Amp and volume on stage
Hello instructor, I have a few questions:
1 - About amp settings on the band stand: We should set the Bass on 10 and the Treble on 0 (rule of thumb) but when you mic the amp, and the signal goes to the mixing table, does the sound man also have to set the channel to Bass 10 treble 0, or he should leave on the "flat position"? Should i tell him anything or should I leve him decide what it´s best for the situation? Because we rally want the people to hear that "bassy sound" right?
2- About setting your volume on the bandstand: No matter how big or small is my amp, I should always set at the maximum volume. If I have a 30 watt amp and playing at a medium sized stage, with a loud drummer and guitar player, how can I know about the volume that the crownd is hearing? because sometimes I have to blow really hard to hear myself, and takes out my dynamic range. For example, if I´m playing accompainment sytle, I can´t hear myself, but can the crownd hear anything? If Iím playing a solo, I can hear myself, but isn´t the volume too loud for them?
3- About pluggin the Astatic j30 directly on the mixing table. The soundman once plugged my amp in the wrong voltage, and it burnt. I had no option but plug my mic in the mixing table, but something it was not right, I can´t explain what. Why can´t we plug the mic in the mixing table?
Thank you mr David,
Hello elmocamboharp. Answers below...
1) You're correct, the board is set flat and they adjust to what they feel sounds best. Bassmans, and Fender amps in general, tend to need a lot more bass and less treble when setting the amp (but not necessary at the board). I set my Bassman with the Bass at 8, Mid at 3.5 and Treb at 3.5
2) Your amp provides you two things... the tone you want and a way to hear yourself. Your main goal is to hear yourself, so this is why we set the amp as high as it can go, and then play at 40% of our capable volume as our normal volume. You play at 30% volume for accompaniment (barely able to hear yourself) to 50% for solo volume, and above to get over later in the song where you want to kick some butt or the band is kicking it for you. This volume will work for the audience as well. If you mic the amp (always recommended if available) you'll want to have a buddy in the audience (if you didn't bring one, ask a kind audience member to do so and they'll be happy you're including them). I show them where the volume is on the board for me and tell them to adjust freely. If there's a sound person, no worries, that's their job (thought they tend to not have us loud enough, so at sound check it's imperative to play at your 40% volume).
3) Not sure on that particular situation (gear varies drastically from setup to setup), but you have a high-impedance signal going into a high-impedance input on the board, so you should have been fine. You were probably just surprised with how crapy a JT30 sounds through the board! ;-)
Keep the questions coming!