who plugs straight to the PA?

[xjazzy]

I plug my GT-6 direct to a DI and then to the board.
It works great and I don't have to carry loads of stuff.

[DickensCPA]

I play lead for our Church and the guy before me played an Affinity Tele thru a cheap multi-FX into the PA. IMHO it was like a slap to his Tele's face. It sounded bad, thus he's no longer up there. You know the tone is bad when non-guitar players make faces. You could play one chord the whole service and some people wouldn't notice, but his sound was bad.

I recently took over and one thing I was bound to do is play thru my amp. I play a Fender MIM Tele thru a Peavey Windsor. I know a lot of people here don't care for that amp, but I took the el34 out and replaced it with a yellow jacket and an el84 JJ. Warmed it up, a tad more headroom and I really like the sound. I also run a BOSS CS3 comp and an EH Delay.

More on topic, my amp has an XLR output for recording or plug into a PA. I set up my sound and have everything mapped out and plug into the PA that way. We don't have to mess with miking the amp and it retains the sound of my amp.

A little defense for his multi-FX unit. A LOT of it more than likely had to do with the way he set it up.

Brad

[bradpdx]

Originally Posted by Scott S

I take it those sound pretty good? I've been thinking about making a go of the small amp + mike rig.

- Scott

Scott is talking about the Sennheiser e609. Yeah, they sound good. I picked one up recently (about $110 local) to use instead of my venerable Shure SM57s. The e609 can sit flat on the amp grillcloth and so doesn't need a mic stand. One less thing to haul around!

For the first gig I used it with a Champ, which comes pretty close to being an amp that isn't an amp on stage - more of a glorified tone generator.

Here's what I found in that setting:

- The e609 sounds really full and smooth, with greater presence than the SM57.
- The e609 is very sensitive to position relative to the speaker, especially since it is so close on the grillcloth. It pays to fool around with the exact placement.

I immediately got great feedback from the audience using the e609, and it was a place I play regularly. One listener was really struck and said it was the best sound I have ever had there, that's nice.

I would consider a Champ + e609 to be a good replacement for a direct box

[emu!]

I have plugged my pedal board directly into the PA before. I found the best way to do it is to turn your pedal board output volume (if there is one) WAY down, then turn the PA channel fader up AFAP. Also, if there is a pad on the PA board, make 100% sure it is not clipping.

To me, it sounds like playing thru a SS amp on a very clean setting.

[ThermionicScott]

Thanks Brad! I know that the SM57 is the standard, but I can see how a microphone that just drapes over the speaker would be easier to handle than a microphone stand.

My current project would be (haven't played a gig yet...) live vox/guitar/bass and drum loops from a laptop. This gives us an opportunity to keep the stage volume down, so a miked Champ might do the trick.

- Scott

[Jman21]

Originally Posted by bradpdx

Scott is talking about the Sennheiser e609. Yeah,

I would consider a Champ + e609 to be a good replacement for a direct box

I actually use the e609 on the DRRI if needed and use the champ (or microcube) as muy backup currently.
So far it looks like I'm going to stick with em a little longer unless I check out the jd10.

[Tim Swartz]

I too plug straight into a PA amp at church.... A '69 Marshall 20w PA amp

[ASAT-Sean]

I do. We have a volume issue in our theater, so we have our amps facing us. My Tremolux is too big for the stage plot, so I go into my Yamaha DG Stomp w/speaker emulater. This is the first year we had to do this, so I'm still getting used to it. My feed comes back to me through a 12" monitor. I play only super clean tones (Cowboy Music), so it's not as bad as I thought, but it is one of the reasons I want to build a small kit amp!

[Dacious]

Originally Posted by Tim Swartz

I too plug straight into a PA amp at church.... A '69 Marshall 20w PA amp

No fair - you cheater!

[Robin Nahum]

Originally Posted by Jman21

does anyone go straight to the PA?

