Members darryl2112 Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 To all of you in bands that play regularly and incidentally have high wattage tube amps (lets say 40wt and up), how are you playing in places smaller than arenas without driving the sound guy off the deep end and completely burying the vox? I ask this after playing a gig last night where even our friends and fans were saying the guitars were just too loud. People have been saying this since our first show, even though I have been trying to make a concerted effort to fix this (but, seeing as some of my favorite bands/guitar players include My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and Hendrix, its hard for me to let go of the db lust). our first couple of shows I was using my 100wt Sovtek Mig through a 5150 cab loaded with 2 celestion 75's and 2 g12-30's...needless to say, it was too loud, even for small clubs (500 people venues). Then we got another guitar player but we both started using low(er) powered amps...he uses a peavey classic 30 combo with an ear candy green machine speaker and I use his stock peavey XXX 50 (1x12) combo. this is still way too loud with the vol on anything over 3 apparently. I tried using a 20wt marshall clone and it was cool for the slightly breaking up clean sounds, but compressed my fuzzes way too much to the point that all of them sounded the same (the sound of the amp getting slammed basicly), if I turned the fuzz vol down to remedy this, it left my dirty sound the same level as my clean(which seemed to take all the power out of the heavy stuff). the simple solution would be to just turn the amp down, but then the drums seem to dominate the mix, in which case you could say "tell the drummer to lighten up", but it seems like at that point you have a band thats easy to talk over/ignore, and when the guitars play you can still hear them acoustically over the amps. Plus, I didn't buy tube amps to run them clean and quiet. The places we play run from 500 person venues to 60 person pubs, and its the same story, all guitars and no unintelligible vox as a result. I think about all the metal-core/screamo guys playing through rectifier stacks and wonder are they even turning up past 2 on their amps because the sound guys flip out over our 30wt tube combos on anything past noon. How do you guys do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Aibric Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brick Posted September 12, 2009 Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 {censored} them. Rock out, for once, it's about you, have some fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darryl2112 Posted September 12, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 12, 2009 woah! is that jesus....story? as in the bible? as in fiction? right on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chad_sux Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Turn your amp/speaker cab so it faces the wall behind you or side fill the stage with the guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T303 Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 To all of you in bands that play regularly and incidentally have high wattage tube amps (lets say 40wt and up), how are you playing in places smaller than arenas without driving the sound guy off the deep end and completely burying the vox? I ask this after playing a gig last night where even our friends and fans were saying the guitars were just too loud. People have been saying this since our first show, even though I have been trying to make a concerted effort to fix this (but, seeing as some of my favorite bands/guitar players include My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and Hendrix, its hard for me to let go of the db lust). our first couple of shows I was using my 100wt Sovtek Mig through a 5150 cab loaded with 2 celestion 75's and 2 g12-30's...needless to say, it was too loud, even for small clubs (500 people venues). Then we got another guitar player but we both started using low(er) powered amps...he uses a peavey classic 30 combo with an ear candy green machine speaker and I use his stock peavey XXX 50 (1x12) combo. this is still way too loud with the vol on anything over 3 apparently. I tried using a 20wt marshall clone and it was cool for the slightly breaking up clean sounds, but compressed my fuzzes way too much to the point that all of them sounded the same (the sound of the amp getting slammed basicly), if I turned the fuzz vol down to remedy this, it left my dirty sound the same level as my clean(which seemed to take all the power out of the heavy stuff). the simple solution would be to just turn the amp down, but then the drums seem to dominate the mix, in which case you could say "tell the drummer to lighten up", but it seems like at that point you have a band thats easy to talk over/ignore, and when the guitars play you can still hear them acoustically over the amps. Plus, I didn't buy tube amps to run them clean and quiet. The places we play run from 500 person venues to 60 person pubs, and its the same story, all guitars and no unintelligible vox as a result. I think about all the metal-core/screamo guys playing through rectifier stacks and wonder are they even turning up past 2 on their amps because the sound guys flip out over our 30wt tube combos on anything past noon. How do you guys do it? I would consider my band metalcore, and regularly I'm at 3.5 or louder on the post with my 6505. Then again, we hardly ever get a sound guy around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RJpilot Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 I turn my bassman up to 2.Sounds good as a