Different Guitars = Different Sounds

[EB]

I have used all kinds of amps, pedals and such.

I use to have this huge pedal board. Had lot of modeling amps. But I got so tired of the sound that pedals and modeling amps have. To me the sounds always felt digital lacking something for me.

One day I got so upset with the processed sound. I unplugged got out one of my favorite tube amp plugged in with no pedals and I haven't looked back. There is nothing like the pure sound of a guitar plugged in without all the stuff.

Wound up selling all the pedals got rid of the modeling amps. I use my Fender Blues Junior and my custom built tube amp that I build some years ago. Never been into the heavy metal sound and a lot of distortion. I like simple and clean!

[GuitarAttack Forum]

I've been playing in a band and we use in-ear monitors. Since we took the "in-ear" plunge, I've been using a digital modeling "all in one" pedal board to keep a consistent sound between venues.

I love my old tube amps but they are tough to travel with, are temperamental, and they always seem to sound different depending on the venue and line voltage.

While I don't just love the modeler, it is robust, dependable, and always sounds the same for my live gig. I go from the modeler pedal, to a Headrush monitor amp/cab (the small one) and straight to the board. The Headrush gives me the ability to get my guitar to feedback at low levels even though I am not using an amp or cab. Set-up, tear-down, and moving this is much easier than the Marshall half-stack/pedal board struggle I used to go through.

John

[GuitarAttack Forum]

And one more thing....since I run direct, I don't have to use a specific cabinet or a mic. The sound guys sure love that.

John

[EB]

yep I get you on the technology stuff. Seen a guy use his iPhone once. Once the sound tech got him dialed in sounded pretty good. I guess it's the wave of the future.

But for me I am old a set in my ways. I still like to see a messy stage with Guitar amps and cables all over the place. For me I see these stages were everything is hidden and it seems so cold and lifeless.
A lot of places I have seen that use this tech, all sound a like. They have this corporate kind of sound. I also have seen where a lot of this much music has backing tracks playing along.
Again feels so lifeless. If you want to sound like a live CD player then I guess that's OK.

I just watched a video today of a young lady who was saying the same thing as I. She felt that technology has gone too far for her. Everything has become too perfect. We have programs to make people sing on key, everything is mostly digital, and that now in days they can duplicate any sound out there. Even Guitar. So is it going to come to place where we really don't need a musician?

I think in a lot of ways it's already there.

Give me a guy and his amp and guitar and play his rig just the way it was supposed to be over any processed sound. Give me that messy stage any day over the sterile stage any time! Give me a group of musicians that can give me that true sound of music when playing live.

I don't know but today's music just don't have that sole that it use to have.

If one wants to sound like a recording while playing then why not do just that and play a CD or iTunes or what ever, and stand up there and act like your playing. Then there won't be any mistakes or someone trying to play lowered than someone else and the voices will all be in key.

Then you wont have to carry anything but a prop for a guitar made of cardboard. LOL!

[dnic]

We took the IEM plunge two or three years ago at church. We just had so much stage volume with amp cabs, drums and wedges that the house wasn't loud enough to override stage volume. It was a constant battle between having clean house sound or hearing yourself on stage. I had the same problem for the 20 years I ran sound at a coffee house. With amp cabs and wedges you can either hear yourselves on stage or you can have clean sound in the house. Anytime the stage volume is louder than the house the house sounds muddy.

So it was with some reluctance that I gave up my 50 watt tube amp and my bass player gave up his amp as well. The drummer has a shield, the piano lid is closed. The only people with real sound are the singers and the acoustic guitar.

No more monitor wars, MORE OF ME IN THE MONITORS. I can't say that everyone on the team has fully embraced the 16 channel Behrigner system but I think it's great.

So my single chain is pretty straight forward. Guitar - tuner - OD - dist. - delay - verb - clean boost - Di to the mixer. Does it sound as good as a cranked up tube amp? Of course not! Does it make the greater amount of people happy? Yes it Does.

Nothing pitch corrected, no click track no digital background noise or CDs running while we play. Pretty much just real music.

[GuitarAttack Forum]

Dane -- Good point. We use a Behringer digital mixer for our ears and we can control our individual mixes with an iPhone or iPad. My level of anxiety over being able to hear has dropped to zero! Our sound guy saves the mix from practice on a USB drive and we have the exact same mix when we set up.

The big selling point for me is that marathon sound checks and ringing out the monitors have been replaced with plugging in our ears, checking levels on each input, and maybe playing one song. Hours replaced with minutes...more time to chill out before playing.

Concerning tracks, the trend in Nashville is that everybody is running tracks on stage. I have a colleague who is a backline and guitar tech for a young up and coming singer. The singer told my bud that "everybody who is pro runs tracks." Her observation is the same -- the way to tell an amateur artist is that they don't run tracks. That is no kidding.

John

[EB]

Well, the new people using tracks have had the money to spend to sound like pros. Even to the point of using software to make them sound pitch perfect.
To me they are not pros. Just someone that has a lot of money and time to spend on stuff to make them sound good.

But give me that raw sound any day, and I'll show you who the real Pros are. To me Tracks lock you in. Like I said they might as well just put on iTunes and play the song that had already been recorded.

The real Pros in music are the ones you find out on the streets playing from there heart. Not for some digital processed sound. If you want to sound like some programed jukebox that you put some money in, then more power to ya!

But what you are saying the true live sound is dead!

I played with this drummer for a while who has filled in for a lot of top bands around the world. Now this guy is a pro! I met him at friends house.
All I had with me that night was my acoustic guitar and no amp. He wanted to play with me. I told him I did not have an amp. He told not to worry that he will never play any louder than I play my acoustic guitar.
Well, I had to see and hear this. This drummer played right a long with me and not once did he drown me out. NOT ONE Time! WOW!!!
After 3 Hr of playing with this guy, I learned what it was like to play with a real pro! He didn't beat the drums he played them!

Heck I remember when the drum machine was the way to go! LOL. I played at this church that is what they used instead of a drummer. Talk about not sounding like a pro. That junk was just that junk!

So I will always disagree with what is a pro. Nashville don't know everything. Some of these people need to really go out onto the streets and find out what real music is really all about! It's sitting in a control room and making backing tracks or playing through loopers.

Someone that can make a recording or sound tracks and then lip sing to them? If so then they owe some people some money from back in the 80's when these guys were cough lip singing to sound tracks or backing tracks.

Guess they were ahead of their time! LOL

Give me that old time rock n roll because to days music has no sole!

[chezvoz]

Wow! Everyone playing with tracks. Yikes.

One of the reasons I rarely go see orchestral music live is because it is amplified. Once you add the circuits to amplify it, I feel like I may as well be at home listening to a recording.

Rock music has amplification as one of it's main components. And one of the thing I find most exciting is when all the variables come together in that almost impossible perfect mix on stage. There is some element to that uncertainty and variability that makes it exciting. Getting a live performance that sounds just like the record is actually a bit of a let down.

Nice to have you with us again, Eddie.