I need help with picking the right amp.

How to get a good rock n roll sound through my guitar and amp. What settings do i need on my guitar and amp. I have a epiphone les paul (1100 dollars), a 23 watt VOX amp (AD15VT). i'm hitting right notes and stuff but doesn't sound good. plz help me

• Answer:

  There are a lot of amp variations. Yours might not match my answer exactly, but you can probably figure out the difference and match the tone. Most amps designed for rock have at least two volume knobs. One is usually called "Gain" and the other is usually called "Volume" or "Master." For the raunchiest sound, start with your "Volume/Master" OFF, then turn your gain the whole way up. Now increase the level of the volume/master until you get the volume you need. If this sound is too wild, you can back off the gain control until you find the sound you like. If you back off the gain control too much, you will need to increase the master volume to make up for it. As far as the EQ or tone knobs, I usually set them all "flat" or half way up (5 on a scale of 10). You can then make minor adjustments to "tailor" your tone. Cranking up the midrange contral will give your leads more "guts," turning the midrange lower will give you a "scooped" tone, increasing the treble will give your tone more "bite" and increasing the bass control will warm/fatten up the sound and add some old school distortion. As far as the guitar goes, I usually just turn all the guitar knobs up full. If the guitar is a two pickup guitar and had a separate tone control for each pickup, I might "roll off" a little of the treble on the bridge pickup so that it doesn't pierce as much - gives it more of a singing sound. You might also want to try out some multi-effect pedals at the music store. Some of these have some great rock sounds that you can obtain by simply pushing a button (preset).