It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
To get back to the basic premise of the question, band volume. My touchstone when I enter a pub with a band playing is, can I order a pint?!
If you see customers climbing into the bar to spit in the barperson's ear you are too loud! And what OF the bar people? H&S at Work? Oh! Forgot, they are all on zero hours contracts and no longer HAVE any rights.
Dave.
Remember that a)the average punter doesn't give a shit about 'your tone', as said above find an alternative and b) whether monitored or not the singer needs to hear himself, if he can't...you turn yourself down -that is the job.
Sorry buddy, from the way you've put this I am not convinced you are the entire problem but you are dedinitely the solution at this point. Remember at all times you need to be sympathetic to the entire band and they need to be the same (drummers in particular) -learn to work together rather than competing for sonic space.
I used to do this when I was in a band with a quiet female singer, because otherwise there would be too much spill into her mic even when I was still actually too quiet on stage, not too loud.
If that fails and the amp is still really too loud - a 5E3 is surpringly cutting for only 15W - you need either a less efficient speaker or an attenuator, or to get more of the distortion from a pedal so you can turn the amp down. I had to do that when I used a tweed Champ in a piano-bar rock'n'roll band! Despite it being only 5W with an 8" speaker... it was genuinely too loud.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Most likely to cause problems are usually the lead guitarist who don't know how to turn their gear down and end up upsetting the rest of the band, the sound man or the audience; at which point we've gone full circle!
Singer: I can't hear the guitar in FOH.
Sound: I turned him down because I don't want him to deafen me when he turns up.
Singer: Turn it up.
Singer: The guitar needs to be louder.
Singer: More ...
It's not always the guitarist, sometimes it's fear of the guitarist.
He was actually quite happy to let me play at more than the volume I had originally intended to, after I decided to get my own back and demonstrate what 'too loud' really meant. It was only a 50W amp, after all...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
There is an element of the comments which tends to blame me for being the problem as I dare to try to gig a cranked 5E3. I accept that a 5E3 can be a loud amp in some circumstances, but I feel I need to defend myself here as it has to be seen and heard in context of the band I'm trying to play with, and up against a mic'ed large kit and having no monitors, it's always going to be an uphill struggle.
I will take away much of what has been said, and see if I can reduce the apparent volume the singer seems to have issues with. I have already added a couple of OD's to the board, a Fulldrive 2 and an Overrated Special, which I will try in the absence of cranking the amp. Long term though, I want to get that cranked tweed tone, so I'm looking at attenuators, or even possibly a Clearsonic amp shield. I think I need to reduce my apparent volume, but at the same time I need to block out the deafening drums and those China cymbals, so earplugs are in order for the next gig. To be honest, after the last one, I absolutely need to do something about standing next to the kit, or I'll be deaf before Christmas.
Has anyone tried or is using a Clearsonic shield?
Cheers,
Rob
As for defending yourself, if you are too loud for the singer you are too loud, you don' t 'need' a cranked up amp, the singer needs to hear themselves, Clearsonic shields are all well and good for Joe Bonamassa, for everyone else they are a pain in the arse. You'll take up half the stage, take longer to set-up. Being in a band is all about compromise to make the band sound good, not a showcase for your guitar tone
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
PA Hire and Event Management
Do you not find that you get more cut for coming down in volume on a 5e3? I struggled to cut through when I ran mine up full because of the compression.
Either he thinks he is reincarnation of John Bonham or his hearing is cooked to the extent he can't hear the volume levels created by his drum kit.
Last band I was in was a twin guitar setup and never again.