Why Your Live Tone Sucks
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2015
- How do I get great tone live? And why does my live tone suck?
Why is it that you struggle to be heard in a band situation? Is your gear not good enough for live use? No, chances are you are just not following these two simple rules.
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Couldn't agree more! When doing sound for a show last year, I kept asking the guitarist to bring in the mids because his guitar just wasn't cutting through the mix, but he was adamant that it sounded fine. He was using a digital Fender amp and said "I'm using a preset called "In Your Face", or something along those lines.
I went over to take a look, and all of his mids were scooped on the amp. Not only that, but he was using a Boss Metal Distortion, also with a lot of the mids scooped, and an EQ pedal, which was disengaged.
After the show, he complained that people said they couldn't hear his guitar through everything else.
Wow. Good tip, thanks
people, listen to very carefully every word in this video. It took me almost 4 years to come to the same understanding about my guitar tone in room conditions vs live/studio conditions.
Thanks Adam! This is really great advice! Even more important today with all the modeling divices.
Maybe time to do a part 2 on this subject? 🙂👍
Hey! Rockweller from Singapore is here! Nice to come across your channel Adam! I find the EQ really important for guitarists as the guitars should cut through in a full band setting.
Useful tips, thanks! Worth of adding to "favorites" list.
Awesome job! Just found your channel and couldn't agree more. I was looking for more tips and this was really helpful. I'm currently rocking a Blackstar ID Core 30 and have it dialed in at around 2 o'clock for mids, 10 o'clock for bass, and around the same for treble. My amp is naturally very bassy and I find this a decent starting tone to then jump off of
Thank you. I absolutely agree. I learned this from a sound engineer at a large concert of big name groups. he explained that to me. Whenever I tried to explain it to others they didn't want to buy it. I guess our ego gets in the way. we want to set our gear the way we had it in the bedroom or studio. it doesn't work that way live. I am glad you are helping us out with this.
Oh really? The old, 'more mids, less gain' trope? As if a Twin is just like a 5150, and everyone plays the same songs, in the same room, with the same guitars, etc.
See, a REAL engineer at, 'large concert of big name groups', knows the 'mids' (only a guitarist says such drivel instead of frequency), that too much guitar mids DROWNS OUT THE VOCALS, of which the vast majority of people care far more about.
Also, no one at a metal concert wants a mid forward, low gain sound. NO ONE.
I appreciate this video. You explained the band frequency spectrum very well. Thank you.
Great video! This is a subject not talked about enough among musicians!
You are right. Has taken me a long time to learn. Listen to Adam!
Well, this video just changed my life! Cheers! Now i know where I’ve been failing for years! Huge thanks!
No problem Jason, glad it helped.
Thank you, Adam! :) I appreciate the advice. Cheers!
You're welcome, cheers.
Great info...i did a low end mod on my combo amp because with the low control on zero it was still pushing out low frequency's...so by removing the closed back panel and cutting it in half i got more mids live music tone is what i keep working on....thanks
Thank you! This was awesome! I hope more find this video, believe me, they are wanting to know. 😊
I thought it was not enough beard, ;)
Agree on the too much gain, and not setting the eq appropriately. Great vid as alwaus Adam!
RNA MUSIC I forgot to mention, the key to tone is in the beard! Thanks for always watching Ryan!
too much 'geihn'
Hah, strong accent is strong.
Kelly Jackson hahahahah
HAHAHAHAH
Hi Adam, what a valuable lesson you have here. I never take care of the gain, contrary i thought that more gain, more distorsion, more armonics, more presence im the mix. But today i tweak my rig and voila! I get my dinamics back with a excellent saturated tone. Thank you so much. Cheers froms Argentina!
Glad it helped man, have fun!
Well said - your vids are excellent!!
Lots of good points, very true live is much different.
I finally understand how to get my fuzz to work in the band. I have the EQ setting ready with boosted mids and am excited to try it out tonight!
I use a Fender Mex Strat with a Blackstar HT40, I like my clean channel to break up a little and my distorted channel has an EQ of 0-2 Bass, 9 Middle and 10 Treble, and the ISF all the way to British. With my neck pickup sounds big for rhythm and with the bridge one has an amazing lead tone that slips between all the instruments until it reaches your face, very Guthrie Govan sounding! When it comes to pedals, a Crybaby, a Boss FZ5 and a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster in the FX Loop for soloing. Great Videos Adam! In my band we had that problem with the gain!
