"tweakers"

[cotlod]

It seems that every time I pick up the guitar, I am always "tweaking" the settings on my amp, some times a little here and there, sometimes quite a bit; should I be concerned or is this normal?

tweakers unite
I need "tweaking" rehab

 

[screamingdaisy]

It's normal, and I feel it's a good thing.

I've come across too many good guitar players who don't have a clue about how to play their amp, and their tone sufferes because of it.

 

[mloiaco]

I've had the "tweaking" problem ever since I received my Road King and my John Petrucci EBMM. I've played guitar since I was 10, and now I'm 22, and it is the first time that I have good gear.

I spend more time tweaking than actually practicing - That's a problem that I'm working on fixing.

By the way, I agree completely with screamingdaisy's comment regarding good players and their poor tone. I know a lot of great players who setup their amp the day they bought it, and haven't touched the settings since then.

 

[Vshine]

i used to tweak my old Crate amp as I could never ever find the right sound. After I got my Single 50, I found everything I wanted and just a few turns gets such different sounds. Now I pretty much keep the settings the same and experiment with the volume levels on the PRS.

 

[mloiaco]

i used to tweak my old Crate amp as I could never ever find the right sound.

That's the exact opposite problem with the RK - every sound is so wonderful and unique that I can't wait to see what new tone I can dial in next. The fact that the RK has 5 different power section choices for each of the four channels makes tweaking that much more fun; not only do I spend tons of time dialing in new tones, but then I see how each of those tones sound with different tube combinations....Then with different rectifier, variac, and speaker combinations.

I feel bad for the other people in my house who have to listen to me play the same passage 20 times - each with a different tone.

 

[Red Barchetta]

I find that I do more tweaking on my RK combo when I'm in my practice room at home. When I'm on stage with the band, the tone is tweaked at the beginning of the night according to the venue, and that's it. I may do minor adjustments, of course, but primarily, I find my "niche" in the sound of the band, and let 'er rip!


RB

 

[Inearthed]

Once you've experienced your amp enough the tweaking will probably ease up. I used to spend band practice looking directly at my amp and adjusting knobs a slight turn here and there to experiment with different sounds but now I have a sort of 'preferred setting' and then I tweak it to taste (adjust according to venue or other amps being used).

Recording on the other hand is a totally different situation. We literally spent hours tweaking mic setups and amp settings before we found something that we really thought would work.

 

[Red Barchetta]

I have to agree with Inearthed....once you get to know the amp, the tweaking will subside. As far as recording, and now that I think about it, Live too...I usually adjust the position of the mic for front of house mix or for cutting a track. As some might have read in an earlier post, I use the Senheiser e609 mic for my rig. It is a fantastic mic, especially for, but not just for live sound, regardless of the price.

Some persons newer to micing a guitar rig may be surprised just how many tonal "tweaks" can be accomplished by just moving your microphone around the cabinet, or closer or farther away....

Hell, just tweak until it sounds good to you...then rawk owt, dooood.


RB