Question for Clean Amp + Boost + Distortion + Boost....

[baimun]

No I accept that I'm asking people who are primarily guitar players so come gig time, they spend much of their time dialing in a couple different sounds, where I'm setting up PA and am primarily the singer... so sometimes my guitar is "set it and forget it"

That said.... I've had a couple gigs when I've switched from the acoustic to the electric and as I switch boosts and distortions, my gain levels are all over the place.

Some gigs everything is perfect ... and I should note, I tend to run the combo clean and at the same volume every show because I mic it and then listen more through the monitor than the combo, so maybe that is the problem.... but I'll have a great funky clean sound, then I'll hit the distortion for the solo and my volume drastically drops... then I'll hit the solo boost to compensate and it's TOO loud. Fuck. Maybe the knobs are shifting slightly in my pedal board... but how do you guys compensate and adjust for this?

It's tough for me to change settings during songs because I'm singing too, so I'll tweak a knob or two between songs but last night I got so frustrated that I put the electric back in the rack and finished the show with the Taylor acoustic. It was tough playing solos for Pink Floyd, Sublime, and Prince on the acoustic but at least my volumes were manageable.

Anyways... rant over and I'm open for opinions/suggestions. I'm going to spend some time with my rig this week and find some happy spots and I'll probably spend an extra 20 minutes sound checking before this week's gigs.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

I've found the main problem comes from significant differences in guitar output levels. One reason I stopped playing my Ric live is because the output is significantly lower than my PRS. This made my distortion and boost levels not quite compare when switching guitars.

My Telecaster matches much better, so it gets the gig. The new Ibanez should match even better because of the humbuckers.

 

[mikesr1963]

Mark your knob positions so at a quick glance so you know you're on point.

 

[baimun]

I've found the main problem comes from significant differences in guitar output levels. One reason I stopped playing my Ric live is because the output is significantly lower than my PRS. This made my distortion and boost levels not quite compare when switching guitars.

My Telecaster matches much better, so it gets the gig. The new Ibanez should match even better because of the humbuckers.

This may be the issue. I've had my best sound at gigs with my PRS Goldtop.... when I switch to the Landshark guitar or some other strats I've had issues. One gig I switched over to the P90 PRS SE and played it the rest of the night with less issues. Hmm... Maybe I'll need some kind of "leave on" compensator at the front of the rig when switching between certain guitars.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is it. Most of the knobs on the FlyRig can push pull... when you push them down they lock into position, so I'm less concerned that they're the cause of the issue.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

This may be the issue. I've had my best sound at gigs with my PRS Goldtop.... when I switch to the Landshark guitar or some other strats I've had issues. One gig I switched over to the P90 PRS SE and played it the rest of the night with less issues. Hmm... Maybe I'll need some kind of "leave on" compensator at the front of the rig when switching between certain guitars.

One solution I explored for a while was using my Zvex Super Duper. I would turn on the clean side for the Ric, and then use the dirty side as a boost. But I would also forget to turn it on with the Ric, and I'd be back to square one. Or, I'd forget to turn it off with the PRS and I would have this huge volume boost. In the end, I went to a setup that was Howie-proof.

 

[jaxn slim]

This may be the issue. I've had my best sound at gigs with my PRS Goldtop.... when I switch to the Landshark guitar or some other strats I've had issues. One gig I switched over to the P90 PRS SE and played it the rest of the night with less issues. Hmm... Maybe I'll need some kind of "leave on" compensator at the front of the rig when switching between certain guitars.

The more I think about it, the more I think this is it. Most of the knobs on the FlyRig can push pull... when you push them down they lock into position, so I'm less concerned that they're the cause of the issue.

I used to keep a BB Preamp at the front of my board to narrow the gap on guitar output levels and EQ when switching between HB and SC. It worked pretty well.

 

[Chad]

I know some folks will say this isn't the right thing to do, but it worked for me over the years. If your issue is different guitars being too loud or too quiet, I have raised and lowered the pickups to get my different guitars to have about the same output. I know that may muck up string vibration and all that stuff TGP talks about, but for the most part, I have been able to get most guitars close enough. If that doesn't work for you, you can get one of these. You set the green knob for one guitars level and the red for the other and then switch from the green to the red when you swap guitars. I used to use one of these because it was easier than rolling my volume knob back and forth to go from cleaner tones to driven ones. It can do a lot more, but I never used it for anything else.

 

[baimun]

I'm going to spend some quality time with my amp and pedals over the next week or so. Try to get a better quality versatile sound so I can do more from my guitar and less pedal switching.

 

[micwalt]

Since I use the digital multi-effects/amp modeler pedalboard for everything, I don't have this issue.
Also, I only use two guitars at gigs, and their outputs are almost identical. The So Cal is just slightly lower than the Blacktop Strat, but it's mostly negligible.

 

[baimun]

I'm also going to direct A/B comparison test the PRS to the Landshark, Strat, and P90 PRS so I know what to expect. I can plug multiple instruments into an A/B box right up front and see how they respond.

 

[baimun]

Experimenting last night, I think on my amp, I turned up the master volume too high with the clean gain knob set too low. This made the channel very "peaky" so tiny changes in gain structure made the volume jump up and down drastically. I dialed in a little more pre-gain and it added enough compression to offset this while still allowing room for solo boost.

 

[Kerouac]

That's what a volume pedal is for.

 

[Modern Saint]

I'm going to spend some quality time with my amp and pedals over the next week or so. Try to get a better quality versatile sound so I can do more from my guitar and less pedal switching.

Time to mess with the guitar's volume and tone knob more bro.

That's what a volume pedal is for.

Not to me - loading and altering the sound is usually what happens - I prefer to use the guitars volume knob. Best to use volume pedals - for me - for swells, amount of delay (instead of the mixer knob on the pedal).

Experimenting last night, I think on my amp, I turned up the master volume too high with the clean gain knob set too low. This made the channel very "peaky" so tiny changes in gain structure made the volume jump up and down drastically. I dialed in a little more pre-gain and it added enough compression to offset this while still allowing room for solo boost.

You may need either 1) small mixer for the different guitar levels; some volume boost for the difference in guitar outputs; amp adjustments - change guitars, then you change amp settings.

 

[baimun]

On thing I discovered last night is there's a big difference in mic placement. I think it's sharper sounding when micing closer to the center of the cone, and more well rounded out around the edge of the speaker.

 

[GilmourD]

On thing I discovered last night is there's a big difference in mic placement. I think it's sharper sounding when micing closer to the center of the cone, and more well rounded out around the edge of the speaker.

Wait 'til you start playing with angle and other toys.