How do you hook to PA with your electric?

[raf]

My band used to use a direct boxes between our amps & the PA - Redbox by H&K...the newer ones had speaker emulation, so you didn't lose your cabinet sound. Also made for one less live mic on the stage, which was a plus....simple & effective.

[quackhappy]

Putting a microphone in front of the amplifier speaker works great. You can plug straight in but the sound won't be what you were expecting.

[TelecasterSam]

I used to plug into the PA with an effects processor in between, but I would always lose tone quality. I haven't tried any of the modelling amps thru a PA, but did go with an expensive processor and even a Rockman for awhile. I always found that micing my amp sounded better. It was a quick setup to go direct but if you just get used to using an amp and a mic you will be better off....imo.

[leonard d rock]

i have a little marshall combo that has a line out jack i plan to use. i haven't tried it yet thru the PA. what do you think about lineout jacks to the PA like this?

ldr

[bargoedboy]

i use a peavey edi box which is cheap works great , no batteries needed , and most guitarists could not tell the difference when A/B`d with a SM57 at a demo i did a couple of years ago .

[Robbied_216]

Put your amp off stage...If that means a long cable run, invest in a balancing DI for your lead into your amp...I can't remember who makes the yellow ones we use at our church, but I think its the same company as ToneBones and Hot British...mental blank.....

That way it keeps stage volumes low, but keeps good tone...

[mhollingsworth]

Hi,

This is a fascinating topic and is something I've been trying to solve for a while now. Everyone has a different take on guitar rigs. I don't like to rely on amps for my sound because they're prone to breakage and are too heavy to carry around. I often play places where there are no house electric guitar amps or the stages are too small for amps, so the only choice is to go direct into the PA. I had one spot left on my pedal board and wanted to find a good solution to the "electric guitar direct to PA" problem.

After looking at all of the blogs and tons of DI's, I bought a Moen Buffalo DI. The reasons are:

1. It has balanced speaker emulated XLR out which can be run to the PA

2. It has unbalanced speaker emulated 1/4 out which can also be run to the PA or to a computer sound card

3. It has a 1/4 dry out which is run to your guitar amp (1,2 and 3 can be used simultaneously)

4. It has a signal attenuation level knob which can boost or reduce your incoming signal as needed.

5. It has a volume level knob to control your outgoing volume level

6. It also has a nice EQ which you can further use to adjust your sound. The EQ can be turned on or off via stomp-switch. If the EQ is off, 1,2,3,4,5 are all still active.

I put the Moen Buffalo DI at the very end of my pedal board. In this way I can choose where I want my guitar output(s) to go, all depending on what the venue has or does not have to offer. I also use a BOSS FDR-1 (amp (but not speaker) simulation) before the MOEN to add some vintage flavor to my tone.

I did the following A/B comparision:

A: Moen 1/4 guitar amp out to Roland Cube 60 amp (clean channel).
B: Moen XLR balanced and 1/4 unbalanced out to PA

I found that the tones in this A/B comparision were almost exactly alike and therefore decided to make the Moen a permanent part of my pedal board. It's strength is solving the problems of venues forcing me to play without an amp.

The Moen is quiet and adds little or no noise. If you're running direct into a PA and don't have a guitar amp, you'll still have a nice guitar tone from the PA when using this DI. If you have an amp, then you can use your amp on stage as your monitor and run the XLR from the Moen to the PA. However, the guitar tone coming from PA won't be the same as the tone coming from your amp, but it will still sound like a "guitar speaker" tone.

Hope this helps someone.

[TG]

My Roland Cube 60 and my ZT Lunchbox have good line outs so I just have to run a lead to the desk.

With small tube amps I use one of these. I don't use the clip-on holder, I just put the cable through the amp handle and let the mic hang down.

[mrSlush50]

Originally Posted by mhollingsworth

Hi,

This is a fascinating topic and is something I've been trying to solve for a while now. Everyone has a different take on guitar rigs. I don't like to rely on amps for my sound because they're prone to breakage and are too heavy to carry around. I often play places where there are no house electric guitar amps or the stages are too small for amps, so the only choice is to go direct into the PA. I had one spot left on my pedal board and wanted to find a good solution to the "electric guitar direct to PA" problem.

After looking at all of the blogs and tons of DI's, I bought a Moen Buffalo DI. The reasons are:

1. It has balanced speaker emulated XLR out which can be run to the PA

2. It has unbalanced speaker emulated 1/4 out which can also be run to the PA or to a computer sound card

3. It has a 1/4 dry out which is run to your guitar amp (1,2 and 3 can be used simultaneously)

4. It has a signal attenuation level knob which can boost or reduce your incoming signal as needed.

5. It has a volume level knob to control your outgoing volume level

6. It also has a nice EQ which you can further use to adjust your sound. The EQ can be turned on or off via stomp-switch. If the EQ is off, 1,2,3,4,5 are all still active.

I put the Moen Buffalo DI at the very end of my pedal board. In this way I can choose where I want my guitar output(s) to go, all depending on what the venue has or does not have to offer. I also use a BOSS FDR-1 (amp (but not speaker) simulation) before the MOEN to add some vintage flavor to my tone.

