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Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier?

Jim Lill · 840.5K views · 2022-10-03 · 18:34

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Overview

Guitarist Jim Lill spends a year testing where guitar amplifier tone comes from, swapping tubes, rectifiers and bias types. He finds that much of it can be reproduced with EQ and distortion in different orders.

On Hacker News

Recommended as a systematic, surprising experiment, often cited in audio and gear-obsession threads.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2024–2026

Topics

Music theory, synthesis & productionAudio & video engineering
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guitar ampseqdistortiontube amplifiersaudio

What people said

mrob · 2026-03 · Recommendation

I'm convinced that at least 90% of "analog sound" can be simulated by taking the ideal block diagram and replacing every link with a parametric EQ->waveshaper->parametric EQ chain. Configuring those added components correctly is left as an exercise for the reader. Jim Lill's video on guitar amp tone is an interesting demonstration. Hear how close he gets to the original with an even simpler combination of EQ and distortion: [VIDEO]

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gadtfly · 2026-03 · Recommendation

If this is appealing to you, check out this guy who ran a much more systematic set of experiments on even more sacred and sensitive targets: Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In An Electric Guitar? [LINK] Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier? [VIDEO]

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WorkerBee28474 · 2025-11 · Recommendation

I'd like to plug the YouTube Video by Jim Lill - "Tested: Where Does The Tone Come From In A Guitar Amplifier?" [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Jim Lill, played through YouTube.

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