Bad sound guys: The bane of digital guitarists

[laxu]

Don’t disagree at all but a bad sound guy would do worse micing an amp.

You could have some tape on your cab for "put mic here". Whether they follow that is another question...

 

[ian_dissonance]

For me all the “modern complexities” of an "FRFR"+Modeler+IEM rig works out faster and more consistently for ME no matter what the situation with the venue is. Killer venue with great front/side fills? Sick, we’re loading in drums and pedalboards and instruments and our rack and we’re communicating with FOH that we need some guitar and bass coming off the stage and since it’s a killer PA the sound guy gets it. Shitty floor venue with two 12s on sticks and a four channel mixer? Sick, we’re loading in the same gear plus two cabs. All the I/O is one spot and we can just commandeer the PA as reinforcement. And no matter what I can hear everything perfectly just like I have at rehearsal whether the room sucks or not so we’ll at the very least play well, if not sound good.

 

[metropolis_4]

For me all the “modern complexities” of an ""FRFR""+Modeler+IEM rig works out faster and more consistently for ME no matter what the situation with the venue is. Killer venue with great front/side fills? Sick, we’re loading in drums and pedalboards and instruments and our rack and we’re communicating with FOH that we need some guitar and bass coming off the stage and since it’s a killer PA the sound guy gets it. Shitty floor venue with two 12s on sticks and a four channel mixer? Sick, we’re loading in the same gear plus two cabs. All the I/O is one spot and we can just commandeer the PA as reinforcement. And no matter what I can hear everything perfectly just like I have at rehearsal whether the room sucks or not so we’ll at the very least play well, if not sound good.

It was no different in the old amp days, only simpler:

Big outdoor festival stage? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Large indoor venue with a great system? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Small dive venue with a terrible system? Bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Corner of a bowling alley with a Fender Passport PA? No problem, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

 

[Sascha Franck]

If I’m bringing anything more than an amp and a couple pedals to a gig then it is objectively more complex for me than the “good old times”

I sometimes feel as if you weren't even reading what I wrote.
After all it's you flip-flopping expensive modeling gear as if there's no tomorrow and still opening threads about how bad your live sound experience would be. The reasons for that are pretty obvious - and it's not because digital gear was used.

 

[Sascha Franck]

It was no different in the old amp days, only simpler:

Big outdoor festival stage? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Large indoor venue with a great system? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Small dive venue with a terrible system? Bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Corner of a bowling alley with a Fender Passport PA? No problem, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Any of these? Bring my pedalboard, an active monitor and present the FOH dude an XLR out. *What exactly* is less simple with that than your AC30 setup? The fact that my setup weighs less? Or the fact that sometimes I don't even need to grab the monitor because there's one already? And fwiw, you were using nothing else but your AC30? No pedalboards?

 

[Sascha Franck]

You could have some tape on your cab for "put mic here". Whether they follow that is another question...

Back in my mic'ed amp days, I had a mic clamp, my own mic and some markers. Quite a great thing not just because of the constant sound but as I could even move the cab around a bit without having to deal with a mic stand.

 

[ian_dissonance]

It was no different in the old amp days, only simpler:

Big outdoor festival stage? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Large indoor venue with a great system? Cool, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Small dive venue with a terrible system? Bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

Corner of a bowling alley with a Fender Passport PA? No problem, bring my AC30 and stick a 57 in front of it.

And hope your cab didn’t disappear in the room if it sucks, or that FOH had someone competent on monitors, or you can find just the right 5’ circle to play in so you can hear everything and “feel” the amp properly. It’s not like I never played a barebones rig and just dealt with it. Guitar cabs are literally garbage speaker systems that can be massively effected by shit like room shape, stage construction, surface proximity, distance, whether or not the guy who dropped the mic knew what he was doing or how to eq. Everything has its own set of problems, I prefer what I hear to not be one of them.

 

[metropolis_4]

I sometimes feel as if you weren't even reading what I wrote.
After all it's you flip-flopping expensive modeling gear as if there's no tomorrow and still opening threads about how bad your live sound experience would be. The reasons for that are pretty obvious - and it's not because digital gear was used.

