Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sarah, this is what you two need. It goes between your guitar and amp with an extra cable.

It's always so incredibly difficult to:
1. balance volumes between the instruments
2. set the amps / pedals so that rhythm and lead sounds are balanced (with just enough oomph on the lead)
3. arrange amp / PA volume so the crowd can hear everything without being deafened
4. set the stage monitor volume so you can hear yourself
5. set the controls on your pedals so you don't cause any crazy peaks when you, say, engage an O.D. or clean boost effect
6. ...then you have to give a great performance!

As I LOVE to hear my amplifier over the PA, I've often been told 'you're too loud'. The best solutions I've found, Sarah, are to have long, detailed sound-checks when possible and/or to keep the signal path as simple as possible. Hard to make certain my Sparkledrive, compressor, and different amp channels don't overpower each other.

Depending on the gig, I sometimes bring a Morley volume pedal.

You should be able to talk to a fellow band member on stage when playing without having to shout, if you can't then you are too loud and probably damaging your hearing as well.

longhouse wrote:
As I LOVE to hear my amplifier over the PA, I've often been told 'you're too loud'.

If you are louder FOH than the PA is the sound engineer might as well go home as he is wasting his time trying to get a decent mix.

What? I can't hear you! May be I should turn my amp down?

Ha... I should clarify my statement: I like to hear my amp's natural tone versus hearing it through the PA speakers. No, I don't try to compete with the PA. My guitar sounds like my guitar when it's coming through the speakers on my Fender amp -not in the PA mix (sadly). Once in a while I end up with a great sound guy and all is well. Love those nights. For all the grief I've experienced with live guitar sounds, getting a good vocal sound has always been 10 times harder.

Oh, cool!! Thanks Jeff!! Had a look at your link and will check out this equipment in the UK!! .....and the time I spent looking for something!!

Thanks Noel. I think our difficulty is when we are either both playing a rythmn and then one of us is picking and the other playing rythmn. This is when we need to adjust our volumes. We have not done huge amounts of gigs and so are still pretty inexperienced, at least Bev and I are.

Thank you for the positive feedback everyone.

Sarah i,m super impressed with your video,love everything about it. As for a volume pedal i am a pedal steel guitar student and i have a Goodrich volume pedal for that which i also use on my regular guitars when needed.Waiting for your next video John

Wow, thank you John, how lovely of you.

There are some others on Youtube under the band name........

Seen all of the vids on Youtube, and they are very cool. Sound is good, and the songs are executed with a fair amount of confidence, time will give you more, and eventually you'll be slouching with a cigarette hangin' off your lip like Kieth Richards-haha. Seriously though, good job, and Bevs solo came out really good without overpowering the groove and mix.

If possible, get your own soundman, for all of the reasons Peter has stated above. An objective ear knows the way to get the best overall sound, as your own sound person will want to strut their stuff, just as the band does. Everybody gives their best performance.

Most sound people in clubs get jaded and set in their ways, after all, they do this night after night. Too many just keep the PA from squealing, and that's it, which makes your sound a crapshoot. I once got in to an argument with a sound guy about the mic placement on my 4x12 cab. He insisted on micing the center, when the speaker needs to be mic'd on the cone or it's too bright. I tried to tell him-sheesh, it's my cab, I think I should know-and he insisted and told me to hit a chord. Headphones flew right off of his head in a loud 'bout of swearing telling me I had to change all of my settings as my cab couldn't be mic'ed. I walked over to the cab, moved the mic a couple of inches to the left, hit the chord, and then heard him say "guitar stage right"(I was stage left). Never heard a word out of him again, and our road manager said our sound was very good that night.

My point is your own sound person will always do a better job(within their limitations, of course)than most of the people you will encounter in the club size venues. Also, your own sound person will give you the time at rehearsal to fully understand the sonic qualities of your gear as it relates to going through a PA system, and to fine tune the eq and volume. You will be able to walk in to a club, set up, and have the best sound out of the gate, which in turn, makes you more confident, and makes people think that you are a professional act, which will gain you fans and more gigs.

Keep up the good work Sarah, you guys definitely have something cool going on there!