I play in a 5-piece cover band with another guitarist who is using a Les Paul and Fender Blues Junior. So it's a dense mix. I've been using modelers for the last 7 years - first Helix, then Quad Cortex the last two years, now an FM9 will get its first gig this Friday. Feedback from the audience has always been they can't hear me, only the drums and that Blues Junior. I'm typically using a Powercab112+ in Flat/Raw mode - so it's essentially a powered 1x12 guitar cabinet. Works pretty good that way and compares well with my Fender amps using Celestion speakers (that .
What I think is happening is all related to gain staging and stage volume. I tend to keep my stage volume down, doing my part to not cause audience hearing damage, and so the bar tenders can hear their orders. So that's probably part of why I disappear in the mix, I'm just not loud enough.
But possibly another reason is gain staging. I set my preset levels so I'm mostly sending 0dB output levels on my clean, crunch and distortion scenes/patches. Then I set my stage amp to the level needed for the room. What I think happens is the clean tone is OK, but as soon as I add some dirt, the compression takes over and makes my guitar disappear in the mix.
So I'm going to try something new with the FM9 in this first gig. I'm setting my clean level at -3dB on the preset output meters. Then I'm going to set my crunch and distortion patches so that when I turn my guitar volume down enough that the tone cleans up, I'm getting the same -3dB on the preset output - clean is matched to clean in the patch/scene.
Now I'm hoping that when I add the dirt, the overall level will go up instead of down and will cut through the mix better. I'm also aware that 700-1000 Hz mid boost will help with the mix, and am aware of preamp vs. power amp distortion and sag, etc. I'm taking that into consideration too.
Really looking forward to giving this new (to me) FM9 a ride.