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Tone

This page focuses on core tone, particularly distortion tone. Effects placement and impact are discussed individually on their own page, for each kind of effect. While effects are referenced below, they are only considered for how they affect core tone when they are set to be as transparent as possible.

The complete signal chain for a typical rig is

  • Hands > Guitar > Pickups > Guitar Electronics > Stomps > Pre-Amp > Effects > Power Amp > Cabinet/Speakers
  • In the studio or at a gig, we can add: > Microphones > Microphone Pre-Amps > PA/DAW

Every part of the chain has a significant impact on the tone, and each stage is joined by cables which can also influence the tone. And we could further add components like picks, slides, and feedback inducers; however, those are discussed on their own pages.

Contents

Hands

This relates to your technique - the quality of your fretting, your picking, and/or other techniques (such as legato or slapping). Garbage in = garbage out. No matter how much top-of-the-line gear you buy, you can't buy good technique. Even the best players can sound good through mediocre gear, but a poor player will not sound good through anything. Practice, practice, practice!

Guitar

This refers to both the quality of the instrument and its setup. Good technique means nothing if your guitar is fretting out. On the other hand if your guitar is set with very high action, it will be impossible to play with speed and good technique. And even with good setup and technique, if the guitar is simply a poor build, with resonating parts and bad joints, it will appear in your tone.

Pickups

Pickups are often an instrumental part of the tone, so be sure to choose good ones for your guitar. There's no universal answer for what to get - the ideal choice depends on your guitar's tone (generally indicated from the mass and type of wood its made from), your desired tone, your amp or other distortion stages, and your playing style. Guitar manufacturers often outfit low to midrange guitars with crummy, in-house pickups. But even a somewhat high-end guitar might have poor stock pickups. Aside from being deficient in certain frequencies, poor pickups generally have a very poor signal-to-noise ratio. It's usually the first thing I look to replace in a guitar, as it has a very large impact on tone.

Some things to consider :

  • High output has become an arms race for pickup manufacturers, but modern high-gain amps don't need high output to be driven to saturated distortion. Gain levels can also be augmented by a boost pedal, so high output is often completely unnecessary. And in the case of many digital devices, high output pickups can cause input clipping. For some amps, you will get distortion even on the clean channel with minimum gain. I do use high output passive humbuckers, but they don't reach the extreme degrees that many actives and some super-hot passives deliver. I've used such actives and found the output to be a severe negative rather than a positive.
  • Magnet types can give you a good indication about the response of a pickup, but design still matters.
  • Pay attention to the relative frequency response metrics given by a manufacturer. This will have a big impact on distorted tone. See below.

Guitar Electronics

Most people don't pay a lot of attention to this part of the signal chain, but it can have a large bearing on tone. First, let's get the bad stuff out the way. Bad solder joints will lead to a crackly signal. Dusty potentiometers will sound noisy/crackly when turning them. Improper shielding will allow hum and other interference to get picked up and infect your signal. A good electronics cavity sounds quite a bit better than a poor one.

But there are also tonal considerations for the resistance of your potentiometers and capacitance of your tone circuit. Usual values for pots when using passive pickups are 250K, 500K, and 1M. The higher the resistance, the brighter the signal will be. Lower values allow higher frequencies to "escape" to ground. The capactitance value of the capacitor used for your tone knob will determine the range of how much high-end attenuation occurs. Smaller values will be barely noticeable, only slightly dimming the highs; while high values will result in a very dark tone. The most common value is .047μf, or 47nf.

Be very careful when switching from active to passive pickups or vice versa. Actives usually have much different ideal values for pot resistance and capacitor values. Trying to swap just the pickups but keeping the electronics is a recipe for disaster. If you plan to reuse anything, be sure to read its values carefully. Don't confuse a 25K pot for a 250K pot. Don't confuse a .22mf cap for a .022μf cap. The results can cause very odd things to happen. When changing pickups, it's often a good idea to first wire them up connecting one at a time directly to the output jack to get a good idea of what they should sound like.

See Choosing a Guitar#Electronics.

