Re: General Tone Tips
*A gigging small club guitarist ought to experiment with a beam blocker from Weber Speakers. It does what Stevie Ray did with a piece of duck tape on the grill cloth where the speaker beams out most of it's highs. This will allow the people in the front row to not get killed with your laser beam high end (very directional). The beam blocker will diffuse that high end so that someone sitting at stage left will get similar high end to the ear as a person sitting directly in front of the stage.
*Always carry a spare tube or two, as well as a fuse for your amp.
*Use a surge protector strip when playing in unfamiliar surroundings.
*Different speakers can completely change the sound of your amps. I just finished a new amp and have tried it with three different speakers. Each lends its own color and texture to the amp. Finding the right speaker can be a challenge that some of us can't afford. Learn from others that are using your amp what speaker they've settled on. Tubes, speakers and transformers make the most difference in an amp's tone. 2 of those 3 are available to you for an easy swap. If you are trying new tubes, concentrate on the first preamp tube for the most radical tone change.
*Power tube distortion sounds better to *my* ears than preamp tube distortion. Crank up the master if you have one and keep the preamp at a manageable level.
*The standby switch on your amp is there for a reason. Let your tubes warm up for 20-30 seconds before you start playing. THis will increase the life of your tubes. What to do for those 30 seconds? Try tuning up. It will do you a world of good.
*Good quality cables very rarely go out on you when you need them the most. You don't have to spend stupid money on them, but good quality is important.
* Too many pedals suck the life (tone) out of your amp IMO.