I did the following A/B comparision:

A: Moen 1/4 guitar amp out to Roland Cube 60 amp (clean channel).
B: Moen XLR balanced and 1/4 unbalanced out to PA

I found that the tones in this A/B comparision were almost exactly alike and therefore decided to make the Moen a permanent part of my pedal board. It's strength is solving the problems of venues forcing me to play without an amp.

The Moen is quiet and adds little or no noise. If you're running direct into a PA and don't have a guitar amp, you'll still have a nice guitar tone from the PA when using this DI. If you have an amp, then you can use your amp on stage as your monitor and run the XLR from the Moen to the PA. However, the guitar tone coming from PA won't be the same as the tone coming from your amp, but it will still sound like a "guitar speaker" tone.

Hope this helps someone.

I've always said (not here, but I have said it) that if my only choices are direct to the PA via some sort of modeling pedal, or a solid state modeling amp, I'll take direct to the PA every time. It's essentially the same thing, just far more convenient. I'll grant you that the Roland Cube series are some of the best sounding modeling amps (meaning they sound the most like a tube amp) but none the less, I don't think you did the right A/B test.

I'm not at all surprised that you got nearly identical tones from a solid state amp and an amp modeler plugged directly into a PA. Try A/B/C'ing those two tones with a decent quality tube amp and tell me if you think all three sound the same. A and B will be doing their best to sound as much like C as they can, while C will sound like a tube amp because it is a tube amp.

Don't misunderstand, you might still decide to play direct. Many people do, and many of those people sound really great.

[asatattack]

Sennheiser 906 mic at the grill of the speaker, back to a DI box, out to the PA.

[aunchaki]

Acoustic Rig: L.R. Baggs Para Acoustic DI takes my guitars into the PA (it also has an effects loop)

Electric Rig: My VOX AD60VT is on a stand six feet behind me. It's mic'ed with an EV Raven dynamic mic. I try to balance the amp/PA mix so that people can sense that the sound is coming from the amp, but everybody also gets an even volume through the PA (no matter where they sit).

[74 Deluxe]

Hmm, I suppose if you never touch any of the knobs on your processors then you will lose tone going direct to the PA thru it... BUT, I can tweak my Digitech RP 250, to sound bigger and better (to me) than the other guitarist who goes thru his amp mic'ed. But as a bonus I am the sound guy too, our board is next to me and we aren't on a stage but on the side of the church, with the PA spkrs out front, so with just a few steps, I hear what they hear. I also play a variety of guitars both tele's and acoustics (with soundhole pickups)

[epi-tone]

Im suprised noone has mentioned (none that ive read) tube pre amps, decent ones are round $3-400 AUD, they sound awesome. The higher end ones would seriously trick you silly. Haha

Though conventional miking of an amp i still love but when times called for no amps, it has been the best option hands down.

[AJBaker]

Best thing I can recommend is a tech21 character sansamp, which is basically just an analogue preamp. Most of the time I use on of these straight into the board, but even when using an amp I depend on them.

[Nub]

At church, I run my guitar > pedalboard > Tech 21 Blonde > PA

I have the Blonde dialed in to sound just like my '59 Bassman LTD, and it works very well. I had my Blonde modded by Mike Putnam (http://www.putnamguitars.com/mods.htm) for a balanced XLR out... if it didn't have those mods, I'd run the Blonde into a good quality DI box, and then to the PA.

[fuddy]

I play a variety of guitars (Les Paul, Strat, Tele, PRS) into a Digitech RP1000. The RP1000 has XLR out to the mixer/PA, and it also goes out to my Blues Junior tube amp, which I use as my personal guitar monitor. The RP1000 also lets me mix various pedals with it in a stomp loop.

This is a very versatile setup, and I've been using it for over a year and a half, and I'm really happy with the tone through both the PA and the amp. I don't use the presets on the RP--my favorite carefully tweaked settings use the VoxAC30 and Marshall JCM800 models, giving me a variety of clean, crunchy, and lead tones. The RP1000 reacts very tube-like with guitar volume--depending on the amp model, when I turn the guitar volume knob down, it's a nice clean sound, and as I turn it up, it breaks up very subtly and smoothly before going into a full out drive.

[tjalla]

I can play, if necessary, an entire worship set with a Tim, DD7 (or DD20) and Palmer PDI-09. These work real good - not as good as a miced amp but in the 'heat of battle' not inferior as to make me miss the real thing.

But I'll check out the moen for the routing options.

[TelecasterSam]

Use a Rockman X100! Just kidding, but I tried that for awhile along with a Boss Analog Delay. Believe it or not, with some adjustment and our good P.A. it wasn't bad.
Actually, for the past couple years, I have been using an SM57 mic on my Fender SS amp. It's simple, I can hear myself and the sound man can adjust my volume. I'd like to try a POD someday, but this seems to work fine.

[MillerGuitar]

I have a 1966 Bassman that I play through and it gets mic'd up with a 57 every week. Went direct with a POD XT Live for a while. Won't be doing that again any time soon.

[Oakville Dave]

Originally Posted by LK

I just mic my amp. I have a monitor but I also like having my amp there as well, just in case the sound guy turns my monitor down by mistake.

LK

+1