I just bought a Marshall, and I thought it would guarantee me great tone, but it doesn't sound any good until its way too loud to use! Why are guitars so fickle when it comes to getting a good tone? What amp would you recommend?

>> Sorry to hear you're not getting what you want from your Marshall, they ARE great amps, but you're correct in noting that they excel at medium to high levels of overdrive, and this means they're loud! My recommendation is that you use an overdrive pedal at lower levels to get similar sounds at household levels.

I agree that guitars are fickle when it comes to getting a single "ultimate" tone you have in your head. If you're fortunate enough to be playing in a constant band and a consistent style of music, it would be possible to buy a single amp to give you the sound you crave. You would buy the correct amp power rating that allows you to drive the amp as hard (or soft) as you need to get the volume you need in the band. And you would buy the style of amp that suits your music. For example, if you need great clean tones and slightly overdriven sounds, start with Fender designs and their copies. If you're looking for medium to heavy saturated lead sounds, look at Marshall and their copies, or if you're looking for harder edged metal sounds, start with Mesa Boogie. This is a gross generalisation of course, start here and shop around.

But many of us play in several bands (or unstable bands!), and in many different venues from outside to restaurants. The common solution to the need to get good to great tones at any volume is to have a medium to high power amp (50 to 100 watts), and when you can't wind it up to the volume you like, to use a clean amp tone with an overdrive pedal for similar, but less satisfying tones. Another possibility is to use a speaker load, such as the Marshall Power Brake. These allow you to still overdrive the power amp of your Marshall, where the good overdrive sounds are. For some reason, these devices aren't terribly popular; I'm not sure if its the loss of that Marshall "thump in the chest", or the loss of feedback induced sustain that is perceived as a loss of tone. Whether you go down the stompbox or speaker load path, I suggest you try before you buy.

Particulary if you play in a cover band, where you need to get a wide variety of tones (in addition to different overdrive levels at any volume), you might like to consider one of the new amp modelling offerings, such as the Line 6 Flextone. Popular opinion is that while these amps have no sounds that are as good as that single ultimate tone, they offer enormous flexibility, with many different sounds that are nearly as good as the real thing.