What would you consider your biggest tonal realisation that has made an impact on the way you dial in gear?

[headlessdeadguy]

This is such a great point. To make your recorded tone instantly better, bring your volume knob down to 7-8. Do it as you're playing along to the track. You will instantly hear a difference. Your guitar will almost "jump out" of the mix.

True!

 

[DanTravis62]

I find that cabs make the biggest difference. I agree with Dan that less gain is more. I’m definitely not into high gain pickups. Gotta make sure you have mids. My biggest problem is that my ears are toast from too many years of loud amps.

There's some more good advice - USE HEARING PROTECTION

 

[Rackman]

the prs metal are medium output, btw, that's not a super high output pickup - IIRC they are like 15k on the bridge - the emgs are a little hot, but not even close to the pickups that i'm talking about

Have you ever played one of the super high output ceramics that people use for metal? Or are you calling the prs metal pickups "high output"?

I'm talking about the X2N and Slug from dimarzio, the Guitarmory patriot thats like 26k, stuff like that. Are you familiar with what a pickup that hot does to the signal?

I guess it's a matter of definition. I would think most people would consider a 15K ceramic pickup pretty hot, but it's certainly not the hottest pickup ever made.

I've played X2Ns but never owned one or tried to integrate it into a rig. Never heard of the Slug or Guitarmory Patriot. If the extra output is coming primarily from additional winding/smaller wire though the output is going to be about 3dB hotter though. Which isn't actually THAT much.

 

[DanTravis62]

I guess it's a matter of definition. I would think most people would consider a 15K ceramic pickup pretty hot, but it's certainly not the hottest pickup ever made.

I've played X2Ns but never owned one or tried to integrate it into a rig. Never heard of the Slug or Guitarmory Patriot. If the extra output is coming primarily from additional winding/smaller wire though the output is going to be about 3dB hotter though. Which isn't actually THAT much.

The decibel increase isn't the important part, the important part is that it cuts off a massive amount of high end and changes the way amps respond, as they were almost invariably designed with pickups in the normal (say 5k to 20k output) output range in mind

There's a whole bunch of players who use these types of high output pickups, into a boost, into a modern high gain amp with gobs of gain, and it's literally just a washed out mess. There is no point in using super high output pickups in that situation. They are designed to goose amps with more moderate amounts of gain, not overload amps that are already on the verge of "too much."

 

[BABMusic]

Pickups do not change the personality of the guitar. They can add more gain, but the tone remains mostly the same.*

*Unless you're using actives like EMG.

 

[stratjacket]

EQ in a frown in front of OD before the amp and EQ in a smile post amp is one of the biggest for dialing in tone for me. There are a million others, agree on all the recording sentiment around lowering the gain, differences in bedroom tone vs in a band or recording

 

[FourT6and2]

My hot take:

1. Most high gain amps sound about the same. Yes, Amp A might have "more mids" and Amp B might be more compressed, but at the end of the day... meh... they sound pretty similar. Just small variations on white noise.

2. After more than 25 years of never even touching a boost pedal, I quite like them now.

3. Speakers/cabs have the biggest, most immediate effect on tone. If you want to drastically change the sound of your rig, change your speakers first. Going from a G12M-25 to a Fane F75 or going from a G12H30 to a DV77... massive change in sound.

 

[Uzi Nein Millimetah]

For me, it's been that less gain is more. I used to really dial in way too much gain on my amps and what it did was make my guitar tones sound tiny on recordings. Just too much mush and buzz in there to get any clarity in the tone.

The day I started backing off the gain I started seeing a lot of improvement in my tones.

Another thing that came out of that approach was that I no longer felt satisfied dialling in an amp and then throwing a mic on. I think when recording, it has to be a happy medium between the two. You actually have to listen to that tone through a mic to pick up things like chewy mids or glassy highs or excessive gain.

If you just dial in by ear, without factoring in the mic, you can't really tell what the recorded tone will be like, because your ears can't pick up those little details about how the miced up tone is going to sound.

I use the bare minimum amount of gain to get my point across and to nail the material. Then I increase Master Volume and serve.

Anything more = BLOAT.

 

[gclef]

That most drive and distortion pedals are designed to work thru cleaner amp settings than I was using.

Everything made so much more sense after that!

The right speaker makes all the difference. I didnt believe it until I experienced it.

 

[rsm]

X2N is a niche pickup IMO. I have a guitar with one X2N, no neck pickup. It's great for what it does best.

I like hotter pickups into my Marshalls.
My Marshalls sound best with the MV at 7+, or at least 8; if it has one.

I like EQ. I hate reverb.


Don't ship a Fender Super Twin using UPS.

 

[Tone Monster]

Bought a few Wizards.

