Can I make my Tele sound like a Les Paul?

[wcap]

...or at least sort of like a Les Paul?

I have a Fernandez Tele that I sort of love and hate at the same time. It is a beautiful guitar (great workmanship – pretty much flawless – black with creamy white binding and a white pickguard, and a beautiful maple neck) and a wonderful guitar to play...even unplugged. It is remarkably, surprisingly resonant (I can feel the whole guitar resonating when I play it), and has marvelous sustain. It is a very alive sounding guitar (even unplugged), and the bass notes are amazingly nice. To my ears, it sounds better, in some ways, than any of the other Teles I have played in the local guitar shops.

BUT, I am finding the sound sort of harsh, especially when I play with headphones (I play almost entirely just for my own enjoyment, and mostly when my family is asleep...hence the unplugged playing and the headphones). Part of the problem is that there is a lot of background buzz and hiss sometimes that bothers me a lot when I play with headphones, so I want to increase the volume to drown out the background noise, and this seems to hurt my ears (I don't really notice the hiss and buzz much when I play normally through the amp otherwise though). Also – and I will apologize in advance for the upcoming sacrilege – I wonder whether the basic Tele sound is just a bit more harsh than I like for most of what I play.

I tried out a Les Paul in a guitar shop for the first time the other day. The sound was amazing, though I found it to be an uncomfortable guitar to play because it was so heavy. The Less Paul was also awfully expensive.

This got me to wondering though whether installing humbuckers on my Tele could give me the best of both worlds? Like I said before, I think my Tele is fundamentally a wonderful guitar, but I'm finding myself wondering how it would sound with different pickups?

So after all this verbose lead-in, here are my questions:

(1) I've never had the oportunity to play a Tele with humbuckers. What is the sound like?

(2) How much of a Les Paul's sound is a function of the body and general construction, and how much is pretty much just the pickups?

Thanks.

[ne4tt]

If a fat sounding Tele is what you are interested in,here's some affordable options.

Find an old Tom Scholz "Rockman".

Find a Marshall 5000 series, or Valvestate.

[clayfeat]

It sounds to me like replacing the bridge pickup with a humbucker would give you what you are looking for.

[dogcityrocker]

I love the sound of LP's, but hate the neck and the price tag.

I put a Harmonic design S-90 p/u in the bridge. Its a p-90 type p/u that fits in the standard bridge rout. It gets the tele a little closer to a LP, but still retains some tele-ness. I kinda gave up on the notion. Id rather play the tele than play a LP, so....I'll just keep searching for my tone through amps and effects.

[Fatmanstratman]

My 72 Thinline, with the 2 High gain 'buckers, sounds just like a Les Paul with a bit of overdrive, but about half the weight round your neck!

[Spoto]

A 4-way switch in a Tele will give you an additional humbucker/fatter sound.

[Spoto]

A 4-way switch in a Tele will give you an additional humbucker/fatter sound.

[microphonic squeal]

Originally Posted by wcap

...or at least sort of like a Les Paul?

A Seymour Duncan Little '59 for Tele will get you about as close as you are going to get.

http://tinyurl.com/2cfpm

[Mike Aufrichtig]

Another suggestion – try a Morley JD-10 pedal if you can locate one. Besides offering three-band EQ and boost, there’s a button that provides a mid-range boost that makes a single coil pickup sound a whole lot like a humbucker. Still very toneful, and allows you to switch back and forth between conventional Tele tone and mid-boosted tone.

[undafonk]

Yes, you can (you will only have problems if you try it the other way around - make your Les Paul sound like a Tele...)

You mention harshness and hiss: this is a logic consequence of the Telecaster's single coil pickups - at least, in many situations.

Like you, I also thought you needed a humbucker to get that sustaining, heavy tone. Not so. And of course, every humbucker will be different (I personally like the Wide Range Humbucking pickup found in a 70'ies Telecaster Custom; there is a re-issue available, too - however, they sound different from a PAF-style humbucker).

