My band had one of those gigs last night i.e. one that makes you question your gear choices - in fact we've had a few of them recently.
We're a heavy alt-rock 4 piece - 2 guitars, bass drums, 2 vox and are drummer has the touch of a blacksmith and as such are amps have to be set LOUD. Issue is most of the gigs we do a support slots in small venues with tiny stages and last night may have been the final straw for me.
My ears are still ringing and frankly it was just dangerously loud. But, more to the point, was I don't think we, or any of the bands, sounded good with that set up i.e. loud drums, loud amps, small room. Also, as seems to keep happening, we were asked to provide the guitar amps for backline so were forced to stay to the very end and let others abuse our gear. Worst thing was venue was up 3 flights of stairs!
I use an AC15, which is probably one of the best power to weight ratio amps out there. It's not crazy heavy, but heavy enough to make taking it to gigs a hassle. I also have a decent size pedalboard, nothing crazy, it's a Templeboard trio 21, but with all the wires and case, it's pretty heavy to lug around.
Now I've always been a pedal guy as I'm convinced they sound better than modellers. BUT, I also know modellers sound awesome as well. Furthermore, at the volume we're playing at, any nuance or difference in sound quality is completely lost as the sheer noise level negates any of that completely. Plus, it doesn't matter how nice my amp and pedals are, they're still miced up through the same crappy PA being mixed by a mediocre sound guy.
I'm essentially weighing up selling all my gear and getting a quad cortex and FRFR cab. I'm also wondering if anyone directly monitors themselves with IEM's from their modeller? My band can't afford an IEM rig, but all I really need to hear is my guitar, which I never get enough of in the monitors. So I'm thinking of having 2 sends, one to FOH and one to a set of headphones for me. Does anyone else do this?
Comments
I feel like you might be diverting attention onto your amp and away from the actual problem.
If your drummer can’t control himself and the whole band can’t get IEMs and you’re playing smaller venues, whatever you run is going to have to be loud, digital or otherwise. Too loud drums will kill your hearing very quickly and volume wars are a disaster for actually sounding good.
Get your drummer to ease up.
Get some good quality earplugs.
As a support band we always said no to any request to supply backline.
I mean...obviously, sort your drummer out, but also buy new things.
If the promoter wants to supply the backline, that's their decision. If they want us to supply it...they can use our cabs, but amps are out of the question.
I did have one ask a couple of years ago, and I said "no". They promised our amps to the other bands anyway...got really shitty when we showed up and refused, so I pulled the Powerstage 170 out of my rucksack and said, "OK, what do you think they're going to do with this?". He bitched and moaned about how I should've told him about it and how I'd ruined the night etc, to which I replied, "I did say 'no'. Well, if you'd stop promising other people's equipment to bands against their wishes, you wouldn't be in this mess.".
I still wonder about the kind of guitarist who shows up to a gig without an amp. They're certainly not the kind of person I'd want using mine.
Feedback
Feedback
Really, sort that out, and everything else becomes a matter of choice rather than an issue.
R.
(Guitar player, sound engineer, acoustics graduate)
Eqd Speaker Cranker clone
Monte Allums TR-2 Plus mod kit
Trading feedback: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/60602/
Gearing up for IEM's doesn't need to be expensive. If you use a guitar cable then wireless IEM's are pointless. You can just run the IEM feed up a combo cable which does your guitar and IEM's in one cable. I have been on this system for 12 years or so. In terms of getting a signal from FOH, well it depends on what's there. If they have active wedges then you can just feed your IEM amp from the pass through socket. If they are using passive wedges then you need to ask for an aux send. Pref 2 as IEM's are so much nicer in stereo.
I designed and built my own gadget for festival gigs so I could have control in my IEM's of my vocal and guitar volume completely independent of the festival engineers .... I built it in a pedal format but you can achieve more or less the same thing by buying a little mixer and a little passive mic splitter if you sing as well.
The simplest way to monitor yourself through a modeller though is Main outs of modeller to PA and headphone out of modeller to input of combo cable, like the one below
We put the kick through the PA, carefully, and...the whole band sounded great, not too loud, perfectly balanced from every angle.
The only reason for this is that our drummer is good enough that he can rein it in without sounding shit.
All the guitar gear is worth it, even in small venues, but only if your drums and bass sound right to begin with. If they don't, or they're unbalanced, your gear's worth nothing.