The BEST Guitar Tone Is... | Gear Corner

#boutiqueamps #guitarpedals
Will a guitar plugged straight into an amp sound better than using pedals?
Why did Joe Bonamassa say pedal lovers are lazy and want to hide their bad playing?
In today's video I have 3 important things to talk about and a personal message too. :)
Welcome to Gear Corner!

** Why the "ANZEIGE" (=Ad) message? **
According to german laws everyone has to mark their videos as advertisements as soon as there's a single "subject relevant" product, tag or link in it. Even if you didn't get paid for making that video. Sounds confusing and it really doesn't help the viewer to see which is a paid review and which isn't. But it's the law so whatever...
--- The line of truth: Is this actually a paid review? No it isn't. (I update this line for every video).

Timestamps:
Introduction
0:13 Playing | Les Paul | Honey Bee Double Trouble
0:49 1. depends on the style
1:13 Playing | Heavy | Straight into amp
2:17 2. depends on the quality of the rig
2:46 Playing | Strat | Double Trouble + D1 + Supro tremolo
3:44 3. it's HARD to play "straight into amp"
4:00 Playing | Tele | Straight into amp
5:08 Which amps am I talking about
5:31 Playing | LP | Cranked amp played "wrong" and "right"
6:40 Playing | Junior | KoT + Supro Trem + OX delay
7:16 My personal message
8:06 Playing | LP | Double Trouble + D1 delay

Signal Chain:
Guitar - Pedal switcher - Honey Bee Double Trouble overdrive - King of Tone overdrive - Supro Tremolo - Walrus Audio MAKO D1 delay - Revv Dynamis head OR Mesa Boogie Mark III - OX Box - Audient iD44 audio interface - Laptop.

Gear used in this video:
(the Bitly links are Thomann affiliate links.
Purchases made from these links support this channel.
It doesn’t cost you extra, so please feel free to use them)

-Fender Telecaster Custom Shop '53 reissue
-Gibson Les Paul CM 2015 - heavily modified (thin nitro refin; Lollar Dog Ear P90; Emerson electronics)
-Barocsi "Frankenstrat" (2000 Fender American Standard body + Warmoth neck)
-Mesa Boogie Mark III

Other gear I use in my videos:

-Barocsi Troublecaster - Custom built T-style guitar with Gretsch Filtertrons
-SIB Nick Nitro (discontinued, you'll find it used)

The speech mic:
Audio Interface:

Check out the Thomann Music channel for some wicked guitar videos:

Follow me on instagram:

Cheers,
Kris Barocsi

[rahzark]

I wanted to make a joke about plugging the guitar straight into the amp, but it came out really dry.

[youssefkasim]

Brian May was a fan of Rory Gallagher’s tone so he asked him after a show about his rig which was a treble booster into a Vox AC30. Since then he took that tone for himself too. Love both players, maybe Rory a bit more. Really underrated player.

[hearpalhere]

I couldn't agree more with your take on this topic Kris! There's absolutely no shame at all in using effects pedals. I sometimes love plugging straight in but there are also certain sounds that just simply cannot be had without some pedal magic.
For what it's worth, my favorite setup is a few pedals going in to a simple, single channel amp that is set to just over the edge of breakup. Then, I can clean it up by rolling back my volume or picking lightly. I can get a decent crunch by picking a big aggressively and then hit a boost pedal for distortion.

[TVP-bnxj]

It's funny. I almost always just plug directly into the amp. Not because I think i'm a "purist", I just like the simplicity and I want to just plug in and have it sound right. That said - I've got a buddy that has a ton of pedals on his board, his tone always sounds good to my ears as well. I listen to mick and dan on TPS and they almost always sound awesome and huge and using pedals. hahaha. Maybe just a personal preference thing. I hate tweaking and trying to find the sound. Les Paul into a Budda SuperDrive 18. That's all. Love the channel and your tone!

[PooNinja]

That’s what angus did, I love the rig rundowns, sg, wireless, Marshall 🤣.
The synergy feedback loop from playing direct is always fun but I gotta have a multi efx controller and some must have drives and rack gear combined with the “FOH” flavor to really kick out my jams!
I really only use reverb, subtle phase and a bit of stereo dly on the W/ /W parts going to the pa and the wha and drives on the /D/ cab in the center. It’s way overboard for just jamming in my basement but I’m sure I’m not the only one. And sometimes Crazy efx are FUN!

