guitar tone for live

  • Thread starter Thread starter NegadivOne
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NegadivOne

NegadivOne

Alchemy slut
my guitarist has a line6 vetta amp and we are having trouble finding a good tone for playing live. we can get awesome sounds at low volume but when we turn up the volume to play with drums it gets way too trebly/crackly. But when we turn down the treble or presence it just gets muddy. We know its not a power issue because its a 500w amp. are there any rules of thumb for good sounding loud distortion guitar?
 
Humm....I use tube amps....I haven't used a solid state amp in a long time. Can't really help you there.

Maybe you should try keep the dials in a nuetral position and then playing and adjusting the tone as everyone is playing. Honestly, you will find that the best tone you can get on your amp PROBABLY won't be the one the blends and sits in the live music the best. It'll take ALOT of experimenting.

Hope this helps some, good luck!
 
Perhaps he just has the wrong amp for his style. It happens.

For one, I wouldn't be fooling with the treble. I'd be turning down the gain and cranking up the midrange.

Are you running the amp through a PA or what?
 
If you run through a decent PA, just turn it down and pump it through the monitors.
 
i had the same amp, same problem

i sold it, and now i'm happy :-)
 
matt rascal said:
i had the same amp, same problem

i sold it, and now i'm happy :-)
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that is probably the best solution. Sell it and find something that you like all of the time.
 
Its your speaker, i had the same troubles, i put a hight wattage speaker in the cab. SORTED! somthink the poweramp are to loud for the spaker when you realy crank them, although mate, id just get a tub amp if i where you. :cool:
 
unfortunatley i think that is just the line 6 world. I sold my flextone and got a pod pro for recording because all line 6 amps sound like shit turned up loud. I had the flex 2, loew volume=awsome turned up loud= shit , original spider 2x12, low volume=sounds great, turned up loud=shit- no bass, tinny sounding shite, spider 2 half stack- worse sound pos turned up loud I ever heard, and I just mean loud enough to play over drums, seems to be a pattern there, got one tube amp turned up loud=music to my ears. I never played the vetta. I did try to mike my flextone and ran it through the p. a. and It did sound alot better controlling the volume through the pa and leaving the amp volume a little lower, but still not great. I did always want to replace the speaker in my flextone but just said fuckit, so I agree a speaker change might help.
 
I wish our guitar player would sell his Line6. I think these amps probably sound really good on the showroom floor and at home in the garage when you're playing by yourself. But mix them with the rest of the band and the tone just doesn't cut it.

All the really good guitarists I've played with (I play bass) use tube amps.
 
EddieRay said:
I wish our guitar player would sell his Line6. I think these amps probably sound really good on the showroom floor and at home in the garage when you're playing by yourself. But mix them with the rest of the band and the tone just doesn't cut it.
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I had the same experience with the Pod. I bought one and putzed around with it in my studio; I got it sounding pretty good. When I took it to a gig and used it sans amp in the PA and monitors, it sucked compared to my bandmate's mic'ed Twin no matter how I set it. Tubes rule.
 
yeah i agree tube amps are the way to go, but my guitarist is pretty attached to the vetta so im not sure if he'll want to sell it. I'll try to talk him in to it. Thanks for all the replies everyone. looks like the only thing to do is change amps...
 
I think you will have that problem with any solid state amp turned up really loud. Sounds like a tube amp is the answer to your problem, they sound best when cranked.
 

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What it consumes and what it puts out your speaker are two different values.

Put that POS on Ebay or Craigslist and get a Rivera and a Sennheiser 421 and mic it through your PA.

You can thank me later. :)
 
c7sus said:
Put that POS on Ebay or Craigslist and get a Rivera and a Sennheiser 421 and mic it through your PA.

You can thank me later. :)
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I would if it were my amp. But my guitarist, uninformed and ignorant as he is, refuses to get a tube amp because he thinks he'll have to replace the tubes all the time. I told him its not worth selling the vetta if hes just gonna get another solid state amp...but he doesnt believe me....
 
NegadivOne said:
I would if it were my amp. But my guitarist, uninformed and ignorant as he is, refuses to get a tube amp because he thinks he'll have to replace the tubes all the time. I told him its not worth selling the vetta if hes just gonna get another solid state amp...but he doesnt believe me....
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So...compromise.

Tell him to get a Vox Valvetronix amp. :D
 
replace the tubes all the time? that's bullshit. What a stupid reason to not want a better tone. Tubes can last for years without needing to be replaced.
 
Dude in my band is playing on vintage 60's tubes, I think. Never been changed, and it still sounds a lot better than my Solid State.
 
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