In recent years, i have found that you can get that tone, if you pick the right amplifier. First, I got a chance to play through a Harry Joyce amp (sort of boutique Hiwatt). Thunderously loud, and my Tele was totally there. I can even get this from a vintage tube Fender amp. But in that case, i use some boost, such as the ZVex SHO pedal. I even found that you can get a good tone from the bridge pickup alone. But here, your tone control (on your Tele as well as on your amp), is your friend: try to roll off just the right amount of tone.

You want to achieve this sound at home, on your headphones. That may prove a little difficult, but may be done. Would have to know what kind of amp you have, though.

But reg. your questions: (1) A Tele with humbuckers will sound like a Deluxe (that 70'ies Tele which is the only one I know with two humbuckers). The Deluxe still amazingly sounds like a Tele, though. Which leads to (2) a considerable part of the LP sound is a function of the mahogany slab body and the fixed neck construction. However, once you go into high gain sounds, guitars will increasingly sound the same.

You can of course try and put a humbucker in the neck position of your Fernandes. Many have done that on their Teles, and the earlier mentioned Telecaster Custom was Fender's answer to this trend. You can still have the wonderful single coil sound of the bridge pickup.

However, it can still be difficult to get the tone you're after at acceptable living-room level. Headphones also isn't easy without ruining your ears. PM me if you want details of my 'late-night-don't-bother-the-neighbours' solution.

[gottliver]

Is to turn down the tone knob on your guitar when using the bridge pickup. That will tame the highs and help cut some hiss/buzz at the same time seeing as how those reside in the upper frequency. I find that with adding some gain and treble at the amp or headphone amp and backing off on the tone knob I geta fat almost humbucker sound but with that single coil twang that I like.

If you find that the tone knob cuts too much or too little treble then you can change the capacitor value. Normally a tele comes with a .022 cap, you can change it to a .o33 or .o47 to cut more highs. Conversly a .01 will allow more highs to come through.

If the pots on your git are 500k ohm or 1000k ohm you can replace those to 250k ohm which is the standard for single coils and will reduce the overall amount of highs when your knobs are full up.

[stevedenver]

undafunk has it right and so does gottliver-
heres my two cents, as a died in the wool lp guy gone tele-and one who still has more lesters than fingers

i have a lentz tele

-so it has a broadcaster type of bridge pup-like a fender nocaster type-i dont know what the seymor duncan or other after market equivalents would be-this means its a bit hotter and not a relatively treble / shrill type of pup-best called a round almost warm fat single coil-this is the key-

i play with tone about 6, sometimes-my tele has brass saddles so its not ice pick

i play through a marshall 30th anniv-and with modest gain its wonderful and with lots, and tone at 10, its virtually indistinguishable from a lester-what a tele has that many lesters dont is bit more definition-i believe its that single coil cut-but-i know first hand there are humbuckers which are equally articulate-cos i own some by a booteeek guy-and have changed soe caps and pots to give my lesters more high end and eliminate the 300K pot/crap caps "muddiness"

but i think a tele can actually offer more-my taste and opinion only here -i would suggest taht you not route for a hum-unless you want that in the neck-but try some appropriate pups-id sooner tell you to try a p-90 in the bridge if you can find an appropriate bridge pup-but you can

using my singel coil lentz bridge pick up, tone at about 6, it is quite like a lester, but isnt identical-the tele has more treble cut and definition, and it does not have as much sustain (but IMHO this is simply when is enough enough-my tele has plenty-sounds like Led Zeppelin I-it should) and humbucker pups have a different type of harmonic complexity and bloom especially with with high volume-and that is incredible too -but it sounds really lots like a lester-i think the real issue is a fairly hot bridge single coil-

but ulitmately a tele is a tele and a les paul is its own, and good lesters are not cheap, and IMHO , short of booteek builders, you gots to get the real deal for the real sound

[Tim Armstrong]

I'd look at two things:

1. The headphone amp - Either adjust it so it doesn't sound like crap, or maybe get one that doesn't sound like crap!

2. Your guitar's volume and tone knobs and pickup selector switch - There are a whole lotta different tones living in a Telecaster, you just gotta go looking!

