Nice/More Pedals vs. Nice Amp

[Ancient Astronaught]

Ooohh, I didn't know you were rocking a Hiwatt 50 now days. I've been longing pretty hard for one of those. You love it? Loud as fuck??

Just got it on Sunday after trading in a bunch of old PA gear I wasn't using. It's a mid 80's Sterling Audio era but it's been modded and sounds sick as fuck. Me and Skully plugged in on a whim and were blown away with how good it actually sounded. I love it so far, it's got an amazing mid range and the top allbeit very very bright, is actually very musical. It does lack a lil in the low end department though, so it sounds great for stuff closer to standard tuning but its not that great for the drop tuned drone stuff I do. I will be modding it in the future though under Nick's supervision for more bass. And for 50watts yes its loud as fuck! Hop on over to the show your amp thread and check it out!

[rustywire]

My gear hierarchy goes AMP > PEDALS > GUITAR

Def.
Even student, toy instruments and junk guitars with no sustain can sound like the best shiz you've ever heard when run through a quality board & amp. Hell, they don't even have to be guitars, or instruments!

And yeah, the finest instruments will sound killer through that same rig, as well.

Amp's importance in the tone equation cant be stressed enough.
To further put things in a historical context: amplifiers predate effects and it was the very act of amplifying acoustic instruments that completely revolutionized what we consider "modern music" and thus created a new frontier, which then lead to the creation of effects and so on.

But user is still the #1 variable.

We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.

[zRobertez]

if Im playing through a different amp, be it new or just "borrowing", i feel like I need completely different dirt pedals. Or I need to find all new settings for dem knobs.

[theavondon]

My gear hierarchy goes AMP > PEDALS > GUITAR

As does mine. $4k+ in amps plus $3k in cabs around $2500 in pedals and the two guitars im using right now together cost $300

See, my hierarchy goes the same way, but I've got a flawed balance. Like, maybe $1500 in amps+cabs (not that I don't have a few), $4000 in pedals, and like $2000 in guitars/basses. But somehow, I have a fuckton of amps.

But, yes. Amp. Buy amp. Though, don't listen to me. I don't understand spending money on something that's not going to be extremely loud.

[GardenoftheDead]

My hierarchy is Amp > Guitar > Pedals personally.

[sylnau]

Nice amp first.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I'd rather have a better amp and fewer pedals. Not that I've been paying any attention to that recently though, I should sell some pedals and buy a better amp...

[Jwar]

Meh. I'm kind of the middle of the road. I prefer a nice bass (mine cost 1900 used but was around 4-5k new), my cab and amp together are worth around a grand, and my pedals. Fuck 2 grand or more.

[amnesiac305]

Amps are the way to go for me. Crappy guitar into great amp probably sounds pretty good. However, awesome stringed instrument into shitty amp almost certainly retains the shitty sounds. Having a couple of different types of amps is of course a nice luxury. However, I have probably spent about the same money on each category amps/effects/strings

[Ghost Hip]

Better amp fewer pedals.
At least at first...

[THEBEERHAMMER]

I recently had the chance to make this decision. I chose to buy both but if i hadnt, looking back i would buy the amp over the pedals every single time.

[kaeth]

Just so it's not entirely one-sided, I take the other road. I figure if I can get the right sound from my pedal chain into my cheap SS combo amps with no gain and the EQ set as flat as possible, then I can likely get a good sound out of anything. But maybe that's just because I can't afford a nice amp.

[theavondon]

I recently had the chance to make this decision. I chose to buy both but if i hadnt, looking back i would buy the amp over the pedals every single time.

I FUCKIN TOLD YOU

[goroth]

Just so it's not entirely one-sided, I take the other road. I figure if I can get the right sound from my pedal chain into my cheap SS combo amps with no gain and the EQ set as flat as possible, then I can likely get a good sound out of anything. But maybe that's just because I can't afford a nice amp.

This is a really practical way of looking at things. We often have to play with a shared backline and it's nice to know that my sound will be consistent, and at the very worst it will be decent, thanks to my pedals.

[univalve]

Would you rather have a decent amp, and nice/more pedals, or the other way around?

Decent amp is super important to me. But the "decent" doesn't mean expensive or boutique to me. There are also other cheap amps i can work with (e.g. Greta, Excelsior, TSA15, PicoValve, Fender Super Rack, Hayden Petite Blonde). So i would go with a good amp as a clean platform and do the rest with pedals. I what price range the amp is, depends on the funds available...

Is amp with nice gain really worth it? Or is a good clean base with pedals just as good?

I love my rectifier amp. But do i play it often? Honestly no, i'm more into the more blatant pedal sounds nowadays. So i would say, no, the amp gain (speaking of preamp tube gain*) is not worth it. A good clean base works better for me. (Fun fact: the amp distortion often sounds super awesome in the band context - playing on yourself with it in contrast may be kind of boring)

*i love the slight breakup of powertubes on its own and with pedals in front though. Makes everything more lively for me. But normally you can get that effect only with exact one volume - i doubt that this (one!) volume is the right one for your context (band, live, rehearsal, practice at home?). So i left this thought aside in my comment above.