First Ampless Gig Tonight…

chrisj1602

HX Stomp XL, three presets… Deluxe Reverb, AC30 and an Orange Rockerverb. Reverb, mod and delay off the Stomp, plus a couple of real drive pedals for boosting.

Going into the PA, with a monitor that me and the drummer will share.

It’s a local pub type covers gig, nothing big or fancy. I think it should work….

Fingers crossed.

Musicwolf

chrisj1602 said:

 I think it should work….

It's been working for me for about a decade now.  Good luck, you'll be fine.

Wazmeister

How sid it go ?

Rkphilpot

New HX stomp owner here interested in how it went

TheBigDipper

chrisj1602 said:

HX Stomp XL, three presets… Deluxe Reverb, AC30 and an Orange Rockerverb. Reverb, mod and delay off the Stomp, plus a couple of real drive pedals for boosting.

Going into the PA, with a monitor that me and the drummer will share.

It’s a local pub type covers gig, nothing big or fancy. I think it should work….

Fingers crossed.

My band plays live and direct for everything - inc. drums. The only mic'd input is voices. We monitor via the wedges. It's fine. There's no need for IEMs if the onstage volume from the wedges is quieter than when we used onstage backline and acoustic drums. We're a trio, so we're all OK using the FOH mix rather than personal monitor mixes. 

The playing experience isn't as satisfying to me as playing through a real amp, but the FOH band sound is really good, and that's the point. FWIW, the drummer doesn't like it as much, either - he sometimes has triggering problems with certain "hits", but agrees its worth it to get a decent band sound in a small venue with often inconsistent sound engineering. 

I don't think going direct works as well (for the smaller rooms that we normally play) if there are acoustic drums onstage and the other instruments are direct. 

And... how was it for you, OP? 

chrisj1602

Wazmeister said:

How sid it go ?

It was good! In terms of the sounds I could get, it was very good. Having three different amp options was great, and obviously I can take that further if I want to. I used a couple of real drive pedals but I could probably do it all with the Stomp to be fair. Just need to dive in, maybe set some Snapshots up.

It’s a bit odd not having an amp behind you and I’m still wondering whether to get an FRFR or not (possibly one of the new Fender ones…)

TheBigDipper

chrisj1602 said:

Wazmeister said:

How sid it go ?

It was good! In terms of the sounds I could get, it was very good. Having three different amp options was great, and obviously I can take that further if I want to. I used a couple of real drive pedals but I could probably do it all with the Stomp to be fair. Just need to dive in, maybe set some Snapshots up.

It’s a bit odd not having an amp behind you and I’m still wondering whether to get an FRFR or not (possibly one of the new Fender ones…)

If you've still got an acoustic drummer, then it might be a good idea. You can let FOH sort out your mix and set your own monitor levels onstage. If you don't mind something that looks and weighs like a normal cab, then I like the Laney LFR 112 I own rather more than I expected to. 

I don't, BTW, because we've got e-drums, but it's a nice thing for at home and sounds better than monitors or headphones for me. 

willo

Snapshots are one of the best features for live use! Solo approaching, press one button and a compressor, gain, volume boost and delay all come on at the same time - love it. 

I also use a Headrush monitor, sat behind me, for live use. Feels a bit of a faff but it guarantees I can hear myself and I play better, it changes the energy. 

Rkphilpot

What about using IEMs rather than an FRFR? If you take your IEM mix from the PA it should be a true representation of the HX settings shouldn't it?

Barney

Did you you cut through the mix ok ?

chrisj1602

Barney said:

Did you you cut through the mix ok ?

Yes, I think so!

We have keys on some songs, but on those I’m typically playing less guitar. On the more guitar driven songs, there’s no keys, so there’s not too much going through the PA at once, so it seems to work ok.

CaseOfAce

I've got a new dep guitarist standing in for me next month for a gig who's planning to use a Helix thru our PA. I'm intrigued to find out how the preceding rehearsal goes (I'll be attending with an open mind). 
Our drummer is already very nervous - given that he struggles to hear vocals thru our 2 monitors as it is...

and further to OP above -  as Chris Buck said on a recent podcast - when you use a floor modeller and having to bring an FRFR with you - how is this any easier than an amp and pedals?

paulmapp8306

CaseOfAce said:

I've got a new dep guitarist standing in for me next month for a gig who's planning to use a Helix thru our PA. I'm intrigued to find out how the preceding rehearsal goes (I'll be attending with an open mind). 
Our drummer is already very nervous - given that he struggles to hear vocals thru our 2 monitors as it is...

and further to OP above -  as Chris Buck said on a recent podcast - when you use a floor modeller and having to bring an FRFR with you - how is this any easier than an amp and pedals?

Im not sure its supposed to be "easier".

I use an Axe-FX.  Direct to PA for FOH, but on stage I put it through a valve power amp and real cab.  I just prefer to hear it that way rather than FRFR personally.   the volume can be a lot lower than a real valve amp though - and I can go in ears if its a more silent stage (Id never use FRFR monitors - real cab or in ears). 

