Ive been playing guitar for 5 years, I play heavy metal, and I have a few questions about my setup. To start, just know that i am VERY guitar-technically impaired, I dont understand much about this stuff, so bear with me, please.
B.C. Rich Bich Archtop
Boss ME-20 Multi-effects pedal
Crate XT120R 120W Guitar Combo
Behringer Ultrastack BG412S 4x12 Stereo Cab with Jensen Speakers (400W handling @ 8 ohms)
First, I was wondering if my crate combo - behringer cab combination is harmful to my amps or speakers? I dont understand anything about watts or ohms or anything. Also Im considering increasing my stack size, either to combo - cab - cab or head - cab - cab and was wondering if it would be pointless to get another cab if my combo cant power that many cabs, or whatever. help.
Second, I bought my ME-20 Pedal about a week ago, and ever since ive been getting really bad feedback with it through my stack when its loud. (Have to play over drums and bass somehow heh) I dont think its normal feedback, it wasnt nearly as bad with my previous multi-effects distortion pedal. Ive tried walking as far as possible from the stack, into other rooms, etc. and it doesnt help. Which is why i dont think its a speaker - pickup feedback issue, rather something wrong with my cords or pedal or stack or guitar? lol. This is a huge huge problem as my band can barely practice with this feedback. Help!
I was thinking maybe a noise gate or compressor to help this problem? Dont understand what those do obviously lol, but was wondering if it could possibly work?
Third, (and least important compared to the other questions atm) I use heavy distortion, and I hate grungy drowning distortion where you cant understand anything, I want really understandable distortion, but still heavy. Listen to Lamb of God - a prime example of what I want my guitar to sound like. I want heavy distortion, but still very understandable when playing very fast licks. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance, any help for any question would be GREATLY appreciated!!
Guitarman4545
First, lets address whether using the Behringer 4 X 12 cab can damage your Crate amp. When using a speaker cab like this, the most important thing is to match impedence or ohms. Ohms is just a measure of resistance. When current passes through a conductor you always have some resistance to the current flow. This is measured in ohms. The higher the ohms means more resistance to current flow. So a speaker cab rated 4 ohms has much less resistance to current flow than a cab rated 8 ohms or 16 ohms.
Look on the back of your amp and see if it mentions "minimum ohms". This tells you the least resistance the amp was designed to handle. When you go below this, you get too much current flow. I have heard it described as turning your amp into an electric toaster! So you do not want to go below this. So, if you have a Speaker Out labeled "8 ohms minimum" and that Behringer cab is rated 4 ohms, you do not want to use it.
On the other hand, when you use a speaker or cab rated higher ohms (like 16 ohms), then your amp cannot really produce the full power it was designed for. It is kinda like driving your car with your foot on the brake pedal. :D
Most amps with an extension Speaker Out are wired in parallel and include the resistance or ohms of the internal speaker(s). Your amp may have an internal speaker rated 8 ohms. If it says "4 ohms minimum" on the back of your amp, then you could add another speaker or cab rated 8 ohms total. Two 8 ohms speakers in parallel equal a total 4 ohms load. If the Speaker Out is wired series (very doubtful), that is a completely different story. Two 8 ohms speaker or cabs in series gives you a total 16 ohms load. So check your manual and determine if the extension Speaker Out is wired parallel (very common) or series (rare).
Let's say your amp is rated 8 ohms minimum and has an internal 8 ohms speaker, and your Behringer cab is rated 8 ohms. Could you use it? Well, you probably shouldn't, but you can get around that easily by disconnecting the internal speaker and using the 4 X 12 cab only.
Some speaker cabs have a switch on the back that will allow the cab to operate at 4, 8, or 16 ohms. So set that switch so that summed with the internal speaker in the combo it matches the minimum ohms rating on the back of the amp.
Hope that didn't confuse you.
As far as feedback, it is probably simply a combination of playing at very high volumes with lots of gain. High gain distortion pedals make lots of noise anyway. Then when you really crank an amp to high volume you are going to get lots of feedback. Also, your practice area can cause lots of feedback. If you practice in a small area like a basement with hard floors or walls, these surfaces really reflect sound and can cause lots of feedback. You could soundproof the area by hanging carpets or even use egg cartons. My last band we played in a basement, and we were very loud. But we used all sorts of stuff to soundproof and really had very little problems with feedback. You can see the some of the eggcartons and carpets in this photo.
I have never really used a NoiseGate, but lots of folks swear by them. I ran across this video on YouTube where this fellow discussed feedback and suggested a simple volume pedal is a very useful tool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMoigb_Q9cA
As for your tone, this is also probably caused by using too much distortion. Everybody thinks you should just turn that Gain knob to max. This sounds great in the bedroom at low volume, but at gig volume it is absolutely horrible. It sounds like pure static, the sound of tearing a piece of paper or air leaking out of a tire. It will not cut through no matter how loud you turn your amp. The pros do not use super-hyper-mega distortion like this. These mega distortion pedals are really more of a sales ploy to sell to naive beginners who really don't know anything about getting great guitar tone. So come down on the gain some. Plus, EQ settings are super important. Here is another great video by that same guy, very informative and helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQanVdQPAMg
And your band should come down. When you get out gigging you are going to find out most clubs will not tolerate super high volume levels. They will tell you to turn it down, trust me, been told that many times. One club the owner actually came over and turned off the power because a band was too loud. There are exceptions, occasionally you will get a place that will let you wail, but not very often.
And once you get too loud it is not musical. You really can't hear tones at super volume, it is just a wall of deafening noise. You can still Rock at moderate volume, in fact, you will sound much better and have far less problems.
Hope that helped some.
Wes
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Hey i have the problem ive got my me-20 and makes like a lot of noise and feedback but just when i use it, ive plugged my guitar into my amp using the amp overdrive channels and its sounds exelent but when i want to use my me-20, i just cant practice with my band, it makes a lot of noise and i dont know why the saund of like the voice and the other guitar (from my band) gets reproduced in my amp when i use the me-20 and makes more feedback it really sucks ive tryed lots of thing i dont know if its mine that is defective or its just like a problem from the me-20 pedals
