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=== Low Volume ===
Every rookie guitarist makes the mistake of dialing in his patches at bedroom level, only to get to practice (or worse a gig) and discover that his tone makes his amp very unhappy or is way too harsh. This is in part due to the frequency response amps and speakers expect - very bass or treble-heavy tones may cause them to distort. But it also has to do with how the human ear perceives loudness differently over frequency and sound pressure levels. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contours this Wikipedia entry ] on the subject.
In those diagrams you'll notice two main things - the exponential curve on the left-hand side from 20 HZ - ~400 HZ and the smaller dip centered around 3-4 kHZ. The curve on the left means you'll have to dial in more and more bass at lower and lower volumes to have it sound the same as at higher volumes. So if you tweak at low volumes, getting a nice thick bass in the tone, at louder volumes the bass will overwhelm the tone, likely causing your amp or speakers to distort. The dip at 3-4 kHZ means at lower volumes, you'll dial in too little in that range compared to the 5-8 kHZ treble. When you turn the volume up, you have not enough mids and too much treble.
Thus, good tones at high volumes often sound wimpy at lower volumes - they don't seem to have enough bass and warmth, and can sound a little cold. Also, they tend to emphasize more mids, especially the upper mids/lower treble around 3 kHZ, which can make them sound tinny and thin.
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== Wrong Output Mode ==