Ignorance is bliss...

GuitarGuy08

GuitarGuy08

Well-known member
Funny how so many people online will say all strings, picks, speakers, tubes, etc sound the same. Dude, I can hear a difference if I switch a cable going between my guitar and the amp, even if that's all there is.

I didn't even bother at looking at certain things to 'fix' frequenccy issues I had, because so many people say it would not make an audible difference.

Took me 15 years to jump my strings up a gauge and fix a certain thin treble spike I have never liked in my rig.

I have recorded and documented the differences, but have never released anything.

Guitar picks all have a different sound or plink, same with guitar string manufacturers AND gauges.

Tubes absolutely change the sound, in a very easy to hear way.

Speakers are one of the biggest impacts your tone could have. I don't have super human hearing..... why do so many people say it doesn't make a difference? Can they honestly not hear it?

In my experience, every little piece of your setup affects the way it sounds, including the way that you specifically play. You may be a hard or soft picker, etc.

Every little nuance translates into the sound somehwere.

Maybe ignorance is bliss, because then you don't go down so many rabbit holes with tone.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
Funny how so many people online will say all strings, picks, speakers, tubes, etc sound the same. Dude, I can hear a difference if I switch a cable going between my guitar and the amp, even if that's all there is.

I didn't even bother at looking at certain things to 'fix' frequenccy issues I had, because so many people say it would not make an audible difference.

Took me 15 years to jump my strings up a gauge and fix a certain thin treble spike I have never liked in my rig.

I have recorded and documented the differences, but have never released anything.

Guitar picks all have a different sound or plink, same with guitar string manufacturers AND gauges.

Tubes absolutely change the sound, in a very easy to hear way.

Speakers are one of the biggest impacts your tone could have. I don't have super human hearing..... why do so many people say it doesn't make a difference? Can they honestly not hear it?

In my experience, every little piece of your setup affects the way it sounds, including the way that you specifically play. You may be a hard or soft picker, etc.

Every little nuance translates into the sound somehwere.

Maybe ignorance is bliss, because then you don't go down so many rabbit holes with tone.
Click to expand...
True story. Unfortunately I can tell when the humidity level has changed in the basement because the tone is different from the last time I played. Life would be so much easier if I just played bass! 😩
 
I'll add another one. Dr Z came up in my feed talking about extending tube life, and after watching his vid, I had to measure the wall voltage in my house. I was seeing fluctuations in power between 118-126V depending on time of day. I swear I might have sold amps that I thought sounded/felt awful, just because of what my power was doing that day. I got a Brown Box last year after seeing the vid, to somewhat regulate the power coming in, and I swear everything sounds way more consistent now. No more, sounding killer one day, then flipping it on the next and going "what happened"? You can kind of regulate the feel somewhat as well, as I'm finding I like most amps between 115-118V. You can feel the sag as you go lower.

edit:

 
I use a variac with a power strip to regulate the voltage. I like to run my amps at 117 volts.
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c+addict said:
True story. Unfortunately I can tell when the humidity level has changed in the basement because the tone is different from the last time I played. Life would be so much easier if I just played bass! 😩
Click to expand...
climate control is a constant battle in upstate NY, between humidifiers, dehumidifiers, heaters and AC, lol, I feel your pain. :giggle:
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
Funny how so many people online will say all strings, picks, speakers, tubes, etc sound the same. Dude, I can hear a difference if I switch a cable going between my guitar and the amp, even if that's all there is.

I didn't even bother at looking at certain things to 'fix' frequenccy issues I had, because so many people say it would not make an audible difference.

Took me 15 years to jump my strings up a gauge and fix a certain thin treble spike I have never liked in my rig.

I have recorded and documented the differences, but have never released anything.

Guitar picks all have a different sound or plink, same with guitar string manufacturers AND gauges.

Tubes absolutely change the sound, in a very easy to hear way.

Speakers are one of the biggest impacts your tone could have. I don't have super human hearing..... why do so many people say it doesn't make a difference? Can they honestly not hear it?