supplement to the stage monitor. If you are too loud, drape a towel or blanket over your cab/mic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zehn Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 woah! is that jesus....story? as in the bible? as in fiction? right on! You totally missed the point on that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guidedbyechoes Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 woah! is that jesus....story? as in the bible? as in fiction? right on! Randy {censored}ing savage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smooff Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 rock out with your cock out perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jlc1587 Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Uhh... It's not that hard. I play a 120 watt head. When I was in a band I used it at really small places. I just turn it on 3 regardless of where I'm playing. It's never too loud to drown anything out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members primeholy Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 {censored} them. Rock out, for once, it's about you, have some fun If you want to play there again, you might not wanna do that:cop: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aehoff Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Yea, turn the amp around, throw a folded shipping blanket over it and turn it up to the volume you need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members drewl Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 get a bigger PA.Seriously, we play in anything from 100 to 1000 occupancy clubs mostly, when I use an 18w Marshall clone the singer tells me to turn up.I mostly use my 40w pro reverb or 50w marshalls or Vox AC30 and 2x12 or 4x12's depending on stage size and never have a problem with the guitars being too loud.A stage volume of being as loud as the drummer is the norm and we mic the guitars.You could try an attenuator for a littl bit of breakup at lower volumes...that's what I use with the Marshalls and Vox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 To all of you in bands that play regularly and incidentally have high wattage tube amps (lets say 40wt and up), how are you playing in places smaller than arenas without driving the sound guy off the deep end and completely burying the vox? I ask this after playing a gig last night where even our friends and fans were saying the guitars were just too loud. People have been saying this since our first show, even though I have been trying to make a concerted effort to fix this (but, seeing as some of my favorite bands/guitar players include My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., and Hendrix, its hard for me to let go of the db lust).our first couple of shows I was using my 100wt Sovtek Mig through a 5150 cab loaded with 2 celestion 75's and 2 g12-30's...needless to say, it was too loud, even for small clubs (500 people venues). Then we got another guitar player but we both started using low(er) powered amps...he uses a peavey classic 30 combo with an ear candy green machine speaker and I use his stock peavey XXX 50 (1x12) combo. this is still way too loud with the vol on anything over 3 apparently. I tried using a 20wt marshall clone and it was cool for the slightly breaking up clean sounds, but compressed my fuzzes way too much to the point that all of them sounded the same (the sound of the amp getting slammed basicly), if I turned the fuzz vol down to remedy this, it left my dirty sound the same level as my clean(which seemed to take all the power out of the heavy stuff). the simple solution would be to just turn the amp down, but then the drums seem to dominate the mix, in which case you could say "tell the drummer to lighten up", but it seems like at that point you have a band thats easy to talk over/ignore, and when the guitars play you can still hear them acoustically over the amps. Plus, I didn't buy tube amps to run them clean and quiet. The places we play run from 500 person venues to 60 person pubs, and its the same story, all guitars and no unintelligible vox as a result.I think about all the metal-core/screamo guys playing through rectifier stacks and wonder are they even turning up past 2 on their amps because the sound guys flip out over our 30wt tube combos on anything past noon. How do you guys do it?Why don't you sidefill your amp? I run two amps at the same time, a 45 watt Mesa and 4x12 cab and a Vox AD60VTX and 4x12 cab. They have great tones w/o blasting my ears onstage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 I think about all the metal-core/screamo guys playing through rectifier stacks and wonder are they even turning up past 2 on their amps because the sound guys flip out over our 30wt tube combos on anything past noon. How do you guys do it?Sounds like you need to upgrade your PA gear for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members telephant Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Normally I would like to help the OP out, but I'm hoping it's a troll. 500 person venue, really?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sheik_Yerbouti Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Normally I would like to help the OP out, but I'm hoping it's a troll. 