How do you hook to PA with your electric?

[Jenix]

I'm having problems at church with this any tips. I really want to go through an amp. Thanks

[BuckyB]

You can plug your electric guitar straight into a PA that has 1/4" inputs, or through a Direct Box if it doesn't, but it won't sound good. It'd be very dull and lifeless, even if you adjust the PA channel's tone controls. You won't like it. The best way is with an amp modeler, such as a Line6 POD, Behringer V-amp, Digitech RP-series pedal, etc. I'm using the RP-200.

[ChurchPlayer]

Yep. You need an amp modeler or at least some decent effects. In my experience if you need to go direct then the hotter the pickups the better. A straight Tele will sound a bit lifeless, while I've found G&L's with the MFD pickups actually sound half decent. I've run a Tele with just a pedalboard using a compressor with minimal squish just to boost things a bit and then OD and distortion pedals to approximate amp OD (it's funny, but I've found that the cheaper the better with the OD pedals in this situation - the low-end Boss pedals work well). But it sounds a lot better with some type of amp modeler. I'm using a Pod XT Live right now and while you'll never get the feel of having an amp there you'll at least get decent tones. If you can imagine playing with your amp isolated in a room far away and the tone being pumped through the monitor then you're 1/2 way there. You won't move air but you'll get tone that everyone but you will be fooled 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

[giantslayer]

If you want to use your amp, then I guess you could just mic it.

[romo]

Get a Shure sm57 or Audix i5 or some other instrument mic and stick it right up against the grill cloth of your amp. Sure the sound guy will yell at you all through rehearsal to turn down so go ahead and listen then turn back up once the service starts :)

But seriously, If you can mic the amp then do it and forget about modelers. You will be much happier with your tone.

[giantslayer]

Originally Posted by romo

Sure the sound guy will yell at you all through rehearsal to turn down so go ahead and listen then turn back up once the service starts :)

I'm sure this was tongue-in-cheek, but...

I happen to be both a sound dude and a guitarist. Don't turn your amp up after practice. It really sucks when I've got a good mix going during practice, and then, all of a sudden, the guitar or bass player's amp is too loud for the room, even taken all the way out of the house speakers.

[romo]

Originally Posted by giantslayer

I'm sure this was tongue-in-cheek, but...

I happen to be both a sound dude and a guitarist. Don't turn your amp up after practice. It really sucks when I've got a good mix going during practice, and then, all of a sudden, the guitar or bass player's amp is too loud for the room, even taken all the way out of the house speakers.

I was partially kidding. The problem is that most church sound guys don't know what a good mix is. I played at the same church for about 7 years and we had a dozen different sound guys none of which had any experience with running sound or playing in a band or music whatsoever. The mix was horrible, the eq was horrible, the stage sound was horrible. Church sound guys are somewhat notorious for telling the guitarist to turn down but I am not trying to equate low volume to a bad mix (sometimes the guitar IS too loud).

I have since moved on to a place where we (the band) basically set up the mix ourselves and have someone sitting behind the board during the service to mute the mains when we aren't playing. The sound is a lot better this way because opposed to a volunteer running sound who didn't write the music and doesn't play an instrument; we (the musicians) are able to have the room sound the way we actually want it.

[giantslayer]

Yeah. Good sound guys are somewhat rare. I suppose you'll usually see 'em in big churches. Maybe they get paid. Most sound guys you see in churches either A) Don't really know what they're doing, or don't know anything beyond the basics, or B) Don't care or can't tell that it sounds bad.

[PraiseCaster]

I go direct to my pedal board, that goes direct to my amp, then a microphone placed in front of it, goes direct into the PA.

OK, seriously. I have heard from a lot of folks that use em, they are happy with the new PODX3 Live rig. Guitar into it, it into the PA. Thats what Lincoln Brewster uses, and his tone aint shabby at all!

[BigWave]

I use a POD XTL. It works fine. The other guitar players (we have 3 teams) use amps. Lincoln Brewster played at our church a while back. I got a chance to talk with him a bit during setup. He likes thing simple. He had a POD XTL, Boss Blues Driver and a yellow Boss OD. Even the amp guys agreed his tone was quite good.