Stomps

"Stomps" is a bit misleading - I'm talking about anything that can be placed between the guitar and the pre-amp. Usually these are stomp boxes, but can also be wah or volume pedals, floorboard processors, rackmount devices, etc.

True vs. Buffered Bypass

There's a lot of debate as to which is better - true or buffered bypass. True bypass means the signal coming from the guitar is passed directly into the output of the stomp device when the device is set to bypass mode (essentially means it is off). Buffered bypass means the signal is received by the device and run through a transformer or low-power amplifier in the device, even when it is in bypass mode. True bypass should basically be invisible, as though it was physically removed from the signal chain, while buffered bypass will have some impact on the signal.

Now, which is better? Well, that depends. Passive pickups output a high impedance signal, at least on peaks. Trying to send that load through a lengthy instrument cable will lead to attenuation of high frequency components. In other words, it will dull the tone of your guitar signal compared to a shorter cable. This can be avoided by using a most buffered bypass pedals, which will output a low impedance signal which will retain its frequency response through a longer stretch of cable.

Not all buffered bypass pedals are the same, however. A poorly designed bypass (or a pedal with a weak battery) may sound like its doing awful things to the signal, adding noise or altering the frequency response. When buying pedals, you should not only check whether the device is true or buffered bypass, but also read reviews on its transparency if it is a buffered bypass. Also, some devices are designed to receive the guitar's high impedance signal as part of how they work. Some wah pedals and many fuzzboxes are intentionally low impedance, creating an odd kind of distortion when fed a high impedance signal. Placing a buffered bypass pedal in front of such devices will prevent them from doing so. This may simply be a matter of arranging your devices in a certain order vs. using alternate devices.

Amplifiers are typically high impedance devices, capable of accepting both high and low impedance signals without any change in tone - they don't care if you are using buffered or true bypass. If you notice a difference in tone when running through your pedal in bypass mode vs. plugging directly into the amp, the change is likely due to your cables or the design of the bypass circuit (or a weak battery in a buffered bypass pedal).

Boosts vs. Gain

Many people like to use boost pedals with full output, even into modern high-gain amplifiers. Boost pedals often do more than simply boost the signal, as seen below. However, the question here is whether it is beneficial to dime the output when used in front of high-gain amplifiers that have no trouble reaching saturated distortion in their pre-amps without boosts. My general advice is to avoid extremes. In some cases things might be different, but I don't think there's any real difference whether you boost via your pedal's output knob or turn up your amp's gain/drive knob. There might be some differences (most likely unwanted differences) at the extremes. But even beyond that, extremes are by nature limiting - you have no further room to adjust if necessary. I would try to get both knobs an equal distance from 50%.

But before moving on, depending on the length and type of cable you use between pedal and amp, you may find you get a better SNR by using max output on your boost. Try it both ways - make sure when you compare that you are getting the same distortion saturation so you don't have a false comparison. In general, the output knob of a boost pedal should be a simple transparent amplifier, having no bearing on the tone of that device.

You may have other reasons to turn up the volume/output on a boost pedal - where you are using the unboosted amp tone as one tone and the boosted tone as another, switching between them the same way as switching channels on an amp. In that case, you should use that as you please rather than working inside of a meaningless set of rules.

Boosts and Frequency Response

Many pedals are designed as boosts for your amp. They increase the volume of your guitar signal before the amp, forcing the amp into distortion. Most of the time, distortion pedals are used as boosts, by turning the drive/gain all the way down and the output/volume all the way up. A lot of hype surrounds certain boosts, believing the circuit is doing some kind of voodoo that can't be explained in simpler terms or matched by other devices. Its true that analog circuits can get quite complex; however, it does not mean they are beyond comprehension.

I think the most obvious thing about any boost pedal is its effect on the signal's frequency response. It's no secret that the frequency response of the signal fed into a distortion stage heavily influences the nature of the distorted tone that results; it helps explain why certain types of pickups are favored for certain tones. Some of the most revered boost pedals, such as the Ibanez Tube Screamer, use a high-pass filter to reduce the amount of bass in the signal. This tends to tighten or focus the distortion. Most also have a tone knob, which acts like the frequency control of a parametric EQ that is set to boost - again, this offers more manipulation of the signal's frequency response, altering how the amp distorts.

