how do you configure your live rig (mono, wdw, etc)?

[mentoneman]

I am not a pro player and do not gig so normally my rig is at home. I ran across a screaming deal on a Samson power amp and thought it would be fun to try a w/d and a w/d/w setup. The sound is amazing but where I always get hung up with is how to set the vol on the wet side. Do you set the vol when it the wet side is dry and then blend in the effects or do you set it 100% wet and set the volume then... It you set the wet cab at the same volume and then blend the effects in you get to take advantage of having more speakers, fuller sound when the effects are off.. But when I do that I have alot of trouble trying to get the wet effects set right. I also looked into doing this because someone had put a simple loop in my Mojave and to me it changes the tone and gain to a flatter and duller sound. No idea how to get around that with a series loop. I was going to try a Roctron Intellifex but the last two people I tried to buy from backed out of the deal, one after his quit working the other guy just disappeared. Would the Rocktron solve the problem with a series loop?

I should add that one thing I read about and have tried was using a 4 x 12 cab that has a stereo input, all you need then is your amp the one cab and a power amp and you can do w/d very easily for a portable rig. It also sounds very good maybe its the alignment of the speakers right together.

id start with the middle dry cab only. make your tone right, at the volume you want. then id make the effect unit wet output only/100% effect mix/kill dry and slowly bring the wet stereo rig volume up.

lots of players like mixing dry signal in their wet sound too so experiment with that

 

[Michi]

I don't think you could get this sound with a mono setup, could you? On DG clip is that a wet dry setup or just one amp?

Dan's clip is all one amp, one of his mods !

 

[threadkiller]

I'm not sure what to call my live rig. Half ass wet/dry maybe. Signal goes guitar to POD HD500. From there it goes wet direct to the board for mains. A dry signal with out any of the amp modelling goes to my stage amp which is used for monitoring only. Amp is set pretty clean/crunchy. The relatively clean stage tone and lack of delay/reverb etc keeps my playing tight. In the small rooms we play some of this bleeds out front of course and mixes with the wet tone coming out of the mains. My out front tone is great and takes all of the variability of micing a cab out of the equation. How many really have time to experiment with mic placement at a live gig soundcheck? Now I just plug in and it's always the same. all I know is I've never been happier with my live tone.

 

[nevusofota]

Stereo/WDW = you are the only one in the house that benefits

Mono = better sound to everyone else

Also, the easier the load in the better I play because I usually have more time to properly warm up and get in the proper mindset musically.

if you have a soundman who you work with regularly and is a team player the results can be great with wdw or stereo

but i totally agree with your second statement that the sooner you are set up the more you can warm up and rehearse.

My bet is that if you have the best of soundmen mixing a mono set up one night and WDW the next night, I bet 99% of the audience wouldn't know the difference. IMO of course.

 

[mentoneman]

I'm not sure what to call my live rig. Half ass wet/dry maybe. Signal goes guitar to POD HD500. From there it goes wet direct to the board for mains. A dry signal with out any of the amp modelling goes to my stage amp which is used for monitoring only. Amp is set pretty clean/crunchy. The relatively clean stage tone and lack of delay/reverb etc keeps my playing tight. In the small rooms we play some of this bleeds out front of course and mixes with the wet tone coming out of the mains. My out front tone is great and takes all of the variability of micing a cab out of the equation. How many really have time to experiment with mic placement at a live gig soundcheck? Now I just plug in and it's always the same. all I know is I've never been happier with my live tone.

big factor for me is how clearly i can hear myself on stage and how consistent i can make my rig

so you've got no wet signal at all on stage?

 

[mentoneman]

Stereo/WDW = you are the only one in the house that benefits

Mono = better sound to everyone else

Also, the easier the load in the better I play because I usually have more time to properly warm up and get in the proper mindset musically.

if you have a soundman who you work with regularly and is a team player the results can be great with wdw or stereo

but i totally agree with your second statement that the sooner you are set up the more you can warm up and rehearse.

My bet is that if you have the best of soundmen mixing a mono set up one night and WDW the next night, I bet 99% of the audience wouldn't know the difference. IMO of course.

i will say that the best live tones ive heard in my life were larry carlton and mike landau running wdw rigs-carlton at a medium sized venue with his dumble dry/mackie mixer/JBL eon powered wet speaker, sand landau at the potato with either his dumble modded super combo or marshall dsl200 half stack into a bradshaw/lexicon/marshall wet rig into a pair of passive CAE 1x12

radically different players but sonically the clarity and massiveness of the tone running that config cannot be denied.
compared to seeing landau with renegade creation running two newer fender combos and a line 6 dl4 delay-- it was the first time i was totally unimpressed with his sound after seeing him many times over the years.

 

[nevusofota]

Stereo/WDW = you are the only one in the house that benefits

Mono = better sound to everyone else

Also, the easier the load in the better I play because I usually have more time to properly warm up and get in the proper mindset musically.

if you have a soundman who you work with regularly and is a team player the results can be great with wdw or stereo

but i totally agree with your second statement that the sooner you are set up the more you can warm up and rehearse.

