FIRST GIG

PBJ

Hi. 
Been playing for years and doing open mics mostly playing acoustic. Joined a band playing mainly dad rock, we're all in our 50's. Playing stuff from The Clash to Free to ZZ Top. 
So, I'm a bit of an electric novice. Got a Telecaster which is my sons and his amp which is a Marshall G80RCD. I'm reasonably competent at playing the songs and have no reservations about getting up there but want my guitar sound to be as rock as possible. I'm strictly rhythm, I don't want to make it cry or sing. Just want to deliver the chords in a good raunchy way. 
Do I need an overdrive pedal?
Thank you in advance and apologies in advance for sounding such a novice. 

RocknRollDave

I don’t know the amp, so my contribution to this thread will be minimal but I would say avoid the temptation to go for a thick, full sound that will sound great in isolation but fill up too much of the band’s mix to cut through with any  definition.

Musicwolf

PBJ said:

Joined a band playing mainly dad rock, we're all in our 50's

Welcome to the club.  One more of us, one less of them.

artiebear

Lovely post ! same era  ( age wise ), but played pro since I was 18.  Are you being mic'd up ? Is the drummer a loud sod ? I would be looking at at a low wattage valve Fender with the master whacked up = a good fat tone, expressive dynamic range, just breaking up = confidence aplenty ! Wishing you all the best, enjoy !

EricTheWeary

There is a temptation to use too much overdrive and it ends up sounding like a big mush. Although ultra clean can just disappear in a band mix. 

I have used one of those Marshall’s or something very similar in a rehearsal room. I think there’s a Crunch function on the Normal channel and the Overdrive channel has OD1 and OD2 with OD1 being more of a vintage gain? So I’d probably looking at using Crunch or OD1 and trying to get a sound that cleans up a bit when you play gently and you can still hear the notes within the chords when you play hard even though it’s distorted. And for that set as rhythm guitarist sticking to that. 

You’d only need an overdrive pedal to either add a boost for solos ( although I think the footswitch system on the Marshall can do something like that) or for a different flavour of distortion. Or if you wanted all your over drive from pedals and needed squeaky clean from the amp. Some valve amps don’t really overdrive at low volumes but that Marshall is solid state and not an issue. 

If you really feel the need to buy a pedal and don’t have one already buy a tuner. Lot of people use headstock tuners now but they can misfunction at gigs ( picking up the vibrations from the bass for example) or just get knocked off. A pedal will also act as an instant mute so you always have silent tuning. If you don’t want it on the floor buy a Boss tuner pedal and have it on top of the amp and wack it with your hand  (works for Buddy Whittington). 

thumpingrug

Enjoy it and have a good time.  Work the rest out later.

maltingsaudio

Definitely not, play the gig with what you’ve got and work out after what you might need. The only way to really learn

CarpeDiem

I'm also not familiar with the amp, but I would try playing it at rehearsal volume before you get together with the band and adjust the amp and guitar controls to try to determine how it might sound in the mix. If it is not a multi channel amp, you may need a pedal to switch between clean and dirty rhythm tones. Enjoy the ride!

Keefy

I had a quick look at the specs for this. You should be able to set up a clean (or clean-ish) sound and a dirtier sound and switch between them a footswitch. It should have come with one, but any simple, cheap, latching footswitch should do it.

Lestratcaster

A Telecaster will cut through a mix nicely, might be a bit noisy in between songs but just click off the overdrive channel (its a 2-channel amp) or turn your pedal off (presuming you're using one). Agree with others not to use too much distortion otherwise you will just end up with a muddy mess and not be able hear yourself. Marshall amps are almost seen at most gigs if not Kempers and Axe Fx's.

Voxman

The G80RCD is I believe a 1x12 all solid state amp that's very similar, albeit minus the preamp valve in the gain  channel, to my Marshall Valvestate 80V '8080'.  It should have built in reverb and a footswitch that lets you switch between the 2 channels.   As has been said, channel 1 gives you options of clean and crunch, and channel 2 gives you two levels of gain. 

Assuming it sounds similar to my Valvestate, you don't need an external pedal and especially for a first gig I'd keep it simple. Particularly as you have a Tele (I assume with single coil pickups) I'd suggest you use OD2 for your rock tone set maybe to half gain. Live in a band mix, you'll usually need less gain than you might think as compared to home playing. Half way on OD2 gives you better control than e.g. maxing out OD1, with the option to up the gain if you need to or even lower it a tad if needed. Assuming similar to my Valvestate, OD1 with single coils might not have quite enough balls! 

