The Search for Great Tone

In the aim of obtaining great tone, many guitarists go through a range of amplifiers, change their pickups, tried different strings, different speaker cabs and even different guitars. But they all cost both time and money. However there's one option a lot of guitarists don't try and best of all, it's probably free. All it takes is a bit of time.

The Solution

The solution is a actually question:

Are you standing in the right place?

Why Does It Matter?

Many of us rehearse or practice with the amplifier on the floor pointing at the lower-part of our legs, with the centre of the aim somewhere between the knees and shins. The problem with that set-up is that our ears are several feet above that position. So we're hearing the guitar tone at an angle from the speakers and we're also hearing reflections from the floor (more so on hard, reflective surfaces) and other reflections from the walls and ceilings of the room we're in. By far the loudest is the direct sound coming to your ears at an angle.

There's are a couple of other perspectives on this that may make you think more about where you stand and where you position your amplifier.

The first is the position of the audience. Remember you're playing the guitar for the audience, not for you. So it's more important that they hear that great tone you've spent a lifetime to obtain than it is for you to hear it.

The second is the positions of microphones in a recording studio. Generally they're close miked and often at an angle to the driver, but there are also room mics specifically for capturing more of the sound as it's allowed to develop into the room. Again, it's rare that the microphones are at head height, although anything goes to get the right tone for recording.

What Can You Do?

1. Raise the amplifier up

Make sure it's at a good height for the audience. Beer crates are popular on stage because they're a  readily available way of lifting the amplifier up so you get to hear the sound better and the amp is raised to the audience's level.

2. Use an amp stand

This is the only option that costs. There are several options. You can find stands that hold the amplifier horizontal (effectively just raising the amplifier off the floor) or stands that provide a range of angles for the amplifier to sit in. Some hold one speaker combos, some hold 2x12 combos.

Click the images for more details:

3. Move further away

If you play with the amp at your feet, then the angle from horizontal to your ears is increased. By moving further away, you'll hear more of what other people will hear. The best rehearsal position I've ever found is to have the amplifier on the other side of the room from me. It also had the advantage that I wasn't tempted to play with the controls.

More importantly, play with the amplifier's position and your position. It will definitely sound better in some combinations than others.

4. Turn the speakers on their side

If you have a 2x12 cabinet, then does it work better with one driver above the other compared to the usual horizontal layout?