Tone Settings for Practice vs. Band volumes......?

[fluff191]

So I have a 3 Channel Dual Recto and like to practice at decent volumes, and it sounds OK (not nearly as good as my 92 Recto), but the other day a buddy came over and sat down at the drum kit.

I obviously had to turn it up, and found myself adding some high end and mids compared to when playing by myself, and it sounded pretty **** good.

So how much does everyone alter their sound for band volumes? And if so how? Do you have specific cabs you use for band situations vs. cabs that sound better by themselves?

 

[Tom_cheats]

kinda similar i definitely notice the lack of presence when with the band and need it around the 12.00 mark for it to start sounds sweet. i still havent found my best settings yet for the modern channel. Rev G dual recto with mesa el-34s help anyone? lol

 

[stephen sawall]

At lower volumes you can get away with more low and high end. As the volume goes up you may want to back these off and turn up the mids. This is in general with all amps. Your ear well tell you if you mess with it a bit. Depending on the transformer in the amp this may not help.

 

[pokerrules47]

I would add to the posts and say that in a band situation, you are trying to fill out the sound. You have to co-operate with the bass and other guitar player (if you have 2 guitars in your band) to make it sound right. This means changing your sound so that you definitely stand out, but not over-power. Volume wars are not a good thing. If you aren't micd while jamming, you will almost always lose against the drummer.

The mid scooped sound only works if you are mic'd through a pa system. Without a PA, you will be fighting your sound all the time. Getting enough volume to be heard in the mix will send your amp into nasty feedback territory.

To cut through the mix, I add a fair amount of mids, and back off the bass a bit. I use the presence knob to darken it a bit once I get the desired volume going. I also don't worry so much about the gain. My high gain channel is 3 on modern, and I have the gain set to about 1 o'clock. I use ch 4 on vintage with a ton of mids for my lead tone. Again, I use the gain conservatively because at high volumes you are getting power tube saturation and it changes the voicing of the amp significantly.

Remember your guitar is supposed to be at the treble end of the scale, not the bass, you don't want to fold into the bass guitar frequency too much. Too many guitarists I see sound weak or thin because they are putting too much bass, and not enough mids/treble in their sound. Sure for practicing it sounds great, but you don't get through the mix with that kind of sound unless you have a ton of power.

I also use picking/strumming techniques to control my presence in the mix. Make sure you are giving the other voices "room to breathe". It will make things sound a lot better. Listen to the natural dynamics of the song and stick to it.

 

[Moby1]

I always see peoples setting for the rectifiers and they seem great at 'bedroom' level but never seem to work playing live with a band.

I always seem to have to increase the presence, mids to cut the mix. these setting don't sound great at 'bedroom level' though.

I sometimes wonder if the authors of these settings have ever used em in a live band scenario?

Obviosly its all very subjective and depends on what music you play!
don't beat me

 

[echoes420]

I am in a 3 piece band with a singing bass player and a drummer...

Strangely enough, I find that the more the presence goes up on my Rev. G in the band setting, the more "tinny" and "thin" is starts to sound.

I run my volume at 9 o'clock
presence at 9 o'clock(at the most)
gain at 11 o'clock(at the most)

My tone cuts like a knife through a very heavy handed/footed drummer with his kick mic'd through the PA and my bass player using an Ampeg SVT4-pro through an 8x10.

I have come the conclusion that the term presence, shouldn't be taken too literally.

 

[thejay]

I seem to practice at band volumes... problem solved
If I am by myself I to tend to mess with the presence more than anything else though...

 

[pokerrules47]

I always see peoples setting for the rectifiers and they seem great at 'bedroom' level but never seem to work playing live with a band.

It's the opposite for me, what sounds good when I play in a band, tends to sound too saturated and thin when I turn it down. But then again, I don't play in a bad with the brootalz soundz... LOL

 

[konstantine RK]

I have a Roadking and a Randall RM100.... both have Master volumes for the entire amp RK has 4 Randall has 3...

I turn the master to 12.....then the channels I have the Volume levels are usually around 9...the gain is at 12-1 Bass is at 3, mids at 11-1, treble is at 11-1 and presence is at 10-12. (dirty)

Clean I use gain at 9, volume at 5, bass at 5, mids at 11, treble at 10- 11 and presence at 3.

Usually I will deflect my cabinet off a wall if there are 4 musicians playing with me to diffuse the volume if need be but I also live where we jam so I have two cabs and the sound is dispersed nicely.

I would say if you want that sweet tone and you cant get it at a low volume, look into turning your cab away from your band members and always try to stand in an area where your speakers are in your ears truly. If you are standing in front of your amp or cab your sound is going right by you and through the rest of the band.

 

[stephen sawall]

I am in a 3 piece band with a singing bass player and a drummer...

Strangely enough, I find that the more the presence goes up on my Rev. G in the band setting, the more "tinny" and "thin" is starts to sound.

I run my volume at 9 o'clock
presence at 9 o'clock(at the most)
gain at 11 o'clock(at the most)

My tone cuts like a knife through a very heavy handed/footed drummer with his kick mic'd through the PA and my bass player using an Ampeg SVT4-pro through an 8x10.

I have come the conclusion that the term presence, shouldn't be taken too literally.

If you are not fighting other mid range instruments it is very easy to cut in the mix. Put a keyboard, horns or a other guitar in there and you well see a much different thing.

Turning down the presence always makes it sound bigger / thicker. It is best to turn this up just to the point where it is cutting with the cymbals. Above that it is going to sound thin and more buzzzzy in most cases.

 

[fluff191]

I always see peoples setting for the rectifiers and they seem great at 'bedroom' level but never seem to work playing live with a band.

Very true! Or the opposite happens: You see the settings on your favorite guitarists amp, dial it in and it sounds like garbage at bedroom level.

 

[halfnote]

My tone controls stay put. However at home I dime the gain and at practice I roll the gain back to 1 o'clock but get the same saturation with my volume nearly pegged.

 

[fishyfishfish]

Mine stays about the same. I do roll back the presence and treb depending on the room/micing.

 

[backyardburial]

At practice I just crank everything and put on earmuffs, and it sounds awesome...just kidding, I do have to wear muffs when we jam so its hard to tell whats going on really, I usually have about 14 seconds to mess with tone before the drummer starts bashing ****, and no matter how many times I tell him to wait, its just straight into it...other band members think Im a wanker if I take any longer than 30 seconds to play around with the amp! Any companies out there that do drummer mods?

 

[ESP123]

At practice I just crank everything and put on earmuffs, and it sounds awesome...just kidding, I do have to wear muffs when we jam so its hard to tell whats going on really, I usually have about 14 seconds to mess with tone before the drummer starts bashing sh!t, and no matter how many times I tell him to wait, its just straight into it...other band members think Im a wanker if I take any longer than 30 seconds to play around with the amp! Any companies out there that do drummer mods?

Just unplug your drummer when he starts up...

 

[Melodyman]

So I have a 3 Channel Dual Recto and like to practice at decent volumes, and it sounds OK (not nearly as good as my 92 Recto), but the other day a buddy came over and sat down at the drum kit.

I obviously had to turn it up, and found myself adding some high end and mids compared to when playing by myself, and it sounded pretty **** good.

So how much does everyone alter their sound for band volumes? And if so how? Do you have specific cabs you use for band situations vs. cabs that sound better by themselves?

As much as everyone rails on the 3 channel models, I personally had a better go with them in a band mix. My old 2 channel sounded better playing alone (more scooped, smoother).