Ever suddenly hate your setup?

[adamkavanagh]

I'm at my gig right now, just played set 2 and I hated my guitar tone

Something is wonky with my cables or amp settings or something. Its a Wednesday night gig at a bar that we are the house band and we just set up and wing it every Wednesday night.

We have our levels written down so its always pretty routine, don't get me wrong, we linecheck but its real quick.

I'm just not having a good night and since I also sing lead, it's affecting my whole performance.

Anyone else out there feel my pain?

[TheGoodTexan]

I once played an entire opening song for the night... freaking out the entire time because I sounded so horrible... only to finally realize that my wah pedal was on and I didn't know it. It was in the toe-down position.

[Spaceboy]

I think everybody has bad tone days from time to time. I have a backup amplifier so that if I'm tired of the main amp, I can play the backup for awhile. I switch back to the main amp when I get bored or tired again, and it sounds fresh again.

[DrumBob]

The only time I noticed this was on the rare occasion when the acoustics in the room were really bad. It wasn't the gear.

On the contrary, I'm quite happy with my sound. The only thing I'm a little weird about is that my Rick 12 string isn't as clean as I would like, plugged into my Sommatone amp, which is naturally a bit dirty anyway. The Rick sounds really good through my Hot Rod Deluxe, but I'm not dragging two amps to a gig.

[Mid Life Crisis]

If your tone isn't sounding good, it's clearly your fingers that are the problem. <insert sarcasm icon here>

[adamkavanagh]

thanks guys. Yeah, you're probably right, it was dead-er than usual tonight so the room was most likely too ambient and muddy. It seems to me that I like bodies on the dance floor to suck up the harsh frequencies.

I think it's a good opportunity to rework my gear and make sure my signal is good. I know at least my TU-2 had a scratchy input jack tonight. Not the cause of my lack of mojo but still...

Hm... I did change the pickup height on my guitar yesterday...

[Breen]

Had that last week, me volume kept running away from me. So I compensated by turning the amp up, so the volume was suitable, but suddenly the volume came back and I had to jump on my volume knob. All night.

Best is when the solo starts, and the guitar volume totally drops to a whisper. I danced for the audience instead of playing Cissy Strut.

On top of that I didnt sound great tonal-ly. Kept going on my knees between songs jiggling cables.

Then at the end of the night, I realize one of the cables wasn't all the way in after the wah. Oh well. The full house throughout the night was appreciative so am not too hard on myself nor my gear.

Happens. Just smile and have fun.

[dblues]

Make sure to get 6-8 hours of sleep, eat sensibly and drink lots of water and alcohol in moderation. Everything will sound better.


Seriously, I think my ears get tired of the same ol' same ol and I just need to change things up alittle. Are all the knobs turned as far as they'll go?

[kelnet]

Originally Posted by adamkavanagh

Hm... I did change the pickup height on my guitar yesterday...

This could make a big difference, depending on how much you adjusted them.

Tone is in the screwdriver??

[fuzzbender]

Originally Posted by kelnet

This could make a big difference, depending on how much you adjusted them.

Tone is in the screwdriver??

That's a separate thread

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by adamkavanagh

Hm... I did change the pickup height on my guitar yesterday...

Ding ding ding! There's your most probable answer!

That's akin to saying, "I set the EQ and gain structure on my amp and pedals in different positions."

I keep a little screw driver in my gig bag, and I'm certainly not afraid to slightly adjust my pickup height during sound check, just to accomidate the volume and acoustics of the room. A lot of folks claim that the speakers in your amp are the most overlooked detail in achieving the sound in your head. That may be true, but pickup height has to be right up there with it.

[fuzzbender]

i suddenly hate a lot of things, then i realize it's just me, so i've learnt to cut out the middleman and just hate me

[DonB52]

Boy oh boy have I!! Sometimes it is just me, other times it is the "hall". Then there are those times where equipment just goes wonky. You just have to grit yer teeth a keep pickin'!!

[fuzzbender]

Originally Posted by DonB52

Boy oh boy have I!! Sometimes it is just me, other times it is the "hall". Then there are those times where equipment just goes wonky. You just have to grit yer teeth a keep pickin'!!

Well said.

The fun is learning a little more by each experience.

progress and develop, never stop

[adamkavanagh]

Originally Posted by Breen

Had that last week,
On top of that I didnt sound great tonal-ly. Kept going on my knees between songs jiggling cables.

Haha yeah I'm known to kick my pedalboard at least once a week.

Yes, changing my pickup height probably didn't help but I also noticed a huge change with my backup guitar - didn't touch those pickups.

No offense, but I love hearing that I'm not the only one with these problems. Keep the stories coming!

[Ed P]

Situations that the op described are alot like the stockmart - if you hit a bump in the road don't go changing everything; ride it out or you'll find yourself in alot more trouble than if you stuck to your guns.

[Slowpoke]

Many years ago after seeing a Waylon Jennings video in which the camera showed his Electro Harmonics Small Stone phaser pedal, I had to go out and buy one because I just loved that sweeping kinda Lesley sound. The first gig I used it on my foldback system gave up the ghost and my guitar (Ovation Balladeer) was on phaser all night because I couldn't hear it thru F O H speakers. At the end of the gig another musician friend of mine commented that it was a great sound but did you have to have that phaser on all night?..

[Starrman44]

Yeah, it happens to me about every three months. Sometimes I just feel like I don't like what I am hearing.

For me it usually has more to do with what I am going through because if I look back, it is usually when I am frustrated. At the time I don't connect it, though, and think it's my setup.

[Justinvs]

Happens to everone sooner or later. Usually with me it's because a battery o cable has failed. I have a lot of pedals that suck tone as they fade and it's always a pain to figure out just which one is causing te trouble.

Last gig I did I forgot my power supply fr my pedals and had to make do with just a Tube Screamer through a Super Reverb. It sunded okay for some stuff, but I spent all night wishing for my usual rig. And anytime I've had to play straight guitar to amp I've always hated the tone, to the point that I won't play a Fender amp wthout an OD pedal at the very least.

I think so much of it comes down to what you're used t hearing, though. Even on nights when we think we sound awful no one else really notices.

[Justinvs]

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

Ding ding ding! There's your most probable answer!

That's akin to saying, "I set the EQ and gain structure on my amp and pedals in different positions."

I keep a little screw driver in my gig bag, and I'm certainly not afraid to slightly adjust my pickup height during sound check, just to accomidate the volume and acoustics of the room. A lot of folks claim that the speakers in your amp are the most overlooked detail in achieving the sound in your head. That may be true, but pickup height has to be right up there with it.

I did the same thing one afternoon before a gig. I wan't happy with the sound on my B and E strings so I messed around with the magnet hieghts, but didn't check it against an amp. Got to the gig that night and discovered I had raised them enough to be out of polarity and had only a fraction of the volume on my two high strings as I did on the heavy ones.

And guess who had forgot to bring a screwdriver.