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

[PDC]

Great thread - pure gold experience / knowledge here. I cannot add anything new. Just another vote for less gain and more volume always sounds better.

 

[njshred]

Your alone tone is not bright enough to cut through a band mix. Live reduce your bass and increase your treble by “2” each.

 

[DanTravis62]

Ya, but all of the Pantera's records from the 90's sound killer IMO, and he wasn't blending a touch of Wizard on all of them (just ask Grady). All Dime had in the loop of his amps was a Flanger Doubler. No EQ's, those were up front.

You're missing the point - you aren't dime bag and it isn't going to work for your tone and your band

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

On the subject of mids: I really dig the Engl E530 preamp I acquired, because it has a low mid as well as a high mid control. Wish more amps had similar knobs in addition to the bass and treble.

I have been thinking this same thing lately. The high mid vs low mid voicing knob would be very useful because many of us are trying in futility to do this same thing with hidden combinations of presence/bass/treble adjustment combinations, lol

 

[S̷͖͑m̵͎͂á̵̺s̸͚̈́h̴̬̑]

One thing I can say that I am pretty sure is true, though, is that pickups are the single biggest impact on your tone. A lot of people say that you can dial out the pickup with your amp. That is true. But in doing so, you completely change the dynamic of the amp in some cases. If you get the right pickup in your guitar, you should then find the best amp to match it. For me, I think the Roxy is probably the best pickup I have ever played. It sounds great with a lot of amps, but man does it love the Low Mid voiced amps.

 

[ChurchHill]

One thing I can say that I am pretty sure is true, though, is that pickups are the single biggest impact on your tone.

I'd agree to an extent, but I think speakers have a bigger impact that pickups. Think about how different a rig sounds through a V30 vs a Greenback, even if everything else is the same. Pickups have about the same impact. Which one is of greater impact depends on the rig, the player, and the style.

From a bigger perspective, I think that everything that transduces the signal has a very significant impact. Any time you're changing mechanical energy to electrical energy, or voltage to current, the resulting copy of the signal is necessarily different than the original. Analog to digital, for that matter. Pickups, speakers, and transformers all fall into this category.