Electronic Guitar: Gain Staging

V8

Any guitarist who amplifies his or her instrument must also set the proper amplification level at each point in the signal path. This process is called gain staging (or gain structuring).

https://www.emusician.com/how-to/electronic-guitar-gain-staging

V8

Not sure if anyone read this one....but it's a rather useful, if brief, overview of a topic I wish someone had pointed me too a decade ago.

Recorded tone thin? Not getting that crunch or strat-y bliss? Perhaps you need to think about how you rig (live/recording/bedroom) handles gain staging.

For me, I needed to consider where in the signal chain I'm adding gain and loosing frequencies, I ended up finding that a quality buffer (aka 1:1 preamp) was counteracting the treble loss I got from usually stoopidly long cables (I've got two 8M cables I typically use).

Also, I found using a boost (up to 1:3 boost from input) gave me not only a volume but pushed my drive effects 'better' and fattened my overall tone in a most pleasing way. I didn't have to attack the bass as much and the strat sounded far less anemic ? .

modulator

I do not use a lot of stages, but I did find that engaging the 3 dB "Boost" on the amp makes the Strat-alike sound , well, fatter? Fuller? As opposed to engaging overdrive effects. Or boosting input by opening up the volume knob on the guitar, which merely results in unpleasant bright hard (ice-pickey) sounds. I am considering going to longer leads, exactly to combat the single coil treble excess.