Originally Posted by: JeffS65
I've told the story here a few times but the best tone I had was a 70's era (tube-ish) Peavey Classic 2x12 run in to a generic 4x12 cab. I had a Boss Turbo Overdrive run through a Dunlop Wah (always on and flat down) and straight in to the front on of the Peavey. That's it. I had more than a few people tell me how much they liked my tone.

So, I had a pile dookie but made it work really well.

I've read your story a few times now & I still like it. :D It's a great lesson in taking the time to really work on your sound. And it's obviously true that you can get a wide variety of tones out of any number of pieces of gear.

But there are certain things that will help & achieve tones that aren't possible otherwise.

My story! I also had a Peavey 2x12 Classic that I used with my Strat copy through an MXR distortion + into the amp & then into a 4x12 cab.

That amp was rock solid & dependable. The basic tone wasn't amazing, but since it had 50 watts of tube power by the time I cranked it through that cab it was awesome! That cab was a big part of the sound. I never realized how much I was missing until I plugged it into one. The mid & bass response of a 4x12 cab being pushed by a lot of tube amp volume is one of those things that is hard to get without those objects.

So this is a case of the tone not being about the brand name, but about the type of object.

And the higher I pushed the output level on the MXR pedal the better it sounded! But not the distortion level. At a certain point past 50%, the distortion made the sound worse. It degraded into flabby fuzz. But at the right spot about 50% or less it sang beautifully.

One gig my band opened for a another band whose guitarist played through a 50 Marshall half-stack. We played a 2 hour set. Then right at the beginning of their first song his Marshall died! He looked it over for a few minutes but couldn't find anything obviously broken that he could fix right away.

I told him to just use my amp. He was a Marshall Guy & wasn't happy about it. But he didn't have any other options at that point. He plugged in, dimed the amp & played his full 2 hour set. He never complained about Peavey again. :p