Using One Amp Setting With Different Guitars

[Fro]

I put this in the lounge because it’s not just an Axe Fx question, but an amp/guitar question in general. It just becomes easier to do with the Axe Fx. How many of you do mild, or even drastic tweaking or amp changing when you use different guitars? I had always been under the assumption that you need to dial in each amp to suit each guitar specifically. Going under this philosophy, I’ve been traveling down many a rabbit hole over the years.

I’ve been mostly a Telecaster player for the past few years. I’ve actually struggled quite a bit whenever messing with my humbucker guitars. I have a box of pickups that I’ve swapped out and have done a lot of amp tweaking and tone chasing. Whenever I played a different guitar, I’ve always immediately started tweaking my amps to get each different guitar to sound a certain way.

I recently picked up a 1973 Les Paul with original T-Tops, and I’ve been really happy with the tone. Surprisingly, I’ve been using all of the same patches that I use with my Tele with no tweaking at all. As a result, I think my ear is slowly becoming more open and accepting to a wider variety of tones, not just this one tone in my head. I’m finding myself less apt to tweak the amp to make every guitar sound relatively the same.

I had even more of a realization yesterday when I watched the new Joe Bonamassa Rig Rundown. He basically has one amp, and one drive pedal, but several guitars with a wide variety of tone. They never once mention changing anything when he changes guitars. Same amp and same pedal dialed in the same way for each guitar. And I know I’ve seen other Rig Rundown’s with the same philosophy.

That brings me back to my original question: How many of you dial in an amp, or pick and amp, specifically for one guitar or guitar type? And how many of you stick with one amp and don’t change anything no matter what guitar you use? I’m going to force myself to do the latter for a while so I can learn to appreciate the unique differences between various guitars.

Here is the Rig Rundown:

 

[Sonofiam]

I tend to leave the amp/preset alone and use the guitar that fits the song the best or tone that's needed. The only time any adjustment is needed would be a slight volume boost if a guitar with high output pickups is used in a set with a guitar with low output pickups and the volume difference is drastic.

 

[Geezerjohn]

I used to tweak the amps to suit the Guitar’s, but I have had to rethink that. I now use the amp with no tweaking and allow the Guitar’s voice to sing. As time goes by, I appreciate the fractal even more as it models so accurately that each guitars distinctive voice can really shine.

 

[EG 2006]

I enjoyed reading your post and it is something I have thought about. I often find myself tweaking amps to match the guitar and when I think about it, have nearly always done so. Coincidentally, in the past few days I have added in some Celestion IR's to my XL+ and I've never heard it sound better. I have now dialled in great tones with my favourite guitar whilst leaving the settings alone when playing other guitars. Really highlights the different tones that each guitar offers. I'm all for it. Set the rig up how you want it then leave well enough alone.

 

[GM Arts]

For me, the amp is the one thing I change between guitars, but it's nothing to obsess over. Usually just dialling in the drive level and tone controls to suit, just like you would with any real amp.

I have had some multi-guitar success using a GEQ as the first block in the signal chain saved with global blocks to suit different guitars, so that's another option. The GEQ is used to modify tone (obviously) and also the output level affects the amp drive level. Using a global block for each guitar makes it easy to insert into any patch, and if it needs a little tweaking, it instantly affects all patches that use it.

 

[TG3K]

I use a different preset for every song we play in the band, and usually use a specific guitar for each song. (I bring 4 guitars and a guitar synth to each gig.) But there are times when I'll use a different guitar for a song than I usually would. It depends on my mood, saving time between songs, or whatever. Of the four regular guitars I bring, two have humbuckers and two have single coils (both Strats). One of the humbucker guitars will have a whammy; the other will have a fixed bridge. And one Strat will be in E and the other in Eb. From time to time I'll bring different guitars within those parameters just to change things up at the gig. For example, my "E" Strat might be one of several I own, each with different pups. I rotate those around on a whim. Or my "fixed bridge" humbucker guitar might be one that I can split coils on, so I'll occasionally use it on one of my "Strat" songs.

All that said, I don't tweak my amp settings (other than changing presets) when I change guitars.

 

[Mark-B]

I switch out guitars to get different sounds. I tried doing things the other way around for a couple of years - tuning my amp to guitars, multiple patches, but, for whatever reason - and I think it was just the aggravation of dialing in “that exact sound” every-single-time I needed a mere tweak in tone - ...it just didn’t work out..

For me, it was (and still is) a lot easier to pick up a hotter guitar for a wilder series of tones (for example), than to run back and forth to the amp - micro-tweaking - so I can get my smile back.