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Removing or replacing a single component in your amp can have significant impacts on both its tonal character and the amount of gain or headroom on tap. Here we guide you through several easy projects you can do in relatively little time with a few basic tools.

It’s in a guitarist’s nature, I believe, that we can’t leave well enough alone. Most of us have an ideal sound (or sounds) in our heads, and we won’t rest until our vision is realized. We can have a perfectly fine guitar or amplifier, but we still have an inherent urge to tinker with it until it’s “just right” in feel or tone. On this premise—as well as the fact that many of us are on budgets that don’t allow us to buy every amp that strikes our fancy—the idea of modifying an amp we already own strikes a very appealing chord for many players.

Of course, before beginning any sort of amp modification, you’ve got to pinpoint exactly what you want to accomplish. And you have to keep in mind that an amp is full of many parts that interact with and affect one another, so even small changes to any of these parts can yield major differences in tone and performance. However, this exponential effect that small changes can have on tone means there are many relatively easy ways in which even inexperienced but adventurous DIYers can mod their amp.

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