Does your tone change after warmup?

[coop21]

I've been noticing lately that I am losing some high end after my amp has been on for more than an hour. It seems to me that the tone is not as clear.

At our last two shows, I've heard comments from guitar players in the audience that I'm getting lost in the mix on after the first set. I'm not making any changes between sets and the other players in the band aren't making any changes either. Now I know that a room changes as people stream in and out and I expect that, but I've noticed in the rehearsal studio lately that I may be having the same problem.

Has anyone had this problem? I'm going to try a new set of power tubes tonight to see if I notice a difference.

 

[Platypus]

I think the power tubes may be the culprit, when was the last time you changed them out?

Get back to us!

 

[tele_jas]

Could it just be your ears getting tired or deadended and making it sound like the highs are dropping? I know when I play, at first my tone is bright and punchy and then after a while it seems a little less bright......then I started wearing ear plugs and I noticed that when I take them out, my amp still sounds as bright and punchy 3 hours later as it did to start out with.

As far as getting lost in the mix, I've noticed from my 13+ years of playing in bands that as the night goes on the drummer starts hitting the drums harder and the bass player starts thumping his strings harder and the singer starts yelling louder and us poor guitar players, that already have a style of banging on the strings pretty hard, get burried in the mix unless we turn up our amps........Then we hear from the rest of the band "Well, I turned up because you turned up" or "We wouldn't have to play louder if you wouldn't turn up". The only solution there is to have a soundman and he could tell you whats up and keep your guitar in the mix and tell if you're really loosing highs or any other tone change.

That's my $.02 worth

PS... If it truely is changing tone, I would blame it on the power tubes and get new ones.

 

[MetalMatt]

Do you wear ear plugs? I don't every time and I notice high end loss after a while. It might be ear fatigue, it might not. Just a thought.

 

[coop21]

I don't wear earplugs and it may be ear fatigue. I'll give that a try. The power tubes are just over a year old and I'll let you know if the new ones help.

tele_jas, your right about the other instruments getting louder as the night goes on. We've had lots of discussions about that problem. Some of the places we play, we can't use a soundman. One of the more popular bars in town has a house system that the owner does not like us to tweak. We get a sound check before the show and that's about it. The mixing board is at the back of the stage and it's a pain to make adjustments. We have to ask to owner to make the changes. He'll do it, but only when he's not behind the bar selling drinks. I know this is a bad deal, but we've had some great shows there. We have to rely on each other and for the most part it works ok.

 

[MetalMatt]

:lol: tele_jas your post wasn't there when I posted :lol:

:? Strange...

So yea! what tele_jas said!

 

[strumminsix]

Yes, slightly.

 

[Guitarzan]

Yes, this happens in both my Rec's. The loss of highs is very slight but it does happen after about 45 mins. I attribute this to the tubes getting to operating temp. I read an article on VH a few years back about how he turned his amp on a few hours before recording so that the tubes were able to properly stabilize. I guess this may be a similar reason.

 

[coop21]

Last night I changed the power tubes and played for a couple of hours. With the new tubes, the tone change was very slight. It was not as noticable as it was with the old tubes.