Now, that's an overly simple explanation. While some boosts may be simple parametric EQ's or high-pass filters, most are often more complex. The tone knob may control multiple parts of a circuit, adjusting multiple filters and multiple values on each filter simultaneously. It may use positive or negative feedback, which not only influences frequency response but also alters the signal over time. And there may be some compression or distortion involved, which may affect some frequencies more than others.

But the point to recognize is that the guitar and pickups will already influence frequency response. So will a boost more than likely. When dialing in your gear, all this must be taken into account. A boost and amp combination that sounds great on one guitar might sound so so on another. Maybe a slight tweak to the boost will get it back on track. Maybe you need to use a different boost. Or maybe you use the same boost but then use an EQ to adjust the signal a bit further before it hits the amp.

I always like to start with using an EQ alone as a boost - it is more transparent and offers more control than most boost pedals. Then you can find where the sweet spots are for your guitar and amp. If you also like the tone of some boost that isn't strictly related to frequency response, try to use it with as neutral settings as possible and use EQ to refine the resulting distortion. Then try it with neutral EQ and use the boost's tone to find the sweet spot. The best settings are probably somewhere in the middle of these two, using both the boost's tone and some EQ refinements.

See Dialing in Distortion Tone for more on boosting and using pre-EQ to shape your distortion tone.

Dirt, Distortion, and Fuzz Pedals

Distortion pedals have a few different labels attached to them: fuzz, overdrive, distortion, dirt. What they all have in common is that they are internally creating the distorted signal, usually by clipping a solid state amp (or in more expensive cases a tube or two). Most distortion pedals can be used as boosts, but here we're only discussing their usage in creating their own distortion. You usually find a few different types, which describe the distortion they create:

  • Overdrive/Blues Driver - Creates warm tones similar to vintage overdriven tube amps. The distortion is usually rather mild and "purrs".
  • Fuzz/Dirt - The noisiest and nastiest of the bunch. Can sound like blown speakers or broken amps.
  • Distortion - Like fuzz, but a bit cleaner and more harmonic and controlled, similar to heavily overdrivven amps from the late 70's and 80's.
  • Metal - Very focused, harmonic, searing distortion, similar to modern high-gain amplifiers. Tight bass and djenty palm mutes.

Distortion pedals are voiced to be run into the front (pre-amp) of an amp, with the amp dialed in for a clean sound (clean channel). They anticipate the "fattening" up of tone that the pre-amp delivers and may sound thin and harsh when run directly into a power amp. Certain models and settings may provide exceptions, however.

Rather than switching to the crunch or lead channel of your amp for distortion, you stomp on the pedal to engage it. It provides your distorted tone. You still have the option to bypass it and use the other channels, creating a wider variety of tones. Distortion pedals can also be used to provide mild dirt while serving as a boost or running into the crunch or lead channels of an amp, which is covered further below.

Dirt Pedals vs. Pre-Amp Pedals

Somewhat recently, amp manufacturers have begun to make "pre-amp" pedals that have a similar, albeit larger, form factor as classic distortion pedals. Yet, they are named pre-amp and may have tubes just like a normal guitar pre-amp. Confusing the issue further, many big names have started making rather expensive distortion pedals, some sharing the names of their more popular amps (for example the Bogner Ecstacy pedals). Should these be run into the front (pre-amp) of an amp, or bypass an amp's pre-amp section by running directly into the effects loop return, or into a dedicated power amp?

The key thing to look for is whether the pedal has a bypass switch. If a pedal is meant to replace a pre-amp, it likely will not include a bypass switch. Another thing is to see how many tones it offers. Many distortion pedals will offer 1 or 2 dirty tones but no clean. You get the clean by bypassing it and letting your amp's clean channel offer that. The dirty tones anticipate being run into the clean channel of an amp, so they are voiced a bit differently than a full pre-amp would be. A full pre-amp pedal would not offer a bypass, offer at least a clean and dirty channel (but likely offer clean, crunch, and lead channels), and sound like a full pre-amp when run directly into a power amp.