With regards clean tone it depends on how pristine you like your cleans or whether you want a little hair on it.  You might want to start with clean but possibly switch it to the crunch option with gain at say half, if it's too sterile.  I'm mindful here that it's solid state so you won't get the compression of a valve amp. Alternatively, use the crunch setting and your Tele volume to tame it if you need to.

A lot depends on your experience and how comfortable you are with using your guitar's volume and tone controls to alter your tone. 

Assuming you are not micing up the amp and are using it as backline, I'd suggest not to have the amp on the floor but raise it up a good 18 inches e.g. on a beer crate, chair etc. This will help hugely with your sound projection out to the audience.  The other suggestion is not to overdo the reverb. You'll likely need some, but there will be some natural reverb from the venue. 

Sorry to state the obvious, but playing live in a band mix at volume is a bit different to playing at home, so hope these tips are helpful. 

Most important, just be relaxed and enjoy it, and don't be overly worried about your tone as the audience won't be bothered!  And if you should make any mistakes, the audience won't notice! If you should lose your way, don't worry, just stop playing for a moment or two and then hook back in once you've picked up the groove again.  It happens to the best of us!!

Good luck and let us know how it went!

PBJ

Thank you all, this is superb!! I've been a bit nervous about the sound so will try these options when the Mrs. is out! Great forum and I hope to be able to return some knowledge/advice at a future date. I'm genuinely really grateful, thank you. A huge weight off my mind. Going to smash through Londons Calling now!!

Cookiemonster

If you do get a pedal maybe get a boost or tube screamer something to just push the sound a little

BillDL

EricTheWeary said:

If you really feel the need to buy a pedal and don’t have one already buy a tuner. Lot of people use headstock tuners now but they can misfunction at gigs ( picking up the vibrations from the bass for example) or just get knocked off. A pedal will also act as an instant mute so you always have silent tuning ....

That is an excellent piece of advice.  You don't have to pay a fortune for a tuner pedal either.  I have a few, including my old Boss TU-12 tuner (not a pedal but incredibly accurate), but by far the easiest one to see down on the floor is my £29 Landlord FX "Lock In" micro-sized tuner pedal.

monquixote

If you aren't a pedal person and the amp sound fine then you don't need any pedals and I wouldn't start trying to test them out at a gig. 

If you are just doing standard rhythm rocky stuff I'd just get an all purpose crunchy sound and go straight to the amp. Teles are great for this. You can go both pickups for the mellower jangly stuff, bridge for crunchy AC/DC and neck for anything jazzier. If you need anything cleaner you can just go a tiny touch down on the volume, or even just pick gently.

The only really need for channel switching is if you need a loud pure clean for a country or funk number or you are getting into the heavier territory like Green Day, or Foo Fighters where you will need a full on saturated rock sound.

CaseOfAce

EricTheWeary said:

There is a temptation to use too much overdrive and it ends up sounding like a big mush. 

There's some good advice on this thread... and none more so than this. Checking out local bands on facebook here and the biggest mistake I see with guitarists is using buzzsaw distortion. It sounds awful.

As someone else said as well.. there is a sound argument for making the most of what you already have and getting to know it inside out.

Reverend

You might find it useful to get a cheap tubescreamer but you ought to have enough gain on the amp itself. As already mentioned, avoid the temptation to turn gain up full as this will become mush in a band setting. The amp your using doesn't sound great when you push the gain up high, they get a bit fizzy but i think the crunch tones are pretty useful. A TS might be good for shaping the tone though. 

Greatape

Congratulations on the band! 

CaseOfAce

I wish the youtube vid of Rick Parfitt was still up where he explains his rig at Quo's rehearsal soundstage.

Telecaster (with .15s on top string- yes that's right .15s...) into Marshall / Vox amps and 4x12 cabs.

Pedals - he had this custom footswitch on the floor - 3 buttons - basically a mute switch, something to make it go louder (for occasional solos (activating a  Boss GE-7) and something to make it go wibbly wobbly (which was some kinda flanger / chorus patch on a rack unit) - which he used on intro to Whatever You Want and a couple others?
That's it. 

Rhythm guitar in a rock band in a nutshell.