Need help managing high gain/volume in small venues

[Stringtheorist]

Well i haven't played a gig yet, but we play at a practice studio and I have no mic on my cabs and it's as loud as gig levels. I also have usually 1 cab at my back 5-10ft pointed at me, and one at my side maybe like 10-15ft point usually more away at the drummer. I get a little feedback if i sit with my volume pot all the way open and turn towards them, but other then that no squeeling or crazy issues. It sounds like the same old song and dance but less gain is the way to go. I'd really try that boost, if you like your tone more you'll want less gain to make it sound better. Kind of like when you have a crappy burger you end up putting on more things to enhance it and it's a big sloppy mess in your hands, but when that burger is perfect it doesn't need a thing

I don't know how big the venues are where you play, but I would recommend rehearsing in as small an area as possible if you want to prepare for the kind of tiny venues I'm used to playing in. Try setting up with your back just a couple of feet away from your cab and see if you can still manage the volume without feedback. Of course, if you're only going to be playing on proper stages you won't have to worry about this...

 

[JKos]

Stringtheorist,
Have you tried using any of the proven, live-use patches from other Axe-Fx users? If so, do you still have the same problem with those patches?

You should be able to make the Axe-Fx sound killer in your IEMs. If it doesn't then something is amiss. If what you are sending the FOH doesn't sound good in your IEMs, you've got some work to do.

- John

 

[Stringtheorist]

Stringtheorist,
Have you tried using any of the proven, live-use patches from other Axe-Fx users? If so, do you still have the same problem with those patches?

You should be able to make the Axe-Fx sound killer in your IEMs. If it doesn't then something is amiss. If what you are sending the FOH doesn't sound good in your IEMs, you've got some work to do.

- John

Neither in my IEMs nor in Logic. Not terrible, but not anything like the wizard results I hear from other users on this forum. To be fair, the IEMs are only cheapies...I'm obviously not going to spend top dollar on these if there's still work to be done making the basic direct presets sound good on my computer.

I haven't used anyone else's patches live. Are there any you recommend? What would be good heavy crunch patch to try direct to Logic?

 

[rsf1977]

Well i haven't played a gig yet, but we play at a practice studio and I have no mic on my cabs and it's as loud as gig levels. I also have usually 1 cab at my back 5-10ft pointed at me, and one at my side maybe like 10-15ft point usually more away at the drummer. I get a little feedback if i sit with my volume pot all the way open and turn towards them, but other then that no squeeling or crazy issues. It sounds like the same old song and dance but less gain is the way to go. I'd really try that boost, if you like your tone more you'll want less gain to make it sound better. Kind of like when you have a crappy burger you end up putting on more things to enhance it and it's a big sloppy mess in your hands, but when that burger is perfect it doesn't need a thing

I don't know how big the venues are where you play, but I would recommend rehearsing in as small an area as possible if you want to prepare for the kind of tiny venues I'm used to playing in. Try setting up with your back just a couple of feet away from your cab and see if you can still manage the volume without feedback. Of course, if you're only going to be playing on proper stages you won't have to worry about this...

Well I'll tell you after my first gig in a couple weeks with the axe setup, but my small venues are all we will probably ever play so I'll have plenty of chances to find out lol.

 

[rsf1977]

so just had my first gig and it was a small bar with no cab mics. I had to turn up loud with one of my 2 4x12s about 5 feet behind me and I didn't have much of a problem with feedback. Just thought I'd let you know.

 

[dpeterson]

the IEMs are only cheapies...I'm obviously not going to spend top dollar on these if there's still work to be done making the basic direct presets sound good on my computer.

this can be a huge problem for getting good tones through the iems. I started out with a shure psm200 system which had e2c's (single driver)... used for a while, used while i cut the grass, gigs, ipod, etc.. very familiar with them. I broke down and got some triple driver custom molds (fidelity custom) and WOW what a difference. The e2c's sound scooped compared to the customs. the customs are very flat and neutral as well. I keep the e2c's as a backup if my triples fail.

I struggled back and from frfr and cabs, i'm now 100% IEM 0 stage volume. I'm tweaking my patches with my iems to get the best possible sound through them. I find if i tweak through cabs, the iems are bass heavy, and buzzy. I kept getting a buzzy high end sound and was getting discouraged, up until i employed the Filter after my cab with the high low pass setting. I take out the lows where they are woofy, and i roll off the highs where the buzz goes away, and then i up the q a bit right there so it peaks there to put back some of the high end. I'm now getting tones i'm really happy with.

the whole band will be 0 stage volume and the first gig is on April 9th, so this should be fun. we are using our own monitoring system with a split snake, so we have 100% control over our mixes.