True pre-amp pedals should be considered identical to rackmount pre-amps or the pre-amp portion of a full amp. It's not a wise idea to daisy chain pre-amps, which you'd be doing if you ran a true pre-amp pedal into the front of your amp. Other distortion pedals, regardless of their price or brand, should be considered the same as classic distortion pedals, designed to be run into the front of an amp. Some distortion pedals can be run directly into a power amp and sound good, but the problem there is that you usually don't get a clean tone, other than the direct guitar signal, which tends to sound percussive, nasal, and bright.

Pre-Amp

The pre-amp section of the amp is used to adjust the tone in a variety of ways, many of which you can control. The most obvious of these are the EQ controls, which are virtually universal to all amps. Even "bare bones" amps give a tone control that adjusts the relative darkness/brightness of the sound. Most amps have more: bass/treble, bass/midrange/treble, or bass/midrange/treble/presence. Some even have 5+ band graphic EQs. While presence is usually side by side with the other pre-amp controls, many times it actually controls the power section of the amp. Regardless, it will have the same impact on the tone either way; the only time you need to be aware of this is when running frequency-response-dependent effects in the effects loop or if bypassing the pre-amp.

The main job of the preamp is to transform the extremely dynamic and bright signal of the pickups into a balanced, more full-range output. Every amp does this a bit differently, which is why they all sound different. By using different circuits, standard controls will not respond exactly the same way either. Different amps will have different cutoff or center frequencies for their EQ controls. Often, the EQ controls interact, so there are no static center/cutoff frequencies.

For older amps, this was all the pre-amp did; however, modern amps typically have a gain/drive knob to dial in your desired level of distortion. Having the gain in the pre-amp rather than relying on overdriving power tubes means you can get consistent distortion at many volume levels, rather than just when the amp is cranked up.

Some amps have two sets of EQ's. These are for pre and post distortion. Pre-EQ changes the character of the distortion, whereas post-EQ influences the ultimate frequency response of the sound with no change the distortion character. Some amps have additional, rare features like voicing switches. These may affect pre-amp EQ or other operation, but also may control rectifiers or feedback in the power section. Like the presence control, what section of the amp the controls affect only really matters for certain effects in the effects loop or when bypassing the preamp.

The pre-amp is also where the different channels of the amp reside. Effectively, each channel is a different circuit, although some may share similar components.

The quality of the pre-amp will depend on its design/circuit, the quality of its tubes (if a tube preamp), the input signal being fed to it, and the settings dialed in.

Effects

By effects I mean any effects inserted in the amp's effects loop, between discrete preamp and power amp modules, or inserts in a DAW or PA board. Attempting to dissect all the possible ways that you can run effects is way beyond the scope of this section. I am only focusing on items to consider that may affect your core tone.

  • Serial vs. Parallel Effects Loops - Watch for phase issues or volume differences when using parallel loops.
  • Gain Staging - If you don't set the loop send/receive or otherwise gain stage your effects incorrectly, you will get clipping, which is probably going to sound terrible for the type of effects you'd use here.
  • Quality of Effects - Even if an effect is off or has mix set to 0%, it doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be completely transparent. Having poor quality effects in your loop can kill your tone.

Examples of effects you're most likely to run here include:

Power Amp

Guitar Power Amps vs. Pure Power Amps

When it comes to power amps, there are two kinds. Guitar power amps are built into complete guitar amps but can also exist as discrete units. In the context of a guitar amp, it may be referred to as the power section. They are designed to have some impact on tone, although not as much as a preamp. They often use tubes, and may even be designed to be pushed into overdrive, or may at least offer differing tone at different volume levels. Pure power amps or FRFR amps (full range, flat response) on the other hand, are designed to be as transparent as possible, only amplifying the input signal with minimal impact otherwise.