Good luck!

Tim

[hrod455]

No.

[Buck Cannon]

I bought a Piezo bridge HMT Tele, MIJ because it has Gibsons Scale length and a Chambered mohogany body, spruce top and rosewood neck.. with a set of Antiquity HB's set the same distance as on a LP .. I should be close...

I may finish it this weekend and post a pic???

[JMH65]

I have a Seymour Duncan LIL 59 mini humbucker in the bridge.....Running it through a Roland Cube on the Brit combo and classic stack settings really nails it.

[Twanger]

Another vote for the Seymour Duncan Lil' '59 pickup. It sounds great and no modifications needed should you want to go back to a vintage-style pickup.

[hippietim]

your best bet is to do what two others have said and put in a Lil '59 Duncan. I loved the one I had in one of my Tele's.

[wcap]

Wow, thank you for all of your suggestions. There is a lot here for me to digest (especially seeing as I'm not currently familiar with the different brands or models of pickups that are availalbe).

Once I have had the time to look over all of your suggestions more carefully, I'll probably have some followup questions, but for now I will just say thank you!

[OaklandA]

A good EQ can help too. I don't know why more people don't use them. Whenever I see a "how do I get my_____to sound more like (a) ______", it's the first thing that comes to mind.



.

[maestrovert]

you've got a lively sounding guitar ? sounds great acoustically ? you've got 99.999% of the "tone equation" whooped, right there !
Now you think you need a L.P. ?!?
Your Tele will do things a L.P. CAN'T do(ie behind the nut bends, tone control wah wah, etc), and do everything a L.P. does do, EVEN BETTER !
Danny Gatton was PROOF, you CAN do it ALL with a Tele !!
1st things first...check/make SURE your cord's of HIGH quality.....most noise problems can be traced right there....2nd, ground/shielding/wiring on your guitar/control plate...could be the cause of some "buzzing"...3rd, go with a high quality headphone/amp pedalboard.....the "Zoom" units are especially noisy, humbuckers or not ! and DEFINITELY shut off the t.v. as it could be the cause of spurious signals, and definitely shut off the computer, at least the monitor(crt type) as lots of noise problems emanate from there....

[Kevin]

How to make your tele sound like a Les Paul:

Throw your old body away and buy a new one made of 1.75" mahogany (one piece) with a 3/4" carved maple top.

Throw away your old bolt-on maple neck and buy a new glued in (long tenon, preferably) mahogany neck. Make sure that you get a 24 3/4" scale, or you'll get "extra" harmonic overtones.

Use two full-sized PAFs, rather than single coils, or single-coil-sized humbuckers.

Rather than a Tele-style bridge, go with a TOM bridge and stop tailpiece.

Assemble.

Now, your tele will sound just like a Les Paul.













Seriously. You can get a sound that's reminiscent of a Les Paul with the suggestions above, but a Telecaster will never truly sound like a Les Paul -- different woods, different construction methods, different hardware -- it just can't do it.

Truth be known, one guitar can't do everything -- that's why people have more than one!

That said, throw a humbucker in the neck position, and wail away!

[Mik]

No. :D

Mik

[maestrovert]

the original post was more concerned with solving an extraneous noise problem than anything else...
Most people responding recommended new pickups OUT OF HAND, with no consideration for the process of elimination and common sense which should have him happy with his Tele...my previous suggestions would apply no matter the make/model of guitar......

