Have you ever had a fellow band member that messed with your knobs?

[kulgion]

Suppose you are in a band in a rehearsal and the drummer walks up to you and says "we have to do something about your sound." Whereupon he begins to mess with the knobs on your amp.

Has a line been crossed?
Have you had a similar experience?

Also, what is your reaction if, after you set your guitar down, someone grabs it and starts playing away...without asking.

 

[superbadj]

I'd grab a drum key and start "tuning" the drums in that case.

 

[Si G X]

My hearing is shot, so often the guys will ask me to take some treble off ... which I will. I can't imagine they would ever mess with my knobs, they aren't those kind of people.

I can't imagine anyone picking my guitar up without asking either. They know they don't have to and they know I wouldn't mind, but they would ask just to be polite.

 

[andy__d]

Not with an amp, but I used to play keyboards in a band where the singer would sit at my piano and play when we stopped for a break. I used to play a few covers that needed samples, and my keyboard had a memory card where I could load samples as patches in the keyboard. One practice, I set up a patch that played all 3 minutes of “you can’t touch this” by Mc Hammer (with no release envelope). I came back from the bathroom to find every cable had been ripped out of the back of my piano in a desperate attempt to shut it up… point made…

 

[Chiogtr4x]

I'd be pissed, as that's just not how you handle things- mess with someone's instrument ( which an amp is)
You have a discussion

 

[Spox]

Mark E Smith of The Fall used to do it to the other band members when they played live.

 

[cyclopean]

I had a drummer that wouldn’t actually reach over to adjust anything but would keep trying to micromanage my setup. It ended in a blowout argument eventually.

I think he had some high end hearing loss from singing in bands/not wearing earplugs for a long time and he kept wanting more high end. It wound up with me wearing earplugs (and feeling like i was getting an ice pick in my ears) and the speaker cab elevated to his ear level, pointed at him from a few feet away, and him still complaining that there wasn’t enough treble. It was frustrating for everyone involved.

 

[cyclopean]

Mark E Smith of The Fall used to do it to the other band members when they played live.

Not remotely ok. I’d have quit the band if that happened more than once.

 

[srblue5]

Unacceptable.

I'm open to feedback if something isn't sounding right. I'm open to a conversation as to what is not working and how to go about fixing it. I do routinely ask bandmates if the sound is too loud or muddy. However, if someone takes it upon themselves to fix it for me without even asking, a line has been crossed. I will warn them to not do that ever again and to ask me first in the future if there is an issue. My gear, my rules as to who handles it.

At a soundcheck once in my college years, the father of a bandmate (who was not a musician to my knowledge) came up to my amp and began twiddling controls. I asked him what he was doing and he complained that the sound in the audience was too overdriven and proceeded to play around with my "Reverb" and "Presence" controls. First I politely asked, then I firmly told him to stop (as he continued), after which he began shouting a few racial slurs at me. If only cancel culture existed back then...

Another guitarist in a band I was briefly in would frequently change my amp settings when I wasn't looking because he thought all guitarists should sound exactly like him (and he was an SRV devotee -- a tone I respect but don't necessarily want for myself).

I'm a little less strict than I used to be about others picking up my guitar when I set it down in rehearsal or studio sessions, although asking first is courteous. I do the same with others and their instruments. At gigs, however, I do not tolerate it -- I don't know the person who is playing it, I don't know if they're going to roughhouse with it, break strings or anything, and leave me without a playable instrument for my set, I don't even know if they're going to steal it. An audience member once tried out my guitar in between sets without asking, then left it on the floor (in front of the stage, where a few people nearly tripped or walked on it, instead of near my amp) and left the club. I thought that was quite rude.

 

[Mrbob135]

Never had one play with my knobs...I have had a few push my buttons though...

 

[TheFuzzDog]

An old Boston band had a leader who was notoriously a tyrant. One of their songs started out with a guitar using tremolo, which of course set the tempo for the song. Saw them one night when the guitarist had his trem set too fast. The leader stared at the guitarist for several seconds, then got up from behind his keyboards, walked across the stage, and adjusted the speed. He then went back to his keyboard and counted off the start of the song. All told this took about a minute, but it felt like 10.

 

[tweeet]

I recorded a band once and the lead guitarist's sound was ear piercing thin...treble at 11...no bass....no mids...he was the female singers boyfriend and he wouldn't budge on his 'sound'. I tried to explain that his 'sound' was killing the song but he wouldn't listen. While he and his Gf were out having a smoke....the other band members told me they're feelings on his 'sound' but that they just went with it. When it came to mixing he wanted his guitar to the forefront ...they are the client so I did what was asked. Soon after the session I went to see them play a gig as the singer had expressed an interest in me recording an album for them. Four songs in someone from the audience went to the bass player and whispered to him. Two songs later the bass player went to the guitarist and an argument ensued when the bass player started pointing at the knobs on the guitarists amp and went to alter the settings but was stopped. A week later they returned to my studio minus the guitarist to remix that one track. It turned out that lots of punters had said to the band on what an awful sound the guitarist had and that he spoilt the band. I did start an album with them with a new guitarist but it lasted a few days...the singer was given an ultimatum by her guitarist Bf apparently and chose him over the band .....never to be heard of again !!

