Critical Tone Component: Volume!

First I think we can agree on what tone is: gear + touch.

Yes, your favorite guit-slinger will sound like himself (or herself) with a Chinese-made POS guitar through a Chinese-made POS amp, but they will not have their signature TONE and won’t be inspired playing through that crappy gear.

Maybe they’ll be inspired to throw it across the room or play tunes like this:

Since we’re talking classic rock and blues-rock here at WoodyTone (where there’s an open bar – come on down!), signature tones in this space come from loud amps.

What does “loud” mean? If we can tweak the standard definition a bit: Literally “loud” to the human ear, or an amp that’s working hard. So maybe not loud from a db sense – like Billy Gibbons playing through an old Fender combo, or Jimmy Page through a Supro (having never played through one, I’m assuming those aren’t loud) – but cranked.

The amp has to be working hard, and working the speaker(s) hard, to give guitarists that amazing touch that you can only get from a cranked or “loud” amp.

Don’t know about you, but the louder I play, the better I sound (to me), and the more I’m inspired. And some things you can’t do – including sound like this or that famous guitar player – without tons of volume. It’s just a key ingredient.

And live? Forget it – classic rock was and still should be stupid loud. Remember that loud amps were made that way on purpose so folks in the back could hear something – as the guys onstage were going deaf!

But…

But, you may say, that was in the days before massive PAs, and now we have PAs. Great ones. Clubs and even bigger venues want low stage volumes, so the days of cranking 50w or 100w heads through 4x12s are over.

Yes and no.

Yes if you’re happy with your 5w amp tone, but I’d still argue that your touch isn’t going to be as inspiring as with a loud rig. And it’s also a yes if you don’t feel like lugging 200 pounds of amp to gigs.

But also no. Take the vid of Joe Bonamassa below. Yes he’s a famous guy and thus can dictate to the venues what he’s going to do (and I believe he tours with his own PA). But he was also using these things before he was famous:

So he could use anything he wanted, yet he chooses 100w amps through very efficient (higher-watt-rated and thus louder) speakers. Why? Because he gets that inspiring tone, which includes his touch.

So move air, work the amp hard or at least play “loud,” and your tone improves. But there may be limits:

Category: Joe Bonamassa, Tips