How important are your amp tones... really?

[northern_fox]

I don't go quite that far.

Tones are important. But the differences between amps are not as important as we sometimes think.

For instance, this song doesn't work with a small Fender tweed combo on my Axe FX 3, because the amp simply doesn't do the slightly scooped aggressive high-gain thing I'm after. So that's a difference that does matter.

But the brand loyalty thing... that's kinda what I'm getting at. Marshall, Diezel, Orange, EVH, Laney, Revv... whatever... it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, they can all dial in the tones I want.

Yeah - definitely it matters to the extent that the amp can produce a tone in the right ballpark. Definitely can't really eq match a fender to a recto

 

[Baba]

For us guitar players it's fun obsessing over the fine details, even if they get buried in a mix. I don't think most guitarist consider how their amp would sound in a mix when they are buying it, they just want something that sounds good to them when playing by themselves, playing with a band etc.

Lol, 90% of my playing is live, with my band, and 100% of my obsessing is this, listening to my guitar, alone, at home, trying to decide how it should sound. What a narrow prison I create. The thought is, "if I like the way it sounds, and it feels good, I'll just take all of that to the stage", which, is mostly true, but, yeah, I'm sure what ends up being heard, in the mix, is a far cry from what I'm hearing at home.

That includes what *I am hearing too, as I use IEMs, but mostly for vocals and ear protection, I keep my guitar pretty low in them and get most of my guitar from the stage wash.

 

[AlbertA]

I honestly think that all this forum and Youtube stuff leads guitarists down the garden path. We focus on tone to the detriment of our creativity and songwriting.

I tend to view it more positively - in fact, focusing on tone for me has led me to trying to improve my dynamics, which ultimately results in more expressiveness.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The difference between what I seem to be dialing in vs. "what's heard in the mix" is still staggering to me, even after, well, decades of dealing with things.
An "experiment" never ceasing to amaze me: Dial in a reverb on any kind of rhythm tone (could be a lead tone, too, but it's easier noticeable this way). So much that you think "ok, this really shouldn't have more". It should defenitely not feel explicitely washed or whatever. Now record something with that tone along to a backing. Then listen. Where's your reverb now? Chances are it's pretty much gone. Soaked up by whatever is going on (needless to say this is much more drastic in case there's synth pads and/or cymbals). You may as well notice this (even if slightly less) while recording already. The playback is eating your precious (and possibly expensive) reverb for breakfast.
If you're doing this via plugins, you can also do it the other way around. Record, mix in reverb on the recorded file (again over a sort of busier backing for maximum effect) until you start to clearly notice the reverb, then stop things and just play through the sound on your own - chances are it'll feel all like a reverb-ish mess.
For me, doing such things and being astonished resulted in all my typical rhythm sounds (minus those that need to be washed or whatever) nowadays coming along bone dry. I couldn't be bothered anymore to dial in "a smidgen" of reverb. I rather keep things simple and enjoy the completely dry impact of my rhythm tones.

Fwiw, similar things go for other sound details. Low end on guitars? Unless you're really into low end chugging, it'll likely be eaten up by kick, bass and maybe even by some thicker pads. Alternatively it'll add mud. Top end will either struggle with cymbals or being eaten up as well, so I just try to keep it balanced and don't care any longer. I always try to find my way through things dialing in "comfortable" mids. Solo-ed, the sound often isn't anything to write home about, but I got absolutely used to that.

 

[northern_fox]

Lol, 90% of my playing is live, with my band, and 100% of my obsessing is this, listening to my guitar, alone, at home, trying to decide how it should sound. What a narrow prison I create. The thought is, "if I like the way it sounds, and it feels good, I'll just take all of that to the stage", which, is mostly true, but, yeah, I'm sure what ends up being heard, in the mix, is a far cry from what I'm hearing at home.

That includes what *I am hearing too, as I use IEMs, but mostly for vocals and ear protection, I keep my guitar pretty low in them and get most of my guitar from the stage wash.

Makes me happy at home and makes me happy on stage are usually super different and that drives a tweaking neuroticism for me that certainly takes away from time I should be practicing

 

[Sascha Franck]

Makes me happy at home and makes me happy on stage are usually super different and that drives a tweaking neuroticism for me that certainly takes away from time I should be practicing

Pretty much one of the reasons why I'm constantly trying to lobby for things such as global blocks and what not. I simply want to be able to modify all my homebrewn patches so they work live as well. And vice versa. With my current setup, that's possible, but it could be a lot easier.

 

[Baba]

Makes me happy at home and makes me happy on stage are usually super different and that drives a tweaking neuroticism for me that certainly takes away from time I should be practicing

1,000%

I recently got told by 2 different players, whom I respect, that my live tone sounded really good, and I was using the "worst" of my 3 options, (it's not bad at all, it just doesn't sound like the thunder of god at home, which proves your point).

Coincedentally, it's also the smallest and lightest of my 3 options, but nooooooo, the bigger stuff, at home, makes me feel better when I play it alone [/ waaaah crying voice].

I also got a chance to play with another guitar player last summer, when I was doing a fill-in gig, I had my head and cab, he had a few pedals into a small Fender, and I was jealous of how he sounded and cut through the mix.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I obsess over this stuff and its stupid, total waste of time, but I will continue to blow all my time on this nonsense

 

[la szum]

I'd rather get comnpliments on tone than playing. Both is best, though.