How many don't use reverb at all for live?

It depends...:)
Anything that's rock and heavily distorted, soloing : rather delay than reverb
Blues, light crunched/clean sounds : rather reverb than delay
 
When I do use reverb live to create that space/color/dimension, whatever you want to call it, usually dial back that decay a bit compared to studio settings. This way I can give it that size I am looking for, but not turning to mud and stepping all over everything else, also adding a little delay in the path does wonders.

In a two guitar player setting I prefer neither of us use it, but there again like others have said “it depends”.


John
 
Less and less, especialy after quantum, I find that just the drive, amp and cab is mostly what I need. I even use less and less delay. I used delay to tone down harshness and add dimension, but it is not needed as much, sometimes the delay even gets in the way in solo tones.

I guess I am getting old ... :)
 
I look at it like a vocal in the PA as long as the reverb isn't the point of the preset. The larger the venue, generally the less reverb required. Some outdoor spaces are different, as are smaller clubs. You don't have to send it to the house at all, your FOH guy can determine if he's on his game, and just add to taste on stage. If you don't use a lot to begin with, you probably won't need to concern yourself with it.
 
I stay away for reverb on live patches. Delay works well and if I want some ambience, I'll use a little Multi Delay. I've never found reverb to be useful in a live setting unless it's a spring type on a clean guitar.
 
I dont use reverb from the axe (unless for special "ambient" fx) and let the sound engineer add reverb on the signal from the foh as I find that reverb is very much variable depending on room and pa, and it's easier for him to adjust from foh than for me on stage
 
Usually, just a touch so it's not really noticeable, just kinda filling in the background. And of course I'll use the "big reverb" where useful.

I'm rethinking how I'm going to set things up w/ the AX8... since it's specifically for live use, and I have less IA than on the MFC things may change.
 
Hi, I'm Moke and I'm a Reverb-aholic. :oops:
To me the ultimate guitar sound is Van Halen 1 & 2............And as the only guitar in my band I use a similar approach with reverb, though a bit less live. I prefer reverb over delay for rhythm because I don't have to worry about the delay being in sync with the tempo of each song (accept for a song where the delay is part of the sound, like U2). But for the solo parts, I add delay before the reverb in series so that the delay repeats get a little 'washed out' which pushes them back in the mix making their tempo less important.
 
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Reverb is a tool. It can be used with knowledge and experience or used improperly, like any other tool.

You can't control the ambience of the room you are playing in but you can control what comes out of your speakers. Room ambience disappears when near the PA and increases with proximity to the walls. Nothing you can do about that, but I can control what the audience near the speakers sound field hears.

If you feel that reverb is adding mud to your sound, remove the muddy frequencies from the reverb! I have read that the famous and gorgeous reverb at Abbey Road studios rolled off at about 600hz. I use this as a starting point for all my reverbs for guitars and for all my studio work.

I love delays too. When synced to the tempo of the song they can be incredibly powerful. I use the same hpf trick as a starting point with delays also.

Moral of the story is dont throw out the baby with the bath water. Used properly reverb can enhance your sound and not detract from it.
 
Sleestak said:
That is another great point. There isn't a practical way to "un-reverb" an input, so it's smart to avoid adding to that mud. We do play some rooms that are acoustically neutral, and have very little natural reverb. In those cases I figure the FOH engineer has a better vantage point for adding reverb / ambience to the entire mix if they want to. I definitely don't want to give them a wet signal they can't work with.
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Agreed... but I still use it. Modestly (10% or less unless I'm doing it as a special effect).
But OTOH, I can get away with a little more than most being the only guitarist in my band... for now anyways.
 
For the single guitarist in a cover band playing less than 500 seat bars and pubs, I lay it on whenever possible.

I also use the hell out of everything else the Axe-Fx II provides.

I'll tell you this.... when we play after the 1st and/or 2nd band which are dry and usually straight up guitar into combo amp, its like stepping out of an afternoon jam into a real live concert, and that's a quote right from one of the venue owners.

The key is to tweak at the volume you will perform and also in a mix with your band... not by yourself, in a garage or bsmt.

YMMV But seems to be working out for me.
 
On the flip side of the coin, doesn't Bonamassa stage multiple reverbs and delays in his lead sound? Perhaps there's a difference between natural room reverb and reverb for color and depth on the decay of notes in lead playing.

But reverb in dirty rhythm playing I'm not a fan of...
 
Looking for a suggestion...live, I prefer sending the FOH a signal without verb (unless it's a spring for specific effect from time to time)...however for my in ears I find that a stereo "medium room" reverb makes a big difference to me as it makes it sound more "natural" in my ears...

Not sure if sending that medium room verb to FOH will make a difference at all for the audience, since it's so subtle...but assuming I'd rather not send it to FOH what's the best method to get verb into my ears and not to FOH?

Btw; I monitor in ears via my RME Fireface UC which has zero latency monitoring, but no DSP effects...I could route the signal through Ableton to take advtange of a plugin reverb; though I would be dealing with about 12-15ms latency in that case, which I'd rather avoid...
 
imrecs said:
Looking for a suggestion...live, I prefer sending the FOH a signal without verb (unless it's a spring for specific effect from time to time)...however for my in ears I find that a stereo "medium room" reverb makes a big difference to me as it makes it sound more "natural" in my ears...

Not sure if sending that medium room verb to FOH will make a difference at all for the audience, since it's so subtle...but assuming I'd rather not send it to FOH what's the best method to get verb into my ears and not to FOH?

Btw; I monitor in ears via my RME Fireface UC which has zero latency monitoring, but no DSP effects...I could route the signal through Ableton to take advtange of a plugin reverb; though I would be dealing with about 12-15ms latency in that case, which I'd rather avoid...
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We have a dedicated monitor tech and for IEM he puts reverb on the IEM sends, to make it sound more natural as you say.
Couldn't you run a hardware reverb with the RME for zero latency verb in your IEM ??
You don't have to spring (no pun intended) for a super expensive HW verb, maybe a stompbox verb could do - there are many to choose from, the Digitech Hardwire RV-7 verb is great (Lexicon algos), the Neuaber Wet is superb or even try a TC HOF.
I'd try that if I was in you.
 
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