Bill Arsenault
Inspired
It would be a tragic day if the sound of being in a room with a M/V modded ‘72 SuperLead thru a full stack loaded with Pulsonics was deemed useless and disappeared from the face of the earth.
I completely realize the OP was just making an observation when he said he had never heard an inspired solo by his favorite guitarist coming directly from the cabs-
Likewise it was not attending a concert, but it was buying my first studio album that changed my life- specifically Diary Of A Madman when it came out.
But I did not fall in love with a guitar until I heard one being played thru an amplifier coming out of an open window in my neighborhood.
Studio recordings made me fall in love with music- but not with playing guitar.
It took the amp in the room sound for that to happen.
Most guitar legends must have came up with their most inspired and mind blowing riffs and licks while in a room with a guitar and amplifier.
The only other option would be to waste studio time by using the control room for extended riff writing sessions.
So clearly an amp in the room has inspired virtually every electric guitar masterpiece or at the very least was utilized to craft them.
Many could not do without that sound at this point due to their comfort zone.
They are still as legitimately essential as ever.
Can you envision Tony Iommi or Angus Young on stage without a Backline of stacks.
Never happen- they would refuse to play.
“The Song Remains The Same” concert album thru Hi-Fi speakers still sounds like real amps being played live even though the signal was processed through a recording console-
(Not necessarily amp in the room sounds but not worlds away from it either)
So the argument that real amps cannot translate their “realness” on any studio recordings anyway so why bother-
is pretty weak.
Although not nearly as sad as the “ My audience doesn’t care or know and cannot tell the difference anyway”.
(No shame whatsoever in using modelers live - they are amazing and are the most efficient rig under many circumstances.
It’s that attitude toward your audience that sucks).
When someone with a modeler eventually creates a live masterpiece from beginning to end like that one I will be very excited and impressed.
But until it does happen it will be my opinion that the visceral experience of the very best live recordings,
those magical 2 hours captured forever in time- need and deserve the very best untamed amplifiers, cabs and effects.
We all know that the first non-master volume Full Stack was designed as a backline for playing live at Wembely Stadium-
They are extremely directional because they were designed to project forward toward the back of the venue and to work efficiently when line-up side by side-
and half of the sound waves will inevitably hit the band in the legs.
But It would be a bad design if they did anything but.
Even throughout the era of the PA right up until today -
Full-stacks are still often enough the serious touring professionals weapon of choice on prominent stages of almost every size.
Venue owners and sound men seem to forget all about the no-stacks rule when every seat sells in advance.
A high quality full stack with broken in 25W speakers and a quality master volume can be played in a living room and sounds glorious at very reasonable volume levels.
Totally feasible/ desirable for on stage monitoring unless your gonna run around like a tool.
In-ears may appear to be a better solution for some until you factor that the consensus is beginning to point to them being somehow even worse on your ears then today’s average stage volume.
There’s no cure for tinnitus-
One good blast of accidental feedback from a careless soundman administered directly into your cochlear via in-ear monitors can be all it takes for a musicians worst nightmare to become a crushing reality.
Consistent stage monitoring thru in-ears will be useless once your career is over because you can no longer tolerate the electric guitar frequencies and volume that will surely just keep making the tinnitus even worse- so now your depressed, suicidal and you just want to die to stop the ringing and end the cruel joke.
And just because your audience will not experience the full sonic benefit of having an
A and B cab stacked- that should not stop you from being inspired by the fullest potential of your rig.
Even if you think the B cab is just flapping your trousers- without it most guitarist will notice the lack of lower frequency content.
Ok then-
everyone who’s idea of a “gig” or a good time is playing music that they don’t even like, with band members they secretly despise in front of people they have nothing in common with, for an amount of $ that does not even truly cover all of your time and expenses-
can now point out that I’m clueless because I don’t play for a paying audience.
A nice change would be “I don’t gig either- but your still clueless”.
Strange how the most successful musicians on this forum are kind, helpful, humble and all class all the time-
but the Fractal Fanatic in a cover copy-cat band will be the first to say “ Nope- no way- never gonna work in the heat of battle”.
God forbid you screw up the intro to Living On A Prayer because your Bon Jovi preset is too complicated for your tiny brain to handle while your busy flaunting your showmanship skills and sex appeal.
Yet David Gilmour was solely responsible for giving all the split-second musical cues to everyone involved in “The Wall” shows while playing guitar and singing at the same time.
But as they like to say around here-
Who cares, the audience doesn’t care and cant tell the difference anyway.
By the way-
Im here because I literally love my FM-3.
