Most amplification systems, such as those used for public address (PA), recording and hi-fi are designed to reproduce sound as accurately as possible. Guitar amplification is completely different: every item in the guitar signal chain is designed to modify the raw guitar signal:

• Guitar woods and construction
• Strings types and ages
• Pickup types, placement and combinations
• Quality and length of cables (or radio system)
• Stompboxes, pedal and special effects
• Amplifier designs, tones and overdrive
• Speaker types and speaker box construction
• Your playing environment and volume level

Most of these topics are covered in my guitar pages, which I have split broadly into:

Guitar Amplifiers
An explanation of guitar amplifier design, and why they are so different to standard amplifiers. There's information on valve and transistor designs, history on overdrive (or distortion) trends, and some overdrive circuit diagrams for experimenters.

Guitar Effects
Sound and technical descriptions of common guitar effects, with recommendations for which order to use them.

Guitar Pickups
An explanation on how different guitar pickups work, useful wiring tips with circuit diagrams, pitfalls to avoid, and a description of the harmonic vibrations of guitar strings!

More Info
Some odds and ends, including interesting and frequently asked questions (FAQ), with my thoughts on top solos, players and guitars. Also an index to schematics on my site.

Home > Electric Guitar

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