# Retolexing improves tone !!



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I retolexed my amp head from black to brown and the change in tone is amazing. I'm thinking of doing the same thing with the cab now.


----------



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

Be careful what you use on the cab! Depending on the speakers it could really mess things up. If you have newer Celestions go with a tweed or brown but stay away from black!


----------



## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

...umm are you serious? Does tolexing really change the tone?? If there were any changes, I'm guessing they'd be hardly noticeable...I mean after all...it's just tolex right??


----------



## violation (Aug 20, 2006)

Yeah ugh how does that work?:confused-smiley-010


----------



## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

Everyone knows that brown has a cooler tone then black.... you must of heard of the brown mod....


----------



## 1PUTTS (Sep 8, 2007)

I think it works much the same way as how you car seems to drive way smoother after you pull out of the car wash.:smile:


----------



## rockgarden (Oct 29, 2007)

PaulS said:


> Everyone knows that brown has a cooler tone then black....


That depends on what style of music you play, now doesn't it? Can you play "black metal" on a BROWN amp??? I didn't think so! ;-)

Personally I prefer the black "fuzzy carpet" covering: now *that's* serious tone!


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

greco said:


> I retolexed my amp head from black to brown and the change in tone is amazing. I'm thinking of doing the same thing with the cab now.


Ouch! I think I just snapped a rib! That's hilarious. That's it, I'm retolexing everything. Even my wife. lol!:banana:


----------



## bobb (Jan 4, 2007)

rockgarden said:


> Personally I prefer the black "fuzzy carpet" covering: now *that's* serious tone!


Just wait until it starts shedding in the spring.


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Stratin2traynor said:


> Ouch! I think I just snapped a rib! That's hilarious. That's it, I'm retolexing everything. *Even my wife*. lol!:banana:


I almost sprayed a mouthful of coffee all over my monitor when I read this.... first thing this morning.

Thanks for a laugh that will last all day.:food-smiley-004:


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

bobb said:


> Just wait until it starts shedding in the spring.



I'm wiping the coffee off my monitor and desk now.


----------



## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

I wish I had known this before. Now I regret not buying that snakeskin tolex covered Marshall clone that was being offered to me. I was wondering why I was told that someone wanted that amp badly and the main reason was because of the tolex. Didn't know it had that much effect on the amp.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Hmmm, we seem to view this as ridiculous, and yet people seem willing to believe many other equally (in my opinion) silly tone myths.


----------



## rockgarden (Oct 29, 2007)

Milkman said:


> Hmmm, we seem to view this as ridiculous, and yet people seem willing to believe many other equally (in my opinion) silly tone myths.


I'm curious. Can you give some examples?


----------



## ne1roc (Mar 4, 2006)

I heard if you tolex an SG, not only does the tone improve, but its no longer neck heavy!


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Chito said:


> I was wondering why I was told that someone wanted that amp badly and the main reason was because of the tolex. Didn't know it had that much effect on the amp.


"Live and learn"....snakeskin has some very special mojo...be careful !!

(Psssst.....That is why it is so seldom seen.)

Dave


----------



## noobcake (Mar 8, 2006)

yeah some tone freaks on Harmony Central were talking about how $300 POWER CORDS are totally worth it cause they improve your tone... I just about cried when I read that...power cords, making a difference? I honestly don't think SRV or Jimi or any other guitar legend for that matter would give half a damn about the power cord they're using... Besides, wouldn't the power source have a much bigger effect than the power cord? Electricity runs through a bunch of wires before it reaches your socket, I honestly don't think that a power cord (which is like 2 feet long) is suddenly gonna "enhance" the electricity which already traveled through thousands of feet of wire to reach your socket in the first place. How in the world are the last 2 feet of wire going to make a difference?


----------



## Evilmusician (Apr 13, 2007)

greco said:


> I'm wiping the coffee off my monitor and desk now.


Coffee improves tone too i heard:banana:


----------



## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

> Coffee improves tone too i heard


Really!? Is that black or with cream or milk?... what about sugar!


Let's not forget how the tolex on your guitar case also bleeds into the mojo of the guitar... and don't get me started on what the interior colour of the case does!! :2guns:


----------



## bobb (Jan 4, 2007)

Guess I should have snapped up that green paisley Dual Showman when I had the chance.


----------



## rockgarden (Oct 29, 2007)

Paul said:


> I am in no way speaking for Milkman, but consider that people actually buy these:
> ...
> or these:
> ...


Ok, but I don't have the impression that anyone here would seriously consider either of these. I suppose that I had interpretted Milkman's message to be referring to "people here", but I just went and re-read it and indeed he refers only to "people". That would include the masses of "audiophiles" who claim they can "hear" a cable, so alright, ...

Maybe we could market tolex-covered cables, and get audiophile magazines to review them? (that's all it takes, right? a carefully staged review in certain magazines ...)

