Something about gear

[Lionelsax]

I come back from the gig !

I WAS RIGHT : I DIDN'T TOUCH ANYTHING !!!

The sound was good ! Exactly how I imagined it outside !

The other guitarist, who came late, was jealous of my sound.

Very very nice gig !

[Boss Man Zwiebelsohn]

Some amps actually benefit from that extra bass response. Also, when the amp is up on a chair the sound is more direct, and often brighter (too much so). Keeping it on the floor can be a way to make it less direct and ice-picky. It really depends on the amp and the room, and even the instrument.

I want to hear myself and I am no insect listening through its legs. That's why I prefer to lift the amp from the floor. I have a cheap 30W mini transistor amp (D'Addario IIRC, the logo is gone LOL) that I bought used for 30 € (1 €/W LOL) that I carry to the thursday night blues session in a bar around the corner to use it unmiced standing on a bar stool. I ended up using extreme settings on the EQ like bass full, mid out full and treble at 9 o clock. It works and it sounds good. A lot of the sound is coming from both of your hands.

[Christian Miller]

After years of being told it elevate my amp by the chair police, I’ve come to the conclusion that the floor is better for small amps. I have a stand for my Princeton. But I’m happy sticking that on the floor too. Just roll off the bass a bit.

The TOOB speaker that fires upwards is a good idea. Also I have a wedge for my AER.

[Alter]

Amp position is an instant huge eq. Need more bass? Move the amp closer to the wall. Need less bass, tilt it. Need even less bass, put it on a chair or stand..

[Litterick]

Need reverb? Put it in the bathroom.

[Lionelsax]

Need reverb? Put it in the bathroom.

Chet Baker !

[sgosnell]

Elevating the amp is as old as electric guitar. Every picture I've ever seen of Charlie Christian shows the amp elevated - on a chair, on top of an upright piano, on something. It's not a law, but it is traditional. Tradition or not, it's up to the player to find a practical way to get the sound (s)he wants. Some prefer the amp high, some low. The available area can limit choices.

[John A.]

Elevating the amp is as old as electric guitar. Every picture I've ever seen of Charlie Christian shows the amp elevated - on a chair, on top of an upright piano, on something. It's not a law, but it is traditional. Tradition or not, it's up to the player to find a practical way to get the sound (s)he wants. Some prefer the amp high, some low. The available area can limit choices.

You're probably right, but a lot of the pictures of Charlie Christian playing don't show an amp at all, and you cant tell where it is one way or another. My guess is that amp placement back then was also constrained by where electric outlets were (which I'm guessing were a lot less plentiful than on modern stages designed with electric instruments in mind).

[JCat]

Even though I agree focus is primarily on playing, I can't disregard tone being a fundamental dimension of music. I play better when I like what I hear and the tone of my guitar inspires the band and most importantly, the audience.

I don't think there's an excuse for not doing the homework; to know how to best use our gear to make music. The electric guitar is complex, not only do we need playing skills, but we also need basic audio engineering skills.

For live performance sound check we must learn to accept things can't always be perfect and learn when to call it good enough.

-But isn't this just a simple matter of turning the knobs till it sounds good?

Well, if your gear and your routine is adequate, it's really not more complicated than that...provided the sound you hear is about the same that the audience hears... It won't happen if your speaker projects on your calves...

The problem arises when your gear is inadequate or when your routine is at fault. For example; If you approach a guitar amp the same way you would approach a hi-fi amp, you'll probably run into problems...and this is why, when people spend too much time playing through digital modelers, headphones or computer monitors, they don't know how to make a regular amp sound good.

On the same token, if your setup; guitar speaker, pickups, cables etc are inadequate for the task, you'll find that the sweet spot range is too narrow, meaning it becomes virtually impossible to dial in your tone in some venues.

Also, it's good to know that the more knobs you've got available to turn means complexity increases. The nightmare is an amp with 10 knobs or more that all are interactive, meaning you'll be aiming at a moving target.

Virtually all amps are volume dependent, i.e EQ varies with the setting of the volume knob. You typically can't use the same EQ settings on stage and in studio. Some MasterVolume amps are EQ-sensitive to the setting of the MV-control and if the amp got a Mid-control it will always affect output. etc.

Practice makes perfect (good enough) but remember that gear with a narrow sweet spot is unforgiving and therefore inconvenient when playing together with other people that don't like to wait for someone to dial in his tone. The people I play with have different temperament in this regard, some like to spend a lot of time on sound check, others can't wait to get started (tell the horn players to go have a beer while you hook up your rig). If people can just learn to accept that amplified players need 5 minutes to set up their rigs, then provided everyone has done the homework and brought adequate gear, soundcheck is smooth.