Question: Are you a knob-twiddler or a plug-and-play fan?

[bsman]

I'm curious -- there seems to be a rather bi-modal distribution of amps, with some sporting rows of knobs, multiple inputs, and even menus, etc. and some stripped to a bare minimum -- perhaps a low-med-high set of tone controls at best. I've flirted with both: My current amps include perhaps the archetypes of each philosophy:

Kustom Defender 5H

Vox AD120VT

I have to say that while I am tickled at the amazing variety of tones I can squeeze out of the Vox, there is something ultimately more satisfying (to me) in plugging into the Kustom, and just turning the damn thing on and starting to play. Any tone shaping is done with the tone knob on the guitar and perhaps putting my Tech 21 RK5 (perhaps the simplest multi-effects pedal ever devised) between the guitar and amp. My mood varies, but I do tend toward the latter in terms of preference and am curious where you all stand.

 

[sleewell]

somewhere in the middle.

amps just need gain, volume, bass, mids, highs and maybe presence.

for pedals though its nice to have some knobs. we do some noise jams and being able to get stuff going into oscillation is fun.

I really don't like complex menus with tons of stuff to tweak or lots of extra dip switches and tons of extra modes.

 

[baimun]

I don't mind spinning a few knobs.... but what grinds my gears is fiddly buttons and little LED displays. I hear people oohing and ahhing over the Axe FX II but I look at the controls and go

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

I'm pretty much a set and forget kinda guy. I love flexibility and the ability to dial that in. But I want my sound, not a whole ton of sounds.

 

[DFB]

I pretty much dial in an play.

 

[Chad]

The fewer the knobs the better. In my 30 or so years of playing, I have found that I mostly sound like me no matter what I play through. There are better and worse versions of me, but have more knobs usually ends up with the worse version of me.

 

[dspellman]

I've been both. I've got a pair of EVJrs, one modified (Mercury Magnetics mod), one bone stock, and it has a on/off and a volume control.
I've got stacks of old tube amps that are generally pretty basic.

Then again, I have older tube preamps (Mesa Triaxis, Carvin Quad-X) that are pretty complicated. And I've got two and a half flap-top bins packed tightly full of bright-idea-at-the-time pedals.
And these days I'm working an AxeFX Ultra, a bunch of older Pods, an HD series and a borrowed Helix, as well as four Variax guitars. Hell, two of my LP-style guitars have Floyds, sustainers, sweepable active mids boosts, etc. and most of my guitars have some kind of switch other than a simple volume and treble rolloff.

And way on the other end of that I've got a Korg Kronos and a PA3X (keyboards). Endless knob twiddling, and that started with a Hammond B3 and a Fender Rhodes 88.

 

[mikesr1963]

I have a large pedal board. I'm all about the knob. Once set to my liking I leave it alone, for a while anyway.

 

[jelloman]

I'm pretty much a set it and forget it...I like having enough control to set my sound, but once it's set I don't need anything else...

When this topic comes up I can't help but think of an SRV interview in which he said his perfect amp would have one knob on it, labeled "MORE"...

 

[Modern Saint]

I like plug and play with minimal amount of knobs on my amps. Tone controls all start at noon and small adjustments made as needed. Usually treble being cut and or bass increased a notch.

 

[wagdog]

Master vol, channel vol, bmt, reverb - I also like the switchable contour on my MESA express.

I'd really love a MESA Mark V, but I'd probably spend too much time twiddling the knobs.

 

[jp_nyc]

What I really love are amps that are gain / volume / tone but with a great tone knob. The Tiny Terror is like that.

Beyond that I like a baxandall bass / mid / treble tone stack. But I have little desire to go beyond that. I don’t want something that has bass / mid / tone for each of four channels and a master five-band EQ.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

I like both in the sense that I like to have the options, but once I find something I like, I want to be able to get to it with minimal fuss.

 

[Virtual Pariah]

I bounce. the last couple of years, I want minimal knobs and fussments.

 

[Chicken Man]

I can fuss over a recording, but live I pretty much just need a volume knob and a tone knob.

 

[Gorgon90]

For me it's time dependant. When I was young and single I could spend hours messing around with guitar sounds setting them up. Now as a middle aged married man getting any time to myself is a rare luxury so it's plug in and go generally. I still want to play around with sounds though so having that option available is important.

 

[telecaster911]

My max amp knob limit is gain, master, bass, middle, treble, presence. Hate scroll through menus.

 

[Mark Wein]

I don't really want to work that hard on getting a sound. I should be able to
Plug and play without too much trouble. If there is trouble then there is definitely something wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[gtrjunior]

I'm somewhere in the middle. Options are nice but i don't want them to be a burden.

 

[cvogue]

I'm a knob tweaker for sure... sadly it doesn't end there. I'm also a tube tweaker, speaker tweaker, pickup tweaker... the list goes on and on....:(