This might be the end of tubes for me

Baba

Shredder
Messages
1,325
Idea taken from metro's thread, lol.

1. Honestly though, I've been playing without an amp for a couple of months now, doing my "stereo guitar in my IEMs IN ADDITION TO the bar's wedges" thing, which has always worked for me. Wedge acts like a passive radiator of sorts, and produces soundwaves I can feel, (and hear, a little), and my IEMs provide all the sweet mids and highs, and stereo FX. Also, not everyone in the band uses IEMs, so it provides stage volume for them.

My age and patience is definitely coming into play, more and more as each month/year passes for me gigging. My age tells me to pack/take the absolute smallest and lightest gear possible to do my thing, and my patience tells me to bring the same, so I'm not spending 10 or 15 minutes setting stuff up and tearing it down. That means an all-in-one unit on the floor, and using the house wedges, or my own, if/when I need them, which brings me to muse/point #2:

2. I borrowed a friend's Alto TS408 for my gig last weekend, it did it's job, with ease, and sounded pretty good actually, BUT, I recently traded a guitar locally, for a JBL IRX 108bt, and with limited testing/comparing at home, I like the JBL more. It's a tiny bit bigger, even though both have 8" woofers, so it sounds bigger, and it's less harsh. It's also lighter, so, win/win.

I figure, at this point, with the advent of the tube preamp pedals like the Revolt and IR-X, and the IR capability of my HX devices, if I ever "need" to go back to the tube stuff, I can do it all on the floor, and I don't need a cab to do it, but, that will be diminishing returns, at best.
 
I tell you; your band with you being the only guitarist especially means you can do what you want without worrying about blending in with another player. Beyond your obvious skills. You get great results and if you don't need to bring the rack fridge with you to kill it at a gig; that's awesome in my book \m/
 
I tell you; your band with you being the only guitarist especially means you can do what you want without worrying about blending in with another player. Beyond your obvious skills. You get great results and if you don't need to bring the rack fridge with you to kill it at a gig; that's awesome in my book \m/
Didn't realize you were a Goatlord.

Didn't think I could respect you more.
were not worthy waynes world GIF
 
Idea taken from metro's thread, lol.

1. Honestly though, I've been playing without an amp for a couple of months now, doing my "stereo guitar in my IEMs IN ADDITION TO the bar's wedges" thing, which has always worked for me. Wedge acts like a passive radiator of sorts, and produces soundwaves I can feel, (and hear, a little), and my IEMs provide all the sweet mids and highs, and stereo FX. Also, not everyone in the band uses IEMs, so it provides stage volume for them.

My age and patience is definitely coming into play, more and more as each month/year passes for me gigging. My age tells me to pack/take the absolute smallest and lightest gear possible to do my thing, and my patience tells me to bring the same, so I'm not spending 10 or 15 minutes setting stuff up and tearing it down. That means an all-in-one unit on the floor, and using the house wedges, or my own, if/when I need them, which brings me to muse/point #2:

2. I borrowed a friend's Alto TS408 for my gig last weekend, it did it's job, with ease, and sounded pretty good actually, BUT, I recently traded a guitar locally, for a JBL IRX 108bt, and with limited testing/comparing at home, I like the JBL more. It's a tiny bit bigger, even though both have 8" woofers, so it sounds bigger, and it's less harsh. It's also lighter, so, win/win.

I figure, at this point, with the advent of the tube preamp pedals like the Revolt and IR-X, and the IR capability of my HX devices, if I ever "need" to go back to the tube stuff, I can do it all on the floor, and I don't need a cab to do it, but, that will be diminishing returns, at best.
As long as the PA is doing the heavy lifting out front, there is no better way to do it for a bar, club gig (IMO).
 
As long as the PA is doing the heavy lifting out front, there is no better way to do it for a bar, club gig (IMO).

Sadly, the places I play don't have sound systems that are adequate for reproducing guitars with any degree of fidelity so I have to carry gear that will fill a medium sized church, hotel ballroom, or party yacht.

But even if they did I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable having IEMs as the main source of my guitar amplification.

I'm glad it's working for the OP and definitely see the convenience of it. If playing with a modeler and a FR-12 lightens the load, playing with the JBL monitor and IEMs lightens it further still.

Kudos for finding a rig that works for you!
 
Sadly, the places I play don't have sound systems that are adequate for reproducing guitars with any degree of fidelity

I can relate to this. In my band, I'd be happy for my guitar to be reproduced from PA speakers, but like most PA systems, our own speakers (or the club ones) tend to reproduce the highs better than the midrange and I am not satistied with the tone. Currently I use a good "FRFR" and I use the PA for a bit of wider sound diffusion.
 
I can relate to this. In my band, I'd be happy for my guitar to be reproduced from PA speakers, but like most PA systems, our own speakers (or the club ones) tend to reproduce the highs better than the midrange and I am not satistied with the tone. Currently I use a good "FRFR" and I use the PA for a bit of wider sound diffusion.

Many of our concerts are on Friday nights in churches that were built 100 years ago or so. They haven't modernized their sound systems and tend just to have columns with 4 or 5 inch oval speakers that were designed for vocal reproduction. This photo was posted under the title "Traditional church sound system".

Independent%20Presbyterian%20Church%20Traditional%20Church%20Sound%20System%20Line%20Source%20Speaker.jpg

You can see the thin speaker columns mounted high on the walls left and right. Even the ones that have better speakers don't have soundmen who are prepared to properly mic a band so we're used to playing at balanced levels and let our instruments do the talking.

The thing that's great regarding a venue like this for Jazz concerts is that people come to sit and listen to what you are playing. We don't have to compete with people ordering drinks or talking loudly with each other. We're not background music for people who came to socialize with each other.

The same with hotel ballrooms or party yachts, other places where we've been getting gigs. Unless you bring in your own PA you're better off playing un-mic'd.

In spaces designed for 300-400 people I'm fine with a 40-55 watt tube combo and can use the Fractal FM9 for effects. So far that formula works for me.
 
Last edited:
As long as the PA is doing the heavy lifting out front, there is no better way to do it for a bar, club gig (IMO).

Sadly, the places I play don't have sound systems that are adequate for reproducing guitars with any degree of fidelity so I have to carry gear that will fill a medium sized church, hotel ballroom, or party yacht.

But even if they did I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable having IEMs as the main source of my guitar amplification.

I'm glad it's working for the OP and definitely see the convenience of it. If playing with a modeler and a FR-12 lightens the load, playing with the JBL monitor and IEMs lightens it further still.

Kudos for finding a rig that works for you!

Well, things have changed since I made this thread, (shocker, lol).

First off, the left acrylic mold from my main set of IEMs broke, that's part of it, and also:

The idea of this was good, but not EVERY place we play has satisfactory monitoring, or engineers that either care or know what they are doing, 100%, so, it can be a bit of a crapshoot once in while, which is annoying. IEMs can be great, if:

1. You like them
2. You control your own mix, or have the same exact mix every night.

I can use the mixing apps and control my mix, like, half the time. The other times, you're depending on them, and dealing with a not perfect mix for a set until you fix it, etc.

I have decided to skip the IEMs, and stop dealing with adjusting my mix with engineers altogether, and just use my amp. As it is, the band needs to hear me anyway, and I like the sound of my amps the most, so, Keep It Simple Stupid, use earplugs and the amps, play, let the engineer worry about his part.

I have them throw my vocals and my singer's vocals in my wedge, I can hear the bass amp and drums from the stage, and voila, I'm done.
 
Back
Top