Tone

Noone can tell you that. Just the EQ knobs alone behave totally different on different amps, if the amp is a tube amp you definitely want an attenuator/powersoak to tame it down. For the rest it's fairly easy: turn the knobs, listen to what needs to be changed and turn the knobs some more.

To go along with what Arjen said about adjusting the knobs, you should remember that each person listens differently. What you think may be a great classic rock tone, I might find it lacking, or to raw, or vice versa. It really is all about personal preference.

One rule I stick by though for classic rock tone, and some people will probably agree with me on this is to lower your gain, and use a limiter or compressor if there is one.

You can also try adjusting the volume and tone knobs on your guitar. I personally feel that this is an underrated technique. Most of my sound changes come from guitar knobs, not amp knobs.

It mainly just comes down though, to what you think sounds good.

Paul

I don't think anybody's really happy with their sound. If they were, there would be no upgrade market in the guitar industry.

As Arjen said, tone is largely a matter of twiddling the knobs on the equipment you've got and finding out what it can do. And that includes the volume and gain knobs too - remember that there are settings for both other than 10. You've also got to look at the sound you're getting in the context of how it's going to fit into a band situation.

With quite modest equipment you can create a whole battery of sounds. If you're still not satisfied, then try one of the amp modellers that are available - the reasonably priced Korg is speaking to me at the moment, but Vox do a classy piece of stompbox modelling kit with valves for a slice more wedge. There's also a Jimi Hendrix Experience pedal which can reproduce seven of the great man's sounds from particular songs.

Best,

A :-)