Live "Sound"/PA question

[Misanthrope189]

Hey guys,
I've always noticed that during the sound checks, the guy will play the guitar through the amp, you'll hear the tone, and then the sound guy will turn up the house speakers--the PA--and it's almost as if the guitar sound comes alive. It seems like it expands, a little more bass, a little more edge, a more surround sound, and most often I love the PA sound better than the sound out of the cab. Same with the drums and everything else. Why is that? Does the sound guy have that much of an influence on the sound, and if so, why is it not possible to just get that sound out of your amp to begin with? If I had two cabs on two sides of the room would it give me that sense of an enormous sound?

Thanks for any technical help on this,
Cheers,
Nick

[StukaJU87]

The sound guy has the ability to tweek the tone of the guitar through the mixer and eq. Also, most guitar players are using 100 watt or 50 watt heads and one or 2 cabs, while the pa systems run in the thousands of watts, with larger speakers, and crossovers for better dispersion of the sound.

That is the simple explaination. Someone will give you the more complex version, I'm sure.

[jackson1]

Nick, you almost answered the question yourself.

Yes, having the guitar sound come from more speakers/directions will help improve the tone in general because indirect sound is pleasing to the ear. Especially in a live (loud) concert environment.
Also it moves more air and therefore you feel more bass as compressed air waves hits your body = nice.

So yes, if you play live without a good PA, having several cabs placed far apart will help your tone greatly.

Another thing: playing in a large club or place will sound much "bigger" than in your rehearsal room due to longer reflection times, a kind of long reverb generated by the larger room. Small rehearsal rooms sounds like crap when you play loud in them. Why? They are simply too small heh (i'll explain that another time).

(edit: yeah, here we are, Scott )

[Misanthrope189]

Awesome, thanks a lot...that's an even better reason for me to get a second 412 and put it on the other side of the room where I play. That does mean that I'll need another attentuator...*sighs*

Cheers,
Nick

[jackson1]

Your bandmates will NOT thank me

[jackson1]

Don't place two 4x12 diagonally in a room! Like facing each other. Place them on a line facing the same direction. The bass likewise. Explanation will follow another day :-)

[texasfury]

You know what's the one sound that always draws me like a rat following the Pied Piper? Live drums through a PA outside in the distance. There's something about that and the echo that makes me stop in my tracks.

[Misanthrope189]

Yeah, don't worry, I won't place them diagonally facing each other...that seemed like easy knowledge...for some reason.

Cheers,
Nick

[Outlander]

a lot of sound guys are also useing studio quality outboard processing gear such as compression,expansion,exciters and signal finalizers as well as reverb,delay and the EQ that is now built into a lot of systems.