Anyone else "amping hot"?

[El Tele Lobo]

I don't know the term for this so pardon my arbitrary description. I hear a lot of people complain about a variety of amps not sounding good unless they are played at high volume and often end up too loud for practical situations, whether at home or on a gig. Something I started doing in the last year or so that has gotten me around this is turning my amps up (Tweed Champ clone with a 12" ceramic speaker and more recently, a Henriksen Bud 6)...either all the way or much higher than is practical and then rolling my volume off on the guitar until I find the sweet spot. In most situations, I find this works better than trying to dial in the sweet spot with the guitar volume (and tone) wide open. Now, admittedly, I use my volume and tone knobs probably more than the average cat, especially since I play jazz most of the time, but this has worked really well for me.

I feel like what we're after when turning up an amp is more natural compression and harmonics, which are sometimes hard to get lower on the volume dial (on the amp). I don't know if this would work with every amp, b/c the Champ is a fairly compressed sounding amp anyway (to my ears) and the Bud has the Input Gain knob, which adds more amp compression as you turn it up.

Discuss, brothers.

 

[Tim S]

AKA Old-School
It forces you to keep your pots clean though

 

[SixStringSlinger]

Has this lead you to change anything else on your amp or dirt pedals (not sure if you're using any, playing mostly jazz), or has it just been a volume increase on the amp end and ride your guitar controls as needed?

 

[El Tele Lobo]

Has this lead you to change anything else on your amp or dirt pedals (not sure if you're using any, playing mostly jazz), or has it just been a volume increase on the amp end and ride your guitar controls as needed?

I don't really use dirt pedals anymore. I have a Tumnus and a Wampler EQuator that I use with the Champ sometimes with a couple guitars, but I don't really use any pedals with the Bud except a Flint for reverb and occasionally tremolo. The Bud has onboard reverb and it's not bad, but I like the Flint better. So yeah, I mostly boost the amp and ride the guitar controls to get where I need to get.

 

[dukewellington]

This is typically what I do when we gig. I get the amp cranked up and then ride the guitar’s volume dial all night.

(Zappa fans will note this is not the same as riding the mixer’s face to Chicago.)

 

[JIMMY JAZZMAN]

Mixer's face, oh I get it. Baltimore's own Frank Zappa, and please don't eat the yellow snow.

 

[dukewellington]

Mixer's face, oh I get it. Baltimore's own Frank Zappa, and please don't eat the yellow snow.

And what’s new in Baltimore, Jimmy?

 

[JustABluesGuy]

This has also been my approach for some time now. I tend to crank the amp and roll back the guitar. I much prefer the tones I get now.

I used to dime my guitar and then set the amp, but that never sounded as good and was very limiting.

 

[bebopbrain]

I am glad you liked the change.

With your approach the first stage sees a smaller (less hot) amplitude from the guitar. The amplitude through the rest of the amp (after the volume knob) is identical everywhere in both examples. No part of the amp sees anything hotter (higher amplitude) than in the example with the guitar volume cranked.

 

[middy]

That's what I do with small amps. I don't crank them, but get them up close to full volume with just a little break up when you hit it hard, then control volume with the guitar. It sounds much better, especially with something 5 watts or less with a 6-8" speaker

 

[JIMMY JAZZMAN]

And what’s new in Baltimore, Jimmy?

Murder rate up, but domestic assault is down. Crabs went up, but Old Bay is still cheap. Go Orioles. Ha, ha...

 

[tfarny]

I do that all the time. It really helps (me) to have a treble bleed circuit installed in the guitar though. The difficulty is that with a big amp you end up with a lot of headroom and you can't ride the volume control for breakup purposes - you just get way too loud. Which people are not so into these days.

 

[Alex_C]

A good setup will allow a large range of tones via the guitar controls.

 

[uriah1]

Old band mate used the volume up method. He had great tone but would forget to turn down after leads. He still used a ocd also.

 

[El Tele Lobo]

This has also been my approach for some time now. I tend to crank the amp and roll back the guitar. I much prefer the tones I get now.

I used to dime my guitar and then set the amp, but that never sounded as good and was very limiting.

Added bonus: You always have extra volume and/or gain on tap!

 

[El Tele Lobo]

I do that all the time. It really helps (me) to have a treble bleed circuit installed in the guitar though. The difficulty is that with a big amp you end up with a lot of headroom and you can't ride the volume control for breakup purposes - you just get way too loud. Which people are not so into these days.

True...if breakup is what you're after, you need a smaller amp or a different approach. But if you play mostly clean like me, I would guess it can work even with a big amp. Maybe a big amp owner could chime in...

 

[AxemanVR]

I don't know if this would work with every amp…

No it doesn’t - since it really depends on the gain structure of each amp, as well as other factors such as speaker choice, and whether or not you’re using vintage output single coils or hot humbucker pickups, etc…

That said, similarly designed amps can elicit similar results, such as “tweed” or “plexi” circuits, which tend to break up in a more predictable fashion.

Otherwise, a fairly low gain amp cranked all the way up can sound ratty and harsh, whereas a super high gain amp can become a mushy mess with its volume set only half way.

An amp’s preamp and tone stack often determines the overall gain structure, as well as negative feedback settings. Anyway, a “one size fits all” approach doesn’t always work, even playing through amps of similar types. Certain amps may even sound better at lower volumes.

For instance, if I were going for super clean tones at a moderate sized gig, I might consider using a Fender Twin with its volume set to “2”.

So, needless to say, one has to use their ears to determine “sweet spot” rather than knob settings…


.

 

[schmee]

Amp up? Guitar volume down?

Not me.
Reason?
Not enough self restraint!

 

[zekester]

I don't know the term for this so pardon my arbitrary description. I hear a lot of people complain about a variety of amps not sounding good unless they are played at high volume and often end up too loud for practical situations, whether at home or on a gig. Something I started doing in the last year or so that has gotten me around this is turning my amps up (Tweed Champ clone with a 12" ceramic speaker and more recently, a Henriksen Bud 6)...either all the way or much higher than is practical and then rolling my volume off on the guitar until I find the sweet spot. In most situations, I find this works better than trying to dial in the sweet spot with the guitar volume (and tone) wide open. Now, admittedly, I use my volume and tone knobs probably more than the average cat, especially since I play jazz most of the time, but this has worked really well for me.

I feel like what we're after when turning up an amp is more natural compression and harmonics, which are sometimes hard to get lower on the volume dial (on the amp). I don't know if this would work with every amp, b/c the Champ is a fairly compressed sounding amp anyway (to my ears) and the Bud has the Input Gain knob, which adds more amp compression as you turn it up.

Discuss, brothers.

I have an odd case. I have a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus (94 Watts; it can be very LOUD) which is fed from a ZOOM G7.1ut Guitar Effects Console. The console has its own preamp. This combination enables me to both play out in clubs, as well as practice at home without disturbing anyone else, without headphones. Despite practicing at low volume at night, I still hear all the overdrive effect tones, as they would sound were I playing out.

 

[Telecasterless]

My only issue with this is that for practice situations alone, the amp noise is much louder. I just hate amp noise when it is otherwise pretty quiet around me.

In a jam with others or a gig, not an issue.