever)... but in all truth I can't honestly imagine ever owning a guitar that outclasses this amp.

EBMM is by far the best guitar I've played on. I think I've gone through more F****rs in my lifetime than most guitar stores... as well as G****ns and a few other brands; but EBMM is where my search stops. However, do they outclass my amp? I don't think that's possible. They go hand-in-hand though. That's a nice even match.

+1000 to EBMM and DR. Z for kicking my ass every time I plug in.

 

[GuitarHack]

+1000 to EBMM and DR. Z for kicking my ass every time I plug in.

Yes! I played my SSS Silo Special through the Dr. Z last night for an hour. No where to hide, this setup really shines a bright light on your technique. I had no idea how many pick scrapes and ghost notes I generated until the Dr. Z became my main amp.

 

[TimSz]

I totally agree!

I've been playing the Dr. Z non-stop, and have noticed where my technique shines and where I really need to pick up the slack. It's really been forcing me to shape up my riffing. I play blues and dabble in jazz; so there's no effects or mega-distortion for me to hide behind. I have to be meticulous and very specific about what I want to be playing.

I hooked up my Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal as well (the original, and none of this reissue crap) and the amp certainly takes well to overdrive. Just a little push, and I'm rocking the socks off of verious neighbours! I think for too long I have been hiding behind effects and things (the compressed sound from Mesa/Boogie was a definite draw to hiding my mistakes) and now it's all about the playing and I have a newfound respect for playing and love it all the more.

 

[hal9000]

Ever buy a guitar and have it outclass your amp? I tried my 20th Ann. Silo through a Mesa F-100 combo at the store. The combination blew me away. Now, I've got the guitar at home with my F-30, and the amp is just holding the guitar back. I know the guitar has so much more to offer, but I'm just not hearing it through my amp.

Well, okay. Maybe, "outclass" isn't the word, but something tells me if my .50Cal+ were out here in Detroit with me instead of sitting at my mom's house in California, I'd be a bit happier. I think I just need to hear the guitar through that round, juicy 6L6GC tone.

Have you ever tried the Mesa Thiele 1x12 cab with your F-30 combo? That's a beastly rig for sure and pumps out the bass like you wouldn't believe.

Of course, if it's a tonal change you're seeking, then perhaps the 6L6s will only do the trick. I know I love my F-100.

 

[roburado]

I'm beginning to think the same thing, especially with the clean channel. I'm going to have to play with the amp more to see if I can coax some better sounds out of it. Unfortunately, a new amp isn't in the cards for me at the moment.

I'm noticing it with both clean and distorted. It's an especially stark contrast with the clean, however.

 

[roburado]

Have you ever tried the Mesa Thiele 1x12 cab with your F-30 combo? That's a beastly rig for sure and pumps out the bass like you wouldn't believe.

Of course, if it's a tonal change you're seeking, then perhaps the 6L6s will only do the trick. I know I love my F-100.

It is tonal change, I think, but maybe that Thiele cab might be a good thing to check out.

 

[Jimmyb]

I don't know if they outclass the amp as such, but I definitely want to replace it.

I'm a real fan of clean sounds and my Marshall JTM30 doesn't given me the clean that I want in my head. I'm quite taken by the idea of getting a HIWATT as they seem to do a pretty good job of it.

With this in mind, I rang a local store that was listed as a stockist, took a drive over there on Saturday and waited for about 10 minutes for the guy to stop talking to his friend. When I finally got to ask him about the amp, he pointed me to one in the corner, which was a completely different model!! When I asked about the specific model he replied that they didn't stock that one. Pah!

 

[hal9000]

It is tonal change, I think, but maybe that Thiele cab might be a good thing to check out.

Well, I may have a cheaper solution for you in addition to the Thiele... Have you ever tried an EQ in the FX loop? You can add the deep lows of the 6L6 style F-series by adjusting a few sliders on a Dano Fish and Chips 7-band EQ. A few guys from the F-series lounge have reported good results with the Dano EQ.

I also have a little trick for the FX loop if you're not using anything in there:

You can then use the FX Mix pot as an overall master for both channels. I think the amp sounds better with the Channel 2 master up to about 10:00. Then, I drop the overall level in the loop. It works great for gig as well as home volumes.

Finally, give a couple of these settings a try. I find all of them useful: