Avoiding G.A.S Part 1: Assembling the Classic Amp Setup

September 17, 1998

This introductory column will deal with perhaps the most common guitar rig, at least in the realm of blues and alternative rock: the classic "guitar into pedals into vintage-style amp" setup.

For many, advantages such as portability, ease of use and relative cost effectiveness make this the ideal choice for club gigs. Another key advantage of this approach is that backup pedals are fairly cheap and if your amp goes down, you can still approximate your sound by running your pedals into another amp, or in a worst case scenerio, directly into the board (but at least you can still play the gig). By comparison, if your multi-channel amp dies or your rack preamp goes down, you're dead in the water.

For the benefit of those who are considering buying their first guitar, or perhaps want a complete overhaul of their system, let's approach the assembly of a gig-quality rig from scratch.

Starting from scratch, the key to assembling any usable guitar rig is accepting the notion that the components you mate need to sound good TOGETHER. No amp sounds great with every guitar. No distortion pedal works perfectly in every situation and there is no guitar that fits every player's style.

So before you haphazardly buy an amp, a guitar and a few pedals and hope they sound good together (the point here is to avoid trial and error), think back to eighth grade science class. Remember when you did experiments in class? There was always a "control group" to compare and contrast your test subjects against. Adopt that logic when buying a guitar rig. In other words, how can you compare amplifiers if you don't hear them all with the same guitar? When trying out guitars, make sure to test them utilizing a "control group" (i.e., the same amp). If you already have an amp and guitar, make sure to bring them both to the store when seeking out that perfect distortion.

In other words, it's important that a player decides on one component before moving on to choose others. For most, that means first choosing a guitar. In such a case, now's the time when paying attention to what your hero plays is important. If you love Stevie Ray's tone, a Strat is the obvious choice. If you like KISS, grab a Les Paul. If you dig R.E.M., find a Rickenbacker. If you're into Korn, you'd best seek out a seven string. THEN find the amp that brings out the most in that particular guitar.

Conversely, you may be the kind of guy who loves the aural power and striking visual image of a Marshall stack blasting behind you. Get that amp... but after that, NEVER buy a guitar without hearing it through your amp first.

In either case, the best way to avoid trial and error is first COMMITTING to the one particular piece of equipment that embodies the sound/look/image/feel/vibe you're going after. Then systematically add pieces that you know will enhance its sound.

So let's move on to amps. There are three types of "vintage style" amps: Marshall style, Fender style, and Vox style. Volumes have been written about tube type, "negative feedback loops," and other forms of geek speak to describe why each style amp sounds different, so I'm not going to get into that now. However, what makes these amps "vintage" is the lack of a master volume or "cascading preamp" section to generate distortion. This means that to generate overdrive/distortion, you either have to crank them up really loud, or use the more practical approach of running the amp clean and placing a distortion pedal in front of it. The reason I feel this pedal/vintage amp situation works well, especially for live use, is that you only have one volume control to worry about. On a multiple channel amp, you have to separately adjust levels to get your clean and dirty sounds balanced correctly on stage. In a rack system, sometimes you have a few dozen "patches" to worry about. With the vintage amp setup, just set your dirt pedal so that it's even with the "bypassed" sound, forget about it and adjust your one volume control according to the gig.

That said, I'd like to take this opportunity to make some general suggestions as to what types of amps/pedals/guitars work well together. For starters, the all-time classic rock and roll guitar/amp setups are Gibson into a Marshall, Fender into a Fender, and Rickenbacker (or Gretsch) into a Vox. Having tried all possible combinations of the above, I can personally attest that these match-ups are not flukes. The Gibson, for example, sounds harsh through the Fender when I kick on the distortion. The Fender sounds a bit dull through the Marshall. Conversely, anyone who has ever heard a Beatles record knows how good a Ric can sound through a Vox. Please note, however, that these are only starting points and there are many exceptions. For example, Hendrix sounded killer with a Fender through a Marshall "Plexi." Ted Nugent gets legendary tone with a Gibson Byrdland through a Fender Bassman. So use the above as guidelines, but then seek your own unique voice. Also, if you are looking for something different, don't rule out unusual (and less expensive) choices like a Roland Jazz Chorus, GK 250 ML, or Peavey Nashville 400.

When it's time to choose a dirt pedal, consider that the Strat you own has a "V-shaped" EQ curve. Therefore a TS-9 (Tube Screamer) might work well because it has a pronounced midrange. On the other hand, your Les Paul has gobs of midrange, so TS-9s tend to sound harsh. Better choices for a Les Paul are dirt boxes with "V-shaped" EQ curves (notice a pattern here?). A good example is the Danelectro Fab Tone. Also familiarize yourself with the tonal differences between "distortion," "overdrive," and "fuzz." Regardless, you can have loads of fun trying your favorite guitar through the hundreds of dirt boxes out there.

Finally, the true beauty of a guitar/pedals/vintage amp setup comes when it's time to play a variety of styles. Let's say you have a hankerin' to learn country or rockabilly. Go find yourself a compression pedal, volume pedal and maybe a short delay. Wanna play jazz? Leave the distortion at home but tote along a stomp box chorus. Need a heavier sound for your alt. rock band, but a smoother sound for weekend wedding gigs? You can go buy a second dirt box to change your tone without having to replace the entire rig.

In a nutshell, this amp configuration offers the most versatility, the greatest simplicity/ease of use and best tone for the fewest bucks. Plus, you can add pieces as you can afford them vs. having to buy the whole thing in one shot. That's why it's the choice of club musicians everywhere.

The next two columns will delve into rack systems and "modern-style" amps. After that we’ll get into the particulars of speaker cabinets, speakers and tubes. In the mean time, happy hunting!!!

Brett Ratner is a contributor to Guitar Player, Musician, Electronic Musician and Music & Computers. He also spent two years as the Creative Writer for www.gibson.com. Currently, Brett plays sessions and performs regularly around Nashville with the band Katoorah Jayne.