[jamesonpace]

Your best sound is what sounds best to you. Let's also try to remember to serve the song, not the retailer.

[irf]

Hi. Excellent video, playing (your timing is impeccable) and the topic choice. I learned again from you and you left me thinking and experimenting further. Thanks.

[Greenbackster]

It depends if you care will your guitar's signal hit to transistor pedal or directly to your tube amp. If your amp is solid state it doesen't matter much.
Put your time based pedals to fx loop and there is real built-in spring and plate amp options too.
Plus it depends a lot the scenario: clean+overdrive pedal, clean+distortion pedal or boost/overdrive+tube amp.

How many sounds do you REALLY need? Quality or quantity? Guitar pots as your "pedals"? On which you want to be reliant: one device or one plus many little ones with their connections and power supply etc.?

[derekjohnson]

My favourite and current set-up is my fender pro 2 tele deluxe, the Marshall Jackhammer pedal, boss digital 3 into my vox ac15 and using the voxs reverb, tone heaven for me. Can do loads of tone with just switching pickups and using the volume and tone controls!!

[guitarflyer]

Awesome video as usual Kris! I’ve gone from the vintage MusicMan(which I still love) and pedals to the Fractal Audio FM3 . The sound is just awesome and so much easier to travel with!

[BenCoombs]

Informative video, I agree depending on style of music it's a great way do to it!! Cheers Kris!!

[tombstoneisevil]

The tone is in your hands and I believe also in your ears, if it sound good to you, is good, I use whatever I feel right, sometimes cable to an amp, sometimes chain of effects, sometimes a valve amp, or a transistor, or modeled, I do have my prefferences, but in the end I can work with whatever. Great video, great topic Kris.

[kurtisr]

Another though-provoking piece, Kris. I love pedals, but tend to take a "less is more" approach to any particular tone. But I also enjoy listening to players who can stack a whole giant Schmidt Array of effects into something complex and beautiful.

[kiddcomet]

What was that riff on the strat I like 👍

[bloodreyna]

Hi Kris I´m a little late to comment but I´ve thinking about what kind of player I am. My amp is a Boss Katana and from time to time I open the software and try all the pedals and effects to end staying on the panel with a crunch tone for my bluesy play. Must I consider myself a "purist" of the straight amp tone or the Katana doesn´t count? Love your channel Kris. Thanks

[keinedummenfragen]

I think if it sounds good it is good no matter what you use.
Most of the time I’m plugged straight into my two channel amp with built in reverb but I also enjoy playing around with all the effects of a multi effect board.

[ebartley]

I could do a gig with my amp that has reverb and one pedal if I had to. But what fun would that be? Adding certain effects at certain times is like putting different spices on your food. And for me it keeps it fun. I turn all the effects off for certain songs. Now just being dry is an effect 🤔

[lueymeteora]

I spent a small fortune on building a big ol' pedal board, buying a new fancy pedal every few weeks fora couple of years until i have this massive board of nearly 20 pedals that takes two full power supplies (each with ten outlets) to run it.

Then I noticed it was sucking tone, so I went and spent another small fortune upgrading all my leads and cables (there's so many more than what you first think!). The worst offender was my wah pedal. I never use it because you simply can't leave it in the signal chain for a rainy day type of thing. It's a shame, I love Black Cat Moan.

It's got a killer germanium circuit in it, that sounds so touch sensitive and rich when dug into that I am known to use it without the wah from time to time.

Now I'm hearing about this pedal switcher. That sounds like what I need. Because it's totally true, a pedal chain sucks more tone than if you plug straight in. The trick is to strike a balance between utilising a couple of essential pedals and not plugging in everything you can conceive of, like I did!

[LucaJanota]

Hey Kris, wie wäre es mal mit einem Video zum Umbau der Gitarre zu einem floyd Rose System oder den unterschieden zwischen floyd Rose, Schaller, Kahler etc. ?

[hoboroadie]

Straight into the amplifier is just one of the tones available, cheaper than most and usually doesn't require batteries. Often has the lowest noise floor. It is a good choice if you can use it. 🤘