[bw66]

For me, this is preaching to the choir, but I'm middle-aged and grumpy too...

Guitarists – stop hurting the audience at small gigs

 

[Guest]

I always tilt my amp/cab back so that I can hear it.
Your ankles don't have ears.

Rewind. The guitarist can fix this. An amp stand that angles the speaker towards the guitarist’s ears is all that is needed.
Even if you’re on a tight budget (as I was in my gigging days in the early 1990s) it’s possible to balance the amp on a few
beer crates to get it at head height. The problems I experienced last week (and have seen at literally hundreds of small
gigs over the years) can be solved just with a few seconds of care during the soundcheck.


Guitarists. Make a better world for us all. Buy an amp stand.

 

[LanceT]

Your ankles don't have ears.

As long as your ankles aren't around your ears.

 

[guitarman2]

Most of the problem lies with 2 problems. #1. You need the correct amp power for the gig. Don't take a 100W amp to a small club. Tube amps need to be pushed a certain amount to get cooking. #2. Have a decent amp. If you've got an amp that sounds way better to you off axis rather than straight at you then maybe this is the wrong amp for you. I've had amps that I couldn't stand angled at me or at head height cause it was just to piercing no matter how much I turned it down. But you have to realize if you don't like it directly at you then likely neither does the audience. So with these amps I've had them on the floor where they sounded better or pointed away from me but of course then I have to turn them up and then you're just killing the mix. It took me years but I finally clued in, got some amps that I loved the direct sound and could place them angled in front of me or at head height. Sometimes no amount of eq adjustments can get rid of a spikey amp without muddying up the tone.

 

[Steadfastly]

Good article. Thanks for posting it.

 

[RedFenderBender]

I like my girlfriends ankles when their behind her ears...just sayin..Haaa

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

 

[jdto]

I like my girlfriends ankles when their behind her ears...just sayin..Haaa

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

 

[RedFenderBender]

Yep thats the expression pedal...SPLOOGE!

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

 

[Guest]

The drummer always starts the volume war. Way too F'ING loud, then the bass jacks up to the drummer, and I can't hear my amp on stage. So I turn up the amp, and the guitar gets all the blame. I say ban drummers.

 

[High/Deaf]

The drummer always starts the volume war. Way too F'ING loud, then the bass jacks up to the drummer, and I can't hear my amp on stage. So I turn up the amp, and the guitar gets all the blame. I say ban drummers.

I find the better the drummer, the more dynamically he can play. So loud or quiet, he can still sound musical. And of course if he's that good, he has no problems with tempo, although he still shows up late and/or wants to drink all our beer.

If I had an amp I didn't like the sound of when pointed at my head, it would be gone in a microsecond. If I don't like, why would I think someone else would? All the rest is just physics - if you want to hear yourself louder than everyone else, you need to be the closest person to your amp and it needs to be on axis to your head. Simple, really. And walk the room early on - hear what the paying customers are.

 

[luker0]

The drummer always starts the volume war. Way too F'ING loud, then the bass jacks up to the drummer, and I can't hear my amp on stage. So I turn up the amp, and the guitar gets all the blame. I say ban drummers.

Then who would keep us playing in time?

 

[Distortion]

All well and good to Aim the speaker at your ears but I doubt you will be playing in ten years. If your amp is mic'ed no problem. Nine times out of ten you have to crank, so the whole room can hear you. I will let it blow at my pant legs and save my ears to play another day.