Amp observation and question

[Ace]

Re: Amp observation and question

I like to practice with my full stage rig. The reason is that when I write music I want it to sound the way it's gonna sound when I play it live. Unfortunately I leave my main rig at the jam room and practice on a small combo here. When I write stuff at home and then take it to practice to play it on my full rig, it doesn't have the same dynamics.

Mostly I've noticed that stuff on the practice amp can sound "slow and boring" but when I play it on the full stage rig it sounds "heavy and crushing".

[jgcable]

Re: Amp observation and question

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great points John. You have to know how to "play" effects just as you have to play the instrument or they'll end up playing you. It doesn't matter how clean your technique is if you sound like ass when you use effects your inexperience will show. They are tools but not a necessity, as with any tool, you have to learn how to use them effectively.

On a side note I never really use delay on a distorted guitar sound. I do like a little reverb but I like it dry as possible. I think it goes back to the 80's when everyone had those Yamaha delays (SPX something or another 90 ??) and everyone and their brother had way too much delay in their live sound, even metal bands were starting to sound top 40 and overly processed [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Yamaha SPX90 We gots one of those...

[Twisteramps]

Re: Amp observation and question

I play rhythm parts pretty dry, but have started using some delay for solos - it makes me slow down a bit and can get more interesting. I HATED using delay before I started tapping the tempo in - playing just a standard '300ms delay' or something like that sounds like muddy crap, while having the delay locked into the song tempo can sound great.

Pete

[Lordofgain]

Re: Amp observation and question

I must be weird or something. I don't follow any set pattern for practice at all. Some nights I don't plug in and sit and watch DVD's while running finger excercises. Some nights I run just through the Vetta. Other nights I will go ahead and play through the Engl Marshall rig. It just depends on whats handy and how tired I am at that moment.
I also play pretty dry. No verb at all. I have an H2O pedal that I will turn on sometimes but more often than not I wont.

[catzodellamarina]

Re: Amp observation and question

I practice on a Line6 and play live on a tube rack. The Line6 hands out instant gratification. It helps to learn songs more quickly and develop confidence. Then when I've got everything nailed, I play it live on the tube rig. I never have a problem with the transition and my reward is it sounds better, bigger, and thicker.

[IrfaanSE801]

Re: Amp observation and question

I honestly stopped playing electric for a good cple of months and just shredded on the acoustic. When I went back to my electric, my technique improved x100 and I actually got more fluent in my playing. When I practice nowadays, I don't really play plugged into an amp. Besides the fact I don't like my Spider II too much, I also play with an insane amount of gain, so it covers what mistakes i make also. I normally practice unplugged. I have a light touch and can hear when I'm fretting a note wrong. I do wish I had a tube amp that would pick up everything, but I think the way I'm workin now is good for me. I don't run effects too much, definatly not when I'm practicing unless it's a piece I'm workin on where I need to get a feel for it which is totally different from my rhythm playing or lead. It's almost like it's own practice.

- Irfaan -

[zeegler]

Re: Amp observation and question

I play pretty much dry all the time. No effects whatsoever, even reverb. I almost think that if I did use a bunch of delay, and other effects, that maybe because it sounded better, or more polished, that I would be more inspired to play, and practice more, therefore improving faster. Maybe. I should give it a try.

[slo100]

Re: Amp observation and question

That is the reason it is so important to have the MS adjusted perfectly for your playing style and metering.
The only way you will know which delay settings will best compliment your style is to use delay when you are practicing at home. George Lynch is actually anal regarding his delay settings. He uses 2 of them set at precise MS. Take Satriani for instance. When he demo'd the new JSX amp he claimed he was plugging the guitar straight in but if you read the fine print and saw the video you could see he was using a processor (G Major?) in the loop with a fairly heavy delay and reverb. Vai does the same thing with the Legacy demo. When you are playing live and loud the natural acoustics from the room can give you enough natural "reverb and delay" to play dry but I ask you... is that really dry?
Why do all these pro players use effects (especially delay and reverb)in their instructional videos? Because it makes them sound better and more importantly, closer to the way they sound on their recorded material. That brings up another interesting point.. Are effects, processors and modelers the easy way out? We used to call anything that made you sound better than you actually were a "crutch".
1st. we snubbed wah pedals saying "they are a crutch"
2nd. we snubbed locking trems saying "they are a crutch"
3rd. we snubbed digital delay because it was so precise and made a solo sound so much better than the echoplex.
and so on and so on.
We were dead wrong and eventually gave in to all of the above.

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This is partly true to me. I have witnessed some players use these things to such extremes it either watered down the playing or was obvisouly being used as a presentation tool when IMHO the fingers and hands should be doing the bulk of the work.

Jake E. Lee used to make fun of Floyds talking about guys who would run out of things to do on the guitar and start whacking off on the bar.

Delay can be used for ambience or fattening up your tone or it can be used as a noisemaker disguising mistakes or being abused.

I play very dry other than reverb through the PA and occasionally some delay.

Pete is right about matching the delay to tempo of the piece of music. This is the magic of playing live with a soundman who knows what he is doing! It is fun playing against a long delay when you are doing a mid-tempo song and playing bluey passages with lots of vibrato, bends, and sustained notes. You can hear the notes coming back at you and can play against them. I get off on that kind of thing!

I played a gig with some guys at this corporate party this past summer and we were in a parking lot basically surrounded by high rises and concrete walls. The natural reverb of the location was absolutely ridiculous. We also had a great sound guy who was doing what we are talking about here...setting the delay with the tempo of the songs. It was incredible.

For practicing I prefer to play acoustic with heavy strings or my 12-string. If it is electric leads I play either with no amp or super low gain settings. Practicing with too much gain or compression spoils me and I get sloppy. Well, sloppier than normal! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Posepatrol]

Re: Amp observation and question

I like recording with my Pod, its easy to tweak during the protools session. You can never get better than a real amp when you are writing or jamming, The Amp is just as important than the guitar, the connection. Its a real bitch to get a good guitar sound if you are recording in a house/Condo/Apt/ whatever.....Whatever helps you create. I like the Pod, because I hate to add EQ in Protools, not for processing reasons, but you never end with it....Sometimes I will do a line out to a combo, Record the Pod, but play to the amp to get the feel and feedback.