Does your amp favor a certain wood?

[mr426]

I have been messing around with my live rig alot as of late and I have found out a few things. I have a bunch of guitars with alot of different kinds of woods.I am using a Mesa MKIII with an older Peavey 4x12 with the Sheffeid speakers in it.My rigs seems to LOVE Basswood guitars, and also Mahogany. It does not like Alder at all.My Fender Strat and my RR1T with EMG's just can not get a right tone with it.Clean and dirty my Ibanez's sound great.My custom shop Warriors are great as well....Do you guys find similar things like this with your amps?

[lynchfan6]

I also have a wide range of guitars, from a Jackson soloist to Ibanez Jems to a Fender USA strat,,etc. My main amp is a Soldano SLO,,,and I find it makes all of my guitars sound totally amazing! All guitars are going to sound different and unique, and to me,,,,it's more my mood and what guitar and feel I'm craving at the moment that can set the "tone." If I'm not up for playing a strat and my psyche is desiring a race car like a soloist or Jem with no restricted fret access......and I've been listening to George Lynch all day.....then if I pick up my fender or Les Paul,, I'm not gonna be digging the feel,,,I'll play sloppy,,,and then I won't dig the sound,,, Chain reaction. I don't know,,does this make sense?

[markD]

my amp prefers mahogany all the way. alder is a close second, but it HATES basswood...so my RG's often stay untouched, sadly. i do have a CS charvel that has a maple body and it sounds very nice as well.

i play rivera amps.

[mr426]

I know I can tweak my Mesa to get a great sound out of everything, but just how I set it up now seems like Basswood and mahagony is #1. I did notice that using 30 feet of guitar cords takes all my nice chrispness away from the sound.I'll need to use a buffer with it as long as I use pedals in the front end...

[markD]

yeah, i know what you mean. i can tweak too, but i have "my" tone set up at the amp. i look for guitars that fit into my tone without changing the amp settings. i try to use guitars that allow their tone characteristics to shine through while i still sound like me.

i have 17 guitars, and really there are only 2 that i find give me a poor live sound. both are 1987-88 ibanez RG's. a 550 and a 560. that's not too bad really.

[mr426]

Wow that is strange.Both of the guitars that are giving me the best sound right now are ibanez RG's.An 87 550 and a 90 RG 540PHH...I was thinking about trying to find live replacements for them because these 2 a far too valuble fro me...

[Rupe]

Does your amp favor a certain wood?

Morning

[mr426]

What do you keep your amp next to the bed all night too?...HAHA

[Hellbat]

No, but my wood favors certain amps.

[Rupe]

What do you keep your amp next to the bed all night too?...HAHA

No way...its in the bed!

[straycat]

My tone is the amp, 99% of my guitars sound just fine.The Peavey ultra + half stack seems to favor alder,poplar and maple.But sounds brutal with mahogony.
The only changes I need to make are very minor when switching to a mahogony guitar just cut back the edge and body controls 1 notch and switch the presence from loose to tight and good to go.
My Carvin half stack works very well with all my guitars no changes needed when switching guitars.
My rack set up when running the SS ADA power amp no problem with any guitar.

[lynchfan6]

I agree,,,,I never change the settings on my Soldano SLO (I use the settings I copped from EVH's SLO pictured in Guitar World many years ago). Each of my guitars sounds unique, and this amp really let's each guitar's characteristics shine through.

[straycat]

LF my point exactly once you get the amp dialed in each guitar has a different flavor.

[mr426]

Maybe because Mesa's are soo dark and Alder in general seems to favor bright amps I am seeing some resistance.Except the new Mesa Electradyne, wich LOVED the Fender I played thru it.I will get one of those too soon, so maybe I will just split the 2 amps for dirty and clean...

[themisfit138]

Maybe because Mesa's are soo dark and Alder in general seems to favor bright amps I am seeing some resistance.Except the new Mesa Electradyne, wich LOVED the Fender I played thru it.I will get one of those too soon, so maybe I will just split the 2 amps for dirty and clean...

My Mesa's sound better with alder, poplar, maple, or basswood. They get too dark with mahogany(unless it has a maple top or neck)