Good story man. Glad you like the videos.
Yeah more gain does not equal more better (or something) most of the time.
Sounds like a fun setup. Treble on 10 on a strat though, that would burn my ears haha.
Thanks for the lesson and reminder 👍🏼🎶🎶🎸
This is a very good and must advice. True. Very informative
Still Relevant , taking notes thank you!❤
With you on the mids mate.... My standard live settings are bass. 4, mids 7, treble 6. That seems to work well with my fingers!
GregDaviesguitarist Glad you agree man! It varies amp to amp and player to player of course, my EQ is usually something like Bass - 1, Mids - , Treble - 6. But then I do have extra EQ before amp and before power amp also which helps shape the sound overall.
after years of dialing things in, this is actually where i sit...some bass to give it some warmth, higher mids to sit well in the mix, and 2/3 or so highs for clarity and edge...
Thank You Adam for the good advise about Guitar Tone
My pleasure man, glad you enjoyed.
Good information, thanks!
I am the Singer and Bass Player in "Power Trio" , really appreciate ANYTHING I can Use To Blame The Guitarist!! Joking, Great Stuff Bro
This is why I now have, not 1 but 2 EQ pedals on my board. When I get to a gig I can tweak the EQ (basically push the mids) to sound good. I play through 2 Princeton low wattage amps but never have an issue cutting through. 👍🏻
Was playing live last night and my guitar sounded absolutely s...e . Looked at my amp just now and my bass level was up at 7.... Say no more ! Thanks Adam 🙏
I have 2 tones I use simultaneously: a higher distortion tone I use whenever recording an album or jamming in my bedroom, and a crunch tone that I use for playing live and, or rehearsal.
My brown tone: gain is exactly halfway
Booster is on 1, bass is at 11 o’clock position, mid range is at a 2 o’clock position, and the treble is in between 2 o’clock or 3 o’clock position give or take. My presence is typically set at a 2 o’clock position.
Now the crunch channel: gain is sitting in between 6 and 7, booster is at 2 o’clock position, bass is at a 4, mids are at a 7, my treble is exactly at a 3 o’clock position, and the presence nob is usually at halfway.
bass 5 mids 10 treble 5 and then presence knob for high end control if there is not enough sizzle or too much bight
great will try at this weeks show..
Im a mids guy also. Sometimes I max it and enjoy the sound, other times not. Never lower than 8. I also roll off my base to around 3-4. Highs to situation. Lots of presence 60-70%gain on most things. on passive pickups. EMG HZ4as they get crunchy!
Great advice, and I like that it’s pretty simple to remember. Sound check, think of those two things!
I’ve also been in band settings where the bassist turned up too much (and his EQ was also “too bassy” and my god…literally trounced all the other instruments in the band no matter how much they and I cranked our instruments. So maybe add that, even if you do set for better sound, the bassist especially has to be aware too or it’s all for naught.
Years ago I realized I was using too much gain. It IS hard to break the habit. Started thinking “ok, set it how I like it…then back off the gain a GOOD amount” but invariably through the night I’d nudge it up. Which is ironic, when I was playing in bands in the seventies I only had en ES335 And Ampeg VT-40 (cranked) and no OD or Dist other than that loud amp, and had some of the best tones I’ve ever had. Still, there is “comfort” in gain…so you have to be disciplined. Also, when I think of songs, say Stones, or Deep Purple, Hendrix, I (and many guitarists I’m sure) in my head, think that they use WAY more gain and always get surprised when I hear the actual recording that it isn’t really that much.
Anyway, you made some great points there!
Appreciate the advice adam !! the problem im facing is that i only use a metal muff and nothing else ..im getting alot of feedback..im planning to buy boss NS2.. i understand that it cuts off all the buzz and everything but my only doubt is that will it cut those feedbacks?
Spot on! Over colouring of tone. It’s very helpful to have a few graphic pedals on stage. Guitar players tend to blast live and the treble end drowns out the treble on the vocals, even if the vocals are loud enough. The result is the vocal goes dull! Sometimes the crash cymbals do the same.
