About a year ago, Adam wrote that he had solved the low volume problem of small amps by miking to a portable PA and rhapsodized over the bigness and badness of it all. That post is here:
It does indeed seem like an eminently workable solution, which is why I'm surprized I haven't seen anything on it since. Has anyone, including Adam, actually gone out and done it? Thanks!
this is basically what richard hunter has been advocating with his digitech pedal and patches. i am unsure of why adam doesnt use just a PA speaker and mic his mouse to that. since i've gone that route, i have been more confident that my rig can handle anyplace i play,
Im fixing to use a 60 watt pa to mic my 15 watt tube amp its a super champ xd nice effects ,I got it for guitar and the pa for vocals,For working on my 1man band,But got to thinking about trying it when I play some harp with other bands,Its alot of gear for only having 75 watts total but,3 tens should work for the small stuff I do.Ive yet to try it other than at the house but thinking about playing a gig april 21st,Guess ill find out then;-) ---------- Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Apr 01, 2012 2:59 PM
When it comes to mic'ing small amps, in general there are two issues. They may or may not be issues for you - depends on what you're doing.
The minor one is volume in the house - as with ANY setup it can be hard to know where you're at relative to other instruments. If there's a sound person, this shouldn't be a problem. The fewer the instruments, the lesser the problem.
The bigger issue is hearing yourself on stage. If you can hear your own amp - you're good to go. If you can't, you need help from some sort of monitoring system. The risk there is that monitors tend to be sources of feedback. As conditions change, you might need more or less but it can be a delicate balancing act. In this case you need a much better sound guy. He can't just set the house levels and go have a smoke. He has to pay attention the whole time and be ready to adjust your monitor level at any time.
No question that if you can, do - small amps sound great. ---------- /Greg
I know a guy who places a small tube amp with line out facing back at him on the stage, like a monitor. This is loud enough to hear himself and the soundman has control of the mix. I've done a similar thing with my Kendrick Champ.
I ran a line out from my amp to my PA to see how it would work and the tone got real thin,And the amps effects was working but they didnt seem as pronounced,as when I was just mic,ing it,I tried it here at the house and didnt spend alot of time on it,I was just wondering,because I firgured the line out would be a way to go.But it did seem thin though the PA,compared to a mic though the same PA. ---------- Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Apr 01, 2012 4:06 PM
I screw up the lyrics more than once (first time playing it live)...
I use a POD HD500 set very clean into my monitor...no amp at all.
Here is a demo based off Adam's OP:
I use a totally different rig - HD500 takes the place of pedal board and amp. However, I would use my HG2 like this in a heart beat.
I spent several hours last week setting up a home studio last week. I've been piece-mealing things together for months. I still don't have the room optimized for recording - note in the demo vid how dark everything sounds since the room adds a lot of highs when not close recording.
I got as far as tweaking my one man band patches - bass singing, beatboxing and rhythm harp. I am to the point where I would share out direct recordings of those in the next week or two. Line6 has an update coming out this week for the HD500 that includes a bass amp model and tube preamp model. I've resisted toying too much with it until that comes out. I only do like one solo show a month - an hour or two tops, so I don't obsess over tweaking the POD for that.
I no longer own an amp more than 6w. I don't need one and I could fill a room on my own using my powered PA speakers and sub.
In terms of using a small amp live, miking a small amp to a powered monitor and feeding that to the PA works great!!!
In the above live, what you are hearing is the FOH sound through a dreadful PA. It is also compressed, etc. It is hard, especially on computer speakers to hear it well. In the future, I plan on sharing mostly direct recordings through my site or SoundCloud.
Oddily enough, in this clip I am using the VHT for stage volume - not in the monitors. This was with a full rock coverband. I don't have vids/clips, but I used this amp miked to my monitor at 90% of our gigs. The other 10% were using a Tech 21 Sans Amp Bass Driver DI straight to PA.
One caveat - all demoing and testing and tweaking should be done at gig volumes. Even on my POD, I keep separate setlists for playing live and at home. My home patches are all mixed through nearfield studio monitors to reference tracks (mostly Son of Dave and John Popper stuff). They sound totally different through powered PA speakers which color the tone for live use.
If you mike a small amp to a monitor like I do, test it out at the loudest possible volumes. My current room SUCKS for feedback and I use that to my advantage for creating my live rig.
I have three QSC K10s, so as long as I am not providing the PA, I can create an enormous sound for my monitors. I favor clean sounds with effects, but my HG2 cranked and miked up sounds fabulous. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
Last Edited by on Apr 02, 2012 8:36 AM
I would mike before using a lineout if possible. My preference led to using a modeller rather than an amp. If the small amp is hard to hear and I am relying on the monitor, then why bother?
The POD gets me a sound really close to the HG2 if I use the Supro and play with the deep settings. I can't always dial in the high-mid bark, but if I added an EQ model, I bet it wouldn't be tough. I only tired that once. Both my HG2 and VHT sit in a closet. I will try and post a patch for playing with a band soon. I am more concerned about the solo rig right now. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