In my experience, every little piece of your setup affects the way it sounds, including the way that you specifically play. You may be a hard or soft picker, etc.

Every little nuance translates into the sound somehwere.

Maybe ignorance is bliss, because then you don't go down so many rabbit holes with tone.
Click to expand...
I think that everything affects everything and it will be grounded to the earth. Nice to see other people who feel similarly. :)
 
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GuitarGuy08 said:
Funny how so many people online will say all strings, picks, speakers, tubes, etc sound the same. Dude, I can hear a difference if I switch a cable going between my guitar and the amp, even if that's all there is.

I didn't even bother at looking at certain things to 'fix' frequenccy issues I had, because so many people say it would not make an audible difference.

Took me 15 years to jump my strings up a gauge and fix a certain thin treble spike I have never liked in my rig.

I have recorded and documented the differences, but have never released anything.

Guitar picks all have a different sound or plink, same with guitar string manufacturers AND gauges.

Tubes absolutely change the sound, in a very easy to hear way.

Speakers are one of the biggest impacts your tone could have. I don't have super human hearing..... why do so many people say it doesn't make a difference? Can they honestly not hear it?

In my experience, every little piece of your setup affects the way it sounds, including the way that you specifically play. You may be a hard or soft picker, etc.

Every little nuance translates into the sound somehwere.

Maybe ignorance is bliss, because then you don't go down so many rabbit holes with tone.
Click to expand...
Id love to read your findings . It be would be great . Things like this would make others think diffent. Great for my students too . Love the idea
 
How much different aspects matter is largely dependent on your playing style and what sort of tone(s) you're chasing.

Clean playing brings out a totally different set of nuances compared to high gain. Even in the high gain realm, the differences in a cranked Marshall vs a Mesa mark series are substantial. Getting into that mid gain, pushed, high gain clean-up territory opens up a whole other can of worms, and I think you can hear those a lot more clearly when volume levels start to get louder. If you use a lot of different tones, I think it becomes blatantly apparent compared to just finding one type of sound that works for you and living there forever.

For me, it's been a constant learning curve over decades of playing. Over time my ear zones in on things that I didn't pick up on in the past.

Of course there's probably a reasonable argument for convincing yourself that certain things don't matter, so you don't go down tone chasing rabbit holes & spend more time just playing.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
Funny how so many people online will say all strings, picks, speakers, tubes, etc sound the same. Dude, I can hear a difference if I switch a cable going between my guitar and the amp, even if that's all there is.

I didn't even bother at looking at certain things to 'fix' frequenccy issues I had, because so many people say it would not make an audible difference.

Took me 15 years to jump my strings up a gauge and fix a certain thin treble spike I have never liked in my rig.

I have recorded and documented the differences, but have never released anything.

Guitar picks all have a different sound or plink, same with guitar string manufacturers AND gauges.

Tubes absolutely change the sound, in a very easy to hear way.

Speakers are one of the biggest impacts your tone could have. I don't have super human hearing..... why do so many people say it doesn't make a difference? Can they honestly not hear it?

In my experience, every little piece of your setup affects the way it sounds, including the way that you specifically play. You may be a hard or soft picker, etc.

Every little nuance translates into the sound somehwere.

Maybe ignorance is bliss, because then you don't go down so many rabbit holes with tone.
Click to expand...
Just went through this with picks and tubes and they absolutely make a difference. I bought a few mixed bags of picks to try and played them with the same backing track and it was pretty eye-opening how much it influenced the tone.

Also, the final pick I landed on and a strap adjustment gave me a free +10bpm on a picking exercise I had been stuck on for months. Getting the right setup for your anatomy really helps.

Regarding preamp tubes - I just had one crack and blow in the v3 (clean slot). I mostly play on the dirty channel so I figured I would put whatever in there because I wouldn't hear it, but having different clean channel tubes absolutely influenced my dirt tone on this amp.

I've gone down the rabbit hole with strings, power, and cables etc purely by accident and its nice to see someone else come to the same conclusion.
 
