Effects strength - at home volume vs gig level?

Vaiai

I use a Helix and never been a big pedal fan apart from the reverb/delay and compressor/boost but when setting up sounds at home at a bit of volume but not much - I find I am setting the mix pretty low as the FX seem to be over-powering - but when I get to rehearsal/gigs they seem to get lost - is it recognised you need to really emphasise them more than you think?

Just thinking out loud and wondering what others methods are.

I also read a thread which advised you can use an Expression pedal to control any parameter which I knew about but I just realised I could set this on the Feedback, level or mix options and use that to hear when an effect really kicks in while at rehearsal without too much pedal fiddling - our rehearsal time is tight and we focus on the songs rather than sounds most of the time!
Getting time to try sounds at gig volume is difficult.

Drew_TNBD

Try to dial them in at home and allow for +/- 10% on the mix and +/- 20% on the feedback for live use.

professorben

Drew_TNBD said:

Try to dial them in at home and allow for +/- 10% on the mix and +/- 20% on the feedback for live use.

Gonna use that as a rule of thumb with my H9, wis'd. 

Cabicular

Vaiai said:

I use a Helix and never been a big pedal fan apart from the reverb/delay and compressor/boost but when setting up sounds at home at a bit of volume but not much - I find I am setting the mix pretty low as the FX seem to be over-powering - but when I get to rehearsal/gigs they seem to get lost - is it recognised you need to really emphasise them more than you think?

Just thinking out loud and wondering what others methods are.

I also read a thread which advised you can use an Expression pedal to control any parameter which I knew about but I just realised I could set this on the Feedback, level or mix options and use that to hear when an effect really kicks in while at rehearsal without too much pedal fiddling - our rehearsal time is tight and we focus on the songs rather than sounds most of the time!
Getting time to try sounds at gig volume is difficult.

It also varies from room to room and stage to stage 
I tend to tweak as I go and as for reverb I'll either switch it on or off depending on the room (I'm old school rock so it's a light effect for me anyway)
i always have 1 expression pedal set for delay mix and I have it going from 18 to 40 
The other Exp I have set for 0db at heel to +7db at Toe
it sounds a lot and I don't give it the full treat eme to for every solo but sometimes it needs to go flat to the floor 

Vaiai

I'm mainly from a rock background too but the other guitarist in my band is a pedal fiend and more indie , sharper sound too, and has all sorts of mad effects going on so although I'm main lead guitar in the band I sit back a lot as there's no room to make a huge amount of effects laden noise without sounding crap!

But when I do want to use some phase or tremelo I was not sure how to translate it to the full band mix - will try the exp pedal method - I have the Helix one but also a Dunlop vol/exp I had for the FX8. Think I'll use that.
Thanks for the advice

steamabacus

I've always found the opposite - if I set up effects at home, I will need to back off the level slightly when translated to loud gigging conditions.

Vaiai

steamabacus said:

I've always found the opposite - if I set up effects at home, I will need to back off the level slightly when translated to loud gigging conditions.

I'm quite restrained with FX so prob too tentative at home and then live it's just lost!

Cirrus

It could go either way.

If you're going for a very subtle effect, then you might hear subtle effects alone that will get lost in a loud context with other stuff playing along with you. So to get the same effect in that different context, you need to turn the subtle stuff up.

If you're going for something clearly effected, you might find that in turning up for "gig level" the compression/distortion characteristic of your rig changes and the effects make things too mushy until you turn them down a bit.

Cabicular

Again I have to say the room can make a massive difference 

monquixote

I normally find that you have to use:
Quite a bit less drive
A bit more modulation as subtle doesn't cut through 
Unless it's an obvious "effect" like a huge hall, reverb just pushes you back in the mix 
A bit more mix on delays live

octatonic

I have completely different patches for live or home/studio sounds.
Live = less gain, less bass, more mids, lower delay and reverb mix values.

Cabicular

What is this 'less gain' you speak of
i know those two words but I've never seen them combined 

Vaiai

I'm finding myself rolling back the V30 gain these days, more for definition - My Charvel has higher output but a thinner sound - My Tele has TV Jones in it and pretty low output but beefy - I'm actually wondering if the Sheriff may be better - can hardly crank the V30 as it's so loud!
The other alternative is to use the drives in the Helix I guess, never liked Pedal gain but maybe stacking will help...anyway, I digress...

professorben

Cabicular said:

What is this 'less gain' you speak of
i know those two words but I've never seen them combined 

I'm similarly confused. 

Did he mean more? 

More is more afterall.