Best way to use LSS in conjunction with PA? Slave/FX out/Mic

[Strat N My Stuff]

After working through the night Sat. night, I went to church at 7:30 am and set up my LSS for the 8:45 service. We are still currently in the Sanctuary, 'though we have completed the "Family Life Center" which was built with stage and sound considerations. Everything is set up/broke down each Sunday. This was to be the second week of my using my new amp.

After I set up/tuned and started warming up, one of the female vocalist asked if I intended to play "that thing" during the service, as she "couldn't hear anything" with what I was playing. I wasn't even at performance volume yet. I don't think the monitors were even up yet, however, my amp is a new addition and I had moved to what I thought was a better, more central location, over the side location where I put it the week before. I ended up playing acoustic direct to the PA amp, which works ok for my Taylor, but HERE IS THE QUESTION:

If I want the benefits of the amps coloring on my sound, for both acoustic and electric guitars, what is the best way to get the sound to the PA and out it's speakers? I own a Shure Beta 57A Instrument Mic which I can use to mic the amp or should I cable out with 1/4 to XLR from the Slave or Loop?

Sorry if this is a totally Noobish question. I did read the Owner's Manual and it didn't really address this as I could tell. Thanks, Jeff.

 

[Ducky]

Speakers are the best way to color your sound. (And really change your sound to a certain extent (more than changing tubes))

If i were you, I would mic that bad boy. If she still can't hear after it's been set up. Then get a really long speaker cable, an extra 4x12, and put it beside her

 

[Guitarbuff]

I feel your pain!!!! I play a LSS head with matching 2x12 cab.

Do you sing/lead worship? Do the vocs stand up from and the band behind them? Or is it a mix?

When I play I'm up front and have my rig angled back towards me and the band. I use an SM57 to mic the cab and who ever is not catching anything from the cab can have my guitar added to their monitor mix. I've played larger venues where I had to add my guitar to my monitor mix.

There are several things to do. First, place your rig so it doesn't shoot straight out to the congregation. That allows the sound guy more flexibility in front of house. Second, the rig needs to be directed away from vocalists so they can hear what they need to hear. Finally, you're going to have to crank it up a bit to get the tone you need, but you have 5/15/30/35 watts to choose from. That give you some flex in dialing in the tone for the vibe your after without killing the rest of the band.

Think strategic placement and mic the amp! This works for me and the band.

 

[Guitarbuff]

Thought of one more option after I hit the submit button...

If you have this option, you can set your LSS in another room and mic it. This should fix the "It's too loud for me" problem and everyone will have the option, including you, of how much guitar is in their monitor mix.

There is an issue of signal loss between your guitar and the LSS with this option. However, you can use a Radial SGI TX/RX Studio Guitar Interface. This is a transmit and receive module allowing your guitar signal to travel through 350' of balanced cable to a distant amplifier. This item costs about $230 but maybe the church budget can help out. You can purchase this at Musician's Friend.

Hope this helps!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

If i were you, I would mic that bad boy. If she still can't hear after it's been set up. Then get a really long speaker cable, an extra 4x12, and put it beside her

SM57 is the way to go.


Billy Gibbons uses a direct out and a mic to get his tone when recording. I've tried this and it makes the amp sound much bigger than it is because of the propagation delay. Basically, the signal from the direct out gets to the mixer a split second faster than the signal from the mic. This gives it a tiny bit more of a 3-d sound.

You could also use another cabinet, but micing your amp is the best way to let everyone hear it at a controlled volume.