My bet is that if you have the best of soundmen mixing a mono set up one night and WDW the next night, I bet 99% of the audience wouldn't know the difference. IMO of course.

i will say that the best live tones ive heard in my life were larry carlton and mike landau running wdw rigs-carlton at a medium sized venue with his dumble dry/mackie mixer/JBL eon powered wet speaker, sand landau at the potato with either his dumble modded super combo or marshall dsl200 half stack into a bradshaw/lexicon/marshall wet rig into a pair of passive CAE 1x12

radically different players but sonically the clarity and massiveness of the tone running that config cannot be denied.
compared to seeing landau with renegade creation running two newer fender combos and a line 6 dl4 delay-- it was the first time i was totally unimpressed with his sound after seeing him many times over the years.

I bet to the trained ear, such as yours, it sounded massive. But, to the regular concert goer, wouldn't matter much.

 

[ChadVanHalen]

I have no money nor play in anything bigger than a cover band that would need more than a mono rig with a pedalboard

 

[threadkiller]

I'm not sure what to call my live rig. Half ass wet/dry maybe. Signal goes guitar to POD HD500. From there it goes wet direct to the board for mains. A dry signal with out any of the amp modelling goes to my stage amp which is used for monitoring only. Amp is set pretty clean/crunchy. The relatively clean stage tone and lack of delay/reverb etc keeps my playing tight. In the small rooms we play some of this bleeds out front of course and mixes with the wet tone coming out of the mains. My out front tone is great and takes all of the variability of micing a cab out of the equation. How many really have time to experiment with mic placement at a live gig soundcheck? Now I just plug in and it's always the same. all I know is I've never been happier with my live tone.

big factor for me is how clearly i can hear myself on stage and how consistent i can make my rig

so you've got no wet signal at all on stage?

That's correct. Any stompbox or front of amp model effects are in my stage amp but everything from the amp models after which includes cab sims, mic sims, reverbs and delays are all to front of house only.

 

[rocknrolla]

I've gone a few different routs.
I mainly play mono with one halfstack as most of us do I suspect. It's easy and offers consistently good sound with or without reinforcement.
I ran an Axe-Fx for a while running left and right direct to the board with IR's and a dry mono feed to a power amp and cab on stage. That sounded massive but relied on the PA and sound guy to work good.

The best guitar sound I've ever heard in a bar/club set up was a buddy of mine who ran a Dual Recto halfstack and a Tremoverb halfstack on opposite ends of the stage with a full board of every pedal you could imagine. He played everything from classic rock to cookie monster metal and that rig delivered.
I sure would hate to lug that around as often as he did though.

When I start playing out again I was going to buy a 2x12 cab and a POD HD500 so I can have the options of full halfstack, 1/4 stack, or modeler straight to the board. I should be able to cover any venue that way.

 

[locoed]

I'd love to try WDW live some day, maybe when I totally understand it.
But for now I run true stereo, 2 heads, 2 cabs, 2 fx processors and a Radial JD7.
Really depends on the venue though.

 

[nzsteve]

I don't play live but what I notice at home and at the practice rooms is that I feel like it gives a 3d feel and also to me feels like it loosens up a stiff amp so I feel I can play better. I am not sure what you hear in with IEM's are those normally just dry signal? I think alot of top pro players go with at least w/d. To me there is something pretty cool in having a slight delay or the tail of a note or chord hanging on for dear life in a w/d system.

The thing about a w/d vs a stereo rig is it can be done with a lightweight and small SS poweramp. After the experimenting I have done, I think 1 ro 2 12in cabs would do just fine with running the dry into a 2 x 12 or a 4 x 12.. The point I am at now is, whats the best type of speaker to use for your wet, the same as what is in your dry cab, or something really efficient, like a EV or a gk100, do you use a dark speaker etc. Do you set your dry up to be gh30 55hz, GB type sound and then use dark speakers etc.. Currently I have two gt75 and two bm75 ld, in my 412, I like a bass heavy cab because I dont play in a band or have a bass player this is what works for me but others have said I need more top end.. I think at home the top end will blow you out of the room where a darker sound has less ear fatique..

feedback welcome

 

[mentoneman]

I'd love to try WDW live some day, maybe when I totally understand it.
But for now I run true stereo, 2 heads, 2 cabs, 2 fx processors and a Radial JD7.
Really depends on the venue though.

wdw was the answer to problems people had with stereo rigs washing/phasing out or not sounding as punchy and as focused as a mono rig for a number of reasons.

adding the middle dry allowed you to keep the "plug straight in" core tone foundation unmolested,

and then add stereo motion and space to that sound with a totally separate and distinct stereo rig preserving clarity.

this avoids having to use the fx loop in your amp, which sometimes detracts from the amp tone period.

additionally, having to send and return one side of your stereo fx in the loop in series, depending on your fx unit, can degrade the original amp sound even further via A/D-D/A or the quality of the fx unit's internal digital mixer used to blend dry to fx level when you need some dry in the mix in a series/loop rig.

