metropolis_4
Rock Star
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I finally got the JRT 9/15 and was able to use it for four shows over the weekend. I've been all digital for a while so this was the first time I've used a tube amp on a gig in about 7 years!
The shows are all '50s music (Etta James, Big Mamma Thornton, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, etc.) so mostly edge of breakup type tones where I can clean up or push harder as needed. I did use a small pedalboard with a tuner > EGO Compressor > ODR-1 > DM-2. The ODR-1 was to add a touch of dirt for some of the more rocking songs, and the DM-2 for some slap echo on a few songs. I picked up a "Mic-No-Mo" since I've heard so many good things about them and I was impressed with how good it sounded (and so was the sound tech!). It was way better than I thought it would be (maybe my opinion about analog cab sims has been unfairly tainted by some of the horrible ones from the old days).
The JRT sounded gorgeous. It edged out the Marshall DSL40. The DSL sounds great, but you know how there are amps that seem to be voiced specifically for live performance? That's the difference I heard in the JRT. It's focused and present and sits really well in a mix. Very touch sensitive amp and really has a nice feel that made me want to play it more and more. The volume level of the amp was perfect for this show. It sat right where I needed it without feeling like it was "starved" with a lack of input gain, but this was a pretty loud stage show with a full horn section and multiple guitars and keys. If I keep using it I'll probably be shopping for an attenuator for some of the lower volume work I do.
It wasn't all good news, there were a few realizations I had that made me remember why I moved away from tube amps in the first place:
... And as I'm writing this I realize I'm talking myself right back to Fractal land
The shows are all '50s music (Etta James, Big Mamma Thornton, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, etc.) so mostly edge of breakup type tones where I can clean up or push harder as needed. I did use a small pedalboard with a tuner > EGO Compressor > ODR-1 > DM-2. The ODR-1 was to add a touch of dirt for some of the more rocking songs, and the DM-2 for some slap echo on a few songs. I picked up a "Mic-No-Mo" since I've heard so many good things about them and I was impressed with how good it sounded (and so was the sound tech!). It was way better than I thought it would be (maybe my opinion about analog cab sims has been unfairly tainted by some of the horrible ones from the old days).
The JRT sounded gorgeous. It edged out the Marshall DSL40. The DSL sounds great, but you know how there are amps that seem to be voiced specifically for live performance? That's the difference I heard in the JRT. It's focused and present and sits really well in a mix. Very touch sensitive amp and really has a nice feel that made me want to play it more and more. The volume level of the amp was perfect for this show. It sat right where I needed it without feeling like it was "starved" with a lack of input gain, but this was a pretty loud stage show with a full horn section and multiple guitars and keys. If I keep using it I'll probably be shopping for an attenuator for some of the lower volume work I do.
It wasn't all good news, there were a few realizations I had that made me remember why I moved away from tube amps in the first place:
- I forgot how much I hate lugging heavy amps to shows
- I'm more aware of things that could go wrong while I'm playing such as tubes going bad. Not a huge deal, but still I like to eliminate as many distractions from the performance as possible.
- The two volumes and no EQ is a little tricky because so much of the tone is based on the balance of the volumes. Which makes it really hard to change your tone without changing volume too. This means very little ability for quick on-the-fly tweaks.
- I sort of forgot how amps seem to like some guitars better than others. I wanted to use a Strat for these shows, but this amp likes my Tele a lot better so I might have to change plans.
- It's a tight stage so the amp is about 2 feet away from me and pointed at my ankles which makes monitoring terrible. Sometimes I can hear myself better from the FOH speakers than from my amp. If I turn up too much the volume coming out of the back of the amp blasts the horn players in front of me, and the beam from the speaker blasts the drummer. Basically everyone in the band hears me more than I hear myself. (And before anyone tells me to just move my amp, for this particular show there is no other option)
- On a tight stage I can have a wedge monitor pointing up at me, and it doesn't spill as much volume to the players around me so I can get the level higher and hear myself better.
- I can easily throw an EQ and/or compressor in the signal chain to balance between multiple guitars.
- If the amp isn't jiving with the guitar I want to use, I can just pick a different amp or tweak deep parameters to get more of what I want and less of what I don't like.
- If I want to fine tune the EQ I can add EQ blocks either pre or post amp to dial it in just where I want it.
- Much better consistency from show to show. I don't need to worry about someone on the tech crew accidentally bumping knobs while setting up the stage.
- Much less to worry about failing in the middle of a show... less distractions from the performance
- Much easier to dial in multiple specific volume levels and sounds. For example, if I want a solo boost:
- On digital I can assign one footswitch to turn on a compressor, turn on a delay, bump the input gain on the amp, bump the lows and mids on the amp, drop the presence on the amp, and increase the gain at the end of the chain +6db.
- On a tube amp... I can turn on a tubescreamer.
... And as I'm writing this I realize I'm talking myself right back to Fractal land