When soloing, hit the graphic pedal so a “hole” doesn’t appear in the sound. With two guitars on stage the tone duo causes massive cancellations across the frequency spectrum making things almost indistinguishable from each other. If each has a graphic pedal, set them so they are “comb filtering”! (Look that up, there’s not enough room in a comments reply) VERY IMPORTANT!!! Small room, and, Large room......
In a small room, the kick drum is set slack, the drummer throws his jacket in the drum, it should sound “punchy”! The bass player should have tones set to sub and low mid and work in time to the kick drum. LARGE ROOM or HALL!!! It’s quite the opposite. The kick drum has slight tension on the skin to produce some bass boom (to personal taste) and the bass git has light gauge strings going through low mid through to treble on the EQ. And, 10” speakers! When in unison, practice until they sound as one. Preferably an Ampeg SVT. Channel switching and 2 graphic pedals, (bass boost when the kick drum is resting) if the bass guitar “booms” throughout the live set, a problem occurs. “The Doppler Effect”, and the sound when on rebound off the back of the hall returns, it’s out of tune! It’s flat in pitch! The bass is not out of tune, it’s an illusion that baffles many folk. Heavy gauge strings on the 6 strings can do the same! Stay out of the bottom end EQ and leave it to the kick drum. I could go on for ever about this. This is not the right place. Live sound has been my job for decades. A sound engineers job isn’t easy. Good luck all. David.
Thanks 👍
Head on.
For lead I use higher mids and some treble to fit to the rythm guitar that sits with more lower mids, some tweaked with an EQ that sits in front of the amp and DI/IR out.
With a fully analog signal chain a multiband EQ unit/pedal can also provide some assistance to prevent mud when listening to the backline besides setting frequencies where the guitar cuts through without drowning another instrument and vocals.
Bass turned down on both to avoid 4x12 rumble, leave space for the kickdrum and bassist and even a tad more on my backline to give the rythm guitar additional space.
Also making use of high and low pass filters from DI/IR out to the PA besides making sure that DI/IR level doesn’t clip with the mixers gain turned all the way down.
As for gain, as little as one can get away with, which I think is even more important with more than one guitar in a band.
Not a great sound on it’s own but together with the band everyone can be heard and it cuts through when it has to.
Takes a lot of time adjusting but a few frequencies to consider, taken from my own experience, all with around -3dB:
Around 40Hz high pass on the bass
80-90Hz high pass on clean guitars
90-120Hz high pass on overdriven rythm guitar
120-250Hz high pass on overdriven lead guitar
8-12kHz low pass on all guitars
On some units high pass might be labeled low cut and low pass as high cut.
But most important, always use the whole bands ears.
And one more thing, if everything is set so that no one is louder or lower than the drummer and no one drowns in the mix at the rehearsal space there is no need to cranck anything further in a live situation, let the sound engineer do his job.
Heck you might even end up only needing vocals in the monitors.
Well said mate. Keep the bass and gain down. A nice clean amp with PLENTY of headroom helps preserve the dynamics too.
Martin Cliffe Agreed Martin, headroom is essential for clean tones particularly.
Good advice ! I play in a bar ( 2 acoustic guitars ) plugged directly in their PA system, I will try your tricks to better my sound. I would like to know though, some use processors and stuff... is that the way to go for best sound or simply direct in the PA with good work on the EQ ?
live use: using ironheart, i will dail in for the in your face midrange, tighten up the boom, make sure there is no thump lows, back the gain 3/10. but im careful with the highs and presence, i dont want the highs become piercing or make my tone become thin. its all about bark, crunch and openness.
Les Paul Jr (p90), Orange Tiny Terror Combo, JHS Moonshine OD. That's it, mayb bit of reverb if I feel like the mix is a little dry, but overall, I focus heavily on the Midrange sound. You're absolutely correct
That might explain my problem, I've been trying to crank bass to make my prs se thicker, and boosting gain to add to the volume I've never been able to get it cut through, it also doesn't squeal very well in comparison, my mockingbird seems to pull through anything so I was blaming the pickups, which I still want to change, but maybe I've just been going wrong with the eq's!
Got some new things to try thanks!
Hi Leslie, glad it helped.
