Playing live as a guitarist

If you dont have gear, dont gig. Relying on someone elses gear is just not on, and at some stage is going to cause a major headache!

I go to gigs in smalls venues, dorans, wheelans the boom boom room, the lower deck, ect... alot and when i hear some one using some ropey gear, you really can hear it quite obviously.

This could be because i am a snob when it comes to tone and i pick out everything, and as soon as a guitar starts playing, i key into that souly for about 5 minutes looking for flaws...
But hey, i am one of a large breath!

If you dont have gear, dont gear.
If you have gear and it seems difficult to transport, stop being lazy.

My 2cents anyway.

Pauleeeeeeee wrote: »

In a situation like playin in the likes of Eamon Dorans or the Button Factory would the general consensus be that the crowd won't be able to tell the difference?

No, **** tone is cumulative rather than just being dependent on the weakest component. You'll always sound bad in Dorans because it's a crap venue, but there's still a difference between sounding bad and sounding godawful. Just because the crowd don't know why it sounds like crap, it doesn't mean that they won't realise it sounds like crap.

A Pod is better than some cheap solidstate marshall or whatever, but modelling is still way off really sounding like what it's trying to sound like. If you can get your tone from a Pod, then play with a Pod. If you get your tone through your Vox, then bring your Vox. Compromise is for people who suck. :pac:

There are times when you can't help the about the amp your playing through. The worst amp I'ver ever had to gig through was a 10watt marshall MG. We were playing a competition in sligo and were told that decent amps wóuld be provided. Thats what we got.
As for carrying pedals, maybe a higher end multi effect would be the best bet. You can program in your sound and make a few quick tweaks at the gig to suit the setup you've been provided with.

I've played gigs where the guitarists have been using real crappy amps but seem to be able to get the best outta them, sometime you have to use other bands gear, the only problem with this really is that if its an amp you're unfamiliar with you probably will get a poor tone regardless of how good an amp it is. Knowing what you have to play with is very important....
Incidentally I've no gear at the moment and gig away, reason being my rigs knackered and Im skint!
Altho I do get away with it playing bass!

Eoin Madsen wrote: »

That only happens if you have your priorities all wrong. What's the use of food and a dry place to sleep if you don't have great tone?

Agreed.

Pauleeeeeeee wrote: »

Like I said...hypothetical. It's just not plausable to some bands.

Well then those bands deserve to be playing through MGs . You can get your guitar to the gig, so put a bit more thought into it and you'll find a way to bring your amp too!!.

You say you have a nice vox?.I'm guessing something like an AC30?.Whats the point in having a kickass amp if it sits in your bedroom all day. Lonely. Crying out for someone to fiddle it's knobs in public :pac:.

CianRyan wrote: »

BASS PLAYERS DONT NEED GOOD TONE! >.<

I can think of two bassists that have had good tone to me.

Er did I say that bassists don't need or I don't get good tone? Usually do, pretty much down to a good DI and good sounding bass.

CianRyan wrote: »

Ok well, they do need a nice tone.

Interesting would have been a better word for it i think.

I like fuzzy bass, but not enough people use distortion pedals with bass's's's's's's's.

Ah yeah of course, not using an amp isnt ideal but you get a fairly good sound using a nice DI - which is good when your amp is feiced!

Distorted bass is the biz alright, hopefully getting a new od pedal for myself soon for some fuzzy action!

And the Tiny wont do clean sounds either

Even though I am a snob tone-wise I must admit that some of the modellers I've heard lately are pretty convincing and I think I would struggle picking out the difference on a recording.
Playing live is different though. To me I haven't heard anything sound as good as a quality valve amp through a quality speaker cab.
Granted; sh*te/badly set up valve amp through quality speaker cab = sh*te (tried it), quality valve amp through ****ty speaker cab or lined out via attenuator to PA = sh*te (also tried it). It think a lot of the majic mojo is in how the speaker interacts with the power valves.
The other major factor is how the amp reacts with you, the guitarist. You may think I'm mad but standing infront of a cranked JCM/JMP half stack, AC30, 5150 etc. influences me, my sound and my playing in a positive fashion. I've yet to have an experience like that with a modeller or FX pedal through an average amp. This year I will be setting myself up with an 18 Watt head (a lot lighter than a 100 Watt) and a 2 X 12 instead of the 1960A to make giggin easier on my poor back, but wont be resorting to modellers, yet anyway.
For me; I would beg, steal, borrow, busk, whore, donate semen/organs etc. until I could either get my own gear or rent some decent gear in wherever I was playing.

Pauleeeeeeee wrote: »

See I don't get this. Why would a person use go to the bother of getting an amp that has such great valve overdrive/distortion and then just use an overdrive pedal?

I used to think this way too. But some amps, great though they may be, just dont get enough overdrive, or dont get the right overdrive.

I bought my amp knowing that it wouldn't do anything past moderate crunch, and not without cranking the volume. I'm going to get a transparent overdrive,so that i can get the extra oomph i need for some songs. Something that wont colour my amp's tone. That way, i still have the amp's own light overdrive, it's brilliant cleans and the pedal for when i need it.

Some amps just dont have good overdrive characteristics, but have good cleans. An OD pedal is a great way to compromise without buying an extra amp :eek:.

i think it is

yeah u cant beat ur own gear, but sometimes its jsut hassle and awkward, 9 times outa 10 ill bring my gear but its hassle... but then again worth it wen u get goin