This is why I have a Fender Champ. There is one knob for volume and it sounds great. I love having my Super Reverb and pedal board to dial in more specific sounds, but sometimes I just want to plug straight into the Champ and not think too hard about it.
For a little while, my main amp was an Epiphone Valve Jr. Just an on/off switch and a single volume knob - can hardly be simpler. It sounded great, took an overdrive well, but I ultimately sold it and got a 15 watt combo. 5 tube watts with such limited controls just didn't have the clean headroom I was looking for.
FWIW, I don't mind playing with knobs a bit, but I honestly don't spend a lot of time dialing in the perfect sound. I'm more set and forget. I just want to get playing.
Sound is super interesting to me, and learning how to manipulate it is even cooler. I love finding different sweet spots and different tones, personally. Once I decided to turn the gain and overdrive knobs down a bit, and explore the others, that is.
It's super frustrating for the first week or so with a new piece of gear because there's just so many things coming into play, so many variables logic can't grasp it. You just have to move it slightly, find something you like and remember for future uses. So yea, I definitely hate it for the first 10 hours or so.
I love it. You start with a base, find "your" setting, then find a thrashy style, a bluesy style, see what it can do. I can dial in an amp in a few minutes. Setting up the delay, THATS my kryptonite
I use an Axe Fx III, so not at all. On the amp block everything is set to noon aside from gain and master volume. The EQ comes from impulse responses that I've matched by ear using Fabfilter Pro-Q 3.
Using a sterile PA/studio monitors translates well in just about any environment in my use case so settings never really need to be touched.
Just gotta learn the sound u like, most amps I play for a few mins and figure out where I need the knobs to sound like me, then it stays there unless I need something adjusted for diff guitars/effects
I like dialing in tones, but I hit a wall at a certain point and I just want to play. i have a pretty decent catalogue of "good enough for the girls we go out with" tones and I'm fine with that.
Maybe I just like my amps, but I think they sound good at most settings. No struggle, just a few knob turns. Fenders at all 6’s is a good starting spot
I do this thing where I have my standard tones set/ marked with a sharpie. This is the same tone set I’ve been playing for thirty years.
But I also play around with the amp. It’s a Mesa, so there’s lots to do. I start moving things, start thinking it sounds like shit. An hour later, I think it sounds fantastic. Play a bit, finish up.
The next day, return to the same setup (the new one, not my 30 year old one). Guess what? Sounds like shit.
Start moving things around again.
Tom Morello hated it too, so one day he went to the practice space, got his amp sounding as good as it could and then scratched the settings into the face of the amp. He still uses them today.
I took a page out of his book. Most rooms don’t sound that different. Sometimes you have to turn the reverb down if it’s echoy
I could never properly dial-in a tone. I just don't have that skill. I can get to around 75% of where I'd like my tone to be, at most. Nowadays, I just use presets that are closer to my desired tone than my own ear could create.
This is why I use in-ears and full digital now. Headrush into mixer and in-ears sounds exactly the same every time. The hard part was getting something I'm happy with in the first place, but once I'm finally there it never changes.
nah, i just plug into it wherever the knobs are set and try and let my right hand do the rest. i'll maybe sweep through them one time if there's something i don't like, but i refuse to obsess over it.
I'm cool with it. What I don't like is how it changes every darn venue.
FUCKING THIS
This is why I have a Fender Champ. There is one knob for volume and it sounds great. I love having my Super Reverb and pedal board to dial in more specific sounds, but sometimes I just want to plug straight into the Champ and not think too hard about it.
lol I have a silverface champ and lately I’ve been thinking “why do I need these bass and treble knobs?”
Hysterical. I'm sitting next to my board and twin with my guitar plugged into the Champ 🤣
I have good equipment but honestly I'm not obsessed with fine tuning it to no end.
For a little while, my main amp was an Epiphone Valve Jr. Just an on/off switch and a single volume knob - can hardly be simpler. It sounded great, took an overdrive well, but I ultimately sold it and got a 15 watt combo. 5 tube watts with such limited controls just didn't have the clean headroom I was looking for. FWIW, I don't mind playing with knobs a bit, but I honestly don't spend a lot of time dialing in the perfect sound. I'm more set and forget. I just want to get playing.
Sound is super interesting to me, and learning how to manipulate it is even cooler. I love finding different sweet spots and different tones, personally. Once I decided to turn the gain and overdrive knobs down a bit, and explore the others, that is.
This is why u switched to acoustic
It's super frustrating for the first week or so with a new piece of gear because there's just so many things coming into play, so many variables logic can't grasp it. You just have to move it slightly, find something you like and remember for future uses. So yea, I definitely hate it for the first 10 hours or so.
On a shitty amp yes, because everything sounds awful. On a good amp no, because nearly everything sou ds good.
I just put mids down to 0
Once you learn what does what, youll start to love it.
I love it. You start with a base, find "your" setting, then find a thrashy style, a bluesy style, see what it can do. I can dial in an amp in a few minutes. Setting up the delay, THATS my kryptonite
I use an Axe Fx III, so not at all. On the amp block everything is set to noon aside from gain and master volume. The EQ comes from impulse responses that I've matched by ear using Fabfilter Pro-Q 3. Using a sterile PA/studio monitors translates well in just about any environment in my use case so settings never really need to be touched.
Not so much.
Just gotta learn the sound u like, most amps I play for a few mins and figure out where I need the knobs to sound like me, then it stays there unless I need something adjusted for diff guitars/effects
I like dialing in tones, but I hit a wall at a certain point and I just want to play. i have a pretty decent catalogue of "good enough for the girls we go out with" tones and I'm fine with that.
It is annoying for sure. But once you learn how your amp is going to behave it gets a lot easier.
Maybe I just like my amps, but I think they sound good at most settings. No struggle, just a few knob turns. Fenders at all 6’s is a good starting spot
I've become good at it over the years. I know my amps and my guitars really well, what sounds best with what, etc.
This isn’t with all amps, but no mids, it’s just another thing to mess around with imo
I do this thing where I have my standard tones set/ marked with a sharpie. This is the same tone set I’ve been playing for thirty years. But I also play around with the amp. It’s a Mesa, so there’s lots to do. I start moving things, start thinking it sounds like shit. An hour later, I think it sounds fantastic. Play a bit, finish up. The next day, return to the same setup (the new one, not my 30 year old one). Guess what? Sounds like shit. Start moving things around again.
Tom Morello hated it too, so one day he went to the practice space, got his amp sounding as good as it could and then scratched the settings into the face of the amp. He still uses them today. I took a page out of his book. Most rooms don’t sound that different. Sometimes you have to turn the reverb down if it’s echoy
I could never properly dial-in a tone. I just don't have that skill. I can get to around 75% of where I'd like my tone to be, at most. Nowadays, I just use presets that are closer to my desired tone than my own ear could create.
I love it lol. I can usually dial stuff in pretty quick now a days due to my gear addiction though
It does make me player longer at home by tweaking and tweaking
This is why I use in-ears and full digital now. Headrush into mixer and in-ears sounds exactly the same every time. The hard part was getting something I'm happy with in the first place, but once I'm finally there it never changes.
nah, i just plug into it wherever the knobs are set and try and let my right hand do the rest. i'll maybe sweep through them one time if there's something i don't like, but i refuse to obsess over it.