Different amp different sound

[Slowhand851]

I just got the hd500x & I'm getting a really good sound out my Marshall amp with 2/12 cab but not out of my Laney or Fender Reissue 65 on the worship artistry patch. My old Pod XT sounded about the same on all 3 amps. What am I missing?

[cruisinon2]

Never had the XT, but generally speaking, you can expect significant differences in tone depending on what you're running through. Every amp under the sun will color the sound one way or the other...different power sections, different speakers, etc. etc. This is the whole problem with the Customtone concept...somebody creates a patch with their guitar, through their rig, and someone else dials up the same patch through a different amp and it sounds awful.

 

Also depends on how you have things set up...do you have the POD going into an FX loop on one amp, but straight into the front of another? That alone will yield a night and day difference. Endless list of variables...

[Charlie_Watt]

You really will need to tweak your patches to get great  tone out of different amps.

[brue58ski]

I just had a thought about custom tone. They should have one section with direct tones only. A different section with live tones and in that section, a column describing what their setup is.

[cruisinon2]

I just had a thought about custom tone. They should have one section with direct tones only. A different section with live tones and in that section, a column describing what their setup is.

 

They can call it the "Here's why it won't sound like Joe Satriani to you" column... :P

[edstar1960]

I just tried the same patch on my HD500 through an L2m, Behringer B210D, Studiomaster Gx12a, in quick succession. I left each of the active PA speakers on their flat settings and played at a similar volume. The patch sounded totally different on each one. I tried to adjust the EQs on the B210D and GX12A to get them to match the L2m but couldn't do it, they got closer on sound but they were still altering the patch sound a fair bit.

 

This is why when people go direct to the board in different venues they end up with different sounds because each PA will have different power amps and different speakers and that messes with their patch tones.

 

Same thing for different guitar amps. If you are not going to play through the same setup on which you created the patch then be prepared for it to sound different and be prepared to re-tweak back to the sound you want.

[Rewolf48]

Yes different powered PA speakers have different responses and resonances, and it also varies with positioning, how they are mounted and what the room they are in is like - this is why when using one for backline you need the Global EQ.  The higher quality the speaker the less the variation from flat will be, but typically the more budget ones are not designed to be flat response, they are designed to be a "flattering" response when used as general PA, and typically that response is in conflict with the requirement for a Guitar monitor - too much bass and highs.

 

It is not enough just to look at the frequency response graphs, you need to also know how much distortion that graph allowed (e.g. 3% THD preferably lower).

 

I would expect that the L2m is by far the best performing of those three, as Line 6 considered the use of amplifying a HD which I seriously doubt that Behringer bothered with. Positioning all three on speaker stands might have reduced some of the differences.