Still rockin’? I hope so! Now you’ve got your amp and effects set up, lets have a closer look at the controls found on them. Here are some tips on getting a good sound. Now remember, what might sound good to one person might not sound so good to another, so these are merely guidelines on how to go about achieving the sound you want.
No matter what amp or effects unit you have. Chances are you will have access to some sort of tone control. By tone control I mean your basic treble, bass, and mid, and if you are using your dirty (overdrive/distortion) channel, a gain, and maybe even presence control.

Most amps have at least some of these controls, but if you are using multi-effects you will probably have even more tone shaping at your disposal. Refer to your amp/multi-effects manual for more info.

Now, before we move on, I would just like to say that when adjusting your sound, you will hear a slight change in tone at higher volumes. Don’t worry, this is normal. Adjusting your sound for practice or recording level, is a completely different world than when playing in a live situation, as sound reacts differently at higher volume levels. Just keep your ears open!

Right, so now you’re all set up, here are a few pointers:

Firstly, you will probably be better to set all of your controls to 12 o’clock (volume control adjusted to suit). This is referred to as “flat eq”, and is a good place to start.

Secondly, adjust the gain control to your taste, as this will determine the amount of overdrive/distortion in the overall sound. Clean channels wont have this on usually but if so, it should probably be set to a low level to avoid unwanted distortion.

When setting up my own sounds, I usually approach them in this order, as adding gain often adds more bass, which we can then turn down a bit if it is too much.

Now to tackle the mids, treble and presence controls…

Depending on the sound you want, you will probably be best to play with these until you find what you want, as both of these controls can radically change the sound. Too much treble can be ear piercing with some settings, and not enough mids can make your sound almost transparent.

As a general rule, “scooping” the mids (turning them down to zero) will only usually be suitable for rhythm playing, as at least some mids are needed to cut through the mix at all. The more you crank the mids, the more “warmth” the sound will have, and you will often find yourself turning the gain and bass down to compensate.

Treble control: If you are a lead player, you will probably want this to be turned up a bit to make single notes and harmonics clear. If you play rhythm or clean guitar you might want to try a lower setting, depending on your style.

Presence control: As the name suggests, this control makes your sound more prominent. At a lower setting, this can be useful for smoothing a sound out whilst keeping those harmonics. However, if you want in your face rhythm and lead sounds, crank it up!

Now, if you are playing lead, and wanting tight rhythm sounds, it may be best to set the gain control to the point where it starts to fuzz, and then roll it back a bit. This is my personal preference. Too much gain can ruin a great sound, and quite often, you actually need less than you first think.

A note about “contour” controls. These controls are sometimes the only controls found on certain amps, along with a gain control for the dirty channel. All this does is scoop some of the mids out of the overall sound, a bit like a tone control subtracts treble. Turning the control one way will scoop more mids, and the opposite way, less mids, resulting in a totally different sound.

On another note (pun intended), a great sound starts with a great sound. Don’t start layering effects on top of a sound hoping it will make you sound better. The aim is to play the notes as clean as possible and add colour to the sound with effects, unless of course you want to sound like a chainsaw?…

So there you have it. Hope this has helped with the tweaking of your sound to get the tone you are looking for.

Always use your ears, and experiment with different settings, even if they do appear a bit strange. you never know… you might get lucky!

Keep on practising!

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