Amps that get lost in the mix....

[Anonymous]

Back in the 80's, yes I'm becoming an old fart....LOL! I used a MesaBoogie Quad Preamp into a Strategy 400 power amp that could be brutally loud if needed, but guys would come up to me after a gig and comment how well my rig sounded and how well it cut in the mix. I promptly showed them how little gain I used and how I would do an upside don "v" for leads and only a lightly scooped "v" for rythms. Even with all the rack effects I used, it still would cut well. The lesson I learned was about staying in my soundscape. I think there are many amps made today that sound awesome and big when played alone, but when in the context of a band, they seem to get lost because they intrude in the soundscape of the other musicians... My .02....

 

[Holy-diver]

Back in the 80's, yes I'm becoming an old fart....LOL! I used a MesaBoogie Quad Preamp into a Strategy 400 power amp that could be brutally loud if needed, but guys would come up to me after a gig and comment how well my rig sounded and how well it cut in the mix. I promptly showed them how little gain I used and how I would do an upside don "v" for leads and only a lightly scooped "v" for rythms. Even with all the rack effects I used, it still would cut well. The lesson I learned was about staying in my soundscape. I think there are many amps made today that sound awesome and big when played alone, but when in the context of a band, they seem to get lost because they intrude in the soundscape of the other musicians... My .02....

That's what is so great about the titan. It sits in the mix so well, it is a thick mids type tone. The rectifier and other stuff with lows like that are just too much unless cut.

 

[petejt]

I've got two questions that I want to throw out there, before I say what I think.

• What's your opinion of a Mesa/Boogie MarkIV when used in a live situation? And also when NOT used with V30s?
• How did Candlemass' guitar tones cut through live, when they used a fairly heavily scooped mid high gain sound on their records, particular in the late 1980s?

 

[irondeth21]

I could NEVER hear myself in the mix with my JSX or my XXX. Guys in the band said they heard me and people in the audience, but I couldn't hear myself at all. I loved both those amps at low volumes for practice though.

 

[spawnofthesith]

• What's your opinion of a Mesa/Boogie MarkIV when used in a live situation? And also when NOT used with V30s?

Don't know about the Mark IV, but my Mark V cuts great (eminence legends for the speakers) for live/band use. Marks seem to be pretty damn mid heavy amps... unless you are scooping the hell out of it it seems like cutting wouldn't be a problem

 

[stephen sawall]

[*]What's your opinion of a Mesa/Boogie MarkIV when used in a live situation? And also when NOT used with V30s?

The IV has a ton of midrange .... maybe more than any other amp. It cuts thru everything easy. The graphic EQ can be set so it well not cut in the mix. The 750 band well cause it not to cut pretty easy if set too low.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

I could NEVER hear myself in the mix with my JSX or my XXX. Guys in the band said they heard me and people in the audience, but I couldn't hear myself at all. I loved both those amps at low volumes for practice though.

Maybe your own ears have something to do with what frequencies you hear. So someone else could be better at picking up upper mids while you could be great at noticing a change in bass tonality.

 

[irondeth21]

I could NEVER hear myself in the mix with my JSX or my XXX. Guys in the band said they heard me and people in the audience, but I couldn't hear myself at all. I loved both those amps at low volumes for practice though.

Maybe your own ears have something to do with what frequencies you hear. So someone else could be better at picking up upper mids while you could be great at noticing a change in bass tonality.

I dunno man, I heard all my marshalls, 5150, laney, even my rectos way better then those two amps.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Crank the mids, and don't run a ton of bass/low end. You're not the bass player! You can't take your super cool scoopy bedroom tone that has all that low end thump and no mids and make it sound right live without having the sound guy put a ton of mids through FOH and cutting your bass.

Also try to run less gain, it does wonders for projection. I always get amazed at guys who use gates live because they have so much gain and volume - the louder your amp is, the less gain you need. An expensive amp with the gain and master cranked usually sounds like an AM radio in between stations.

Pete

This needs to be on a t shirt, really.

 

[Digital Jams]

Any amp can get buried, but few can dominate. It also helps if you aren't an idiot.

As far as the Herbert question, I will know on Thursday.

So how is it Jason?

 

[cujo]

I think if an amp gets lost ....your eq is fked up or its the cabinet!!! I ve played w many amps on many stages learning what works n dont. Herbert is my main amp, I had a cabinet problem with it not cutting, was using basson, now using diezel cabs k100s fl and rear load k100xv30 cuts like a knife.