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Hearing your gear/guitars played live


Willyguitar

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I had the unusual experience last night of hearing my guitar and entire set up being played by multiple musicians at a kind of free for all gig/birthday party, in which people came up and played 2 or 3 songs, which were agreed in advance. Interestingly, some of my band members were keen to pick up my Les Paul Junior into my Vox AC30... and I have to say, I felt totally vindicated in my choice to go with that combination. Maybe it is just because I am so used to hearing it now in my head, but by george, it's a robust sound! Have others had this experience?

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I have but each player has a different approach and feel .I have always been very aggressive player. So unless the person play that way your rig will sound different. I've seen rigs that sound great with one person's playing and bad with the next with no changes. It's all in the hands.

 

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Of course things sound different with different players. But I wouldn't say it is ALL in the hands. It was a very recognisable core tone that in most cases was played a little more lightly than me, but still sounded exceptionally good. Maybe it was luck...

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One of the really cool seminars at the tri-annual Guild of American Luthiers conference is the Listening seminars. They do this for nylon and steel string guitars, and I think, mandolins. Basically a builder submits a guitar for the session, the same person tunes each guitar and the same player plays the same thing on each one. The builder then stands up and talks about the guitar - materials, bracing, all the little things that goes into a hand built guitar. By having the same person play each one that variable is more or less removed from the mix. Typically there are 30 or 35 hand built guitar played during the session - each wonderful in its own right, each one different.

 

Kind of the opposite of what you describe, but a totally cool experience.

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What was quite noticeable, for me, was how gruff and in-your-face a Vox AC30 was, compared to both a similarly dialled Fender deluxe and an Orange 30watt (I think it was a rocker verb, or whatever they are called). The other guitars into the Fender and Orange were humbuckered (a PRS, and an ES335), and you could consistently hear the robustness of the vox throughout... but I think the Junior sort of enhanced that even more - somehow a sound with more presence. None of the amps were mike-ed up.

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I used to sponsor an open mic night all the time. We'd open up with the first set and let other musicians sign in on a play list. Its a good option for week nights to fill a club and get paid. The first set is what you'd call a captive audience and then you'd limit it to them playing 3 songs before changing off.

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Sometimes this is not so good.. After learning some basics on acoustic I switched to electric. My daughter was doing some baby sitting at the time and one of the dads came to pick up his son. We got talking and he saw my guitar and amp and offered to play somethihg for us. It turns out the guy was a proffessional guitarist who did high scale events in the Philly area.. Lets just say that he put things into perpective, He was so good and I knew I was so bad that I felt like giving up, .It was humbeling

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I know Willy is talking about electric guitars but since I come mostly from an acoustic world I'm really aware of how different a guitar can sound to the player and to a listener. That at least partially explains the popularity of sound ports in many acoustics - direct feedback to the player. Also I have always felt that when you consider buying an (acoustic) guitar you should have someone else play it so you can listen out front.

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The summer between my junior and senior years in college I got my 12-string acoustic. One time my roommate Tom, who was a heck of a guitarist, was playing it and I was sitting there amazed by how good it sounded.

 

I used to sponsor an open mic night all the time. We'd open up with the first set and let other musicians sign in on a play list. Its a good option for week nights to fill a club and get paid. The first set is what you'd call a captive audience and then you'd limit it to them playing 3 songs before changing off.

Which has what to do with hearing your guitar/rig played by someone else?

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I had the unusual experience last night of hearing my guitar and entire set up being played by multiple musicians at a kind of free for all gig/birthday party' date=' in which people came up and played 2 or 3 songs, which were agreed in advance. Interestingly, some of my band members were keen to pick up my Les Paul Junior into my Vox AC30... and I have to say, I felt totally vindicated in my choice to go with that combination. Maybe it is just because I am so used to hearing it now in my head, but by george, it's a robust sound! Have others had this experience?[/quote']

 

I only play out live once in a while, and while I've had other people use my rigs live and been able to hear them from the audience's perspective, I get a lot more opportunities to hear other people using my guitars / amps / effects in the recording studio. Part of the reason I have the amount of stuff I do is to provide lots of sonic options in the studio, so it all gets used there a lot.

 

When I'm shopping for an acoustic guitar, I like to bring another player with me if I can, or at least get the folks in the shop to play it for me for a while. It's not that I can't or don't want to play the guitar myself too, but you get another perspective of the sound when you're standing in front of the guitar vs. holding and playing it yourself. Hearing your rig played live by another musician, or hearing it used in the studio is kind of a similar experience IMO - it gives you a different perspective, and allows you to focus on listening without the distraction of simultaneously playing...

 

 

 

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You must have never played and open mic night before. The headline band typically provides the gear, guitar amps and PA. The most a guest does is bring their own instrument. Some may even use your instrument. There is no time for breaking down and swapping amps. That's why its called an open mic right, the mic stays open and running as players come up and do a song or two.

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I see. So a guest brings his/her own guitar and plays it through your amp and somehow that translates into hearing your guitar played by the guest. Because that's what we were talking about. Makes about as much sense as most of your posts.

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