Guitar Amp Settings

Guitar Amp Settings and How They're Used

Guitar amp settings are the changes that create different sounds from the same guitar. To understand guitar amp settings, you first have to understand the principles of a guitar amp.

The basic idea of the amplifier is to recreate the sound that originates in the guitar. When it's projected, that sound should be as close to the original sound as possible. But many guitar players have abandoned this as their aim. Guitar amp settings now offer the artist a chance to offer a range of sounds - including different areas of distortion and volume.

Guitar amp settings on the average speaker might include volume, treble, bass, the middle, and equalizer or tone control. The equalizer or tone control of guitar amp settings usually consists of three separate knobs. There are many other possible settings.

If you handed a painter a tray with unlimited colors and said "paint the flower red," that painter could paint the flower any of a myriad of shades of red. That's the same option guitar amp settings give the musician. Each individual knob does a different job and each small twist makes the sound a little different. Even if two people start at the same place and verbally agree on what sound they want to end up with, they will likely have two different sounds when they are done. Guitar amp settings give the guitarist the ability to push past the same sounds we have heard over and over again. To accomplish this, guitar amps now come with more and more options.

Guitar amp settings can be as simple as a volume knob with a narrow projection range, or can have dozens of ways to change the sound that's projected to the audience. Consider the Les Paul 5150. If you go to EVH Guitar Registry at www.wolfgangregistry.com and look at the guitar amp settings, you'll see the reviews musicians have given. Many of these reviews include details of what settings the musicians use. The Les Paul 5150 has ten different knobs, each controlling a different aspect of sound. With this amp (or dozens of other quality products) and a bit of imagination, each song will sound differently when you play it. You could spend all day and still not be sure which one was your favorite.

Also be sure to check out our pages about Guitar Amp Reviews, Bass Guitar Amps, Used Guitar Amps, Guitar Amp Switching System, and Guitar Amplifier Kits elsewhere on this site.