who plugs straight to the PA?

[Jman21]

I gig with a DRRI but have had problems in the past so I've been toting my microcube or SF Champ as a backup that i'd mic if needed.

does anyone go straight to the PA? What do you use? Possibly a sansamp GT2or a DI so some sort? I want to hear about it.

Thanks

[woodman]

i tried it with a POD and hated it. the tone was OK, but the feel was awful. guess i'm too set in my ways, gotta have that tube raunch blowing up the back of my shirttail!

[pbenn]

It's possible to go straight into a board and get a clean rhythm sound. You'll usually have enough power. Turn your guitar v and t down so you can control it.

[Scott S]

Maybe if it were one of these...

[octatonic]

For jazz with a big body archtop I might do it, but otherwise definitely not.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by octatonic

For jazz with a big body archtop

yeah, i could see that as an exception ....

[bradpdx]

I have a DI I built years ago that plugs right into the speaker jack of my BFDR. It provides EQ, gain padding and a transformer. It works quite well.

The amp does not notice this tiny load, and so it is entirely used as a "mic substitute" when the internal speaker is in use.

These days I use a Sennheiser e609 mic for my amps. Nice and small, no need for a mic stand. I'm sold!

[ce24]

use to with my boss GT-8 but since I built my 5e3 I don't. I
m now just about to get rid of the GT-8 for performance and just have my thomas organ wah, ibanex 10 series delay and analogman ts9. kinda lookin for a good verb but might just use my Alesis rack for that..any suggestions for a verb pedal would be appreciated.

Cheers
ce24

[Jenix]

I plugged into my pa and it sounded terrible I was using my tle into an fx loop and into the a DI box. I bought a tube preamp to see if that would help but the xlr jack was busted on it so i never got to try it.

[Daddydex]

I have tried it with a VAMP-2. Also hated it.

Dan

[eugenedunn]

When my regular gigging amp blew a fairly new tube, I was in a pickle, but luckily I had a Behringer G100 direct box. It has a so-called "4x12" cabinet simulator circuit.... it sounds decent, but it has no spongy tubey feel to it when playing hard.....

But really, no one in the audience really notices..... I just plug the output of my pedalboard into it and then the output of the DI box into the PA.... pretty convincing to most listeners. It kicks butt with acoustics though!!!

I'd say it is an essential part of an emergency plan if your amp gives out. Much better than bringing a spare amp, as long as you have a decent monitor to hear yourself.

Geno

[woodman]

Originally Posted by bradpdx

Sennheiser e609

my choice too. but eugene's right, an input device of your choice is a good backup plan. the only hitch is the "monitor" part! want vocalists to hate you more? put your guitar full-blast in the monitors!

[Pepi]

Only modeler I liked through the PA is the tonelab. It has that tube feel though a PA

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by woodman

my choice too. but eugene's right, an input device of your choice is a good backup plan. the only hitch is the "monitor" part! want vocalists to hate you more? put your guitar full-blast in the monitors!

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

- Scott

[GuitarJonz]

Originally Posted by Jman21

I gig with a DRRI but have had problems in the past so I've been toting my microcube or SF Champ as a backup that i'd mic if needed.

Does anyone go straight to the PA? What do you use? Possibly a sansamp GT2 or a DI so some sort? I want to hear about it. Thanks

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.

[kp8]

I been doing some gigs where i only play guitar in a couple pieces and in those pieces i usually play clean.. I go into a keyboard amp from my magic stomp. If i am playing a bit more guitar or need dirt. I bring my silverface champ.

Tho, i have also been gigging with a 1/2 watt amp and a external speaka too.

[Wardpike]

As I stated in a previous thread, I also have a 1993 Marshall JMP-1 midiable preamp. I have, on occassion, when absolutely necessary, used that with it's built in speaker emulator output into a DI to go direct into the board and not use an amp. It's not ideal, but it works!

Kindest regards,
Ward

[cantolina]

I can't ever remember DI'ing a guitar in all my years of mixing live.....

[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. I struggled to get a useable sound. The sound man was less than useless, basically a mechanical engineer who knew how to turn on the padlocked mixer and work the volume sliders. Couldn't get a decent monitor mix, we had a keyboard player/singer who couldn't get voice in the monitor, what a fiasco.
Here's the best part, they didn't tell us about their brilliant policy until we got there, so I had no preamps or pods or nuthin'... we we doing smooth jazz, so I had a thin hollowbody Gibson and their cheesy direct box, that's it.
Here's how I got a fairly endurable tone going direct: I talked the dopey sound guy into giving me a really hot guitar-only monitor mix in one monitor cab only. This taxed his ability. I kept my guitar volume knob real low, barely on. Then, when he had the mixer unlocked, but was distracted by the chick singer, I cranked the mids on my channel, also the padding. As soon as he left (halfway through the first song), I stood my monitor up like a regular cab and cranked my guitar volume, so it was like having my own crappy clean solid state amp on the stage. At least I had reverb. Also, the 12" in the monitor (old JBL) broke up a little. That was a tough week.
Worst part, my SF Twin Reverb was sitting in the back of the truck in the parking garage all this time.

[trag-o-caster]

I've done it with various pieces of gear over the years. POD's didn't work, V-Amp didn't cut it, SansAmp GT2? Nope. Awful.

The only thing that worked - and it worked so well that I STILL use it going direct through the PA to this day (only on the small gigs though) is the Morley (or Award) JD-10. It's certainly a matter of personal opinion and taste, but I'm a Fender amp turned up loud kinda guy, and the direct sound of the JD-10 just totally floors me! I record direct with it as well. You have to use it's speaker simulator (which is much better IMO than the digital speaker emulation that the POD and other like devices offer) when going direct. One of the worst guitar tones that you'll ever hear would be the JD-10 direct while forgetting to use the speaker simulation.

It's a total mystery to me why this device didn't become more popular. It's my all time favorite electric guitar-related device bar none!

[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.

[Scott S]

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