Live woes- two guitar band and cutting through the mix

[rnjscooter]

There's your problem! If your other guitar player is turning up your mix will never be right. Does the other guitar player use IEM? if not he should consider it.

My singer is deaf and plays a single marshall head and one cab so loud it engulfs the stage. Then he cranks his voice in every monitor....Thats what happens when you fly with an 80s hair band lol. I use IEMs but honestly what seems to work best is using earplugs and cranking my 2 marshall cabs up powered by my FM9 and a Marshall head. My singer will never go to IEMs and it's a shame. I still to this day haven't found a solution. If He wont turn down and wont use IEMS then Volume Wars is the only way to go

 

[Jipps0525]

I encounter this all the time with various bands. Having your own monitoring for your guitar rig on stage is essential under these circumstances. You just can't count on the FOH system providing you with sufficient monitoring for your guitar when there are amps on stage.

This. I started playing in a two guitar band. I’m used to playing silent stage with IEMs. Our first gig had at this bar had their own soundman and PA. I go direct with Atomic clr monitor facing toward me and other guitarist had a tube amp with a 2x12 on stage. People in front of the stage or near the front of the stage complained they couldn’t hear me. I guess the jokes on me for expecting the bar’s PA to cover the front of the stage LOL. So I think I gotta start using my Atomic behind me as a cab for stage volume for both the crowd and rest of my band being able to hear me. Although luckily it wasn’t just me. Rest of my band had issues hearing stuff and each other all night.

OP, I love in ears, but you might just need a cab or monitor for stage volume for this one specific issue that revolves around going direct

 

[rushfan]

I feel your pain! I'm playing in 3 bands, 2 of them with another guitar player with amps. In one band, the guitar player can never have his guitar loud enough ...sadly, there isn't a cure for this that I've been able to find.

 

[rog]

My singer is dead

That sounds like a real issue.

 

[Sully0556]

My older brother runs a (small but big for this area) production company and taught me some good sound tricks. If you have a FOH running monitors and the guitars are too loud, turn the vocals down in the monitors. When the GP's bitch he tells them to turn down their amps. He doesn't put up with turds very well.
Not on the same exact subject but for monitors in general: If you can't hear something don't always turn it up, figure out what's dominating and turn that down. If you're always turning stuff up eventually everything will be too loud and you got poop in your ears. Monitors 101 is a class lots of people skip.

 

[Kelleys Heroes]

This. I started playing in a two guitar band. I’m used to playing silent stage with IEMs. Our first gig had at this bar had their own soundman and PA. I go direct with Atomic clr monitor facing toward me and other guitarist had a tube amp with a 2x12 on stage. People in front of the stage or near the front of the stage complained they couldn’t hear me. I guess the jokes on me for expecting the bar’s PA to cover the front of the stage LOL. So I think I gotta start using my Atomic behind me as a cab for stage volume for both the crowd and rest of my band being able to hear me. Although luckily it wasn’t just me. Rest of my band had issues hearing stuff and each other all night.

OP, I love in ears, but you might just need a cab or monitor for stage volume for this one specific issue that revolves around going direct

Yep. My Atomic CLR tends to be in the backline position these days for exactly that reason. I've played in bands that were all direct/IEM but it takes a whole band commitment to got that route.

 

[FPFL]

Mids are your friend.

This is so often a real root problem, understanding EQ as a band and tweaking as necessary to all fit in without anyone disappearing. It's not easy, but it's so important and it can be learned with trial and error. It takes a band that thinks like a band vs a collection of egos. : ) I said it wasn't easy already, right?

IMHO it's that failure so much more often than "digital vs tube" or some other irrelevant gear distraction.