If you think your tone is a little thin you can try boosting the lower mids a little, just stay away from the bass guitar's prominent frequencies otherwise you both get lost in the mix, and nothing is gained.
Couldn't agree more!
Thanks for your help, I totally agree, but when you are guitar player that needs sustain/gain to play comfortable, how can we get that sustain then? Thanks
With that being said, one of the most sought after tones is with a 65 deluxe reverb. There’s not a mid knob on the amp. If I’m not mistaken judging by the schematic, the mid cap is the same as a lot of fender amps, which means the same mids are there, but the mids are always on 10 in the deluxe reverb!👍
Good and interesting points man. Of course this is always just a guide and you can get many great tones using many different methods. this was more aimed at the rock and metal players who have been scooping their mids out and wondering why they have to get louder, and louder, and louder...
Hi Adam, I'm trying to get Billy Duffy sounds using my marshall combo. His normal tone is quite dirty so when I get his sound on chords, I have the gain turned up to achieve it. But when I do a lead break with more volume then use my wah pedal, it howls for England. How do I set my tone to avoid this problem. I know it's prob too much gain but turning the gain down means I'm not getting Billy's sound. Any advice please Adam ?
I run a Mesa boogie single rectifier with an EVH 5150 15 watt head. Mesa gives me girth and those amazing mesa low mids and the 5150 gives all the upper mids and highs I could ever want. Each gig, I TRY to start with all EQ on noon and adjust from there. I will say my presence knob on the 5150 is usually only 1-2 out of 10.
Mesa EQ:
VINTAGE mode
Gain: 1-3 o'clock
B: 9-11 o'clock
M: 1-3 o'clock
T: 1-3 o'clock
P: 12-1 o'clock
EVH LBX 5150
Gain: 8 o'clock - 1 o'clock (no clean, so I go for "edge of break-up" -heavy)
B: 1 o'clock
M: 2-3 o'clock
T: 11 o'clock
P: 8-9 o'clock
So my signal chain is,
Mexican Strat > EQ with the volume and 6.4k set quite high, but not maxed > Dyna Comp to even things out > TS clone with the tone rolled down, the volume full, and adjust gain accordingly, but it's usually very low > Carlsobro 50 combo, low bass, highish treble, almost maxed mids.
Not going to put the silly effects in there as it's already too much😅 all I'll say is Auto-Wah is a must!
Yeah
I kinda like my mids at 2 o clock, treble at 12, and bass at 10, or lower. I dont like boomy bass, I like it tight. Plus, when you crank up the bass, the amp hits overdrive really quickly. I need headroom, I got pedals for dirt. So, yeah. I totally agree with this video. Oh, and yeah. I like to turn up the volume, loud, and then add just a touch of gain, rather than other way around. You should explain that also, there is a difference between volume and gain.
yeh i'm doing that but any advise for pickup selection, when playing strat i really like the neck pickup sound but switching away from the bridge pickup (humbucker) even to the pos 2 or 3 quite often means i can't hear myself very well, lower notes get drowned out by the band especially playing clean.
Excellence!
Fantastic advice Adam. Hard for guitarists to hear because that scooped sound sounds great when you're setting up your rig, but terrible with the band.
This is why I use a Fender telecaster and a Gretsch G5410t with a Vox AC30.
For some reason very young ndudes often have no mids in their sound, they scoop it out and that always sucks. I think people have to develop tone like other aspects of playing.
Definitely mate. Finding 'your' tone is part of developing as a musician.
1k, that's the guitar frequency basically.
But scooped mids, they are meant to simulate how our ears percieve loud sounds and became some trend on records people were expected to play on crap hifis but were meant to sound loud...nu metal does it, but a lot of other heavier metal just doesn't-its mixed to sound good loud, not sound good quiet!....thing is when you are live its actually loud, so its too much! Sure great in the bedroom when you aren't trying to annoy neighbors, but any practical volume you get a natural scoop anyway.
Also, the more gain, the less attack...heavier: nope- just more washed out usually!
Oh and also, I once found out where my amp put out a 'flat' signal, it was bass and treble dialed off....so you already have mids cut on most amplifiers...
why your tone soaks
How do I diagnose my suck without buying/swapping out each part? :(
When I hammer on or pull off the tone is so quiet and fades away rapidly. What would cause this?
