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Step 1
Get appropriate volume. Some experts say you won't get as good of a tone without turning your guitar's dials up to full volume. Others disagree, but generally, it's agreed you'll get a poor sound if your guitar volume knobs are turned most of the way down. If you aren't in a space where you can play loud, don't turn down the guitar knob: instead, turn your amplifier volumes down to what your neighbors can deal with.
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Step 2
Use the tone dials and levers on both your guitar and your amplifier. On the amp, treble and bass knobs are usually in the middle of the front panel. On your guitar, you might see dials for tone, as well as little levers that toggle between different tone settings. Experiment with these first before turning on effects to see what sounds good.
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Step 3
Ratchet up your amp's effects. When you've got a good natural tone with your bass and treble dials, start turning up gain or distortion settings, or reverb effects on the amp, in small increments. Play and listen to each one to see if your guitar needs a little more, until you arrive at your desired levels.
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Step 4
Adjust volume again. Because of the way your amp's gain works, you may have gotten a lot louder through messing around with your tone settings. If so, you'll want to control the volume knob back down to reasonable decibel levels.
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Step 5
Add effects with any stand-alone effects pedals. You can add delay, chorus, flange, fading, or a bunch of other effects with these foot pedal devices. Another great feature is that you can turn outside effects on and off, preserving the good natural tone you just created through your amp.