Erock said:
I'll add another one. Dr Z came up in my feed talking about extending tube life, and after watching his vid, I had to measure the wall voltage in my house. I was seeing fluctuations in power between 118-126V depending on time of day. I swear I might have sold amps that I thought sounded/felt awful, just because of what my power was doing that day. I got a Brown Box last year after seeing the vid, to somewhat regulate the power coming in, and I swear everything sounds way more consistent now. No more, sounding killer one day, then flipping it on the next and going "what happened"? You can kind of regulate the feel somewhat as well, as I'm finding I like most amps between 115-118V. You can feel the sag as you go lower.

edit:

Click to expand...

You read my mind!! After lots of research and certain anomalies, like tone changing akin to what you have described, I have recently decided I need to check the consistency of my wall voltage.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
You read my mind!! After lots of research and certain anomalies, like tone changing akin to what you have described, I have recently decided I need to check the consistency of my wall voltage.
Click to expand...
You saying you're a couple volts short of a 110 or what? :LOL:

Just messing around. Good morning brother, hope you are feeling well!
 
Erock said:
I'll add another one. Dr Z came up in my feed talking about extending tube life, and after watching his vid, I had to measure the wall voltage in my house. I was seeing fluctuations in power between 118-126V depending on time of day. I swear I might have sold amps that I thought sounded/felt awful, just because of what my power was doing that day. I got a Brown Box last year after seeing the vid, to somewhat regulate the power coming in, and I swear everything sounds way more consistent now. No more, sounding killer one day, then flipping it on the next and going "what happened"? You can kind of regulate the feel somewhat as well, as I'm finding I like most amps between 115-118V. You can feel the sag as you go lower.

edit:

Click to expand...

This is exactly what happened to me. I had a Limewire power strip that was giving faulty readings of around 118-120. I never thought to pull out a meter and measure it at the wall. I was getting up to 127. I’m also positive that I’ve sold amps because of the fluctuation in tone and response. I ended up buying a Black Lion regulated power supply that keeps me at 120V no matter what line power is doing. No issues for over two years now.
 
A big YES to all this ^^^^^.

Everything affects everything, and I hear even the smallest difference when it comes to tubes, cables, strings etc etc. Sometimes, I switch from my better instrument cables to the cheap ones because I don't want to hear that small detail in the tone that I get with the more expensive cables.

Regarding power, I also use a variac mostly because my 72 Marshall is expecting 110v vs 125v, and that might explain why so many vintage Marshalls I see for sale have replaced PTs. Back in the early 70s power was closer to 110v vs today at 125v....
 
fortunately my process isn't very detailed or nuanced. Do I like the sound or not? Minor tweaks if needed. That's it.

I use basic Fender picks of different thicknesses, mostly medium. These can be found nearly everywhere.
On most of my guitars I use cheap EHX strings that I buy in bulk during MF accessory sales.
I have a bunch of instrument cables from no-name / who knows, Boss/Roland, Mogami, etc., of varying lengths, though I tend to use shorter, 10' - 12' foot cables or wireless...I use whatever is around within reach...
 
The higher the line voltage at the outlet the higher the plate current. Here's the same Sylvania 415 tested on my Maxi Matcher at 110, 115, 120 and 125 volts. I started checking the line voltage after I had a tube redplate. The highest I measured was 136 volts in the middle of the night.
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I never check my home voltage...except with my rack gear, I usually have a Furman power conditioner with a volt meter (edit: in my racks). If it fluctuates widely, then maybe a voltage regulator would be a good idea?

If I'm not using something, I'll keep it unplugged from any power sources.
 
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c+addict said:
The higher the line voltage at the outlet the higher the plate current. Here's the same Sylvania 415 tested on my Maxi Matcher at 110, 115, 120 and 125 volts. I started checking the line voltage after I had a tube redplate. The highest I measured was 136 volts in the middle of the night.View attachment 361859View attachment 361862View attachment 361865View attachment 361868
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Exact same experience here with the Maximatcher! With the Maxipreamp II I noticed different results for noise but not gain or transconductance. I really need to clean up my act and stop being lazy and hook into a Furman.
 
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