Played my first gig with a tube amp in 7 years

[metropolis_4]

The Dr Z is all over my FAS country kitchen sink preset. What a great, open sound for the single coils.

It is really great for that kind of stuff. Z’s are so punchy with a Tele

 

[la szum]

Week 2 of gigs with the amp is done.

It's still sounding great. There's something about using an amp that makes me feel like I can get so much more out of it with so much less. Maybe it's the responsiveness? I can back off more, push myself out more, and do more with less gain. And I need far fewer boost/OD/comp type effects to get the job done. I think I could really do this whole thing with no pedals at all, but it's already dialed in with the pedals so I probably won't experiment with that.

I had a couple mishaps:
- Tech crew accidentally bumped a volume knob on the amp and I was cranked when I started playing. I couldn't get to the amp until the first song ended so I had to try to compensate as best I could to get by.
- Cable caught the knobs on my compressor pedal and changed settings on me. Had to leave it off until I could get to it on a break.

I don't think the JRT is the amp for me. I'll probably sell it once this show is over. The two volume knobs is really annoying in a live setting. I really need to use both to get the tone I want, but then there's no way to quickly adjust tone without changing volume, or adjust volume without changing tone. I also can't quite get the amount of high end and chime out of it that I wish I could. It's a bit heavy in the mids which sounds amazing for lead work, but I'm not liking it as much for comping chords.

The parts of the show where the amp sounds the best are when I play long extended guitar solos pushing out over the band. The parts where it doesn't sound so great are when I'm doing "bubbly" palm muted comping stuff on higher strings (Tommy Allsup style licks).

I think it is super cool that you are here in the Land of the Chuggos offering up such a diverse musical experience.


More diversity!!

How's the sag on the amp, or is it more immediate?

 

[la szum]

Not sure on all the differences; but the FAS Matchless is a GREAT amp model.

It is. I pull out my 335 on occasion and dial up that Cheiftain Model. That DC30 is
cool, but the Chieftain really tickles me in the right spot.

 

[la szum]

Last show I played with my Axe-FX that was the primary amp I used. I actually think it's better than the DC30 model. It sounds so much like my old Clubman it's scary.

Haha! Didn't read this (as I was making my way through the thread) until I commented above. :

 

[metropolis_4]

I think it is super cool that you are here in the Land of the Chuggos offering up such a diverse musical experience.


More diversity!!

How's the sag on the amp, or is it more immediate?

Haha, I love hanging out here, it's by far my favorite forum!

The sag is ok, it's more immediate and less squishy than I would like personally. It's also way less deep/textured than a Bad Cat or Matchless and has less character. It is very responsive though, and it sounds killer with an ODR-1!

 

[la szum]

That's interesting. Based on what I read about it (and the amp/era it is based on)
I assumed it would be really saggy and have that squishy feel.

 

[andergtr]

to me, they are all tools. you can make music on a modeler or an amp/analog rig. it just depends on how you use it.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Very late reply, but hey...

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.

Among some other things, this is one of the most important things that sealed the deal for me.
Now, I might have had better tones for myself here and there with my analog (or rather hybrid) rigs. No wonder, I always used high quality tube amps, had them modified to my needs and was running them through partially glorious cabs (I still own an Orange 4x12 with vintage Greenbacks that is pretty much to die for once you feed it with an appropriate amp, at least as long as you don't do metal).

But, as far as balanced stage sound goes, my current system absolutely can't be beaten (ok, I could do with a somewhat better "FRFR" cab, but it's all fine). Superb control over placement, directivity and spread.
It's also that pretty much everybody else involved seems to be more than happy. Sounds like patting myself on the back (but it's nothing I'm responsible for...), but I have never gotten as much compliments about my sound and the way I organize it ever before. Band mates are happy, no more "Turn that damn thing down, NOW WILL YOU?!?", no more speaker bleeding into singer's ears, FOH getting pretty much no stage sound, monitoring is as easy as it gets (obviously, all this goes hand in hand with the fact that these days even on smaller events there's usually individual monitoring for everyone).

Some more things important for me:
- Independent monitoring volume and EQ at all times. Completely impossible with analog mic'ed up cabs. I'm happy and the FOH folks are even happier, because the level I send them never changes after soundcheck.
- I can use exactly the same sounds I'm familiar with from playing at home. To me, that's a godsend. Sure, I also have regular access to rehearsal rooms (and even had my own for a whole number of years), so I could play louder stuff as well, but you always have to get there, possible set things up, etc. - so the vast majority of time I wouldn't do that but play at home instead.
- Instant switching to IEM monitoring. These days, I can decide on a per venue base or even just follow my mood. In case IEM isn't mandatory, I usually prefer wedge monitoring, but sometimes I may as well not. It's a matter of a minute or so to change that (especially in case there's personal app-driven remote control over my monitor).

All these are so fantastic that I will never ever use a real guitar cab in my life again, unless there's a backline I'm sort of forced to use.

 

[Baba]

Very late reply, but hey...



Among some other things, this is one of the most important things that sealed the deal for me.
Now, I might have had better tones for myself here and there with my analog (or rather hybrid) rigs. No wonder, I always used high quality tube amps, had them modified to my needs and was running them through partially glorious cabs (I still own an Orange 4x12 with vintage Greenbacks that is pretty much to die for once you feed it with an appropriate amp, at least as long as you don't do metal).

But, as far as balanced stage sound goes, my current system absolutely can't be beaten (ok, I could do with a somewhat better "FRFR" cab, but it's all fine). Superb control over placement, directivity and spread.
It's also that pretty much everybody else involved seems to be more than happy. Sounds like patting myself on the back (but it's nothing I'm responsible for...), but I have never gotten as much compliments about my sound and the way I organize it ever before. Band mates are happy, no more "Turn that damn thing down, NOW WILL YOU?!?", no more speaker bleeding into singer's ears, FOH getting pretty much no stage sound, monitoring is as easy as it gets (obviously, all this goes hand in hand with the fact that these days even on smaller events there's usually individual monitoring for everyone).

Some more things important for me:
- Independent monitoring volume and EQ at all times. Completely impossible with analog mic'ed up cabs. I'm happy and the FOH folks are even happier, because the level I send them never changes after soundcheck.
- I can use exactly the same sounds I'm familiar with from playing at home. To me, that's a godsend. Sure, I also have regular access to rehearsal rooms (and even had my own for a whole number of years), so I could play louder stuff as well, but you always have to get there, possible set things up, etc. - so the vast majority of time I wouldn't do that but play at home instead.
- Instant switching to IEM monitoring. These days, I can decide on a per venue base or even just follow my mood. In case IEM isn't mandatory, I usually prefer wedge monitoring, but sometimes I may as well not. It's a matter of a minute or so to change that (especially in case there's personal app-driven remote control over my monitor).

All these are so fantastic that I will never ever use a real guitar cab in my life again, unless there's a backline I'm sort of forced to use.

All good points.

For me, it depends on the room and situation, but yes, I'm definitely going to try and find ways to leave my cab at home, in certain situations.

I will say, even with IEMs, I do get 70-80% of what I hear, from the stage/my cab, (I mostly use IEMs for vocals, acoustic guitar, and keyboards), and it's good for my singer, who doesn't use IEMs, and needs to hear my guitar for intros and such, but, I don't think a cab is absolutely necessary on all of my stages, especially the smaller, tighter ones.