In earlier years, these different types of amps rarely crossed paths. Guitar power amps were usually built into guitar amps (or those manufacturers would make clearly-designated guitar-centered power amps), and pure power amps were for PA systems. With the introduction of modelers that simulate guitar amps, cabs/speakers, and microphones, pure power amps began to be used by the guitar community for amplification purposes, the same way a mic'ed guitar cab would be amplified through a PA system. And rather than running them into guitar cabs, they'd run into FRFR monitors. Some brands market power amps that bridge the gap, claiming they work for both purposes.

Headroom

The first thing to consider for power amps is their headroom, or their range of amplification before beginning to compress and distort. Typically, a good power amp offers lots of headroom, only beginning to show signs of distortion at the highest volume levels. Most modern high-gain amps try to contain all their distortion to the pre-amp, focusing the power amp on clean amplification. That said, some classic amps rely on power amp distortion to get their distinct tone.

Negative Feedback Design

Power amps may also offer various levels of negative feedback, which attempt to minimize any unwanted distortion (outside of overdrive distortion) created by the amplification process. Depending on the design of the amp, these may work wonders to offer a pristine signal, or introduce additional issues. An amp with good negative feedback will make the amp sound cleaner, more responsive, and have a richer tone. Again, however, the allure of some vintage amps is that the distortion their design allowed was found to be musically pleasing. The only way to know which amps have good or bad designs is to research and audition them individually, for your subjective taste.

Cab/Speaker Interaction

Power amps also have "interaction" with the speakers/cabinet they drive. So an amp may sound better paired with one cab than another, while another amp has the opposite response. In general, a good power amp will sound good paired with a wide variety of cabs - the change in tone will be mostly due to the different cabs used, not the power amp-cab interaction. However, it is something to keep in mind when choosing an amp.

Controls/Settings

Power amps typically have few if any dedicated controls. For many amps, presence resides in the power amp section, used to reduce the extreme high-end. Some amps may offer other controls such as a bass boost (deep) or modern voicing. Beyond that, the controls typically switch the way the tubes operate - pentode vs. triode, class A vs. class AB, full vs. half power. Some can switch rectifiers between solid-state and tube rectifiers (hence the title of the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier). Some also feature power sinks, so that you can overdrive the tubes without using extremely loud volumes.

Cab/Speakers

Speakers

The main influencing factor on the tone of your speaker cabinet is the speaker(s) it has. While there are many brands and models of speakers, the biggest name in speakers for guitar cabinets is Celestion. Here's some of their most popular brands and the defining characteristics:

  • T-75's - This is the popular choice for Marshall 1960 cabinets, with a sharp, bright high-end for a very raucous, slightly nasal sound.
  • Vintage 30's - A popular choice for a modern voicing (despite the name), they have a strong upper-midrange response, great for cutting through the mix. Used in the popular Mesa/Boogie Rectifier (oversized) cabinets.
  • Creambacks - Great for a warm, vintage tone, rich in midrange.
  • Greenbacks - Similar to the T-75's with a nasal snarl, but a stronger midrange and low end response.

Celestion lists frequency response graphs for their speakers on their website, but you need to hear them to truly appreciate the differences. I recommend listening to them in the same cabinet, as the cabinet will affect the tone.

Most high-end cabinets come stocked with Celestions; there are many other brands, but a lot of them are simply trying to replicate Celestion tone. Others tend to a be a bit stiff or bright. That's not to say they aren't worth researching or will be "worse"; I'm just not familiar with them.

Also, keep in mind that brand new speakers have to be "broken" in to lose their stiffness before they truly represent their ideal sound - some brands will break them in before selling them while others ship them as soon as they're finished being manufactured.

Speaker Wattage

Speakers are typically rated in wattage, beyond which they will start to exhibit distortion. Some may find it appealing, but I find it difficult to control and too rough sounding. That said, it's rather difficult to achieve. A 4x12 cabinet with 30 watt speakers will require 120 watts of power to distort, while most amp heads provide only 100 watts. Furthermore, even if an amp is run full open, it is not necessarily outputting a full 100 watts.

