The Guitar Resource » Guitar Hardware

Master Volume and Gain – Finding The Sweet Spot.

Corey — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:48:01 +0000

Sometimes, new guitarists can get confused by the volume and gain knobs on their amp because when you turn them, they seem to be almost doing the same thing - just making the amp louder. However, if you pay more attention, you will notice a great deal of difference between the two controls. It doesn't matter if you are playing through a brand new Fender Mustang amp or an old vintage boutique amp.

As a rock guitar player myself, I could probably take the easy route and tell you that your guitar amp's sweet spot is found simply by setting everything on ten! However, we all know that doing this can sometimes induce ear aches and noise complaints. Let's take a bit more of a scientific approach instead.

The first thing you absolutely need to know is the difference between volume and gain.

Volume -- What you are basically doing when you turn that volume knob is control your amp's power section signal or the loudness of the amp. This know is going to let you control how loud or quiet your guitar will be.

Gain -- Even though you are hearing your volume increase as you turn up the gain, what you are really doing is adjusting the input sensitivity level. This is used to break up your tone and give you the distorted rock sound.

There are many different approaches to finding the best mix of volume and gain settings. When I am dialing in a tone on an amp, I like to begin with my volume knob and first set the desired output level. Next, begin adding gain by slowly turning your gain knob up. Take the gain up a notch or two and play your guitar for a while. Listen carefully to the tone and make a mental note on the quality of the tone. Keep doing this until you have found your desired tone.

You may find that a setting that you love today, sounds horrible the next day because of various factors like possible ear fatigue. This approach is something that you might have to do a number of times before you finally settle on the right mix between your gain and volume settings. However, taking the time to hone in on this will surely result in the perfect guitar tone.

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Post tags: guitar amps, guitar tone, tube amp

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The Importance of a Great “Set-Up”

Joe — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 04:10:35 +0000

Here is a great article on getting your guitar set-up I received from one of my readers, Giles Dickerson. Thanks Giles for the great article! If you would like to submit content to be posted on this site please contact me.

Following the purchase of my used PRS electric guitar my friend told me he'd refer me to someone to get it "set up". Just beginning on guitar back then I wasn't really clear on what this meant. Let me tell you, it means the world. I suggested I save some time and get it set up at the local music shop (which incidentally is out of business now), his immediate reaction was "No way dude, I have a guy for you". So began the amazing experience I had with Richie's Guitar Shop in the East Village, only a stones throw over the Manhattan bridge.

My friend set me up with a referral with Richie (he's by referral only) and I headed over to the shop. We got there a little early so we ended up testing the deep fried hot dogs and beer up the street from him at Griff Dogs. Entering Richie's shop is amazing. Guitars everywhere! It's an apartment but it is clearly his workshop/labor of love. His custom 12 string electrics are on the wall, his custom Strats lined up on stands on the floors, custom Tele's on the other wall, and a wealth of pickups and tuners and any other possible mechanical item a guitar could require in fantastically organized rows only a space challenged New Yorker could dream up an organizational strategy for.
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Getting to know your guitar’s hardware

Joe — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:31:00 +0000

If you are not already familiar with your guitar’s hardware then you should read this post. Knowing your guitars hardware is important because the more familiar you are with your instrument, the more control you will have over it. You should know all the main hardware for your guitar. (Especially if you ever consider making any modifications to your guitar).
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Learning your guitar’s fretboard

Joe — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:13:00 +0000

Now that you know what notes are and how they work (Click here to see the last lesson if you don’t), we can apply it to you guitar’s fretboard.

Now that we know the order of the notes, we can figure out what all the notes are on your guitar. Let’s start with the open strings (an open string is a string played open, without your hand fretting it at all. If you pick any one of your guitar strings without touching it, that an open string)
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