I've recently joined a new covers band after years of playing in original bands where I've always had the luxury of sound engineers mic my amps up for me.
With the new band I'm a bit worried my amp won't be loud enough or more it will be straight into break up.
It's a Fender 65 Princeton. It's fine in practice but has anyone used one in a noisy pub?
I need to be able to play clean(ish) on some songs .
Do I need a bigger amp? If so which one? I like Fender tones and run about 7 -10 pedals.
Or
Can I Mic it up and put it the singers PA?
Comments
That's a 65W solid-state amp with a 12" speaker, by the way... and it *will* be loud enough. Typically around £150 second hand.
"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 use a sennheiser 906 (I think) which is flat and dangles easily through the amp handle. It goes through the pa (basic vocal 12 tops) to give a bit of spread. Sounds great.
When depping with bands with an unknown PA I miked mine up through a cheap floor wedge, which not only gives you a good stage spread but it means you can run the Princeton at its exact sweet spot volume-wise, then use the wedge for overall volume level.
There is no substitute for more *actual* power if you need clean headroom, although a much more efficient speaker will help a fair bit, if the present one isn't.
"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
Bandcamp
Spotify, Apple et al
It took me more than a few minutes to change speakers because it's necessary to take out the entire amp section to do it. A bit of a pain, but not too hard.
I've now got an HRD IV which comes with a Celestion A type as stock and I like it as it is.
I would be tempted to use the Princeton, and mic it into the PA if it needs reinforcing. It does depend on the layout of the venues you are playing, but just going through backline can cause problems with spread of sound. People at the front near your amp can get too much, while people elsewhere in the room might not hear it at all. If you mic it into the PA, you should get a much more even spread through the room for all the punters to hear clearly.
A Princeton should be enough to hear yourself on stage with. If your drummer is too loud for that, you probably won't get invited back the way the noise police are these days.
Or get a second Princeton and run stereo. Two of them will be enough, and you will get a much better spread of sound. You also aren't completely stuffed if one of them dies.
Damn those big PAs
Damn those subwoofers