I suspect I’m overthinking this.
I just have one amp and a small board with space for one drive pedal - I’d like to make this setup work for both home and playing out without swapping pedals frequently, and without having to put up with a muddy ‘home’ sound just to get a balanced ‘loud’ sound that’s not too bright.
The drive pedal which sounds best at home is Rat-based, naturally quite clear and bright sounding, but I have to roll back the guitar tone a bit on the bridge pickup (and sometimes the pedal tone too) when playing loud.
I suspect I need to get used to the idea that a ‘loud’ sound needs to cut though rather than be all nice and cosy on the ear like a home practice sound.
Comments
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
What sounds good at home rarely works for live.
EQ is obviously the first thing to look at, but some kit just doesn't work live, and conversely some things never sound good at home.
I do honestly think that far too many guitarists don't learn to dial their gear in properly - maybe me being a bass player and a part-time sound engineer helps with that, but I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people say that something like the Fender Hotrod Deluxe is 'too loud for the house', or the volume control taper is 'unusable'... no it isn't. You just need to dial it in carefully and set the EQ differently at different volumes. If a bad player like me can get good sounds out of one at any volume, the problem isn't the amp.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
However, with regard to things like the Blues DLX issue, I would add that just because something can be overcome, it doesn't mean it's not a problem!
That's a very amp based reply, but I would say it's at least as try, if not more so, of pickups, pedals etc.
Learning to dial things in is one thing, but when you've got a pedal like the OCD, the bass is fixed, and for me, way too much live. Loved it at home though! Just an example, there are others.
But yes, you can usually get acceptable sounds for both situations, with care and tweakage, but my point was that I have come across some things that, subjectively, don't do that for me, and others have agreed so I know I'm not an aberration!
I don't disagree with that either, it's just that I've noticed that a lot of guitarists really make a rod for their own backs by being 'unable' to play with anything that isn't their own amp, set one particular way... and seeming to have no idea how to adjust it for different situations where that volume and/or tone might not be appropriate.
This also extends to attenuators - a lot of people seem to be under the impression that you can set your amp for the cranked stage tone where it sounds great, then simply turn the attenuator down and have it sound the same at home. (Not helped by some attenuator manufacturers claiming this!) Then when it doesn't, declare that attenuators suck tone...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Last night I went to a local venue, mainly to see what other bands on the local circuit were like. The guitar sounded nicely rounded on its own. Bring in the rest of the band and it disappeared into the mix. Kick in a solo an it was very thin, and barely audible.
Does this maybe also suggest different speaker sizes work better in different situations?
Not really, although the little 6.5” and 8” ones don’t always sound great at gig volume - but it’s still amp-dependent, since the Tweed Champ sounds fine. I do think they sound ‘better’ with a 12”, but really it’s just ‘different’. My 8”-speaker one sounded fine at gig volume for 50s rock ‘n’ roll.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'm sure this doesn't help in any practical way and it's not really a new observation but underlined the difference.
Helix LT FWIW.