[giantslayer]

I personally use a Vox Tonelab LE. It delivers some very nice, organic tones. The one downside is that the cab sim is mic'd on-axis and that's not adjustable. So, if you put that signal straight into a device like a Tech 21 Power Engine or Atomic amp and treat it like a regular guitar amp, it'll work great. But when you put it straight to headphones or live, it's really harsh. Point your ear directly at your guitar speaker and you get an idea of what I'm talking about.

The fortunate thing is this can be easiliy fixed with further EQ'ing. As you get a little off axis from a 12" speaker, you mainly lose the highs above 2-3k. So I got a Boss GE-7 EQ pedal and I cut the top two bands by several dB's. If you had it wired up to a mixer, you could center the mids at 5K and cut 3-6dB's. That would also fix it.

You might ask why I don't just use a modeler that has a selectable mic position? Because the Tonelab has an organic tube-like tone and feel to it that can't be added in to another modeler with EQ's.


And one more thing: Lincoln Brewster's tone is really good, especially on his live album.

[scooteraz]

Been using a POD (either a POD 2 or a Floor XL) for a long time. Don't really like it so much, but....sound guys really like it. Have miked amps, but most amps are too loud for our stage situation. I am going to try a Princeton Recording amp over Easter. Use the DI out and the built in attenuator.

For Acoustic, I have used the LR Baggs DI box and a Fishman Aura. both worked fine, but the Aura sounds a bit better over the PA.

For mandolin, only microphones so far.

[Jenix]

I'm really trying hard to mic the amp but the sound guy says its too complicated and I don't understand why.

[telecaster1987]

I play my '85 MIJ Tele through an RP200, and we are fortunate enough to have POD XT Live pedalboards and an Aviom headset monitor system for our band/rhythm section and orchestra. This keeps our sound guys from pulling out their hair, and our pastor from getting nervous! We can adjust the level of everyone on the 16 channel headset mixer, which is really handy.

Brace for worship!

[mcfm2n]

Jenix, I use a Palmer PDI-09 with my DRRI. Guitar, pedal board to amp. Amp speaker is my monitor and from the PDI-09 to the PA. It works very well.
Checked this demo video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTKkY-GmxLQ

I have two of these and love them, they record very well also.

[telemaster03]

For me, the Line 6 XTLive is the only way to go. Into the XTL, then out to the P.A. We use the Aviom system so I always have the mix that I want.

This is the best rig for me sound wise, but also because I can recreate a majority of the sounds that I hear on the recordings.....we do a lot of Desperation Band, Paul Baloche, Brian Doerksen, etc. I can come up with a preset that I like and name it for the song and I can punch effects in and out like distortion or delay.

I's funny because I bought this pedal to use live, but church is about the only place it works for me. When I play out I go back to an amp. I recently obtained a Vox AC15CC to recreate the Vox model in the pedal.

Life imitating art, or the other way around?

[chickenscratch]

try the Roland Cube or Micro Cube amps, they can work as a stand-alone amp, or go directly into a PA.

[Guitfiddler]

Originally Posted by Jenix

I'm really trying hard to mic the amp but the sound guy says its too complicated and I don't understand why.

Too complicated? Does he set up mikes for the vocals, or is that too complicated for him? Its time to get a new sound guy, or send him to some classes.

Just put a mike up to the grill and have him pretend its a singer. You know, turn the little knobby things on the big board thing. He might get it.

[dynocaster]

I have a Line6 Flextone II that I have used in church since 2000. At my previous church, I just plugged into the XLR output and it sounded great, since it has the POD innards. However at my new church, there is a ton of can lights on the stage, and I can't find clean power causing the amp to pick up signal noise when I use the XLR out. I have started mic'ng with a SM57 at monitor level, mixing with normal stage volume (drummer is in a cage, where they need to be) and I let him pick up whatever gain he needs at the board. I've run 3 years like this with good results.