Advice needed - AC15 too loud!

uncledick

Well, sort of.

I bought an AC15C1 from a guy on here and also a lovely Celestion Blue to get me to the 'X' spec.  I've been jamming with the band for a while and it is lovely.  We do indie/covers stuff from The Coral / Kooks through to Buzzcocks / Undertones.  Last night was our first gig - in a school hall with about 100 people.  My problem is that to be heard out front I have to turn the amp up so that the only other thing I can hear is our drummer.  I've played basically the same gig with my Supersonic 22 and it didn't seem half as loud - to me - to get the same mix.  I'm also told that the Vox is quite 'beamy' as in in depends where you stand.  For what it's worth, it was perched on an upside down crate.

So, I see myself as having maybe four options:

1, Tilt the amp back - this would probably cure the on/off axis issue - but I'd probably have to go louder still.

2, Mic it through the PA - seems excessive for the venues we play.

3, Put the Greenback I removed into an extension cab - I think the amp will let me do this - and run both together.

4, Buy another amp - Mmmmm

Another option would be to plough some money into the PA budget so I could hear what the singers were doing.  We were on the edge of feedback all night with the setup we had.

Any thoughts most welcome

sw67

We put the vocals and the guitars through the pa as they are both 1 x 12 ( one is sometimes my ac15 ) and it helps get the guitars in the mix without turning the amps up too loud.

ChrisCox1994

its not really excessive to bring a mic and a single xlr cable to have a great improvement in the overall spread of the guitar.

mic it up, point it at yourself so you can hear it if you need to, sorted.

stickyfiddle

If you can mic it and run through the PA that will pretty much always be the best solution. 

ecc83

"Another option would be to plough some money into the PA budget so I could hear what the singers were doing.  We were on the edge of feedback all night with the setup we had."

That ^ tells me you have not really got the internal balance of the band sorted out? You really can't setup "G,B&Drums THEN expect the vocalist to get above it. The baseline limit for any band (who want to sound good) is how much VOCAL signal they can put into any room before feedback and that will vary hugely with room and even audience numbers.

If you don't want to mic up the amp go for the extension cab idea, you already have the expensive bit!

Not often mentioned but if the drummer is a bit "eager" you might consider a Perspex shield affront him? (Polycarbonate if you think they might shoot!)

There are some super mixers about now from Soundcraft and Allen &Heath. They can be sound tested and run outfront from a pad or phone and you can even mix a stereo take to a USB stick and paly that back while you kick back with a beer and critique your sound!

Dave.

ICBM

I would do 2 *and* 3. A 1x12" combo always suffers from this problem really, they are just inherently beamy and don't fill a space particularly well compared to even a 2x12" of the same power.

A 1x12" extension cab of almost any quality will do fine if you're not relying on it for your main sound, and if you put it under the Vox it will produce something approaching a vertical 2x12", which (counterintuitively) has better sideways dispersion than a standard horizontal one. Alternatively you could use the extension cab to either aim across the stage, or even use a long cable and put it on the other side of the stage entirely, which will improve your on-stage monitoring and fill the room better.

Mic'ing through the PA will also help a lot, even if you're not using it for the bulk of the volume.

Don't do 1 unless you're putting the bulk of the volume through the PA - it will make things worse, because you'll end up dialling the amp in for the bright direct on-axis sound, which will make the off-axis sound far too dull and it will get lost in the room.

4 would only be worthwhile if it's a cheap old bombproof solid-state combo which you could use as an extension cab, slave power amp, emergency backup etc. As long as you like the sound of your AC15 you don't need another main amp.

uncledick

Advice duly taken:  At the show today and got a deal on an SM57 and a Line6 G10 setup. Now I can put some guitar through the PA AND take a stroll out front to have a listen.