It's a tricky one to answer. It could be a tone issue but the first thing I would really look at is technique. If you ever heard Holdsworth do what he could do on a clean tone, it is mind blowing. Low action can also really help.
Lol clean modulation it’s where it’s at maybe a slight boost for a crunchy semi clean tone works for me... But distortion if not toned properly can sound like trash.
I found it a lot live with the bass, sound just disappears if you load it up past noon, the Matchless has a mid "cut" rather than a mid control so always works well. Just snagged a Friedman 50 watter so looking forward to wumping that bad boy up at practice!
Lee McDonald I do GAS for the friedman's from time to time like! Agreed on the bass it just muddies everything up.
***** Especially on a hollow stage!
All of my eq is above noon, even in the bedroom, but my mids are almost at max, followed by treble then closely by bass.
If that works, it works! All amps respond differently with different guitars etc so there is no 'one size fits all.' But generally, mids haha.
@@AdamIronside I just don't like the stuffy sound that my amp and most amps have with scooped anything. Maybe I should lower my bass though, since my tone is slightly fuzzy, but it's better than an extremely scooped tone though.
Oi, I'll have you know that my live tone is *awesome* thankyouverybloodymuch ;)
Seriously, though, there's a neat trick I found to not have to tweak my amp settings between home and live - use fairly scooped, modern-sounding speakers in your cab at home, and something mid-range-heavy like V30s live. For a lot of uses, this will help (as long as you're sensible with the gain).
Another one is more amp-specific - on my Decatone, I keep the bass/mid/treble on 4/6/5, but generally have the depth at noon and the presence on about 2; if I need more or less low end or high end, I play with the depth and presence, not the EQ in the tone stack.
Why? Because they depend on the power amp, and the volume at every venue is different so I compensate after the power amp and not before, while keeping my core tone the same.
digiscream Haha you are one of the lucky / knowledge ones!
Good info there mate, the depth and presence controls do a good job of 'faking' an EQ on the power section. I don't have depth control but I do adjust presence from venue to venue, though generally it stays at about 2 o clock-ish.
Using a Marshall halfstack....the closed back really emphasizes low end and mids. b/4 m/4 t/7
Regards effects: a little bit goes a long way. And EQ-wise: different rooms will create different equalization requirements. And DON'T use reverb in a big, echo chamber room!
I've quit playing guitar coz my tone always sucks. Maybe I will try to play again.. nice stuff, thanks sir
You are by far the most stupid person ive ever seen in a youtube comment
I have very little experience dialing in live tones. I've got a BOSS GT1000 and I gigged with it a few times. Most of the times I found the sound to be srhill and THIN. The latter is the worst. It was like a very narrow part of the entire band mix. I couldn't make it massive. I wonder, why. I tried a few different cabs / amps. It must be my lack of knowledge, not the unit. Any EQ tips on getting the sound massive and fat? Regardless of the style. I'm going to play in a cover band, mostly rock and heavy rock stuff ranging from AC-dc, def leppard to Rammstein.
My tone is so fucking insane you would all die for my rig. 77 Marshall Master Model 2204 with custom tube buffered effects loop. got some delay, reverb, and some chorus in the loop and a couple tube screamers up front. It breathes fire. Steve Lukather would love to play live with my rig. There might be a clip of me trying it out on my channel check it out.
Honestly it's not a lot of the time lack of mids or too much gain, unless we're talking fine tuning between home & stage.
The biggest problem is poor monitoring, which starts in the bedroom & rehearsal, which are often very poor acoustically and placed relative to the player in a way which makes everything worse. So when they get to a gig, the sound is just a mess to start with. If someone stands over their amp, they don't hear the treble and increase it, if they stand where there's a null in the low frequencies, they'll boost the bass. Even at small shows guitarists rarely angle their amp at them or raise it up of the floor and don't realise they are hearing something totally different to everyone else.
Another common one is setting any form of distortion too quiet. When at home, all that compression increases the RMS, it seems 'loud' with all the detail brought up & extra harmonics and people get worried about complaints, so players turn it down a little too much. When with a band who are more likely to increase in level during sections where guitarists are kicking on distortion, the guitar just disappears.