Not as a rule, but once at a jazz jam, I had to plug my twin f-hole Thinline straight into the mixer as there were no spare amps. This guitar is fitted with Fralin Steel Pole Tele pups.

It sounded surprisingly good but I've never been tempted to repeat the exercise.

[ASAT-Sean]

Originally Posted by strat a various

There was a casino in Laughlin, Nevada that had this stupid policy ... NO AMPS OF ANY KIND ON THE STAGE! ...NONE! That gig blew bigtime.

There's also a casino in Mesquite NV to the north that doesn't allow amps. The loser's lounge in Laughlin did and the Western Ballroom at the Riverside did. Used to crank it up in there! Did the Western Ballroom 7-1:30 Then 2 to 6 in the Lounge. Long gig.

[strat a various]

For a while there back in '80, or '81, the Imperial Palace, on the Strip, wouldn't allow amps- first gig I had on the Strip, but it was Urban Cowboy country music and I pulled it off OK with the bridge pickup on my Strat and lots of Jack Daniels.
Sean, wow, that was a long gig. You have me beat, I thought 8 sets at the Maxim was a record. (6 nights/wk.)

[ASAT-Sean]

I was sitting in for a buddy on fri-sat nights in Loser's Lounge after playing the Ballroom mon-sat. He got sick thursday night right after his gig and had to head home early. Good thing I was playing the Ballroom at the time or they would have lost the gig.

[ce24]

I just drape my sm57 over my 5e3 and that works great...no mic stand.

Cheers
ce24

[Big Lug]

I've been able to get an acoustic to sound decent plugged straight into a PA, but a tele, well, it just sounded like...



Just my opinion. Maybe it was something I ate beforehand though.

[GoldieLocks]

I think I'm going to get some White tape and put P.A. on the grill cloth of my amp.

"Its not an amplifier, Its a very small Public address system with one input. Would it be okay if I mic it?" It would probably work. Most soundmen I meet are idiots.

[tjalla]

I've recently been trying to go direct to PA (for church work), and surprisingly I'm quite happy with my pedalboard (wah>tuner>trem>OD>vol>delay) into a SIB Fatdrive valve pre/EQ into the aforementioned red behringer DIs with 4x12 cab simulator. I wouldn't use the DI without the valve pre, or vice versa, but together they do just as well as micing my 40 watters running on 2- which is about as loud as I can go anyway- and relying on monitors.

Whichever way you go, the cab simulation is the essential component, taking out the sterile hi-fi nature of going direct to board.

Tech21 are bringing out a whole new bunch of 'character' series pedals, with built in sansamp emulation, I'm curious to hear a couple of those, esp the Blonde Fender/Vox models.

[tiktok]

Jerry Donahue swears by his Sessionman JD-10, hasn't used an amp in many years.

[Smokin' Joe Picante]

If you absolutely HAVE to DI for the P.A., but can have an amp on stage as a quiet personal monitor, try the Hughes and Kettner Red Box. Goes between the amp and speaker (for a combo or head / cab) and has a speaker simulator and an XLR tap to feed a console directly. Add some reverb, and voila! If the sound tech's ears aren't painted on, you can get some VERY usable tones. I keep one in my gig bag praying I never have to use it. But if you must, it's WORLDS better than just plugging into a console or using a POD or similar device for what I need. It can work good on REALLY loud stages too, if the tech can't deal with the bleed from live mics on the amps.

[Jman21]

Originally Posted by GuitarJonz

Grab that MicroCube, come out the line out on the back into a PA channel. Set it to Blackpanel, tone on 2 o'clock, gain on 3 o'clock, and volume on 9-10 o'clock, add some reverb. Good Fender tone IMO. I use at home all the time, and this sounded good on the small gigs I've done.

I did just that yesterday. We were playing on the beach and wanted to keep gear to a minimum. I gotta say it wasn't half bad AND the drummer could hear me thru the monitors. Good to know it's servicable in a pinch.