Guitar or Amp - which affects tone the most?

shaunm

So I have been watching a load of Phil X videos (I think he is really entertaining and talented) and I think a lot of the guitars sound very close. The only time I notice a big difference in tone is when he changes amp.

So which part of your tone chain do you view as the most important out of the guitar and amp?

Personally I think the amp informs the way I play more than the guitar I am playing.

guitarfishbay

Amp, speaker, speaker cab. All really important.

To me you can almost split guitars in to humbucker and single coil sounds. A Strat type and a H/H fat sounding thing (Les Paul) would cover a huge amount of ground tonally. Even with pickups I often feel like only broad stroke changes are worth it. If a guitar is average but the amp is great you should still get a great sound, it usually isn't as easy in reverse.

jd0272

Guitar (pickups) for me. If I use two guitars at one gig, with one amp, I have to take into account the guitar. The Esquire is very different to the Junior, or the humbuckered Les Paul.

jd0272

Good question btw. 

marantz1300

Amp.
A Squier into a great amp will sound better then a great guitar into a cheap amp.

shaunm

I certainly think price does have more impact with amps rather than guitars.

A good Epiphone LP does sound like a Gibson LP. (Feel is a different thing)

But an amp that costs £400 new does not sound like a £2000 amp. To my ears at least.

jd0272

A £2000 amp is only a good as the monkey operating the knobs. That said, same for guitars, Still, guitars for me.

Rowby1

It's a combination of all the bits working together well. From your fingers and/or pick to the speakers, it's all part of the instrument.

Though if forced I'd rather have to use a poor guitar with a good amp than the other way round.

shaunm

It's funny because I feel I do play differently on a 335 vs a Strat so it certainly informs the way I play but amps seems to inspire me to play a certain way. Perhaps a way that I feel gets the best from it rather than what suits my abilities.

I feel much more confident with a great sounding amp. A well set up guitar always feels good though

Rowby1

Strangely I was thinking of posting this very same question earlier this evening.

thomasross20

I'd think the amp has most effect. 

To be honest I mainly care about how the guitar FEELS - that's why I play expensive guitars through a valve-emulation amp (which sounds bloody good!). At the end of the day, the punter wont recognise the difference in sound. But the feel for me is paramount so that's where I spend the money.

Dave_Mc

I think it depends on what you're comparing- compare two similar guitars and the amp will appear more important, but compare two similar amps and the guitar will seem more important.

That being said, if push comes to shove I think amp is more important. But both are important, really.

UnclePsychosis

Amp.

I personally tend to think that the guys with the eighteen variants of strat all made of slightly different wood with slightly different pickups are kidding themselves more than a bit when it comes to tonal variation.

I certainly always laugh a bit when you see guys with loads of different guitars, justified by pointing out all the different sounds, but who only own one amp.

Teetonetal

Rowby1;662901" said:

It's a combination of all the bits working together well. From your fingers and/or pick to the speakers, it's all part of the instrument.Though if forced I'd rather have to use a poor guitar with a good amp than the other way round.

Depends on what you are trying to play.,, shredding an a very badly setup guitar is going to be a killer...

That said for me as long as guitars play well then i think the amp + pedals will have far greater bearing on sound than choice of guitar...

Well until someone sticks an sm57 in front of it!

The real answer though is that YOU affect the tone the most. You and i play the same rig, will sound totally different

shaunm

UnclePsychosis;662975" said:

Amp.

I personally tend to think that the guys with the eighteen variants of strat all made of slightly different wood with slightly different pickups are kidding themselves more than a bit when it comes to tonal variation.

I certainly always laugh a bit when you see guys with loads of different guitars, justified by pointing out all the different sounds, but who only own one amp.

Wisdom.

I always wonder about this. I love my Epi Sheraton and often think should I get a second one? Perhaps as mine has P90's and I could keep the other with HB's so I could justify the tonal difference.

impmann

A good amp is an instrument in itself - and it's the interaction of a given guitar and a given amp that makes up the sound.

But when you find an amp that seems to react the way you want it to, plugging different guitars (with different output levels etc) into it will give you variation but within the parameters you like.

Well, that's my opinion. :-)

markv

There's a quote from Pete Townshend to the effect that he always chooses the guitar to suit the amp, not the other way round. I always thought this made a lot of sense.

ICBM

Guitar. I tend to dial in all amps to sound the same, or as close to it as possible. Sometimes I succeed...

telehack

My own theory is that the two ends of the chain have the most effect - pickups and speakers. Once interesting thing is to listen to a piece of music and try to guess what guitar was used. It can be harder than you would think.

_Tom

EdGrip

Amp by a country mile. Here's a Tele and a 335, and a DR103 and a Tweed Champ. Show me again how the guitar is the biggest tonal factor?

EdGrip

I think, too, that a lot of people miss out on lots of fun by endlessly swapping pickups and never questioning the speaker.