Another is just little to no thought given to the role of the guitar in any part of the song. Too much mids can be just as much of a problem as too little. If every guitarist thinks they need to have all the mids all the time, they'll just crowd the space for the vocals. Similarly a ridiculous scooped guitar sound for a guitar solo or lead part is never going to work. Hence why Tubescreamers are popular with scooped Fender amps in Blues. But if not enough mids was the issue for live tone, these amps would be seen as garbage rather than revered and highly valuable & replicated and everyone would use "British" amps.
Also very few guitarists get out front to hear their tone, or nobody from the bands gets out front at all to check the mix. Whilst some engineers are genuinely helpful and want to help, plenty in the places that we all first start in are not necessarily knowledgeable engineers and/or bitter about everything and a musician coming with a bad tone just fulfils their prejudices and happy to let them sound terrible.
I was very lucky to have people show me how best to set up an amp on stage so I knew what to do when I was 17, whereas Ive dealt with a lot of guitarists who've clearly been the whole "YOURE TOO LOUD TURN DOWN" thing and they just needed to be shown a few basic things.
With regards to the amount of distortion, its pretty much always too much regarding compression. So dialling it back isn't going to bring the transient back because distortion of any kind is essentially a very extreme limiter. What can happen is you get a sense of 'dynamics' with the harmonic content created. But this isn't always desirable for every playing style or genre. An "Edge of breakup" type tone is arguably more compression & saturation than what'd be used for anything else in a studio.
With most distortion pedals of any variety, there's usually a point on the dial where its doing nothing except adding noise & harmonic content beyond the frequency response of the speaker. Some pedals start to increase low end as well, like a Rat.
All really great points, and we've all been there! The point on frequency directionality is a huge one too. Standing closer too or off to the side of your amp, of course you are going to lose higher frequencies so you are right, turn up the treble to compensate, resulting in a head-cutting amount out front :D
to be honest i done the same thing but now for recording tone im using less than half the gain and just boosting the signal a little bit with an overdrive but i have noticed the tone isnt quite cutting through in a live situation, might need more mid range
Blazingphoenix29 absolutely, most players should use a lot less gain in the studio as you are usually at LEAST double tracking guitars.
Definitely experiment with using more mids and more treble than you usually would comfortably use. It varies amp to amp but the mids is almost always where the guitar 'sits.' The only problem is that a lot of people don't like the 'boxiness' that comes with high midrange, I actually like it.
Its weird i use a katana and have everything at 12 o’clock with treble dialled back to 11 and I’m heard fine in a 3 guitar band. Maybe it’s because I’m using very mid focused pedals (rat and ts).
Mids is a spectrum. Not all amps focus on the same mid frequencies. Mids in a Marshall is very different than the mids of a Fender amp.
Best advice: set the EQ like Matt Schofield does. He explains it on youtube.
What should I put the high on then you didn't say dude lol
Hi there friend. I play at church. And yes when the whole worship team is playing, people always tells me at the end that they barely heard my guitar. We don't use amps anymore. ( I asked them to put it back cuz I'm more into amp). We are using Di boxes. And we have personal mini mixers and iem's. I don't have a eq on my board. I have simple and essential pedals on my board. Comp/ KOT/Dig Delay/ Reverb. Vol and Wah pedal. What can you recommend me to add or to tweak on. I'm planning to add a octave and chorus pedal to the rig.
Thnkx in advance.
I also play in a worship setting. I have similar gear. However, I use haunting mids from JHS and that really fills in some of the gaps. Also, a BBE mini Sonic stomp can also add extra treble and bass if needed. But the gain, comp, mid boost, reverb and delay seem to work for me. I also found a secret weapon, it's the Pigtronix Disnortion mini. It has 2 gain stages. I call it the panic button....when you press the series button, it gives lead freak out mode. You will be heard if you aren't careful. But it is so much fun! Ebow can also add some very nice ambience with reverb and/or delay.
I know none of us are DimeBag but why was his sound so massive and undeniable he scooped almost all mids
Great question, so one thing he did was actually boost the mids on eq pedals he ran straight into the front of the amp. He used a blue mxr 6 band and the settings were like a mountain, low on the lows and high on the mids and low on the highs. He also used a furman pq3/pq4 and although the pq4 has an extra band than the 3, he basically boosted every eq band on that. The chain for this would be mxr eq --> parametric eq --> amp. Hope this helps!