Sorry to disagree with you Kevin, but TRUTH is you CAN do it all with a Tele....if one is unconcerned with having a "signature" sound, yesirree a stable of Gretches, Gibsons, Rickenbackers will cover ya...(interesting aside, but "Twang" got started with Duane Eddy playing a Gretch...but now, Twang is entirely "Tele territory"
Tell Ed Bickert, Ted Green , Danny Gatton and countless others that Jazz can't be played and played well on a Tele...try telling Jimmy Page, Bruce Springsteen and too many to even think of that "rock" can't be played on a Tele, Joe Strummer for "punk" Chrissie Hynde and Andy Summers for "new wave"...Muddy Waters and more for "blues"....and we're not even going to mention country....
Yes SIR ! you can do it all with a Tele, and do it better than any other guitar....
maybe i'm a fanatic and should go calm down....
;-)

Remember, EVERYTHING i say is "I.M.H.O." and is entirely meant in good natured good humor !
Long reign the Tele !

[Tim Armstrong]

Originally Posted by maestrovert

the original post was more concerned with solving an extraneous noise problem than anything else...

Yep, which is why I wrote:

Originally Posted by Tim Armstrong

I'd look at two things:

1. The headphone amp - Either adjust it so it doesn't sound like crap, or maybe get one that doesn't sound like crap!

2. Your guitar's volume and tone knobs and pickup selector switch - There are a whole lotta different tones living in a Telecaster, you just gotta go looking!

Making a normal average Telecaster sound great, and cover a wide range of sounds, is purely easy. All you gotta do is try!

Cheers, Tim

[rogerbrewin]

... is the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails for Telecaster. Drops right in the bridge p/u slot, a few solders and you're there. I recently did this to my 2001 Am. Std. and I couldn't be happier. Big beefy tone and sustain for days! I love it.

[Kevin]

Sorry to disagree with you, Maestrovert, but the "TRUTH" is that you can play anything on anything -- if all you want to do is play. If you want it to sound as good as possible, sometimes you need a different guitar.

Yes, DG played jazz on a tele, but he also picked up a big ole jazz box from time to time. If you're gonna use the man as an example, at least recognize what he recognized: sometimes you need a different guitar for a different sound.

Now, back to the original post.... The way I read it, extraneous noise was only part of his question. The other part was the "harsh" sound that he referred to. You'll not that he said that "some" of his complaint was the noise. The rest could very well be the brightness of the single coils, since he found the Les Paul tone so appealing.

However, my response was geared more to the people who write about how to make a tele sound just like a Les Paul -- it can't be done.

I love teles -- that's why I'm here. However, I choose not to limit myself by thinking that they can do everything I want a guitar to do. For that reason, I have a strat, a LP, and a couple of old shredder axes. I've had a couple of Rics in my time, as well. Y'know: I could play everything on my Ric 12-string that I can play on a tele -- it just didn't sound right, though. By the same token, "A Hard Day's Night" just doesn't sound the same on a Tele; I don't care who's playing it. So, if you want to limit yourself to playing one guitar, that's certainly fine with me. Just don't tell me what the "TRUTH" is. :D

[stevedenver]

well said

[maestrovert]

back off a bit there Hoss !
as i previously stated, EVERYTHING i say is "I.M.H.O." and is meant in a goodnaturedly good humored way !

Yes, i KNOW Gatton used a Gibson L.P.Custom, and a 295 (among others), also a Strat and a banjo and a lap steel and a....and on and on ad infinitum !
EVEN SO, live on stage and in front of our disbelieving eyes, he DID IT ALL with a TELE, (you must admit the recording studio/medium is a whole other animal)

not to brag (honest, i'm not bragging) BUT i've quite a little collection of differing makes and models too... a quick look around the den reveals a L.P. Custom, a couple of Strats, a 345, a 355, an Ibanez Artist and an Ibanez "S" ,a Hofner bass and an Alvarez Classical....and i'm not even near the music room...and haven't even touched on the "Jazz boxes" or Teles...(my wife says i'm runnin' outta room....hmmmmm)

i'm simply a player and a wannabe collector, i've no claim to any expertise or fame....and i KNOW i'm extremely fortunate to be in the position where i have a small stable of guitars and amps available...but BUT i also recognise that most do not have that luxury, and are lucky to have one or 2 "good" guitars...and if that one or 2 happens to be a Tele THEY NEED TO KNOW, THEY'RE NOT LIMITED IN ANY WAY TO ANY GENRE OR "STYLE" ! the Tele is truly amazing, and IS capable of doing it all !

if one feels limited playing a Tele, i'm very sorry , but i for one am not!
Truth is truth....regardless of whether or not your truth is true for anyone else....
you CAN do it all on a Tele.....
at least i can, and so can many many others....
One should never feel shortchanged or inadequate if a Tele is all they have, it's all they really need !

and THAT'S the TRUTH !
Play on Telewhackers !