 

[Masmus]

It's a little different when you are in a band that does originals and one guitar player writes most of the music and the other does most of the arrangements and producing. Our amps sounded very different so you could tell them apart. We make good music together so we are willing to put up with a lot, but in a cover band hands off my gear.

When I was just starting out in high school some guy I kind of knew just picked up my fairly new Strat and started going crazy with the pick. I still have those marks in my finish 40 years later. I promptly switched from 009's to 011's and anyone that picked it up after that put it right. back down.

 

[brookdalebill]

A friend of mine turned my amp down at a trio gig once, about 5 years ago.
It was mid performance, and no one (else) at the gig (management, staff, audience, or band) made any kind of complaint.
The friend, also a musician, was not on the gig with me.
It really made me angry.
I never mentioned it, nor did I (ever) react.
Because I consider him a friend, I let it go.
Sorta.
I also never forgot.
Committees of one really piss me off!
I would NEVER ever do that to anyone, friend or not.
My personal remedy would be to move.
I’d position myself elsewhere, or as a more drastic measure, I’d leave.
I have greatly limited my contact with said friend.
Thanks for listening.

 

[KeithDavies 100]

Yeah, that's a hard no!

I'm seething about @srblue5 's experience - it was bad enough before the racial slurs came up. Not a violent person but I could make an exception!!

Like others, always happy to hear thoughts on my sound and try and adjust. Important to understand that what we're hearing close to the amp is not what's being heard out front, so that feedback is useful.

I think we can also easily fall into the trap of hearing our guitars in a solo setting and getting a wonderful tone and fail to realise that it then doesn't fit properly in the mix.

I watched a video a while ago on YouTube. It was a guy demonstrating a Brian May guitar. Unusual switching system, so more sound options that you'd get on a Tele or a Strat. He went through them and, predictably, some sounded good and others didn't. One in particular was really weedy - sounded weak, thin. You'd clearly never use it.

Then the guy says "I know this sounds rubbish, but you need to understand it in context", and plays a clip of Bohemian Rhapsody and it's the setting he used on the solo. Fits perfectly.

Sorry - slightly off topic, but it came to mind.

 

[Old Deaf Roadie]

Keep your grubby paws off if my stuff and you won't need to see a proctologist about your floor tom's new home.

 

[CCK1]

That's going WAY over the line. I've had other band mates ask me to change something, usually volume, I usually comply, but sometimes not. Anyone actually twisting the knobs on someone else's amp is not far from fighting words.

 

[teletail]

It’s like sitting on another man’s bike - a good way to get your ass kicked.

 

[thankyouguitar]

I feel like everybody's been there at some point. For me, it has mostly been sound people who have messed with the knobs. I learned the best approach was to let it happen and then re-adjust once we started playing and they were stuck behind the board. Though there was the time in my more aggro younger days where I yelled a particularly well-oiled patron out of the club after they staggered up onto the stage to try and make some adjustments to my amps. These days I don't even use an amp so problem solved!

As for the second question, my response was always something like "May I have my guitar back, please."

 

[Johnnygdub]

Yeah, that's a hard no!

I'm seething about @srblue5 's experience - it was bad enough before the racial slurs came up. Not a violent person but I could make an exception!!

Like others, always happy to hear thoughts on my sound and try and adjust. Important to understand that what we're hearing close to the amp is not what's being heard out front, so that feedback is useful.

I think we can also easily fall into the trap of hearing our guitars in a solo setting and getting a wonderful tone and fail to realise that it then doesn't fit properly in the mix.

I watched a video a while ago on YouTube. It was a guy demonstrating a Brian May guitar. Unusual switching system, so more sound options that you'd get on a Tele or a Strat. He went through them and, predictably, some sounded good and others didn't. One in particular was really weedy - sounded weak, thin. You'd clearly never use it.

Then the guy says "I know this sounds rubbish, but you need to understand it in context", and plays a clip of Bohemian Rhapsody and it's the setting he used on the solo. Fits perfectly.

Sorry - slightly off topic, but it came to mind.

Jaysus. I'm seething too. I have no context nor any idea what race either party are but now I want to fire up my time machine and travel to Alberta just to meet this guy's father and do some dental modification for him using the front of the amp while being careful to do the amp no harm.