Cabinet Back

Another huge impact on tone is the construction of the back of the cabinet. The back of the cabinet is important because as the front of the speaker pushes air outward, the back of the speaker is pulling air in the opposite direction. Sound travels in all directions, and without a cabinet at all, a speaker will absorb most of the sound pushed from the front by pulling from it from the back. Directionality is frequency dependent (sort of - dependent on the size of the speaker), with low frequencies spreading more than highs. Thus, speakers will sound bright and thin without a cabinet.

Typically, there's either open back, half-back, 3/4 back, or closed back. Any kind of opening in the back will cancel out some lows, with the smaller the opening, the less lows canceled out. Furthermore, a fully closed design will have a stronger impact on resonance, covered below. On the other hand, a fully closed back requires compressing the air inside the cabinet, which means more of the speakers' energy is spent on compressing air vs. outputting sound. So open back designs are louder than closed back.

Ported bass designs overcome this by forcing the air in and out the cabinet in a certain manner to prevent cancellation. This is why they are popular for subwoofers. Most guitar cabinets don't feature bass ports, although this is becoming more popular.

Most 4x12 and 2x12's use closed back designs for tight, thick bass. Volume is usually not an issue, due to using multiple speakers. They are preferred for hard rock and metal tones, where punchy low end is an important part of the sound. For more vintage sounds where it is less important, open back designs are fine, with many vintage amps being combo's (amp and speaker in the same box).

Cabinet Size/Shape/Material and Resonance

Closed back cabinets are particularly susceptible to resonance. This is not a bad thing...depending on the size, shape, and material of the cabinet. Resonance will occur at several places in the frequency spectrum, but mainly at a certain low to midrange frequency. The resonance doesn't simply emphasize a certain frequency but affects the way the speaker itself behaves, changing the character of the speaker's tone. It cannot be emulated simply using EQ/filters - it is a non-linear response, affecting tone across time, not simply transforming the current state.

I can't tell you much about exactly how it all works or what to expect. I would recommend trying to find a tone comparison between Marshall 1960 and Mesa/Boogie oversized Rectifier cabinets, using the same speakers and mic'ed the same way.

Some modelers allow you to tweak the resonance of emulated cabs virtually, effectively allowing you to tweak the cab's construction in real-time. This is great for dialing in your dream tone, although they tend to sound weird when fake when you deviate too far from center.

Top

Gain Staging

Gain staging refers to setting the levels of each device in your signal chain to achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while avoiding unwanted clipping (distortion).

Analog devices (and digital devices that emulate them properly) have a noise floor - a small amount of noise that is inherent by nature and cannot be reduced. The further the signal is attenuated, the louder the noise floor will be relative to the signal, decreasing the SNR. Amplifiers cannot differentiate between signal and noise; they just amplify everything they receive as input. If any part of the signal chain lowers the SNR, there is no way to improve it later in the chain.

Running your devices to output at maximum strength means that the signal is much higher than this noise floor, maximizing signal-to-noise. (Devices have other forms of inherent noise that will increase with certain settings and output levels, but we are only concerned with the signal level vs. noise floor here.) Depending on the settings of the device, maximum output may be too strong for its internal amplifier and clip it. Then output should be reduced to avoid clipping.

Usually devices are designed with enough headroom so that their internal amplifiers don't clip, even at extreme settings and max output. However, when creating a whole signal chain, several devices that can boost the signal connected together are very likely to clip when they are all set to maximum output. Proper gain staging dictates that each device should have the maximum output to not only avoid clipping its own amplifier, but also the input buffer or other uncontrollable aspects of the next device in the chain. This ensures that every spot in the chain has the best SNR possible without unwanted distortion.

The way you have to test this all out is by using a completely clean tone. If there's any distortion, you have to turn down one device at a time to locate the source of the clipping. Many times you want a distorted tone, which can mask unwanted clipping and make it difficult to tell where it is in the signal chain. You have to listen with a very careful ear, or substitute distortion for a clean tone of approximately the same volume level.