It allows me to do things with stereo effects and channel switching that I was never quite able to manage or accomplish any other way and it is
the best thing that has ever happened for making the most of my available playing time.
I completely realize the OP was just making an observation when he said he had never heard an inspired solo by his favorite guitarist coming directly from the cabs-
Likewise it was not attending a concert, but it was buying my first studio album that changed my life- specifically Diary Of A Madman when it came out.
But I did not fall in love with a guitar until I heard one being played thru an amplifier coming out of an open window in my neighborhood.
Studio recordings made me fall in love with music- but not with playing guitar.
It took the amp in the room sound for that to happen.
Most guitar legends must have came up with their most inspired and mind blowing riffs and licks while in a room with a guitar and amplifier.
The only other option would be to waste studio time by using the control room for extended riff writing sessions.
So clearly an amp in the room has inspired virtually every electric guitar masterpiece or at the very least was utilized to craft them.
Many could not do without that sound at this point due to their comfort zone.
They are still as legitimately essential as ever.
Can you envision Tony Iommi or Angus Young on stage without a Backline of stacks.
Never happen- they would refuse to play.
“The Song Remains The Same” concert album thru Hi-Fi speakers still sounds like real amps being played live even though the signal was processed through a recording console-
(Not necessarily amp in the room sounds but not worlds away from it either)
So the argument that real amps cannot translate their “realness” on any studio recordings anyway so why bother-
is pretty weak.
Although not nearly as sad as the “ My audience doesn’t care or know and cannot tell the difference anyway”.
(No shame whatsoever in using modelers live - they are amazing and are the most efficient rig under many circumstances.
It’s that attitude toward your audience that sucks).
When someone with a modeler eventually creates a live masterpiece from beginning to end like that one I will be very excited and impressed.
But until it does happen it will be my opinion that the visceral experience of the very best live recordings,
those magical 2 hours captured forever in time- need and deserve the very best untamed amplifiers, cabs and effects.
We all know that the first non-master volume Full Stack was designed as a backline for playing live at Wembely Stadium-
They are extremely directional because they were designed to project forward toward the back of the venue and to work efficiently when line-up side by side-
and half of the sound waves will inevitably hit the band in the legs.
But It would be a bad design if they did anything but.
Even throughout the era of the PA right up until today -
Full-stacks are still often enough the serious touring professionals weapon of choice on prominent stages of almost every size.
Venue owners and sound men seem to forget all about the no-stacks rule when every seat sells in advance.
A high quality full stack with broken in 25W speakers and a quality master volume can be played in a living room and sounds glorious at very reasonable volume levels.
Totally feasible/ desirable for on stage monitoring unless your gonna run around like a tool.
In-ears may appear to be a better solution for some until you factor that the consensus is beginning to point to them being somehow even worse on your ears then today’s average stage volume.
There’s no cure for tinnitus-
One good blast of accidental feedback from a careless soundman administered directly into your cochlear via in-ear monitors can be all it takes for a musicians worst nightmare to become a crushing reality.
Consistent stage monitoring thru in-ears will be useless once your career is over because you can no longer tolerate the electric guitar frequencies and volume that will surely just keep making the tinnitus even worse- so now your depressed, suicidal and you just want to die to stop the ringing and end the cruel joke.
And just because your audience will not experience the full sonic benefit of having an
A and B cab stacked- that should not stop you from being inspired by the fullest potential of your rig.
Even if you think the B cab is just flapping your trousers- without it most guitarist will notice the lack of lower frequency content.
Ok then-
everyone who’s idea of a “gig” or a good time is playing music that they don’t even like, with band members they secretly despise in front of people they have nothing in common with, for an amount of $ that does not even truly cover all of your time and expenses-
can now point out that I’m clueless because I don’t play for a paying audience.
A nice change would be “I don’t gig either- but your still clueless”.
Strange how the most successful musicians on this forum are kind, helpful, humble and all class all the time-
but the Fractal Fanatic in a cover copy-cat band will be the first to say “ Nope- no way- never gonna work in the heat of battle”.
God forbid you screw up the intro to Living On A Prayer because your Bon Jovi preset is too complicated for your tiny brain to handle while your busy flaunting your showmanship skills and sex appeal.
Yet David Gilmour was solely responsible for giving all the split-second musical cues to everyone involved in “The Wall” shows while playing guitar and singing at the same time.
But as they like to say around here-
Who cares, the audience doesn’t care and cant tell the difference anyway.
By the way-
Im here because I literally love my FM-3.
It allows me to do things with stereo effects and channel switching that I was never quite able to manage or accomplish any other way and it is
the best thing that has ever happened for making the most of my available playing time.
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