Wet / Dry rig... sound stage

[Event Horizon]

Hello everyone! First time on this forum
Right to the point. I've spent considerable time and expense building a wet/dry guitar amp system because I like how it sounds in theory and in actuality. Here's my issue. It sounds great when I work out the effects that I want on the effects side, balancing the levels and implementing MIDI control. I usually do this at home because of the time involved in getting it right. However once I hit the stage the effected side tend to sink down in the mix, to the point of losing my delays; the reverbs wash everything out. Choruses and flangers are perceptible but not anywhere as pronounced as when I run them through both amps.
What's going on here? Why does it sound so good at home but disappointing on stage?
The Pros seem to work out the wet/dry thing with two amps virtually glued side by side.
Been kind of puzzled for awhile with this one. Any opinion is more than welcomed. THX.

 

[LP Freak]

Aren’t you micing both cabinets? Isn't your sound guy mixing the two correctly?

 

[Racerxrated]

Welcome!

One reason..stage volume. You have the rest of the band to compete with, and you’ll need to find a way to aim both the wet and dry cabs more towards you or even elevate them a bit. At home it’s just you, no competition for your ears like a loud drummer or vocals coming back through a monitor. I ended up elevating my cabs slightly and that definitely helped. The FX is washed down a bit so unless you can hear yourself really well, live you hardly notice the modulation. But, if you mix it more prominently it can be too much and sound bad out front. In-ear monitors might help as well, just select what you want in the monitor mix like your rig and some vocals.

 

[Event Horizon]

Thanks for the welcome!
To answer both responders...
Yes, both cabinets are mic'd and fed through the monitors. I have noticed that when both guitar signals are fed back, the dry signal dominates there as well. But that's on me... that I should have the monitor mix favor the wet cab to offset what I'm not hearing distinctly onstage.
But then, I could simply turn up the level of the wet amp on stage.
I think Racer x rated hit it on the head when he suggested elevating the speaker cabs and angling them in toward me. I had it worked out that eight feet out in front would be the sweet spot with cabs about 4-5 feet apart. You're right about not factoring the drums (right next to me) and a heavy bass guitar along with another guitarist. It's amazing how the delays were completely wiped out of my hearing. I'd have to connect to my wireless and take a walk out front to see how the delays are coming through.
It's plain to me onstage how well chorusing and flanging come across so well when going to both amps though. (the only two effects that are set up this way)
Another point might be that when we play outside these other effects may not travel to my ears as easily as they might be in a club.
In any case, I'll try the monitor fix and the cab elevation to see if that does the trick.
Thanks again!

 

[LP Freak]

What’s it sound like out front though?

 

[PAULYC2]

Hello everyone! First time on this forum
Right to the point. I've spent considerable time and expense building a wet/dry guitar amp system because I like how it sounds in theory and in actuality. Here's my issue. It sounds great when I work out the effects that I want on the effects side, balancing the levels and implementing MIDI control. I usually do this at home because of the time involved in getting it right. However once I hit the stage the effected side tend to sink down in the mix, to the point of losing my delays; the reverbs wash everything out. Choruses and flangers are perceptible but not anywhere as pronounced as when I run them through both amps.
What's going on here? Why does it sound so good at home but disappointing on stage?
The Pros seem to work out the wet/dry thing with two amps virtually glued side by side.
Been kind of puzzled for awhile with this one. Any opinion is more than welcomed. THX.

I would never run a flange on the wet only cab, I want flange/phase, wah, etc in all (both) cabs, so either in the loop of the amp or out front...YMMV.

 

[Event Horizon]

LP freak;
I don't venture out front much because of the duties that tie me to stage. (singing, pedal switching, etc.) We rarely have time to totally fix everything at sound check so then things get dialed in on the run once we're up. You know... the usual time constraint. So anyway, we're heading back to an outdoor gig in a week. So I'll definitely walk out without a cord to check delays as often as I possibly can.
But my point being, onstage is where I want wet/dry to be satisfying. At the last gig the lack of ambient effects threw me off my game trying to figure out what's happening. Yeah, the amps still sound good but without the ambience, it's like playing dry all night. It may have been there all along in the PA, but to me they were MIA.
Pauly C2; I agree with you on running modulation up front of the amps. Everything just wakes up once you kick 'm on.