Flip-flopping modeling gear is just for fun. The only sound issues I keep having are due to monitoring.

Last run of shows was fantastic. Great IEM system with my own stereo mix, everything sounded amazing. This one, not so much.

Bring my pedalboard, an active monitor and present the FOH dude an XLR out. *What exactly* is less simple with that than your AC30 setup?

Nothing. I didn’t say it was less simple than that.

And hope your cab didn’t disappear in the room if it sucks, or that FOH had someone competent on monitors, or you can find just the right 5’ circle to play in so you can hear everything and “feel” the amp properly. It’s not like I never played a barebones rig and just dealt with it. Guitar cabs are literally garbage speaker systems that can be massively effected by shit like room shape, stage construction, surface proximity, distance, whether or not the guy who dropped the mic knew what he was doing or how to eq. Everything has its own set of problems, I prefer what I hear to not be one of them.

It didn’t take long to learn how to position an amp based on the stage so it would sound good for stage monitoring. And after that my amp always sounded consistent to me gig to gig because I’m hearing the same amp through the same speakers every time.

I don’t know how good or bad guitar cabs are, but I know I love the sound of them and how they make my sound balance in a mix

 

[Sascha Franck]

The only sound issues I keep having are due to monitoring.

So, why don't you adress them? It's easier than ever before. And in case you're getting along fine with IEM setups, you should be fine with a small (or even tiny) fullrange wedge, too. Sure, maybe not the greatest sound on earth (at least for you, following what you said before), but defenitely a lot better than relying on an amateur's attempt to mix and monitor your band.

 

[ian_dissonance]

The only sound issues I keep having are due to monitoring.

And there are ways to remove that issue from the equation, is what we’re saying. Sometimes the house monitors are great, sometimes they’re terrible. My traveling IEM rig is always great, one less thing to think about.

 

[metropolis_4]

So, why don't you adress them? It's easier than ever before. And in case you're getting along fine with IEM setups, you should be fine with a small (or even tiny) fullrange wedge, too. Sure, maybe not the greatest sound on earth (at least for you, following what you said before), but defenitely a lot better than relying on an amateur's attempt to mix and monitor your band.

Because I’m cheap and lazy

90% of the time I’m playing in a place that provides a full IEM system with personal mixes and I don’t need anything.

The other 10% of the time it’s terrible, but those are usually the gigs where I want to be in and out as fast as possible and set up as little gear as I can get away with

 

[ian_dissonance]

Then you’re choosing to have a bad time sometimes.

 

[Sascha Franck]

100-200 bucks would solve those issues. Setup time for a tiny FR monitor: 30 seconds. Enjoyment won: 2 hours (or however long that gig takes).

 

[likitlikeyoulikeit]

 

[ian_dissonance]

View attachment 26649

I’M JUST TRYING TO HELP

 

[metropolis_4]

Then you’re choosing to have a bad time sometimes.

No, I’m trying to figure out what works for those situations.

100-200 bucks would solve those issues. Setup time for a tiny FR monitor: 30 seconds. Enjoyment won: 2 hours (or however long that gig takes).

That’s what I usually do and I hate the way it sounds.

When I’m playing in a room with acoustic drums, horns, strings, reeds, piano, and bass and I’m the only one not being heard acoustically in a room it sounds terrible to me having my sound coming through an FR speaker. It doesn’t balance or sit with the other instruments. But that’s a different thread

 

[JiveTurkey]

Tiny FR monitor =

 

[Sascha Franck]

When I’m playing in a room with acoustic drums, horns, strings, reeds, piano, and bass and I’m the only one not being heard acoustically in a room it sounds terrible to me having my sound coming through an FR speaker. It doesn’t balance or sit with the other instruments.

Totally different experience over here.
But hey, then just buy a combo amp. Problem solved.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Tiny FR monitor =

FTFY.

 

[aflynt]

No, I’m trying to figure out what works for those situations.