Example Walkthrough

Let's look at an example signal chain:

  • Guitar > Compressor > Distortion (as boost) > Pre-Amp > Chorus > Delay > Power Amp > Cabinet

We start with the pre-amp and power amp - those are the only parts of the chain that have to be on. Everything else is set to bypass or removed from the signal chain for now. We set the pre-amp to a clean channel, minimum drive (if available), and a conservative channel volume. We set the master volume of the amp somewhat low - loud enough to hear but the tone should still be clean, definitely far below the amp's clean headroom. This is our baseline to set up at least the stomp effects (before the amp).

When we first turn on the compressor and distortion, we will likely need to lower the distortion's output level to about 50% or less to prevent it from clipping the pre-amp. Ultimately, we want it to do exactly that, but for now it will only interfere with being able to hear clipping in other devices, so we keep it low enough to avoid clipping. Once we've set everything else up, we can crank it back up.

The compressor will likely end up boosting the signal. We are using the distortion pedal as a boost only - we don't want it to clip internally. After we set the distortion's drive knob to minimum, we slowly turn up the compressor output from minimum until we start to hear some clipping. The compressor is likely clipping the distortion, but the distortion cannot be set any lower, so we need to turn down the compressor's output. Do so until all clipping is removed, even when playing accented notes and chords (or however you intend to play with those effects turned on).

Next is the chorus and delay. First keep the delay off. We need to make sure the amp's effects loop send isn't clipping the chorus. Many amps have an effects loop send volume control, which we can use to prevent clipping the chorus. If not, we likely have to use the amp's channel volume control. Once we've set the chorus, we can do the same thing with the delay, reducing the chorus's output if the delay exhibits clipping. If the chorus doesn't have an output control, we will have to go back a stage to the effects loop send volume or amp's channel volume - it's unfortunate, but it's the best we can do.

Once everything is dialed in for no clipping, we can switch the pre-amp to a distortion channel and crank up the distortion pedals output level to maximum. Then we set the channel volume on the pre-amp to approximately match the volume we had on the clean channel. If done correctly, there shouldn't be any unwanted clipping in the signal chain.

Dialing in Distortion Tone

Distortion tone depends on lots of factors, such as using multiple distortion stages, the type/nature of each distortion stage, and the input signal entering every distortion stage. This is a complex subject that I feel deserves its own page.

Mics and Mic'ing

Brand/Type

The most important parts of the tone from a microphone are the type (condenser, ribbon, dynamic, etc.) and the brand/model. The most popular microphone for guitars by far is the Shure SM-57, a dynamic mircophone that does well at capturing the guitar's upper-midrange and highs. Some find it overemphasizes highs, but this can be downplayed by altering positioning/angle or through a pre-amp.

Other popular guitar microphones are the Sennheiser MD421, Sennheiser e609, AKG 414, Heil PR20, Heil PR40, Neumann U87, Audio-Technica AT2020, and Royer 121, among others.

It's impossible to describe all their subtleties in a few paragraphs. You'd have to do lots of research, trial and error, and listen to lots of demo's to make smart purchases. Given that you have a number of mics on hand to use, I find using 2 mics simultaneously with contrasting sweet spots gives a very rich signal. Most mics tend to have certain spots in the frequency spectrum where the tone can get a bit noisy, distorted, or weak.

Which Speaker

Given a 4x12 or 2x12, it's important to listen up close to each speaker to find the sweetest one. Usually one will sound a bit better due to slight flaws in the cabinet wood, its construction, or defects in the speakers. This can be difficult, though, as it generally takes a bit of volume to tell, and sticking your ear in a blaring-loud speaker is a good way to damage your eardrum. Using earplugs dulls the sound, making it more difficult to tell the best speaker. My best advice is to not overdo it. Use earplugs, make your auditioning brief as possible, and don't push the volume as loud as you would when recording.

Axis

The axis or angle of the speaker in relation to the speaker's face will affect the parts of the speaker cone that get picked up by the microphone, changing the relative balance of the frequencies picked up. This is more complex than simple EQ'ing - the sound waves hitting the diaphragm of the microphone at an incident angle vs. dead-on can subtly change the electrical representation of the waveform of the picked up sound waves.

