Tone

Browse gear by the sound itself — the words players use, matched to what the graph can actually show evidence for

Timbre & EQ

Brightness

  1. Dark voiced
  2. Bright voiced

Midrange

  1. Scooped mids
  2. Mid forward

Low end

  1. Thin low end
  2. Balanced low end
  3. Bass forward

Cuts through

cutting, cuts through the mix, presence, sits in the mix

Neutral balance

neutral, flat response, balanced, even response

Transparent

uncoloured, keeps your amp tone, does not colour your tone, preserves your tone

Gain & saturation

Creamy breakup

creamy, edge of breakup, breaking up, amp breakup

Harmonic richness

harmonically rich, harmonic content, harmonics, rich harmonics

Saturated

saturation, thick saturation

Dynamics & response

Headroom

  1. Low headroom
  2. Clean headroom

Amp like

amp in a box, sounds like an amp, amp sounding, amp feel

Cleans up with volume

cleans up with the volume knob, cleans up when you roll back, cleans up, volume knob cleanup

Compressed

squashed, squishy, tight compression, less punchy

Pedal platform

platform, takes pedals well, takes pedals, good with pedals

Power sag

sag, tube sag, rectifier sag, sags under load

Touch responsive

responsive, responsiveness, reacts to pick attack, pick attack

Space & ambience

Ambient wash

ambient, wash, lush, washy

Shimmer

shimmering, octave up reverb

Wide stereo image

wide, wide stereo, spacious, wide soundstage

Attack & decay

Fast attack

immediate attack, snappy

Long sustain

endless sustain, sustains forever, singing sustain, lots of sustain

Slow swell

slow attack, swell, volume swells, bloom

Tight decay

tight, tight low end, fast decay, controlled decay

Overall character

Era

  1. Vintage voiced
  2. Modern voiced

Easy to dial in

simple controls, set and forget, intuitive, no bad settings

Natural and musical

natural, musical, organic

Noise & artifacts

Noise floor

Gated

noise gate, gating, tight gate

Build & format

Boutique

hand wired, hand built, point to point

Compact footprint

compact, small footprint, saves board space, mini enclosure

Solid build

build quality, well built, road worthy, durable