Epic fail! Stage volume is the worst form of amplification if you want your show to sound good. That's why they invented PA systems in the first place. Because it sounds better when everything in the mix is in balance. Not when one instrument is insanely loud and out of whack with the rest of the band.
I've never heard of the band Sleep. Because nobody gives a f*** about bands anymore. That ship has sailed, arrived in port on the other side and its crew is busy hitting the red light district. The war is over, rap and dance won. The days of large venues are over. Small venues its going to be for most rock bands from now on. And that means volume limits. Learn to live with it, or learn to never play again in any decent venue. Also realize that venues and sound engineers talk to each other. You don't want to be that asshole band.
I never had any issues with my modeling rig. Cause I know how to talk with sound engineers. And I don't want 412's blasting at my ears. Because tinnitus is not a badge of honor.
It's the engineers and tradesmen who keep the world going and make sure that the artists and socalled smart people can do their thing. Without these people the world would come to a screeching halt. You, as an artist, are
nothing without these people. Respect the sound engineer, just like the people who prepare and serve your food. Because you really don't want to piss them off.
Nothing bores me more as a concert goer then seeing a band perform and have all the musicians stand in their sweet spot all the time. I wanna see people move about. Interact with each other, with the audience. Using in-ears frees me from the shackles of being bound to the sweetspot of my amp or my monitor wedge. I can go anywhere on stage and still have my perfect monitor mix. Go into the audience if I want too and still have my perfect monitor mix. Don't have to worry about the stage volume being so loud as to hardly be able to hear anything and still have my perfect monitor mix. I don't have to worry about getting unwanted feedback from loud amps or wedges. In-ears represent freedom to me, freedom to create an epic show, rather then just a performance.
Joe had the good fortune to become a major act, which allowed him to act out his tone OCD by playing venues that were big enough. Now that the music scene has changed it would appear that either even these big venues are no longer allowing him to act out his tone OCD, or he's forced to play smaller venues. And rather then adapt and come up with a with a solution he prefers to whine.
At least that's how he's coming across.
Isn't there that saying? Hard times create hard men. Hard men create good times. Good times create soft men. Soft men create hard times.
The sound engineer is the first guy on the job and the last to leave. When I worked as a sound engineer we had working days of 14 hours. We had to set up the PA system, and break it down again every time. I still work at festivals and again we are the first to arrive and set things up and the last ones to be still working when everyone else is hitting the beers. We have to deal with shitty bands that are clueless as to how to do a soundcheck, who always seem to have forgotten a critical piece of equipment. Like an extra set of strings, or just a simple guitar cable. The bass player is always out having a smoke when he's supposed to do his soundcheck. Guitarists always want to run their amps at 11 and constantly turn their amps up when they shouldn't. If they arrive on time that is. The last band always leaves their gear on stage for way too long while we have to break down the PA. And all those cables we have to fold up that that meme maker thinks is all we do are dirty as fuck from all the beer that the band and the audience spilled over them. And what do we get as a thank you? We get flipped off and dumb ass memes.
We should just let bands handle their own sound. They seem to think they know better anyway.
Yeah, but the point remains, the sound engineer has to create an overall mix that has all the instruments sound good, not just the guitar. And do so within the constraints of the venue and the health and safety codes. Or not have the cops shut the venue down. I get that as a guitarist you want your sound to sound good. I'm a guitarist as well, I get that. I also get however that you can't always get what you want. And that in the grand scheme of things 99% of the audience isn't paying attention to your guitar tone anyway, they're all focused on the singer. Probably not in the case of JB, but most bands focus on making music together, they don't exist to support a single artist.