Whats the difference between these three live set-ups?

iceyflame

New member
whats the difference between:

1. micing a guitar amp and then plugging the mic into a PA system,

2. plugging the amp into a PA system from a line out socket?

and 3. just plugging the guitar straight into the pa?

(PS I just chose guitar as an example)

can you tell me the differences AND the advantages/disadvantages of each?

thanks alot guys!

chris
 
If you're playing live, never plug the guitar directly into the PA. It'll sound awful and it's just downright wrong....Plugging into the PA via some sort of output on the amp is gonna sound just about as good I think. Pretty much, the best way is to mic your amp, that's where an awful lot of your tone comes from anyway. I've run into a few situations where guitar players preferred to give me their line 6 output or whatever and that's fine I guess if they've got their tone in that box alone.
 
Cant improve on peopleperson's answer. He is right! Experiment to convince yourself if you must.........or save time and take his word for it! Mic'ing it is the best....
 
It's all to do with impedance. A guitar's output has a high impedance, and the line input on a PA has a low impedance, which means the guitar will sound like crap. A line-level output from an amp would be ok, or from a DI box.

however, i've found guitars generally sound better being mic'd, as long as the amp sounds good. experiment with the mic placement - the middle of the speaker is going to give a harsher sound, and the edge is going to give a softer sound.

the whole impedance thing is a bit complexe, but if you think of the analogy of water in a pipe its a bit simpler: the guitar's got a small pipe full of water, whereas the input of the PA as a very fat pipe. the same amount of water is still there, its just not as full.

For impedence matching, remember the following:

High-to-low won't go
Low-to-high will fly

:)

MD
 
MessianicDreams said:
It's all to do with impedance. A guitar's output has a high impedance, and the line input on a PA has a low impedance, which means the guitar will sound like crap. A line-level output from an amp would be ok, or from a DI box.

however, i've found guitars generally sound better being mic'd, as long as the amp sounds good. experiment with the mic placement - the middle of the speaker is going to give a harsher sound, and the edge is going to give a softer sound.

the whole impedance thing is a bit complexe, but if you think of the analogy of water in a pipe its a bit simpler: the guitar's got a small pipe full of water, whereas the input of the PA as a very fat pipe. the same amount of water is still there, its just not as full.

For impedence matching, remember the following:

High-to-low won't go
Low-to-high will fly


:)

MD

genius, dude, genius
 
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