urowinner
Member
I've been diving into learning about tone and came across an interesting passage in "Creative Guitar 1: Cutting Edge Techniques" by Guthrie Govan:
"It's worth bearing in mind that there are two distinct kinds of overdrive. The first is generated by the pre-amp (the tone shaping part of the amp where the gain and tone controls live) and is characterized by a fuzzy sound quality that will be familiar to anyone who's tried to make their amp sound nasty at low volume levels. The second is the result of overdriving the power amp (the part of the amp responsible for overall volume level, courtesy of the Master Volume Knob). This type of overdrive tends to sound more musical - the guitar still feels responsive and you still get all the sustain you could ask for, but the overall timbre is a lot smoother, with none of the buzzy abrasiveness of pre-amp distortion"
Many of you probably already know the information in the previous paragraph, but for me it seems a very helpful way of understanding what I'm trying to dial in on the AxeFxII.
Just thought there might be others out there who might benefit from Guthrie's explanation of overdrive.
Please let me know if there is more to the picture that I'm unaware of. Since the AxeFx models so many different amps, it doesn't take long to discover that different amp models respond differently to drive vs master volume settings.
Would you agree that it's fair to approach tone on the AxeFx from the idea that "more fuzz=more Drive knob and smoother distortion=more master volume knob"?
"It's worth bearing in mind that there are two distinct kinds of overdrive. The first is generated by the pre-amp (the tone shaping part of the amp where the gain and tone controls live) and is characterized by a fuzzy sound quality that will be familiar to anyone who's tried to make their amp sound nasty at low volume levels. The second is the result of overdriving the power amp (the part of the amp responsible for overall volume level, courtesy of the Master Volume Knob). This type of overdrive tends to sound more musical - the guitar still feels responsive and you still get all the sustain you could ask for, but the overall timbre is a lot smoother, with none of the buzzy abrasiveness of pre-amp distortion"
Many of you probably already know the information in the previous paragraph, but for me it seems a very helpful way of understanding what I'm trying to dial in on the AxeFxII.
Just thought there might be others out there who might benefit from Guthrie's explanation of overdrive.
Please let me know if there is more to the picture that I'm unaware of. Since the AxeFx models so many different amps, it doesn't take long to discover that different amp models respond differently to drive vs master volume settings.
Would you agree that it's fair to approach tone on the AxeFx from the idea that "more fuzz=more Drive knob and smoother distortion=more master volume knob"?