3 practice amps to gig with?

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tminusmat

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ok so this is probably a stupid question but what the heck.

I have a gig and I know I want to upgrade my amps eventually but right now I have no cash. This is a 500-700 seat theatre. they have a good sound system. My question is should I chain 3 practice amps to get the punch I need for the show?

I am sure they will mic my amps but I have a 15 watt solid state Fender, a 15watt Spyder 3, and a Fender champ 25 watt. I am using a RP90 for my effects and modeling. Normally I practice with just the champ. Since the RP 90 can do stereo I can chain two and get an interesting sound. Then add in the 3rd amp.

Will that actually add up to 55 watts of sound? Still not enough solid state power but I will not have money for an amp until May and the gig is April 9th:)

Is this a good idea or just have them mic the champ? Or any suggestions other then sell the amps since even with them sold I am still 400 off for the amp I am going to buy:)

Thanks!!
 
That would take him farther from his goal of buying a better amp. If he's happy with his practice sound, he'll be happy with his on-stage sound. Never re-invent your sound for one appearance. Backlining is for guys who don't wanna haul ANYTHING.
 
Pick the one that gets the tone you like (or the closest to it of the three), and mic it. Get the punch you need from the monitors.
 
since the venue you will be playing has a good sound system carry only one amp (preferably the champ) and mic it no need for any thing else.
 
I'm thinking this "small amp is ok" thing should hinge on the size of the stage, and what type of band it is. A 500 to 700 seat gig is not a tiny club. Stage volume could be a concern, depending on these points. There is simply not enough information to form solid advice on. Depending on what other instruments it's competing with, 25 watts is not going to sound anywhere near as loud on an open stage in a big club, as it does in a small closed in garage, or basement. I wouldn't bank on having your guitar in the monitors, either. When you play out, the only thing in your control is your ability to make sure you can hear your amp on stage. Can't count on a soundman for that.

If you're playing in a band that's doing Carpenter's covers, then you are probably ok. If you are playing in a metal band, with a drummer that hits the drums like an angry gorilla, you might end up with a problem when it's too late to do anything about it.

When I played small clubs with a max of 400 or less, I got away with a Peavey 30 watt combo. When I started playing clubs that held upward of 800, the stage got bigger, and the stage volume became a problem. Was time to move up to 50 watts with more speakers to move more air (more volume).
 
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Toker41 said:
I'm thinking this "small amp is ok" thing should hinge on the size of the stage, and what type of band it is. A 500 to 700 seat gig is not a tiny club. Stage volume could be a concern, depending on these points. There is simply not enough information to form solid advice on.
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Run the amp through the monitors for stage volume.
 
As I stated, relying on the sound man to put the guitars through the stage monitors is risky. More often than not, I had no guitars through any stage monitors when I played smaller clubs before we had our own sound tech. They were mostly vocals only.
 
Toker41 said:
When I played small clubs with a max of 400 or less, I got away with a Peavey 30 watt combo.
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Don't mean to hijack the topic, but I got a quick question. My band is doing our first gig in June in a place that we're expecting to get around 150-200 to show up. (Playing with a band that consistently gets around 100-150, we're expecting around 50 for us.) Our guitarists have Line 6 Spider IIIs or whatever, 15 watts. I've got a 20watt Behringer Bass Amp, and we've got a 15Watt fender amp on the keyboardist. Do you guys think this will be loud enough? We aren't metal; our drummer isn't super loud, but he is definitely on the louder side. Should I talk to the venue about micing the amps?
 
eternalpayn said:
Don't mean to hijack the topic, but I got a quick question. My band is doing our first gig in June in a place that we're expecting to get around 150-200 to show up. (Playing with a band that consistently gets around 100-150, we're expecting around 50 for us.) Our guitarists have Line 6 Spider IIIs or whatever, 15 watts. I've got a 20watt Behringer Bass Amp, and we've got a 15Watt fender amp on the keyboardist. Do you guys think this will be loud enough? We aren't metal; our drummer isn't super loud, but he is definitely on the louder side. Should I talk to the venue about micing the amps?
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you will most definately need to go through the PA system if you plan on being loud enough and that includes miking the drums as well
either that or go DI into the Mixing console.
the venue you are playing does have a house Pa right?
 
Roguetitan said:
you will most definately need to go through the PA system if you plan on being loud enough and that includes miking the drums as well
either that or go DI into the Mixing console.
the venue you are playing does have a house Pa right?
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They can mic amps for us, but I've been there a couple times and it's small enough that drums are always audible unmiced. The bands that play there usually get around 50 people max, but the band we're playing with always packs the place like sardines; they put on a great stage show.
 
eternalpayn said:
They can mic amps for us, but I've been there a couple times and it's small enough that drums are always audible unmiced. The bands that play there usually get around 50 people max, but the band we're playing with always packs the place like sardines; they put on a great stage show.
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you will be fine with what you have
 
20 watts for a bass amp in a place that holds 150 people is mighty low. Do they run the whole mix through the monitors?
 
Toker41 said:
As I stated, relying on the sound man to put the guitars through the stage monitors is risky. More often than not, I had no guitars through any stage monitors when I played smaller clubs before we had our own sound tech. They were mostly vocals only.
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Give the sound engineer more respect. I regulary engineer gigs where the band bring along a 120W guitar amp and and a 200W bass stack in a 100 person venue, then proceed to use them at 9.5 volume. I ask them to turn it down and bit, so they go to 9. You really must trust that the monitor and FOH engineers know what they are doing. They are not there to be battled, but to be worked with.

Its an absolute god send when a bad turn up with tiny guitar amps. Makes engineering the whole gig so much easier.
 
Plug directly into the board & forget about tone - just play loud & annoy everyone.
OR
Mic the nicest sounding amp, be nice to the foldback & FOH engineers and HOPE.
 
Not too many live sound men in this thread, it appears...

Forget stereo. 99% of all shows are mono to the house.

Forget about power. Go thru the board and trust the soundman. His job is to make you sound your best- that's how they (we) build our reputation and get gigs. As mentioned above, bands give soundmen about ten times more grief than soundmen give bands.

What to do:
1. ASK the soundman to either tap off one of the outputs from your RP80, and you tap off the other to your amp. Do NOT use any stereo effects, use mono versions. Use the amp that LOOKS the most impressive- tube tone does not count for SQUAT, live- NO ONE will hear all the sweetness that tubes give you, nor care. Modern SS amps have all the sweetness that will get thru. Your amp will serve as your personal monitor, that you can turn up or down as you wish- for all others hearing you (band mates, audience) the SM will handle that.

2. The SM may not want to tap off your RP-80- some are touchy about that. You can hardly blame them- they are responsible for the health of the house system, and they don't know for sure that your "line" out is REALLY sending a signal at the right level- and probably all SM can tell you horror stories of some yahoo guitarist deciding, mid-show, that they want to be REALLY heard, so they unplug the cable from line-out and plug it into... SPEAKER out. Instant blown mixing boards or more. Thus, he many say, "I'm gonna mic your amp." End of story.

One more thing:

TRUST THE SOUNDMAN. (Okay, so it IS a repeat. It bares repeating.)
 
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