 

[BABMusic]

1. Noobs play with a mountain of gain and a tiny bit of volume; - pros record with a tiny bit of gain and a ton of volume
2. All of your favorite tones have way, way more high end than you think they do
3. Noobs focus everything on their left hand technique, pros focus on their right hand technique
4. All high gain tones need to be AT LEAST doubled, and in most cases quad or sextuple tracked
5. People who say "X speaker is the best and sounds EXACTLY LIKE THIS" are full of shit - all speakers are HIGHLY variable.
6. You need at the very least, 2 57s, a 421, a 121, and a SM7B to be ready to record any guitar sound.
7. The less gain there is in the sound, the more "the room" needs to show up in the recording.
8. Your headstock tuner makes you look like a dork

Appreciate most of these. I admit I am guilty of using too much gain at low volumes, but that's because I play in a basement with no band. No. 4 interested me the most because I did not know that. I always just did a double track and never bothered to do more. I think another reason I'm afraid to lower the gain is like you mention, the room shows up in the recording more so, and my room is carpeted and doesn't sound all that great. Never liked headstock tuners -- just use your ears.

 

[DanTravis62]

Appreciate most of these. I admit I am guilty of using too much gain at low volumes, but that's because I play in a basement with no band. No. 4 interested me the most because I did not know that. I always just did a double track and never bothered to do more. I think another reason I'm afraid to lower the gain is like you mention, the room shows up in the recording more so, and my room is carpeted and doesn't sound all that great. Never liked headstock tuners -- just use your ears.

So, the more tracks you can do, the less gain you can get away with and have it sound right

If you have listened to any of my demos, there's generally between 4-10 guitar tracks - it's a key part of my sound and style. But it's also something that appears a whole lot more than you would think - for example, on nirvana "nevermind" there are like 6 different guitar tracks. It's not a "just metal" thing.

 

[Kordoba]

Hot take:

Don't nail your neighbors wife.

 

[saxxamafone]

I don’t care how it sounds in the room; only what mics up well and sits in a mix well.

Don’t be afraid of dialing in high end treble and presence, I used to cut these because I was listening to a cranked 4x12 solo’d

Balanced mids work well for me, not cut, not cranked

More expensive amp doesn’t = better tone

A lot of guys on forums have no idea, select who you take advice from

 

[shredi knight]

I totally understand high output pickups if you are playing an unmodded JMP or plexi or vintage style amp, and you're boosting or trying to goose it into the high gain range

The thing is, though, its fucking 2026 man.

people swear by these super high output pickups with super high gain amps and they end up sounding like that one jackass on youtube

Edit: THIS jackass



He's playing with so much fucking gain that its basically a fuzz tone, or one of those danelectro plastic black pedals

If you have an ultra modern high gainer, WHY would you need super high output pickups?? It seriously makes no sense to me. High output pickups have serious drawbacks despite their benefits. As you said, you get much more clarity from lower/medium output humbuckers. Super high output stuff rolls off high end and gives you a cocked wah effect.

There's no universe in which this makes ANY sense unless for some reason you're running your Dimarzio slug into a diezel VH4 with the gain on literally zero, which... why even have a VH4 then???

 

[saxxamafone]

My hot take:

1. Most high gain amps sound about the same. Yes, Amp A might have "more mids" and Amp B might be more compressed, but at the end of the day... meh... they sound pretty similar. Just small variations on white noise.

2. After more than 25 years of never even touching a boost pedal, I quite like them now.

3. Speakers/cabs have the biggest, most immediate effect on tone. If you want to drastically change the sound of your rig, change your speakers first. Going from a G12M-25 to a Fane F75 or going from a G12H30 to a DV77... massive change in sound.

+1

Mics also make a huge difference along with speakers (if you’re recording or playing live of course)

 

[SFW]

s

If you have an ultra modern high gainer, WHY would you need super high output pickups?? It seriously makes no sense to me. High output pickups have serious drawbacks despite their benefits. As you said, you get much more clarity from lower/medium output humbuckers. Super high output stuff rolls off high end and gives you a cocked wah effect.

Because they feel different under the fingers. They respond differently at the front of the amp. It's just another ingredient in the tonal soup. SOme like it, some don't.

 

[ewill52]

mine should have all been obvious to me but took me a while to come around lol

-Less gain is more
-don't scoop the mids, unless you like being buried in the mix
-listen to your tone in the context of the entire mix, not by itself
-two stacked od's at lower gain settings often sound better than one od dimed
-the tone and volume knobs on your guitar are your friends, don't just put it on 10 and forget.

 

[BeZo]

For me, there are two things. For one, it's that all the pieces matter. Cable capacitance adds up. Pickup choice matters. The amp and cab combo matters. Utility pedals make a difference. Every little piece of gear adds up to shape the overall tone.

And the other part is that when you finally get the right guitar with the right pickups and wiring, run through quality cables into the right pedals on a properly buffered pedalboard into the right amp with the right tubes and settings into a quality cabinet with the right speakers that's sealed and wired properly that gets miced up properly and dialed in by a quality sound engineer to sound absolutely amazing, the average person in the crowd will not give a single flying fuck about it.