[wcap]

Wow, looks like I really got something going here with my questions!

Thank you all again for your many helpful suggestions. I must say, I don't completely understand all the responses yet – it is not that you folks were unclear, but rather that I'm not that well up to speed on electric guitar and electric guitar equipment lingo and abbreviations yet (until a year ago I was a militantly acoustic guy who played all sorts of different musical styles on banjo and classical guitar...then by a strange turn of events I got a Strat and a Tele within days of each other!), and it will take a while to proceess all the different ideas here. The world of pickups, amps, effects pedals, etc appears to be pretty big and overwhelming at the moment – I can see that there is a lot to learn about all of this! I have some homework to do.

The buzz/hiss is indeed a big part of what bothers me, and if that was fixed I would probably be lots happier. But, as I said, I think the basic tone of this guitar when amplified tends to be sort of harsh and harmful to my ears if I have it loud enough to have what seems to my ears to be good tone (this problem being particulary big when using headphones), and I think that along with less noise, a richer, thicker, fatter tone (more Less Paul -like) would be very much to my liking. I'm suspecting that the very alive intrinsic tone of my Tele along with a thicker humbucker sound might be very very nice.

Or, as some have pointed out, maybe I really don't need new pickups, but just better electronic manipulation of the tone by my amp or other devices.

At the present time, I simply can't play this Tele enjoyably with headphones, but the mellower and somewhat less noisy sound of my early 80's American made Strat is pretty good for headphone playing. Since most of the time I have available to play is at night when my family is asleep, the Strat has become my basement amplified (and headphones) guitar, and my Tele has become my upstairs (where I don't have an amp) quiet guitar to play in the spare bedroom, unplugged, when my family is asleep. This unplugged playing is actually more satisfying than I would have imagined, and it allows me to work on new peices a lot more than I previously could. But I long to plug it in more often and to really hear the full potential of this Tele.

I agree, you can play a lot of kinds of music on instruments that the average person might think are not the right instruments for the job, and the sound can be terrifc in many cases. It is marvelous fun to hotrod a 5-string banjo, for example, but when played with finesse, I can use the same instrument to play gentle, quiet sounding music very nicely as well (and Bela Fleck has demonstrated this very nicely on his classical CDand many other recordings) – a banjo can sound much like a harpsicord in the right hands. And I love playing Bach on my Strat (those really cool pipe-organ like tones from the neck-middle pickup combination are very very nice).

My Tele sounds wonderful in the hands of my neighbor who plays really mellow jazz, and, it can also sound great playing loud raucous things.

But still, there is a tendancy for harshness of my Tele's amplified sound that bothers me. I have tried the full range of pickup - tone knob settings. I tend to go toward the neck pickup alone with the treble turned pretty far down for a lot of the things I play. Not a bad sound through the amp, but very muffled sounding with the headphones. And no matter what adjustments I make, it is never anywhere close to that amazing Less Paul I tried out.....

Again, I don't think I necessarily need the full Less Paul sound, and I'm not sure I'd want to lose all the nice qualities of this very nice Tele, but a sound closer to a Less Paul would be nice. I never really did expect that I could make a Tele sound just like a Less Paul, but I figured there would be some things I could try to improve the tone (that is, to make it more to my liking – "improve" is a subjective term in this regard of course).

[wcap]

One more thing...

I guess I'm wondering whether my amp might be to blame for some of my dissatisfaction with my tone. I was pretty naive about amps when I bought this first amp (and I still don't know much about amps). I got what the store had rather than shopping around, not realizing how much the sounds of different amps vary.