On a related note, though, I've been seeing lots of ads in guitar magazines for brand-name guitar cables, suggesting that the cables "improve tone". Sure if you have a cheap or damaged cable to begin with, a new cable (of *any* brand) will help.

Personally I've used DIY cables with Canare (or similar when that's not available) cable (winds up easily and stays neatly coiled) and Neutrik ends (solidly built and easy to service when the cable does break), or more recently I've just taken to buying Digiflex cables, which seem to be of similar quality anyway (and I save the time to build them).


----------



## Gene Machine (Sep 22, 2007)

*the physics is simple*

brown is warmer than black, because as everyone knows black is faster than brown. The faster sound waves from the black tolex amp are higher in prime number harmonics, which human ears translate to harsher. Brown tolex amps are rich in harmonics that are multiples of 7. That 49th harmonic is a real sweeeet baby.

ooh yeahh.


don't forget the bakelight knobs vs. plastic. Bakelight absorbs bright tones.

g


----------



## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Evilmusician said:


> Coffee improves tone too i heard:banana:


I noticed that when I play while sipping a TH coffee in a PAPER cup, my tone improves tremendously. Just thought I would let you guys in on that little secret. Enjoy :banana:


----------



## PaulS (Feb 27, 2006)

So that's Oranges secret, it's been the orange coloured tolex all this time. I kinda like the tone I get from my Blue Diamond tolex. I don't know about TH's coffee but I find the more beer ya drink the better the sound gets.... :food-smiley-004:


----------



## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

PaulS;71955 but I find the more beer ya drink the better the sound gets.... :food-smiley-004:[/QUOTE said:


> And the more Tolex ya wanna glue on


----------



## I_cant_play (Jun 26, 2006)

> In all seriousness, the look of an amp can affect the way you play it. It's all about vibe. If you're playing a cool looking amp, you may feel a little bit cooler, and play just a little bit better as a result. It's actually not that far fetched.


while that may be true for some, I couldn't care less about the looks of an amp. I'm always baffled by people looking for a specific colour or changing the grill or whatever. If I find the amp I'm loooking for and its in good working condition it can be spraypainted aqua for all I care..


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

I think I will get my amp retolexed in edible split-crotch panties.


----------



## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

Paul said:


> I am in no way speaking for Milkman, but consider that people actually buy these:
> 
> http://www.audioconnect.com/html/nrg-5.html
> 
> ...


But when you have a $12000 amp and $20000 speakers you CAN hear the difference!


----------



## jane (Apr 26, 2006)

No wonder I have shitty tone... my bass is black, my cab is black, my amp head is black... should I paint like... I don't know, bright orange stars on it? I just bought a Korg DTR-2000 tuner... it's got pretty blue and red lights - will that help?

Woww... a $2500 power cord... anyone who buys that has way too much money and should send me some because I could totally spend that money on something that is more... useful...


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

jane said:


> > I don't know, bright orange stars on it?
> 
> 
> Sorry...*only* re-tolexing will enhance tone. Painting (stars, etc) has been tried by some of the greatest guitarists, but the results are typically disappointing.
> ...


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Robert1950 said:


> I think I will get my amp retolexed in edible split-crotch panties.


PLEASE, PLEASE...be reminded that this is NOT a secks forum


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Many thanks to everyone for all the fun we have had with this thread.

Dave


----------



## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

Agreed. No doubt that the colour of the tolex will have a massive affect on the tone of the amp, but I find that judicious use of the power switch tends to help tone as well.


----------



## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

washburned said:


> But when you have a $12000 amp and $20000 speakers you CAN hear the difference!


I have a friend that buys pens - the things with ink in them that you write with - for $400.00 a pop. He's convinced that they are worth every penny, as are everyone that pays outragious prices for items that make ridiculous claims at outrageous prices.

I used to fix electronics, and I had a customer that brough be a chrome plated (home stereo) amplifier that he had paid tweleve G's for. I opened it up and it was the simplest amp I had ever seen - it looked like something right out of a text book - I swear that you could buy a kit at an electronic supply store and what you would end up with would be comparable to this thing. None of the parts were exotic, it didn't have any magic elves inside and when he brought it to me it didn't work. I think that they charge $200.00 for the amp and there is a $11,800.00 for the bragging rights.


----------



## GuitaristZ (Jan 26, 2007)

yeah most of this stuff just preys upon uninformed consumer's minds that have too much money, and believe the notion that,

"The more I pay for it, the better the product it."

Even a lot of these boutique pedals today...what a bunch of garbage some of those are. People pay like 500$ for an overdrive pedal, which really doesn't sound much better than a 50$ digitech bad monkey. You are mainly paying for the name, and the crazy paint jobs they put on that, imho, are disgustingly ugly.

http://www.ultimateguitargear.com/tone_party_reviews_landgraff.htm

see!

http://www.gbase.com/Powered/GearDe...fb5bb-5f44-4c79-9266-116b0af6a0b9&Item=800381


----------