 

[mentoneman]

I don't play live but what I notice at home and at the practice rooms is that I feel like it gives a 3d feel and also to me feels like it loosens up a stiff amp so I feel I can play better. I am not sure what you hear in with IEM's are those normally just dry signal? I think alot of top pro players go with at least w/d. To me there is something pretty cool in having a slight delay or the tail of a note or chord hanging on for dear life in a w/d system.

The thing about a w/d vs a stereo rig is it can be done with a lightweight and small SS poweramp. After the experimenting I have done, I think 1 ro 2 12in cabs would do just fine with running the dry into a 2 x 12 or a 4 x 12.. The point I am at now is, whats the best type of speaker to use for your wet, the same as what is in your dry cab, or something really efficient, like a EV or a gk100, do you use a dark speaker etc. Do you set your dry up to be gh30 55hz, GB type sound and then use dark speakers etc.. Currently I have two gt75 and two bm75 ld, in my 412, I like a bass heavy cab because I dont play in a band or have a bass player this is what works for me but others have said I need more top end.. I think at home the top end will blow you out of the room where a darker sound has less ear fatique..

feedback welcome

the nice thing about w/d or wdw is whatever your dry amp lacks in terms of brightness or bass end the wet sound can compensate for to some degree.

my normal dry cab is the bogner 4x12 and it has a greenback, a v30, a gh30 and a scumback m65 or 75 i think...the cab is warm and fluety which goes well with the peacemaker's marshally. grit.

i liked to use EV 1x12s early on for wet cabs. pretty neutral, not too boomy, and smooth top end.

 

[Michi]

I have been thinking of trying wet/dry for some time now, and honestly the only thing holding me back is the size of the venues we gig in (and of course the channels available in our own mixing desk hehe).

We are a two guitar outifit, and I feel that if I was to bring two cabs instead of the one I'm hauling now, the stage would be even more crowded, and the on stage sound wouldn't be that much better. Worse even may be. And as someone already said, 99% of the crowd wouldn't notice the difference.

 

[ChadVanHalen]

I have been thinking of trying wet/dry for some time now, and honestly the only thing holding me back is the size of the venues we gig in (and of course the channels available in our own mixing desk hehe).

We are a two guitar outifit, and I feel that if I was to bring two cabs instead of the one I'm hauling now, the stage would be even more crowded, and the on stage sound wouldn't be that much better. Worse even may be. And as someone already said, 99% of the crowd wouldn't notice the difference.

If I get compliments on how I sound out of my Marshall AVT, there's no way in hell anyone, outside of other guitar players, will notice or care lol

 

[Michi]

If I get compliments on how I sound out of my Marshall AVT, there's no way in hell anyone, outside of other guitar players, will notice or care lol

Hey, don't sell the AVT short but yeah you have a point there.

I think it's got more meaning to ourselves, a psychoacoustic type of thing I guess, how the sound comes out on stage and/or FOH.

 

[nevusofota]

If I get compliments on how I sound out of my Marshall AVT, there's no way in hell anyone, outside of other guitar players, will notice or care lol

Hey, don't sell the AVT short but yeah you have a point there.

I think it's got more meaning to ourselves, a psychoacoustic type of thing I guess, how the sound comes out on stage and/or FOH.

 

[ChadVanHalen]

If I get compliments on how I sound out of my Marshall AVT, there's no way in hell anyone, outside of other guitar players, will notice or care lol

Hey, don't sell the AVT short but yeah you have a point there.

I think it's got more meaning to ourselves, a psychoacoustic type of thing I guess, how the sound comes out on stage and/or FOH.

For $200 or whatever it ain't that bad, but nothing mind blowing that should have people in the bar coming up and telling me how good my guitar sound is... And ya, we should definitely try to make ourselves sound good to us but always remember what you have to set up and take down every night when doing it

 

[mentoneman]

I have been thinking of trying wet/dry for some time now, and honestly the only thing holding me back is the size of the venues we gig in (and of course the channels available in our own mixing desk hehe).

We are a two guitar outifit, and I feel that if I was to bring two cabs instead of the one I'm hauling now, the stage would be even more crowded, and the on stage sound wouldn't be that much better. Worse even may be. And as someone already said, 99% of the crowd wouldn't notice the difference.

if you can borrow a combo with an fx loop,
and if you have a boogie with a slave out or a marshall with a hotplate you can easily try it and see if you like it.

i set up a w/d rig for my friend who had a herbert as the dry, then a marshall with a fx loop for wet.
i brought my replex delay and hotplate

hotplated the herbert, line out of hotplate to replex delay,
replex out to fx loop return of marshall

he was instantly hooked. what was weird was we tried the main input of my mojave coyote instead of marshall as wet amp and it sounded way better, although an fx loop return should be more proper than an amp input in this config.