What it gives me is the ability to tune the sound to what I hear in my head  - something I always struggle with real amps. I always for something lacking, oir missing, or there that I dont want.  Also I have changing and complex FX routing if needed.  

I tsno easier, and doesnt have less gear than an amp and pedals - BUT it IS way more flexible, way more controllable at the desk, less bleed into vocal mics, and a more controllable stage volume.  

Bidley

I don't bother with FRFR, even before I switched to IEMs. Perfectly happy with wedges. I prefer not having anything behind me now, I used to have real trouble hearing anyone else other than myself when I had a massive valve amp blaring at me on stage, so I used to turn down all the time (sound guy would hate me). I realise I'm probably an oddity though!

chrisj1602

CaseOfAce said:

I've got a new dep guitarist standing in for me next month for a gig who's planning to use a Helix thru our PA. I'm intrigued to find out how the preceding rehearsal goes (I'll be attending with an open mind). 
Our drummer is already very nervous - given that he struggles to hear vocals thru our 2 monitors as it is...

and further to OP above -  as Chris Buck said on a recent podcast - when you use a floor modeller and having to bring an FRFR with you - how is this any easier than an amp and pedals?

I guess it’s not, but it’s lighter and more compact, and I can have more sounds at my disposal. Less cabling and power supply concerns too… I still love a valve amp by the way.

supes

CaseOfAce said:

I've got a new dep guitarist standing in for me next month for a gig who's planning to use a Helix thru our PA. I'm intrigued to find out how the preceding rehearsal goes (I'll be attending with an open mind). 
Our drummer is already very nervous - given that he struggles to hear vocals thru our 2 monitors as it is...

and further to OP above -  as Chris Buck said on a recent podcast - when you use a floor modeller and having to bring an FRFR with you - how is this any easier than an amp and pedals?

It's considerably lighter and takes up far less room! I wasn't convinced at all but i wouldn't go back now. I think you don't realise how much of a slog it is with amp, cab, combo, pedalboard, cables, power etc until you don't have to do it anymore! 

I do have a speaker on stage in bigger venues for monitoring but it's really lightweight.

It''s much quicker to set-up/take-down too

onyir

CaseOfAce said:

I've got a new dep guitarist standing in for me next month for a gig who's planning to use a Helix thru our PA. I'm intrigued to find out how the preceding rehearsal goes (I'll be attending with an open mind). 
Our drummer is already very nervous - given that he struggles to hear vocals thru our 2 monitors as it is...

and further to OP above -  as Chris Buck said on a recent podcast - when you use a floor modeller and having to bring an FRFR with you - how is this any easier than an amp and pedals?

In my case I already need a monitor to hear my vocals (backing vocals), so it is a lot lighter just to bring my QC and plug into the monitor

Voxman

willo said:

Snapshots are one of the best features for live use! Solo approaching, press one button and a compressor, gain, volume boost and delay all come on at the same time - love it. 

I also use a Headrush monitor, sat behind me, for live use. Feels a bit of a faff but it guarantees I can hear myself and I play better, it changes the energy. 

I have a. Pod Go and originally I liked the idea of snapshots, particularly when snap shot naming and colour coding was added.  But in practice I much prefer to use and keep my Pod Go in stomp mode and use 2 external momentary switches for patch up/down rather than moving in and out of snapshot mode.  I just find it much easier to set up patches, see where I am, and move around eg I can set footswitches for clean and gain boosts for solos and even drop tuning via pitch shifter to Eb for some songs like SCOM.

Obviously if you prefer snapshots that's great, but for me I find stomp mode works best for my needs live. I also set up my patches in song list order so I just go from one patch to another,  and though many patches are duplicated it makes life simple on stage, leaving me to focus on playing with the band rather than shuffling back and forth between patches. 

topdog91

Voxman said:I can set footswitches for clean and gain boosts for solos and even drop tuning via pitch shifter to Eb for some songs like SCOM.

Is the tracking on the pitch shifter really good enough to get through Sweet Child of Mine and sound good? Definitely an effect I've rarely tried in recent years.

My POD GO remains a home practice and recording tool and comes to gigs as a backup if the amp blows up. Once it did and I finished the gig plugging my usual pedalboard into the POD GO running a clean amp sim and it sounded pretty good without even tweaking the patch much from my home settings. Just a little EQ on the preamp if I remember correctly.

I'm in no rush to join the revolution but I'm not a tube snob and my amp (Peavey Classic 50) runs clean anyway (master volume nearly dimed, use the channel volume as appropriate) but I like the immediate ease of tweaking on the fly if I need to and it's such an easy amp to make sing, really resonant and full of harmonics. Yes, it means lugging stuff but I still can and still get excited about every gig.

Funnily enough, my pedalboard is a heavy git. They rarely get spoken about but I reckon mine's some 8kg. Somehow I resent lugging that more than the amp!

But I love following threads like this and I'm sure I'll try the POD GO live one day. The pros and cons of both approaches are clear and I don't want to get bogged down too much when I should be learning songs and practicing instead.