I knew this is a few years old but I'm struggling with my amp tone, I'm going to try this and see how it works...currently i have 2 amps and the one i want to use for my band (mesa dual recto 3channel solo) is having issues and i have zero money to spend in a tune up and repair (recent family and loosing my job due to the steel mill i work at closing). The other amp is a Randall Satan. Although i love the Satan for metal, the band I'm in is not metal, more classic-hard rock. So...i have to use the Satan for an upcoming gig...normally I'm about noon or less with gain (i tend to play lower gain normally) but I've experienced what your talking about with being "pushed back". The other guitarist plays a early 80's jcm800 and that thing sounds fucking awesome! I really want to compliment his tone...gonna see how it works out
Sorry for the long comment lol
Sorry to hear about your job man, its an all too common story (especially where I'm from).
I've never played a Randall Satan but I've just checked it out. I like the Girth and Grind ideas, quite a simple 'multiband' distortion. I like the JCM800 but its not a modern, particularly midrange-y amp so to really compliment them (as opposed to push them back in the mix) I'd not go too mad on your mids and try and get some bite from the low treble region.
That Randall Satan looks really cool.
Adam Ironside yes the Satan is amazing, noticed the last 2 practices i herd a huge difference. The first time the 2 guitars sounded awesome! The bassist couldn't make it to practice that day, the second day he was there and i felt like i couldn't hear myself. Another variable i just thought of last night when noodling at home was...just before the last practice (where i felt the tone was lacking) i changed my strings and lowered my action a good amount, it hit me last night....i forgot to adjust the pickups! So...my concerns may have been caused by the pickup height.
Thanks for the reply, I'll have to retest
So i have 2 variables to look at...tone tweaking with the bass player present and the pickup height...just wish we were all in our teens again so we could just drop everything and practice 30 times a week together lol, getting together now is a weekly thing (sometimes longer) and my rig is over the other guitarists house lol
Haha I know that feeling man.
The band should work on their whole sound together. It is important you guys work together to make complimentary tones that fill in the bigger picture, rather than everybody fighting for space.
Top o the morning to then lad
yup....
Great vid mate! Any recommendations on EQ pedals in response to this video?
arsenalfanrichi Thanks mate. I use a rackmount unit but as a good starting point you simply can't go wrong with the Boss GE7 unit. Generally I think a parametric EQ works better than a graphic EQ in a guitar rig but it is definitely a good starting point.
Sweet! Cheers for the swift response mate. I will difinitely consider getting one then.
arsenalfanrichi My pleasure mate! To start with I would put the EQ in front of your amp, you'll unlock a lot more amp tones that way as amps react different depending on the incoming signal. As a tip, cut the lows and boost the mids!
I put my amp eq at middle position and then make patches on processor...
am I did wright ?
At live gig should I ask the sound man to put all the knobs on his mixture board at middle position ?
I don't use my own amp at live.
You should never really dictate to the sound guy haha.
I'd have an open and chilled conversation with him...
"Alright man, I'm using this processor with patches of EQ etc. Can you bypass the EQ on the desk at all, or how can I make it easier for you?'
Adam Ironside can you make a video on making patches on boss gt6 processor.. i face lot of problems at live gig with the EQ.. everytime my tone sucks at live :(
Hi Abhishek. I don't have a GT6 unfortunately.
ohh...
any way.. thanks 😊
hi mate helpful video. are you from NZ or Au?
Hi. No I'm not. I'm from the North East of England (Sunderland).
Adam Ironside Hey mate, thank you for the awesome video. cheers
Dude I think you look like pewdiepie without beard somehow lol nice vid tho..so thats why my sound gets drowded by the drum crash..I have high treble instead of mids!
I was playing in an originals band until last year. I was always criticised for too much mids, even though I know as a guitarist that the mids need to be there. It's refreshing to know that there are people like you who show me that I was always right about how a guitar should be set up for a live sound. Now I'm in a different band where the mids in my playing isn't criticised and I get a lot of plaudits for my sound.
Tone is subjective so there is not a definite right. But generally, the more mids you have, the better a person you are, jus' saying. Haha.
Mids are trendy again though man. When I first started playing the trend was to scoop the mids and I couldn't stand that sound.
