Who's playing "dry" ???

[speed monkey]

I've spent the better part of the last year running my Bogner Ecstacy 101b and my Splawn modded Marshall bone dry - no reverb, no effects -just guitar/cord/amp...It really started after I sold my Shiva and no longer had on-board reverb, and really haven't used the effects loops in either head..

It really leaves the tone wide open and is pretty exposing as far as your playing goes - and you know what? I like it! I think it's really made me pay more attention to whats coming out of the cab than the way the effects are working with what I'm doing - ultimately forcing me to play cleaner.

Anybody else running like this?

Steve E

[maddog]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

I always play like that when Im practising. In fact, I often often play with a clean sound. But I practice with distortion to work on my string muting technique. Theres no point in "lying" to yourself with reverb and delay to cover up bad technique!

[Mordor]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

I play straight to the amp too

[diablomozart]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

i use reverb and delay but never when practicing...that's dry...for live i have the verb and delay pulled back to about 23% in the mix...d.m.

[RacerX]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

Me.

[toejam]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

Sometimes. For distorted playing, if I use reverb, it will be very little where you can just barely hear it. For clean playing, I'll sometimes add a little bit more. Now since the reverb tank died in my Mesa, I have to play totally dry. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[jackson1]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

I sold my last effects unit 1½ year ago. Played dry since. It's good. But i have been looking for a used G-major lately. Subtle reverb/delay on some stuff is OK too. But i like a tight in-your-face-crunch sound so i don't miss it much.

[dinkyjacksonman]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

I never use Delay/Reverb especially with distorted sound.

[Hyperfuzz]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

DRY??!! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Playing without a beer nearby just doesn't seem right to me. [img]graemlins/refuse.gif[/img]

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

If I'm playing punk or anything with raw riffing, then I always run dry. For solos and clean stuff I use a little delay and chorus for the cleans maybe. Sometimes I get crazy and use lots of effects for texture. But a lot of the time it's dry.

[Newc]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

I go more for feel than technical accuracy, as I'm not out to impress other guitarists, so "hiding behind effects" as you put it is an incorrect way to think of effects. I've never experienced anyone able to do that - if you're a total slopass it's gonna come through an FX unit as effected slopass. If you're quality it comes through the FX unit as effected quality.

Newc

[speed monkey]

Re: Who\'s playing "dry" ???

Originally posted by Newc:
I go more for feel than technical accuracy, as I'm not out to impress other guitarists, so "hiding behind effects" as you put it is an incorrect way to think of effects.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I didn't put it that way at all - in fact never said anything close to "hiding behind effects"...what I said was that I'm liking a dry sound a whole lot better than a wet one, and yeah, for what it's worth when I do plug into somebody's rig now with a bunch of stuff running in line it sounds and feels to me like overprocessed mush....

Don't get me wrong - I think effects have their time and place....I listened to a couple of early Dokken cd's today and Lynch's sound is effects saturated....actually - when I saw him last month live, he would've been a whole hell of a lot better off had he thrown his whole board out the window and went direct - his effects turned his sound to mushy shit, and they didn't work half the time....but some guys just need that stuff there too.

I go back and forth - often think about investing in a G Major, they are cool, but right now dry is where it's at for me (and I do own some nice stompboxes....)

Steve E

[PallarAndersVisa]

Re: Who\'s playing &quot;dry&quot; ???

i play dry when i jam with my band. with all the noise from the guitars, drums, synth, bass, blah blah, you probably wouldnt notice that i had reverb or delay anyways. Ive been playing with a guitar, 1 cable and my 5150 like that ever since i joined this bayund. simplicity owns

[Newc]

Re: Who\'s playing &quot;dry&quot; ???

Actually, I was referring ot Kit's post - the "lying to yourself" part.

I agree that some people try to use effects to cover their total lack of ability, but most of the people I've seen that were not "clean" players who used effects, their "uncleanliness" came through loud and clear with all the reverb, delay, and chorus they had dialed in.

It does take some skill, also, to acutally configure an effect - most people who try to use them do so with everything on 10, which means it comes out like mush. While a heavily effected tone sounds great 3 feet from the cabinet or in a small studio/practice room, it mushes with distance.
A lot of people see this in other guitarists, laugh about it, then turn around and do the same thing.

Newc

[Black Mariah]

Re: Who\'s playing &quot;dry&quot; ???

I've started adding a LITTLE reverb since I finally have an amp with a reverb that's worth a damn (Peavey Supreme), but I tend to keep it really low. Maybe 2-3. It makes the tone a bit thicker, but it also muds things up so I have to keep it way down. I just need to nut up and dump some money on a VHT. Maybe I can sell a kidney...