Mixing speakers in a 2X12 or 4X12 is ok, but.....

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JB6464

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What are you supposed to do live when the soundman only gives you one mic for the night.
You're not going to get that mixed tone you hear standing in front of it so your screwed.
The FOH will only get half of your real tone mix you're trying to achieve, so what's the point.
What am I missing in this type of setup?
 
I have a mixed 4x12 only cause it's stereo so basically it's like 2 2x12's. Left side is creamback 75 and right is redback. But yeah I totally agree. Just put one speaker in a cab
 
JB6464 said:
What are you supposed to do live when the soundman only gives you one mic for the night.
You're not going to get that mixed tone you hear standing in front of it so your screwed.
The FOH will only get half of your real tone mix you're trying to achieve, so what's the point.
What am I missing in this type of setup?
Click to expand...
Pick one is the simple answer.

If you really, really want the audience to get your hard-fought blend then you have options:
1. Tell the sound guy you need two mics (good luck)
2. Travel with two mics. Rig up something simple that requires no mic stands, i.e. suspend them from the top of your cab dangling down by the leads. Sennheiser E906's are perfect for this. Get a Y-cable that combines both signals and tell the dude you don't need a mic at all, just the one line.
3. Make an I.R of your cab that you like, then use a box that can send that feed to FOH and the cab is more for you. For small gigs this gives you the option to leave the cab at home, if the box in question has a load that is.
4. Turn it up loud, there won't be much of you in the PA.
 
This is why I got away from mixing them. The tried and true 75/V30 mix was cool; but as I moved around the change was strange. Only 1 spot where I could hear them mix well...move and it's too much 75 or too much V30.
 
You could always bring two mics and your own mixer, setup your mics and get the levels right in your own mixer, and then give the sound guy the XLR out from your mixer. I can't imagine how much of a PITA that would be to setup in pretty much any non-stadium tour pre-gig environment though.

Like @ZEN Amps said, it's probably easier and would definitely be more consistent to get a reactive load and IR loader into which you load your own pre-mixed IR, and then send your IR loader's output to FoH.
 
I always mix.
Only ever mic 1 speaker live, blends is too risky (shitty sound guys can’t hear the phase issue).
Mic position changes the EQ so drastically that there’s no need to worry about your EQ blend you normally get from the speakers.
Both speakers are awesome on their own anyway.
99.9% of the crowd would never hear the difference between 1 speaker vs 2 blended. 90% couldn’t tell a Line 6 Spider from your bazillion dollar tube amp.
I get to enjoy the superior tone ‘cause I’m sitting in the driver’s seat, mere tone peasants can scavenge for the leftovers.
Spend your entire paycheck on gear you don’t actually need and when your friends are out out having fun just noodle away by yourself in the basement for eternity and you too can earn the right to hear that perfect tone that most people couldn’t distinguish from a shitty old Crate combo amp!
 
I don't ever think a close-miced speaker sounds like what I hear standing out in front of the cab, so I personally wouldn't worry about that aspect of mixing speakers in the cab and micing only one of the speakers.

For recording I'd be wearing headphones anyways, so I'd only hear the miced speaker anyways.
 
I've played out with 4x12's running governors & manowars in an X pattern for years. The governors are are more mid-heavy and easier to hear in a mix, so I mic one of them & don't think twice about it. If the sound guy asks, I'll make a couple of minor EQ tweaks as needed, but that very rarely happens.

The sound out front is going to be so different from what I've got on stage, it isn't worth splitting hairs.
 
The microphone always goes on the Vintage 30. Come on this is real basic stuff.
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Most guys want the V30 mic'ed.

I love the Redback/V30 blend and a lot of small clubs/venues do not mic the guitar cabs. Instead, they let stage volume fill the room.
 
If I’m playing a gig where the cab will be miced, I’m not mixing speakers. Your ears will find the right balance between them, but one mic will only hear half that balance, likely being too bright, too dark, to scooped, etc…
And I’m certainly not asking the sound guy for two mics, further complicating his job and increasing the likelihood of him fucking things up.
 
I know a guy who blends speakers. One for thump, one for recording. The "thump" speaker is just to improve the feel for live performances, and the "recording" speaker is the one he mic's for FOH or studio work.

Myself, when I had a blended rig I was just running unmic'd so the audience heard my cabs and not the PA.
 
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