One of the reasons I love this site is threads like this. Any time I'm thinking about something guitar related, someone starts a relevant thread about it. I've always been a "crank it to 11" guy or turn it down to 1 for clean and 10 for dirty. Since I've been playing bass with a pick the past few weeks (my fingers just aren't fast enough to play the steady 8th notes I need to play in my band), I've been getting a lot of noise and bad pops. So I've tried turning the volumes down on the bass and turning up the amp. It seems to help some.
Now my problem is: when playing live, how do you make sure you stay at the right volume? When we are practicing, a lot of times I turn my volumes all the way down when we are arranging or talking between songs. Playing at 10, it's easy to just crank 'em back up and know you are at the right volume. But hitting some random point in the middle is tough. My bass (Fender J) doesn't have numbers on the volume knobs, just a line and it's not really visible from my angle til it's on 7 or so. And playing in a dark club will only make it harder to see.
I don't know if there's an actual question here, or if it just observation and ranting :D
My bass (Fender J) doesn't have numbers on the volume knobs, just a line and it's not really visible from my angle til it's on 7 or so. And playing in a dark club will only make it harder to see.
Oh yeah, I know what your talking about. I got those stupid knobs on my Squire Tele. Should be illegal. Doesn't matter much in the living room though. In your situation....yeah, that would stink.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
It's an ear thing. Learn to adjust by ear, and play to what sounds good. Different houses have different setting.
Like a few here, I like to crank my amp up loud, and then control everything with my guitar's volume and tone controls. I rarely have my guitar cranked to 10, I will often have it down around 5 for rhythm guitar, turn it up to maybe 8 for solos. I usually roll off tone just a little to 8 or 9.
Everybody wants these super high-gain pickups, but IMHO it is better to have a weaker signal. Then you can get really tight sounds, it doesn't mush or boom or fart, or sound like a cat scratching a chalkboard. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
the advantages of high output pups are sensitivity and better noise.interference control. if you are running a high gain setup to support heavy distortion/OD/saturation and especially if you use a light-gauge, low-action guitar for tapping, ultra-fast sweep picking and the like, then go with high output to maximize the available signal from the guitar. because once signal-to-noise is lost, there is no really good way to get it back. for this type of playing/genre low output => noisy signal => a real mess thru high gain.
in case anyone missed it: nothing I just wrote addresses or claims good tone. I agree with Wes: high output pups may be a waste to produce what most consider good tone -- personal taste exceptions acknowledged.
-=tension & release=-
in case anyone missed it: nothing I just wrote addresses or claims good tone. I agree with Wes: high output pups may be a waste to produce what most consider good tone -- personal taste exceptions acknowledged.
LOL! I nominate this for disclaimer of the year! 8) :lol:
Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.
I first discovered the beauty of "riding" the volume control on my guitar by watching the blues players do it to great effect in the clubs. :shock:
It is another reason that I play Tele's & Tweed amps. :)
There are so many "colors" & "timbres" that reside in the interaction of the guitar/amp..........it's insane. :mrgreen:
No channel switching/master volume amps for me. YMMV
JJ
Well I am going to experiment more with my volume knob. Thanks guys! At the very least this keep me from bending over to adjust the amp. Hopefully I will encounter a whole new world of tones.
Mine is usally set on 7-8 on the volume,tone is at 10.I set the tone on the amp.
You know, there used to be a time when they didn't have stomp boxes, and knobs on the guitar and amp were the only way to shape your tone. Guitar > Cord > Amp. I wonder what kind of pedal board setup BB King uses?
Lucille into a Lab Series L5 2x12" combo amp.
Notes: King has been using this amp for a long time. The amp was made by Norlin Industries for Gibson in the 70's and 80's. Other popular L5 users are Allan Holdsworth and Ty Tabor of King's X. The L5 has an onboard compressor, parametric EQ, and four inputs.
from uberproaudio.com
i realized it was a rhetorical question, since bb doesn't use pedals, but it made me curious about what kinda amp he uses.
I have my volume knob set on 8,when I have my amp set on 3.I have a Peavey Transtube 212 EFX amp,so it really depends on what my amp settings are on. If I use the vintage mode,which that's what I'm usually on,then the volume knob is at 8.If the mode is set on modern,I'll put on 7.If I play at home and the amp volume is at a half,then it's 10.The tone knob is usually at 10,I set the amp for the tones.
It's funny this discussion should pop up; I've been playing a lot with a "gearless" setup. I figure the less I have to carry to a gig, the less that can break (including my back).
I've found a great amp that has some very touch sensitive overdrive and have been able to sweep my volume pots from clean to crunch on the "rhythm" channel, and can set the "lead" channel for some really heavy stuff.
The essential delay and reverb are built into the amp, and I can do virtually all my tone shaping from the guitar. It's great- guitar>chord>amp- the ideal.
