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#288057 - 21/09/11 08:02 AM
AC30 made me quit the band!
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Tinyghost
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 21/11/10
Posts: 658
Loc: Kent
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Just thought I'd share this, as I remember a while back a simillar problem was posted.
I've had 3 rehearsals with this group. Basically a drummer (who has no dampening or tuning on his kit, and plays very loud and very sloppy) and a guitar player/songwriter who has a load of great gear but plays extremely loudly and sloppily.
Lovely guys, but competing for volume between them.
I came in to help write, play guitar and some bass and sing a bit.
It's 60s psychedelic, dark-surftone music. It's interesting.
Each time I've tried to hear what I'm doing, but I can barely hear a thing...ears ringing.
Mainly the ac30 the guitarist is using is set on fairly clean with a bit of grit, and then loads of delay/reverb and tremelo, with occasional fuzz from a pedal. Trouble is that the upper mid frequencies are full to overload. Sounds harsh at first and then there's a sort of area where everything is lost.
The drums protect the drummer (he can only hear himself) and the ac30 is behind the guitarists legs (on the floor)...but aimed at me! It's a very small studio space too.
Do all Ac30s (this is a 60s model) sound horrible and harsh and extremely loud (this one is louder than 100watt marshalls I used to use)? I'm sure I've heard beautiful tones from ac30s. BTW he uses mainly an epi semi (?) and I have my SG.
Is it just the frequencies he has it set up at? It cancels out any bass or guitar I play either through the bass amp or guitar amp (through 4x12 cab with celestions).
I left saying that neither player was listening to what we were doing, and it seemed pointless to waste the time just testing out your gear at full volume and not playing together as a band.
These are seasoned pros (not session musicians), but have toured etc and had limited success in the past. I'm at a loss (Hearing loss too) as to how I can carry on. Shame because we all got on well and the ideas were good.
So I've made it clear what I think is wrong. Any suggestions what I do now? Walk away? Try again? Different amps? etc
My ears still ringing an hour later.
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#288083 - 22/09/11 06:29 AM
Re: AC30 made me quit the band!
[Re: stickyfiddle]
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Screaming Dave
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 18/08/11
Posts: 272
Loc: Andover, UK
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I had a similar situation in my current band, but not really a happy ending as such. We originally met up in a pub and all got on really well, but the lead guitarist (who had actually instigated us all getting together) really had differing ideas from the rest of us. He wanted to play Metallica and the like, and wanted us all to practise along with the records at home, his reasoning being that it would all then come together instantly at rehearsals. Well, that's never been my experience. But the real rot set in at rehearsals because he would just play widdly widdly lead at high volum all the time when we weren't actually playing a number, so any social interraction was impossible, and then didn't like it when the rest of us weren't capable of acting like a sort of guitar-oke machine for him to widdle over. Anyway, he got all cross and stormed out of our second rehearsal (it's really hard to storm out when you then have to pack up all your gear in embarassed silence!). In an ideal world we should have then met up with him at the pub again to talk it through, but I think none of us really wanted him back. It's a shame because he was quite a talented guitarist and we could have benefited from him being in the band if we could have settled our differences. So the moral of my rambling tale is to always try to patch it up over a beer. (Although if he sees any of us now he blanks us and tries to pretend he hasn't seen us, so maybe the situation was beyond repair.
Leaning the ol' AC30 back so it points up at him a bit more might help, too. guitar amps are notoriously directional.
_________________________
There's no such thing as bad weather, there's only the wrong clothes.
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#288505 - 05/10/11 07:31 AM
Re: AC30 made me quit the band!
[Re: Screaming Dave]
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Pete Buchan
Professional Forumite!
Registered: 22/03/02
Posts: 384
Loc: Aberdeen
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Scrooge and I are in a band - I'm one of the guitarists and Scrooge is the drummer. We've been practicing/gigging for about a year and a half and have had a number of problems with volume and not hearing each other. These have generally been solved by various things. Interestingly, for the vast majority of time, I've been using a Vox AC30. It is indeed a very loud amp. It also has the ability to cut through any mix like a sharp knife. This is good for me as I can hear myself, but never so handy for the other guitarist as it's unlikely he'll be able to hear himself. I've also had problems with the 'harshness'. I stand about a metre in front of the amp when we play. I therefore set the amp up to sound good from where I'm standing. A number of times I've walked out to the front (mid song) to see how it sounds and been shocked by how tinny my amp sounds! Key for setting up AC30s is to set up the sound so it sounds good from the front of house, not from just in front of the speaker. Also, try not to point the speaker directly at anyone. It will sound far better from an angle (explaining why it sounds fine from in front (as my ears are above, or at an angle to, the speakers).
Mr Scrooge is a quiet drummer so we try to have reasonably low volume jams. If you try turning everything down a bit, you might be surprised what you can actualy hear.
A final thing to note, based on our experiences in our studio, is that the position of the amp in the room makes a huge difference to the tone of it. I always play stage right, but I went over to stage left for some reason one night. I couldn't get my amp to sound as I wanted it to, I couldn't hear myself, I couldn't hear the other guitarist, I couldn't hear the drums. I'd suggest moving about and seeing if you can find a good spot for each of the amps and a good spot for each musician to stand.
Pete
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