500 person venue, really?!? And this. If you're playing in a band with a drummer, unless he's playing a damn electronic kit, your master's probably gonna have to be well north of 2! Normally, we just check the drums and bass, equalize those first, then the guitar, then the vocals last. Works pretty well for us, anyway. If you're really playing in front of 500 people or more, you should be able to crank it the hell up just about as loud as you want to! As far as someone at a club bitching about the volume, the lowest I'll go is to the level of the drums; after that, remind them that they hired a {censored}ing rock band, not an acoustic solo folk singer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greg apocalypse Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 I think about all the metal-core/screamo guys playing through rectifier stacks and wonder are they even turning up past 2 on their amps because the sound guys flip out over our 30wt tube combos on anything past noon. How do you guys do it? that music is meant to be loud? We are usually playing all ages venues, where people are there to hear the music, and our music is just pretty loud. If we're playing a bar, something like that, usually just turn down, because some people are there to see the band, but most people are just there to be social. And there's nothing more annoying than going to a bar to be social and a guitar player has a 100 watt JCM800 full stack blaring at your face while you're trying to talk at the bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BusterBuster Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 HotPlate or a big wet blanket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HKSblade1 Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Just take 3 of your speakers out of the cab. That will make it a front open back and you can play at 8 w Actually, at small gigs it's not the guitarists amps for our band, its the bass player with his 9GW Ampeg that he runs a 8x10 and still runs pre outs through the subs. He once knocked off sconce lighting at a bar! F'ing loud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members telephant Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Just take 3 of your speakers out of the cab. . He once knocked off sconce lighting at a bar! F'ing loud More rock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chippy Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 Just take 3 of your speakers out of the cab. That will make it a front open back and you can play at 8 w Actually, at small gigs it's not the guitarists amps for our band, its the bass player with his 9GW Ampeg that he runs a 8x10 and still runs pre outs through the subs. He once knocked off sconce lighting at a bar! F'ing loud That would actually be 6 dB louder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darryl2112 Posted September 13, 2009 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 This.And this.If you're playing in a band with a drummer, unless he's playing a damn electronic kit, your master's probably gonna have to be well north of 2! Normally, we just check the drums and bass, equalize those first, then the guitar, then the vocals last. Works pretty well for us, anyway. If you're really playing in front of 500 people or more, you should be able to crank it the hell up just about as loud as you want to!As far as someone at a club bitching about the volume, the lowest I'll go is to the level of the drums; after that, remind them that they hired a {censored}ing rock band, not an acoustic solo folk singer! We've played 500ish person venues alot(unless my perceptions are skewed, which could very easily be the case....to put it in perspective, its the venue in my town were bands like Dinosaur Jr play). There aren't anywhere near 500 people there when we have played (only adding to the vol. problem).Just bills that we got on with other bands. But yeah, my point is that venues with big PA's complain to me about my vol, even with a small 40wt 1x12 combo. I am wondering to the people that lug these big half stacks around, are you only playing through them for the look? Because if people aren't really bringing them up past 3 it seems pretty overkill. I went to a show last night were the first band were playing through smaller fender combo's (like an old silverface twin and what appeared to be a bassman 10), they sounded great as a band (this was a vox only pa by the way), nothing really too loud, but the guitar work was very intricate surf rock/garage rock stuff and I could only really make out what they were doing if I got right up by one of their amps. It seems like there is a compromise here, sound good as a whole band ,or have the guitars sound they way the need to sound while making everything else suffer. The second band had a mesa stack and an ampeg stack (maybe a V4?), the ampeg was on a hot plate and I guess the mesa was just turned down. They weren't very loud either, but the tones where shrill and the lack of vol. to me just made the music sound weak(this band were more of a stooges type garage band). Perhaps my idea of appropriate levels are just insane.I guess I never really consider that people like to talk while bands are playing, I'm not a social butterfly and only go to places like that to see bands. Most places in town that need a full band PA have one, while smaller pubs and clubs have vox pa, which I guess is all that is really needed. the bigger places have sound guys and the smaller ones usually let you do what needs to be done. The side fill thing sounds cool, but I don't like the idea of the amps being off axis of the crowds ears...but maybe I should get 2 amps and use one as my monitor and crank the holy {censored} out of it while leaving my main amp a reasonable vol...that could work perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted September 13, 2009 Members Share Posted September 13, 2009 .let the PA carry the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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