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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > miking multi-speaker amp
miking multi-speaker amp
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TetonJohn
316 posts
Jun 17, 2017
7:52 AM
Greetings, all.
I am playing an outdoor stage tomorrow and am planning to bring a larger amp. It has 1x12" and 2x8" -- do you have suggestions on best way to mike it? It also has a line out. We are the opening act and may not get a lot of attention from the sound crew. The easiest would be to use either the line out or to mike just one of the speakers (but which one?). Other options would be to mike in the back of the cab or out front a bit (how far? feedback concern?).

Thanks for your thoughts.
dougharps
1474 posts
Jun 17, 2017
9:55 AM
Unless your line out has speaker emulation I would suggest that you mic the 12" about halfway out from center to the edge and then just play the gig.

An ideal approach would be to mic one of each speaker, also use the line out, and have a sound guy mix all three for the best sound. That is more for recording than playing a live gig, especially when the sound person may not give a lot of attention.

Most of the time I believe that in live show situations it is best to follow the "KISS" principal. Whenever I start getting caught up in details like this I tell myself, "Keep it simple, stupid!" It has been good for me to not overthink things like this.

It is live music, after all! Be glad if you can hear yourself, the vocals, and all the instruments on stage, and hope that the sound person does OK with sound FOH. Also, hope that at least 50% of the audience is even listening.
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Doug S.
LSC
766 posts
Jun 18, 2017
5:57 PM
I could be wrong but it sounds like you're going to use a Super Cruncher. Mic the 12". When I've offered the line out option I've never had a sound guy yet choose to use it. Mic placement is pretty basic stuff which whoever is setting up the stage will know.

I'd ask for a touch of yourself in the monitor. Not too much. Depending on how loud the rest of the band is your amp should be able to carry to you by itself. A touch in the monitor gives you a quick option if the stage volume is louder than anticipated. Ideally you have something of multi-channel monitoring, at least left and right. It's useful to have a bit across the stage in any event so that you can be heard by the rest of the band, especially if there's any interplay between the harmonica and other instruments.

BTW, it is rare these days to find sound guys that haven't figured out short changing the support act is not a good idea. It's being a dick for a start but word spreads in surprising ways and nobody wants to work with a jerk.

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LSC
TetonJohn
317 posts
Jun 18, 2017
9:03 PM
Thanks. Miked the 12" -- SM57 on a stand; yes, just a touch in the monitor -- we each had our own monitor mix and the sound guys were great. Heard that FOH was very good.
Shure 533 to AFB+ (dialed way down -- was mostly in chain in case I had to turn up to the point of needing it more; into LW boogieman at my feet (also with drive pretty low -- 9 o'clock maybe), then a cable back to the amp behind me tilted up with a jumbo doorstop. Could do all my adjustments (some EQ and some volume as the band got loud) with the boogieman -- very convenient.
Yes, a Cruncher. Hard to recall if I "superized" it -- seems like I may have replaced a speaker -- it was a while ago, and I'm much less gear-crazed now!
Thanks again, had a blast.

Last Edited by TetonJohn on Jun 18, 2017 9:05 PM


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