WHAT ABOUT THE BASS SET UP
Ah, I'm not really a bass player. I can do a video about how I approach recording bass if it helps.
Totally understand everything you're saying and try to do that but it's too late once you've got to the gig after you have set it up. My question is is there a way to play along with the song in the studio set up your tone and then it translating live immediately?
Interesting question! I know several players and a lot of pros who do a similar thing using their Kemper. They basically take the album tone as it was recorded, profile it, and use it, or a tweaked version, live.
This still creates work for the FOH engineer of course as the tone won't necessarily translate on every system, in every room etc.
Unfortunately their are no real shortcuts unless you work with your own dedicated live engineer every show, that way you can maintain a consistent tone you like and have them do the work out front to make it translate.
@@AdamIronside thanks for getting back to me! Yes I believe you are right, I don't think there's a magic pill. I would love to get an engineer to help me. Will definitely look into that. Lol you see so many people playing on RUclips who act like they've got such great guitar tone in their bedroom and have no idea that it's going to sound like crap when they go play live, if they even do play live LOL....I did get some nice focal 6.5 flat response monitors , which sound awesome by the way LOL, this Christmas hoping that that will help a lot with the setup. I kinda knew the answer before I emailed you, I just wanted to see if I was missing something. I've been playing for many years also but you never know, someone may have better way of doing things. Thank you very much for getting back to me.
@@kaoquinn No problem man. Its just an experience thing.
I know a lot of people like to scoop out the mids, especially at low volume, because it kind of simulates a louder sound, taking into account the fletcher munson effect.
And actually, its is a little harder to play on a mid or treble rich tone because every note is much more audible / prominent, and mistakes are not as easily hidden.
If all people want to do is just play in their bedroom, I'm fine with that.
It's funny because I often speak to people who are the opposite. They have tonnes of live experience but have never been in the studio. So when they come to record or are asking for advice they are often really surprised when I say: Turn the bass way down and use about half the gain you currently have.'
Just totally different skillsets. Good luck!
@@AdamIronside LOL that is interesting, I have no problem with recording, hell if I could translate my recording tone to live I'd be a happy man. You're right it's just about experience and to keep "chasing the tone." Lol. I appreciate you getting back to me!
what does it mean to scoop out the mids?
gearlock77 Scoop is a very wide / broadband cut. EQ on most guitar amps has a wide range, if you roll the mids knob pretty much all the way down you are 'scooping' the mids out of the tone. Some people like this and indeed it has its applications, but most of the time, it just sucks.
great! thanks for clearing that up.
gearlock77 No problem man.
drummers....unmiked drummers.......and getting heard over someone building a shed. nightmare
Unfortunately this is the Common Case with almost Any Metal Guitarist. Extreme Scooped Mids inside the house (because it just sounds absolutely Brutal).... but completely LOST in a Live Band scenario ... and we just can't understand WHY.
You Gotta Kick Up That MotherFuckin' MIDRANGE - It's the Only REAL Fix!!
This would be a much better video with actual sound samples live to illustrate the point a/b...
Point well made fella. I'll try and do this next gig if I get a chance :)
Even if you do, they still can't replicate the sound dynamics in their headphones or home speakers :D Good video btw
the bass is a bassy low end instument lol
Please do a n episode with Colin from CSGuitars :D
Ah I've not come across his channel before (Which is crazy). Does he advise the opposite? Horses for courses I suppose.
Adam Ironside He's the guy who the the "ALL THE GAIN! NO MIDS! SLAYERRRRR" video. Very knowledgeable about guitars and tones. One of the best music channels on RUclips 👌
Ah cool man, I'll have to check it out!
Adam Ironside it's called 'How Not to Dial a Metal Sound'
What if the band is a two piece?
Interesting question!
Depending on what the other instrument is. I'm assuming drums?
You have a much wider spectrum to fill with just your one guitar so you will generally need to EQ a much bigger sound. I've never done a gig as a duo so have no direct experience.
As a sound engineer I would give every musician 500hz bandwidth place in the audio spectrum.
My amp settings are, all 3 on 10 low, mid, highs on 10
Your bass guitar is not strung correctly. Look over your shoulder
HAHAHAHA fair comment is fair. What the hell happened there?
You won’t be haired