When someone else uses your rig....

snowblind

At a practice session last night for the bitsa band gig in a couple of months time. The venue provides amps for those who want them which I don't like so I bring my own gear. At one point last night I swapped cables with one of the other guitarists. We're both playing Gibson Les Pauls. He plugs into my amp (the Laney VC30 212) and I get the Line 6 he is using. He can't hear himself so he turns the amp up. All I can hear where I am is the Line 6 in between two other guitarist's amp (blackstars). When we swap back for the next number I'm suddenly taking everyone's heads off so have to back the amp back down a couple of notches. 
Interesting way to learn that the pickups in my LP appear to have the output of a small nuclear powerstation.

Anyone else been in this situation when using unfamiliar kit?

Musicwolf

A few thoughts, not all of which will be relevant in your situation.

Pickup output.  Unless you are playing 'clean', with plenty of headroom, then higher output pickups won't necessarily increase the volume so much as drive the front end of the amp harder and increase saturation.  What may be far more apparent is that the differences in guitars / pickups produce different frequency 'signatures' which may be better or worse when it comes to cutting through the mix.

With a conventional amp / cab or combo setup, where you stand in relation to the amp, especially in a small room, will have a huge effect as to what you hear. 

The player and how hard you hit the strings.   We all play very differently.  When my band went from five piece to three piece plus backing, we had to learn and record all of the bass lines.  The other guitarist and I, both reformed bass players, split the initial workload up and learned half each.  We then recorded them all in my home studio using the same bass playing into my Kemper set to the same profile.  The difference in volume (the bass is clean) between the two of us was huge.  He's basically a tickler whereas I'm a hard hitter.  The same applies to our guitar playing but here the differences are more apparent as tone rather than volume.

Experience has taught me that most people, myself included, hear things differently when we are playing as opposed to listening.   I've experienced the following several times, with different players, when going direct to desk via a modeller.  You allow the player to set their own volume whilst playing so that they consider themselves to be at the right level in the mix. Tthen you record the mix output.  When you play the resulting mix back through exactly the same system most times the player will think that they're now too loud.  Often, they don't believe that this was what it sounded like when they were playing yet any independent listener, who was present throughout, will tell you that there's no difference.

Whistler

Musicwolf said:
You allow the player to set their own volume whilst playing so that they consider themselves to be at the right level in the mix.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that approach will never produce the best mix for recording without a sound engineer. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Musicwolf

Whistler said:

Musicwolf said:
You allow the player to set their own volume whilst playing so that they consider themselves to be at the right level in the mix.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that approach will never produce the best mix for recording without a sound engineer. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

It's not for a proper recording - it's just an experiment in rehearsal to demonstrate to the player that they're too loud.  At first I thought that some players were just a bit egotistical and wanted to be louder than everyone else (I've encountered that in the past), but this was a perception thing between playing and listening.

ROOG

snowblind said:

 my LP appear to have the output of a small nuclear powerstation.

Electricity too cheap to warrant metering, anyone? :0)

Supportact

Yes there are too many variables involved to expect someone else's amp settings to work for you. When I've had to use supplied backline I've just got a general multi purpose clean sound that I try to get dialed in on the amp and then use pedals for dirt, try to balance volume and away you go. Sometimes you look at the settings the last person left and it looks mad, but it's inevitable really. 

stickyfiddle

Supportact said:

Yes there are too many variables involved to expect someone else's amp settings to work for you. When I've had to use supplied backline I've just got a general multi purpose clean sound that I try to get dialed in on the amp and then use pedals for dirt, try to balance volume and away you go. Sometimes you look at the settings the last person left and it looks mad, but it's inevitable really. 

And this is why I find it so odd that some folks are obsessed with paying for presets and matching everything exactly to what someone else uses. Unless you also borrow their hands and ears it ain't gonna work!