When changing guitars during a performance.....

dsouza

dsouza

Experienced
Many times during a concert I will have to go back and forth between my Strat and LP.

I want to know how many of you power down your amp or frfr speaker before pulling out the cable in your guitar, connecting another guitar then re-powering it on?

Is this necessary to avoid damage to the equipment?

I find just pulling out a chord from my guitar and insert it into another guitar will create loud disturbing noises that sounds like my equipment is getting damaged. It's most likely just the sound of the effects like reverbs going off etc...

Still what is the correct way to efficiently switch up guitars during a concert without having to go to your amp or FRFR unit or Monitors to turn them off?
 
When using a cable (mostly at home), I use a Neutrik "Silent Plug" cable which automatically disconnects audio when you unplug it. It's a great option if you aren't using wireless.

The tuner trick @Rex uses works great, and is the best way I've found to cut audio on the fly. As an added bonus, you can check tuning on the new guitar quickly before disengaging the tuner and moving on!
 
I have an expression pedal assigned as a volume pedal on each of my presets. I kill the guitar volume between every song, and for every guitar change. I switch guitars a lot during a show.
 
I only switch guitars if I need one in a different tuning. Then I use the tuner approach too. I have banks setup for my different guitars in different tunings where I have already dialed in the needed presets' settings appropriate for each guitar's pickups/tuning.

Hit the tuner, switch guitars and then select the bank for that guitar and tuning. Saves me from having to mess with performance pages or anything else since everything is already set in the appropriate bank(s) for each guitar and tuning. I play guitars with HSH pickup configurations mostly which gives me the range of tones I need in 1 guitar. So no need to go LP to Strat and back. It is easier for me to keep a fewer number of guitars in tune in a live environment. Depending on the temperature/humidity changes in a venue this can minimize hassles tremendously in my experience.

When I was in a cover band I used setlists/songs to achieve the same result since I knew what guitar to grab for a particular song - but that was always only based on the tuning required for that song. No tuning change - same guitar maybe different pickup selector on the guitar.
 
I need to constantly switch from strat to lp for my u2 set list. The set list is designed for optimal placement of the songs not guitars. So every 2-3 songs I’m switching guitars back and forth.

That’s nothing in a single concert the edge may switch up 20+ guitars.

It’s tedious but never gets boring!
 
dsouza said:
I need to constantly switch from strat to lp for my u2 set list. The set list is designed for optimal placement of the songs not guitars. So every 2-3 songs I’m switching guitars back and forth.

That’s nothing in a single concert the edge may switch up 20+ guitars.

It’s tedious but never gets boring!
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I understand if you only have a Strat and an LP. But if you had an HSH guitar why would you need to switch?
 
dsouza said:
I want to know how many of you power down your amp or frfr speaker before pulling out the cable in your guitar, connecting another guitar then re-powering it on?
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Never.

I either pull the plug from the input of the modeler out one notch, or use the tuner, or a silent plug or switch to an empty preset. The first is most likely because of habit but I've done 'em all.

If you're going to power something off it should be the FRFR or power-amp, but reaching the switch on a powered cabinet/FRFR is a pain, especially with a guitar in hand or on a strap.
 
dsouza said:
Is this necessary to avoid damage to the equipment?
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Necessary on a guitar amp? Maybe not necessary, but depending on how loud your amplifier is turned up, it could blow a speaker. Not to mention piss off the sound guy, especially if your instrument is DI'd to FOH, or even the fractal I suppose. Great suggestions on what to do by others already! Have a great one!
 
rcm78 said:
I use a wireless with multiple transmitters. Turn active transmitter off, swap guitars, turn transmitter on for the new guitar. They sync in less then a second.
Click to expand...

Still gotta deal with diferent settings/presets for different guitars though right? Unless yours are homogenous.
 
rcm78 said:
In the middle of a show? Nope, just switch guitars and go...
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I set my presets for different guitars based on pickup output. But I guess it depends on the tone you are going for. If everything is high gain then volume knob probably does the trick. I have some guitars with higher output pickups and some that are a little warmer, some tuned down to C, etc.

So I like to tweak EQ and input gain in order to get the best sound with my presets. That is why I use banks specific to my guitars. Set them once and done.
 
Rex Rox said:
I set my presets for different guitars based on pickup output. But I guess it depends on the tone you are going for. If everything is high gain then volume knob probably does the trick. I have some guitars with higher output pickups and some that are a little warmer, some tuned down to C, etc.

So I like to tweak EQ and input gain in order to get the best sound with my presets. That is why I use banks specific to my guitars. Set them once and done.
Click to expand...
I bring two guitars to a gig. An HSS that can cover an entire show and an HH with coil splits. I play the guitar that fits the style of music. My presets sound good with either guitar and can cover a lot of ground. My band covers Rock, pop, R&B, country, and hip hop in a night. We don’t stop in between songs so there’s little time to make preset changes. If I do switch guitar
s during a set it’s because I broke a string. Otherwise the HH is for set 1 and the HSS is for sets 2 & 3.
 
Rex Rox said:
I understand if you only have a Strat and an LP. But if you had an HSH guitar why would you need to switch?
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Yeah I only have a strat and Gibson lp.

I have decided for small shows like birthday parties, which are held in condo party rooms where volume may be an issue etc. to only bring the strat, my ax8, power surge protector with battery backup, and my active redsound Elis 8 speaker on a music cart, since they will hardly pay me $350 cad and the audience is usually under 50 people.

In a case like that I’ll perform sitting down, only ambient and softer rock songs designed for my fender u2 presets.

Since most of these smaller parties have a lot of conversations going on simultaneously ambient music and slower u2 songs are best. And for $350 CAD I’m only performing for one hour.

For a much bigger show like a convention centre, wedding, or small arena, I’ll bring my strat , Gibson lp, ax8, both redsound Elis 8 speakers, power surge protector with battery backup , and two guitar stands, on a music cart and play up to 3 hrs of ambient and u2 music including soft sounds of the fender Strat and much harder rock sounds of the Gibson lp. I use both my fender and Gibson u2 presets. I also don’t mind switching guitars up to 8 times in one show.

For a performance like the above most likely I’d be standing on a stage and the crowd will be 100-1000+ and I’m performing all kinds of u2 songs with special effects for up to 3 hrs so my pricing may be between $999 CAD to $1850 CAD for a show like that.

Just remember for both scenarios to bring your own water bottle, a large timer clock which proves how long you have played, to eat first, and to know how to play happy birthday! And NEVER leave your equipment unattended to avoid damage or theft. :)

What still gets me is switching guitars 8 times in a long show and replugging in is too tedious and slow. Do you guys recommend I get a wireless transmitter for both my guitars and ax8? I'll need two wireless transmitters and one connected to the AX8. Anyone willing to post links to real good ones that aren't too pricey? The goals is to switch guitars in a second and only turn on/off the transmitter. I hear they use USB. I thought they connect to the AX8 guitar input port and to the guitars input? What is the USB used for then?
 
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