Leaderboard

My rig at cost of £280 and man, it rocks!!

You're among many Basschat friends here. Tone beats chops everyday for me too, which explains a lot about some of my favourite guitarists: Eric Johnson, Robben Ford...

What a difficult topic to pick from! I literally have hundreds of guitarist I like and will feel sad for those I’d miss out. my favourite is definitely Nuno Bettencourt. Next, Andy Timmons and the hundreds of others would be number 3 but … special mention and recommendation goes out to Paco De Lucia.

Solution really depends on the guitar. 1) Is the neck straight? Check neck bow and make sure the neck is straight by using either a straight edge or by sighting down the neck from the headstock (less reliable than a straight edge). If it's too curved twist the truss rod a quarter turn clockwise, it shouldn't need more than that. If there's a backbow then turn the truss rod a quarter turn anticlockwise for more bow. If you need to do more than half a turn then take it to a luthier as you'll have a serious neck bow issue. Next, you'll need to check string height. Lower the strings until you get fret buzz and then raise the string saddles by a half turn each screw until the strings just start to buzz in some places but not others. 2) Where is it buzzing? a) If it's buzzing above the 12th fret and you've already straightened the neck and it's a bolt on neck then you'll need to adjust the neck angle. Take the neck off and remove a shim or replace it with one that isn't so thick. For Fender/Musicman microtilt necks, you won't need to remove the neck or slacken the strings, just tweak using an allen key in the hole in the neck plate. Otherwise, reattach neck, tune strings to pitch and check for buzz in the same places. You should notice a difference. If it's neck through or glued in then get a luthier to look at it. b) If it's buzzing below the 3rd fret then your nut is too low. You'll need a new nut and cut string slots in it that are slightly higher than the ones at present. It's best to take it to a luthier as it needs super thin files and good eyesight. c) If you're getting buzz on single frets then you'll need a fret level - get a reputable luthier to do it because if you take off too much metal from the frets the guitar will need a complete refret. d) If you're getting buzz on one side of a set of frets further down the neck and then on the other side further up the neck then you'll have a neck twist. The prognosis isn't great but a skilled luthier might be able to steam the neck straight or replace the fingerboard and install stiffening to correct the twist. It won't be cheap. Otherwise, is it comfortable? Is there fret buzz relatively consistently across the whole fingerboard? If so, raise the string saddles until the buzzing just disappears and your guitar should be 80% set up. With the exception of intonation.

Hey, so in response (I think): 1) Valve amps use tubes on two separate sections on the circuit. You usually have your EC types in the pre-amp section and the your EL/6L6/KT etc are in the power section. Most your EQ type tones will be through the pre amp section, and in truth, the number of valves makes no difference to the sound here, rather the design of the circuit will be the biggest influence. Your power section is where you get the saturated "gain" tones on these types of amps. Your power section valves is where you get "break" up when you drive the signal hard enough through the pre amp. Once again, the number of tubes will only be dependent on the design and has no real baring on the tone. 2) Tonal character is defined by the type and even manufacturer of the actual tubes themselves as well as the circuit design. Also, quality of other components makes a huge difference, although some manufacturers swear by cheaper parts as valve amps are not meant to be "hi-fi" 3) Power is determined by your power output transformers. Usually the 2 giant metal lumps or torroidal transformers that you see (and feel) in valve heads. These get bigger as the wattage increases as they are what is required to "step up" the wattage.