The amp I have is a Kustom Dual 30RC. This was attractive because I can plug in 2 guitars (or a guitar and a CD player or other sound source) at once. The tone and volume controls on the amp only affect one of these inputs, but if we don't worry too much about the tone of one of the guitars my kids and I can play together (Strat and Tele together) with the one amp.

I'm suspecting though that this amp might be less than ideal for tone. I have not done any side-by-side comparisons, but after hearing a friend's amps recently I've come to wonder whether I might have chosen my amp too quickly.

[maestrovert]

Thank you for understanding the point i was hoping to make, despite my obvious lack of eloquence....and if i came off harshly or in an unfriendly way, i did not intend to be so....
i'd also try another set of headphones BEFORE i did anything else....

you might be onto something there....your neighbor/friend sounds great playing mellow jazz on your Tele (but in your hands it sounds harsh to your ears ?) tone production is a major aspect of classical guitar, perhaps the same principles and or hand positioning/technique could be of use ?
slightly backing off (lowering) the bridge pickup could also have a great effect on your amplified tone....

if your Tele sounds great to you unplugged, there's no reason it shouldn't sound great amp'ed also....
and a bad/cheap amp can indeed be noisy and harsh....great amps dramatically improve things !
great amps aren't necessarily expensive either....

a wise man told me when i was young, "if it doesn't sound good without an amp, it'll NEVER sound great with one"...and i thought, "yeah, right" and spent years buying guitars because of their looks and/or mail-order, and not being satisfied with the tone, started "hotrodding"......spent a lot of money on "improvements" that really didn't improve anything !
now, being slightly older and hopefully a tad wiser, i won't buy a guitar sight unseen/unplayed...it has to have the tonal qualities i seek unplugged in a quiet room before i'll consider it....because i am seeking a "voice"....i want people to KNOW it's me within the first few notes they hear, no matter the "style" or genre i'm performing......
good luck in your quest for the tones you seek !

[wcap]

Originally Posted by maestrovert

Thank you for understanding the point i was hoping to make, despite my obvious lack of eloquence....and if i came off harshly or in an unfriendly way, i did not intend to be so....

No problem. I understood your point. I appreciate all the insight that the very experienced folks on this forum have taken the time to share.

Originally Posted by maestrovert

i'd also try another set of headphones BEFORE i did anything else....

Good idea. I did not buy the cheapest, but also not the best.

Originally Posted by maestrovert

you might be onto something there....your neighbor/friend sounds great playing mellow jazz on your Tele (but in your hands it sounds harsh to your ears ?) tone production is a major aspect of classical guitar, perhaps the same principles and or hand positioning/technique could be of use ?

Well, maybe. I am pretty amazed by how much better I sound on my classical guitar when I have been playing a lot. Tonally, it sounds like a different instrument. But I really think there is more going on with my Tele. My Strat sounds much better through my headphones than my Tele. Maybe my Tele simply requires a different attack than the Strat, but I really think there is more at work here than that.

There is an interesting detail I left out about my freind playing my Tele... he was using his amp, not mine.

That being said, I do think the attitude one brings to one's playing has a big effect on the sound you get. A lot of this is a matter of the nuances of your timing and dynamics, but tone is affected as well.

Attitude and attack are not going to deal with the noise issue though, and I suspect there will be a limit to how far playing technique will be able to take me toward that humbucker sound.

Originally Posted by maestrovert

slightly backing off (lowering) the bridge pickup could also have a great effect on your amplified tone....

Thanks for the idea. I do recall now that I had read some things about how pickup height can affect volume and tone.

Thanks for all of your suggestions (and thanks to everyone else as well).

[wcap]

Originally Posted by maestrovert

if your Tele sounds great to you unplugged, there's no reason it shouldn't sound great amp'ed also....
and a bad/cheap amp can indeed be noisy and harsh....great amps dramatically improve things !
great amps aren't necessarily expensive either....

Can you recommend some great sounding amps that are not too expensive?

