Has anyone here modified their amp or know of a way to do so to achieve a certain sound?

I have only ever cut speaker cones to get a fuzzy distorted sound, but I'm interested to know if any of you have modified amps.

i just use petals. i dont think ive ever acutally mod. my amps before

here now son PUT THE BASS AND TREBLE TO 10. THEN THE CONTOUR TO 0 ITS THE PERFECT VINES SOUND
without shelling out on pedals

That really depends on his amp, I mean we don't all have the same gear here.

Anywho, Might be a given but if you take the back panel off your speaker cab it'll give it more bass.

I think the last thing any self respecting guitarist wants, is more bass. Haha, but thanks anyway.

I disagree. if you're playing a song when the bass note changes, and I have some guitars that can accent the bass notes more, and if someones using a guitar that doesn't as well, he could want more bass. I think thats rather silly thing to say. i mean, if that were the case, octave pedals would be useless as well a smany metal pedals and we'd all sound like punk rockers.

Well, no, because octave pedals work both ways, not just making the sound go bassier.

Yeah like i said, either way they can make an octave lower, so more bass can be useful and add some funky effects as well.

but its just a difference of tastes. Do you have any pedals? Usually if i'm bored with a sound i'll expirement with re ordering my pedals.

I use a THD hotplate to drive my amp, it's a powersoak which means I can get the naturally driven tone of my amp without using pedals and without going deaf. Makes the tone pots of my amp a lot more sensitive- just makes for a much better tone. Also throw in just a touch of distortion sometimes to give it that extra grunt if I want it.

The hot plate thing is a good idea, my amp has tube output control, so I can turn it down to like 2 watts for practicing, or up full for gigs and still have the tubes driven hard.

The only pedals I use are fuzz pedals for good 60s garage sound or the occasional Stooges cover.

if you have a tube output control.. surely the tubes aren't being worked so hard, and the tone you get isn't as great? what amp is it?

I just got a fuzz factory a few weeks ago- it's a bugger to control but awesome none the less.

Maybe I didn't describe it very well, but it does the same as a hotplate. It's only purpose is to be able to have the amp cranked but not have a lot of volume. Turn the master volume to 10 and the amp wattage down

It's a Vox Valvetronix




Yeah I only really use a Fuzz Face copy or a Gibson Maestro copy, and they are probably two of the hardest fuzz sounds to control. But sound awesome. I find adjusting the guitar volume pots effects the fuzz pedal quite a lot.

the valvetronix amps are the ones with the dummy valve circuit, aren't they? so its not actually a valve amp- it has a valve in it... but it's still a transistor amp. In which case what you have isn't the same as the hotplate, it's an amp modelled version of it.

as for your pedals being the hardest fuzz sounds to control, I'm afraid I have to respectfully disagree- you've clearly never tried a fuzz factory, nevermind the fact that none of the labels on the pots aren't quite the perameters they control, the thing oscillates like crazy when you get it wrong. sounds amazing when you do get it right though.

Not to carry this way off topic, but another crazy fuzz is the Fender Blender pedal. Pretty intense, but I really only saw use for it in guitar solos cause when you play chords the tone is weird, but I suppose if you dialed it right it could be useable as such.

EDIT: oh and it also has a very subtle higher octave effect in it, its hardly noticeable but it makes for nice feedback if you're into that sorta thing.

It's not a full valve amp, but it does have them in it and you can control their wattage. It might not be identical to a hotplate but it's a similar principle.

I've never used the fuzz factory, but I still stand by my previous statement on Gibson Maestro fuzzboxes or pedals built with the same circuitry being one of the hardest to control. Fuzz Face isn't too hard to control, but it sounds pretty terrible if you do it wrong.