Stupid question -Mix and match amp parts for different tone..?

[SlapbassSteve]

I've a pretty good idea how to use an amp but not much knowledge on how they work.

Reading through the discussions on here about Markbass tone got me wondering- what gives an amp its particular tone? Is it just a select few components(ie diodes, resistors, caps etc, like that 'orange drop' that folks put in Fenders to upgrade them) that create a 'sound', or do they have some kind of EQ built in(the sickening levels of mids in my old Ashdown springs to mind...). Furthermore, by swapping a few cheap parts around, could I, for example, ...make my Markbass sound like an Ampeg? Ampeg tone in a Markbass combo... the possibilities are endless.


Is any of that realistic or am I just thinking out loud at a bit of a tangent to reality?

[Mr. Foxen]

Pretty much eq, plus bits of distortion in places, and high and low filtering. You can make a Markbass set to clean sound like an Ampeg by adding a Sansamp VT bass. The cab generally will have more colour than the amp set flat, but flat doesn't mean all the knobs in the middle.

[icastle]

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1343731410' post='1754216']
Reading through the discussions on here about Markbass tone got me wondering- what gives an amp its particular tone? Is it just a select few components(ie diodes, resistors, caps etc, like that 'orange drop' that folks put in Fenders to upgrade them) that create a 'sound', or do they have some kind of EQ built in(the sickening levels of mids in my old Ashdown springs to mind...). Furthermore, by swapping a few cheap parts around, could I, for example, ...make my Markbass sound like an Ampeg? Ampeg tone in a Markbass combo... the possibilities are endless.
[/quote]

Nope, it's not as simple as that.

The majority of components inside amplifiers all come from the same handfull of manufacturers and are essentially all the same.
The differences are more to do with the combination of components (the circuit design) than individual components.