Last nights gig

[guitvai1]

Last night my band had a gig at a club that had an awesome PA (ear drum shattering) and great sound man. It was my sixth gig with my Axe Fx II and I was a little nervous to see how it and my patches would come across on such a system. I plugged in stereo into their snake and the sound guy says "ok give me some guitar". I plugged in my Musicman Silhouette (just awesome guitars by the way) dialed up my Journey patch (based on Friedman HBE), hit two quick chords and he says, "you're done, your stuff is sounding good". All in all a 10 sec sound check, love it. The rest of the gig went off great. I can't say enough about the 'awesomeness' of this unit!

 

[Rick]

Same experience here, several years of direct running with my band, and quite a few "house system" concerts over the years with great sound every time. I used to get some weird looks when I'd say "no mic, just give me the cable" but it seems more accepted now. Especially once I tell them I will give them their own level, there will be no wind noise, and no stage rumble... they're on board with all of that.

 

[FractalAudio]

Things are shifting. I remember sound guys just standing there perplexed when I said I'm going direct AT LINE LEVEL. They would still try to hand me a mic for my cabinet. I'd have to go to the board and show them they needed to put the pad on and to put the EQ flat. Now it seems that sound guys are getting more familiar with the requirements of a modeler.

 

[boltrecords]

Things are shifting. I remember sound guys just standing there perplexed when I said I'm going direct AT LINE LEVEL. They would still try to hand me a mic for my cabinet. I'd have to go to the board and show them they needed to put the pad on and to put the EQ flat. Now it seems that sound guys are getting more familiar with the requirements of a modeler.

Why is it necessary for a pad to be on? Just curious.

 

[Patzag]

Why is it necessary for a pad to be on? Just curious.

Because the output level of the Axe FX is LINE, not MIC. A MIC level needs to be amplified by the preamp at the board to LINE level before it goes through processing like EQ or compression and gets routed to Auxs or Sends or the main busses.

Without Pad, the input levels will be too high for most mic press.

 

[steadystate]

Things are shifting. I remember sound guys just standing there perplexed when I said I'm going direct AT LINE LEVEL. They would still try to hand me a mic for my cabinet. I'd have to go to the board and show them they needed to put the pad on and to put the EQ flat. Now it seems that sound guys are getting more familiar with the requirements of a modeler.

When I play gigs here with unfamiliar sound men (corporate work and festivals mostly), the sound guys invariably say, "You go direct? Thank God." It seems the last thing they want to do is mic a cabinet. They'll still screw up the eq though.

 

[UnsungHeroGuitars]

When I play gigs here with unfamiliar sound men (corporate work and festivals mostly), the sound guys invariably say, "You go direct? Thank God."

They're probably relieved that they'll actually have control of the guitar level, rather than try and do a decent FOH job when there's all hell being let loose with the on stage levels!

 

[RickyKeith]

Things are shifting. I remember sound guys just standing there perplexed when I said I'm going direct AT LINE LEVEL. They would still try to hand me a mic for my cabinet. I'd have to go to the board and show them they needed to put the pad on and to put the EQ flat. Now it seems that sound guys are getting more familiar with the requirements of a modeler.

Yep, the times they are a changing. I also played out last night - one of 5 bands , each with 1-2 guitarists. The rigs ranged from a 15-year old wonderkid with a Marshall stack (turned down too low, sounded muddy), a Line 6 played through a wedge, a guy with a ZT lunchbox sitting on a chair with a mic in front of it, a couple of Fendery looking things, to my Axe Fx ii played through a Quilter MicroPro 8". I'm sure I sounded the best...

 

[mikeyen]

Things are shifting. I remember sound guys just standing there perplexed when I said I'm going direct AT LINE LEVEL. They would still try to hand me a mic for my cabinet. I'd have to go to the board and show them they needed to put the pad on and to put the EQ flat. Now it seems that sound guys are getting more familiar with the requirements of a modeler.

Those kinds of experiences are why I still bring amp/cab to live shows with my Axe - if the soundman is familiar with direct signals, I hand them the direct out with cab sim and use the cab for my own monitoring. But if the soundman is hellbent on mic'ing my cab, I pick my battles and let him go nuts while I focus my energy elsewhere.

Mike