And incidentally, I'm looking at a doing a classical guitar upgrade in the near future and am thinking about getting it set up so I can plug it in. I understand there are different amps designed for acoustic guiars. But I'm wondering: How does an acoustic sound plugged into an electric guitar amp? And, how does an electric sound plugged into an acoustic amp?

[maestrovert]

an impedence mismatch through the headphones could cause the noise/harshness problems....might be as simple as that....the phones you've got could be GREAT with the home stereo, but sound horrible in the headphone output of your guitar amp...
follow a recent thread started by Jim Campilongo concerning his search for a small clean amp with "headroom" for some great amp recommendations....
believe it or not, some of the floorpedal/multieffects units have GOOD sounding amp "models" and have headphone outputs...you also get lots of good sounding effects...the Korg Toneworks stuff is good, the Digitech RP 300 is the ground floor for the functionality/features you'd want and their GNX 3 and 4 are simply astounding !
the smaller "Crate" amps ( 10-15 watts, 8" speaker) sound surprisingly good, have headphone outputs and even new are $80.00 or so....
Hope it helps !

[SteveY]

Originally Posted by wcap

...How does an acoustic sound plugged into an electric guitar amp? And, how does an electric sound plugged into an acoustic amp?

A lot of the so-called "acoustic" amps just have more range (especially high frequency response) than a "regular" (electric guitar type) amplifier. More like a home stereo or "Hi-Fidelity" amp. Many contemporary P.A. (public address) amps, built for microphone use, would suffice as well, but may not be as convenient a package to move around.

Many "tube" amps are especially contoured for magnetic electric guitar type pickups.
But many newer transistor based amps have a wide enough range. They may require some additional equalization tweaking with an outboard, or onboard the guitar, pre-amp designed for the piezo bridges that many "wired up" acoustic guitars use for satisfactory sounds. I have sometimes used BOTH onboard and outboard "EQ's" (check for compatibility, I have blown out preamps if both are active).
It can be done with a regular guitar amp, but it can also be a pain to get it sounding "good" without feedback or objectionable midrange "honky-ness."

I think a regular electric guitar sounds fine through an acoustic type amp, but they are pretty "clean." If you like sophisticated Jazz sounds, they work well.
But they are not as mid-range frequency heavy as most regular guitar amps, and many players find them too clean, or "...It don't have enough attitude!"
I suppose you can always plug an "attitude" floor pedal of various degrees of distortion into the signal chain, but again, the contour is skewed toward the high frequencies in an "acoustic" amp. It may be helpful if you can turn OFF the high frequency "horn," if any are supplied as part of its speaker array.
Not all amps allow this with a simple switch, though.

Some players that need this kind of versatility opt for using a processor, like a Pod, et al, plugged into a P.A. type amp (or even a home stereo, if you're not playing "out"). They make excellent headphone amps too, in my experience, if so equipped (some of my favorite processors do NOT have headphone jacks though). Not a problem if you have a decent home stereo, but be careful: "live" sound can quickly blow out home stereo consumer level speakers and circuits, if abused.
Regular guitar amps are "heavy duty." It's not usually a problem at home or for say, recording levels. But performance requires heavier duty components.

[Tim Armstrong]

Darn right, your amp makes a big difference! It's like the difference between recording your classical guitar through a good microphone, or recording it through a telephone.

Fender's Pro Junior amp is a nice little 15-watt tube amp that sounds absolutely fabulous with a Telecaster. It's a bare bones amp, no reverb, but it's quite toneful.

You might also take your Tele down to the music store and just play through a lot of amps, and play through a lot of headphone amps, too.

Good luck and good hunting!

Tim

[The Bone]

[tweeddeluxe]

By twiddling the tone knob in bridge or neck position, using a clean boost thru a Vibrolux and 18w clone. The stock pups seem to have a higher output already and the body fattens it up some.

As I've said before, a very versatile guitar.

[artandink]

I know of one Tele that will get you in LP territory, but it will only be close (no cigar).

LENTZ