Cone Position

Similar to the angle/axis of the mic, its position relative to the speaker cone will also change the response of the microphone's signal. By moving off-center, the microphone's distance from certain parts of the cone are further than other parts. Since sound takes time to travel distance, some of the sound will be delayed relative to the same sound from a closer part of the curve. This creates a comb filter, mostly in the high frequencies, dulling the sound a little. It may take some time to find the sweet spot. The trick is to try to monitor the sound from the microphone while you adjust while minimizing the sound from the actual cabinet. The best way to do this is by isolating the cab in a separate room and getting an assistant or robot to move the microphone. The next best way is to use strong isolating headphones and keep your head away from the front of the cabinet in a treated room that minimizes reflections.

Multi-Mic'ing

Since all mics tend to have a weak or noisy spot in the frequency spectrum, combining multiple mics with complementary strengths and weaknesses is a great way to get the richest and highest-quality signal. However, mixing two signals can always introduce further issues if you are not careful. The biggest issue is comb filtering, caused by the mics being unequal distance from the cabinet (or having a certain amount of latency due to their design). The simplest way to fix this is by changing the mic distance(s) until comb filters are eliminated; however, some mics sound best right up against the speaker while others sound better further back. The better way to fix things is via a VST plugin in your DAW or some other device to add latency to whichever mic produces signal earlier to sync them up. I have used Voxengo Sound Delay for this purpose before with great success.

Room Placement and Conditioning

One thing that cannot be understated for a mic'ed tone is the room where the cab is mic'ed. Preventing all reflections from a room is virtually impossible and also undesirable. A mild reverb makes for a natural sound. Try listening to synthesized sounds with no reverb through earphones, and you'll find that the sound is uncomfortable and quite artificial. Many studios treat their rooms not to eliminate all reflections but to minimize some of the nasty effects they can cause. In particular, they avoid parallel walls which produce ringing at certain resonant frequencies depending on the size of the room. If a room does have parallel walls (extremely common), placing dampeners on each wall so sound will not reflect back and forth directly between two opposite walls will be the most beneficial to prevent ringing. Also, normal dampeners will not affect low frequencies, requiring bass traps to do so.

Even with good treatment, there will still be some nodes and anti-nodes throughout the room for certain frequencies. This is where cabinet and mic placement becomes important. Even with the most expensive gear in the world, if your mic is in a dead spot, your frequency spectrum might have a critical null that is like putting a blanket over the tone. If you find you just can't get a good sound, even after messing with mic placement for a long time, try moving the cab around the room and re-mic'ing - you might be hitting a node. Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult to determine where in advance a node will be - it depends not only on the size and shape of the room, but the placement of the cabinet and the frequencies being produced. It's best to avoid corners, which tend to be bass nodes. Otherwise, a bit of experimentation is in order.

Close vs. Far Mic'ing

Close mic'ing (anywhere from inside the speaker cone to several inches away from it) tends to capture the direct sound of the speaker and cab, minimizing the effect of the room, other than direct reflections from the ground or very nearby walls. Far mic'ing captures more of the room's sound with its reverb. Guitar tones are typically close-mic'ed, with reverb being added either post recording or by an effects processor in the guitar signal chain, transmitting through the speakers. That said, if you have a good room, far mic'ing can get you a sweet natural reverb. Or you can mix the two together to get an optimal relative balance - just be sure to adjust for latency in the far mic to prevent comb filtering.

Mic Pre-amps

Some mics require phantom (or actual) power to operate correctly. Some people believe mics need to be run through a pre-amp to sweeten up their tone. Pre-amps can also provide common effects like compression, EQ/filtering, or mild distortion. I don't know much about mic pre-amps, but most professional studios do tend to use them, often being incorporated into the mixing board, before converting the analog signal to digital for recording and post-processing. As such, they can be an important part of the signal chain, having either a subtle or profound effect on tone.

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Last edited on 1 July 2015, at 22:02