how to get a good tone for a lead guitar on dynachord mixer

Hi Shane and Welcome to GuitarNoise.

Probably the best way to run guitar into a PA is to mic the amp with a good mic like the Shure SM57, and then run the mic into your mixer. This will get you the tone of your amp's speaker. Sometimes running an electric guitar straight into a mixer will sound very dry and lifeless.

But many today will run a guitar into a preamp or multi-efx and straight to the mixer. Some multi-efx have cab simulation to simulate the tone of a guitar speaker or cab. So this is done as well.

You would want to turn Gain up until you see the Clip signal (usually a red LED), and then back off a little. This insures you get the strongest signal from your guitar without clipping.

It is ok for the clip light to blink occasionally. But you never want to see it lit continuously.

I would start with the EQ set flat and just experiment until you get the tone you are after.

from experience set ur mixer eq flat. it was explained to me like this. eq flat is what you hear when someone talks. so then u change that level by adding or taking away from it. so u mic ur amp into a channel with the eq flat u get ur amps naturaul sound. if u change ur mixer eqs then u are changing UR sound UR TONE THAT YOU WORKED SO VERY HARD TO FIND AND FINALLY DECIDED IT WOULD WORK. is that easy to understand?

hey guys thanx a lot for your quick reply, well , my guitarist is using GNX3 digitech workstation . so the lead guitar goes through this unit n then from this processor goes thru the mixer.
is it better to fully cut the lows of the eq ( guitar individual channel) ?

WES : Probably the best way to run guitar into a PA is to mic the amp with a good mic like the
shane : when u say mic the amp do u mean put the microphone close to the speaker amp ?

Dear all,

i m a keyboard performer and the lead singer of the band . i handle the mixer board too i have just invested in this equipment n tommorrow is the first time i m goin to use it.

EV T252 X 2
EV Kw eliminator bass bins
AC one crossover
Cp 2200 x2 amplifiers EV
8 channel powermate mixer

normally i use my mixer flat , is there any better setting , thou i knw i have to set it accordingly the way it sounds
the problem is i handle the mixer board while performance . so the FOH speakers can be difficult to control .
any solutions?

Shane

It is hard to give you an answer. Really all I can say is use your ears. On my vocal channel I will usually boost the highs and lows just a tad, and cut middle just a little. But I simply go by listening to the tone. There are so many factors, such as room acoustics and even the mic you use. Your settings will change from venue to venue. So, the best thing to do is just show up early so you can set up and do a good sound check before anyone arrives.

Think about the term "equalization". What does it mean? Every room or venue will react differently to sound. Some frequncies will be emphasized while others are not. In one room you can boost 1K without feedback. In another room you have to cut 1K or else your PA howls. An EQ allows you to "equal out" the frequencies. Really, the goal is to get all frequencies the same, where they would all start to feedback at the same moment.

There is a good method to getting the most volume out of your PA without feedback. You set all the sliders on your EQ flat and slowly turn up the volume until you hear the faint trace of feedback. Locate that frequency on your EQ and cut it slightly. Then again, slowly turn up your volume until you start to hear feedback again. Again, find this frequency and cut it very slightly. Then you might go through this process one more time. That is about all though, else you end up just cutting all your frequencies and ruining your sound.

This is called ringing out your PA and will help you get maximum volume without feedback. Takes a little experimentation at first, but then becomes very easy.

hi inman,

thanx for your patience in typing it out for me . i m studying sound privately its been almost five months . n have learnt alot. just starting to practically put it to practice.

what equiment do u use? and whats your set up like? as i m a lead singer . do u knw of any good effects unit for vocals ( reverb,delay etc)

Shane

I use a Behringer 10 channel powered mixer as my mixing board and to power my monitors. I go out of the mixer to a dual 31 band EQ. I use one EQ for the mains, and the other for the monitors. I go out of the EQ into a crossover. The highs and mids from the mains EQ goes to an amp that powers my main speakers. The lows from the main mix go to an amp that powers our subs. I come out of the other EQ (monitors) into the crossover and back into the powered mixer and use it's amps to power our floor monitors.

This is a little unconventional. I started out with a powered mixer. Being it was 10 channels I saw no need to get another unpowered mixing board. Plus I could use the powered mixers amps to power the monitors. But other than that everything is pretty normal, I am using the powered mixer as a mixing board into EQ, crossoever, amps, and speakers.

I use a few little tricks to get more power and less muddiness. I use a 50Hz low cut on the amp powering the mains, I do the same for the monitors. I use a 30Hz low cut on the amp to the subs. This keeps super lows that eat up power and cause muddiness out of the speakers.

As for vocal effects, my Behringer has 99 effects. I really only use about 2 or 3 though. I primarily use reverb with a little chorus for the vocals. Just enough to give the vocals a little depth. I do not like heavy effects on vocals or guitar. To me, that is very distracting. I have always heard that you should only use enough effects that you have to listen FOR the effect to hear it. Hope that made sense. What I mean is, you don't want the effect to be right in your face.

My EQ has a built in limiter/compressor as well, I use a little compression just to keep the vocals even. So when you sing soft you don't drop out, and when you scream you don't blast the audience. But too much compression takes out all dynamics, so I just use a little.

But that is me, everyone is different. You really just have to listen and choose for yourself. But start with good ole reverb, probably the greatest effect ever. Experiment with the depth. You will see names like Small Room, Hall, Cathedral, etc.... Like I said, I like just enough to give yourself a little depth, without sounding like you are in the bottom of a canyon.

my set up is ,

dynacord powered mixer 8 channel to crossover Ac one to amps , to main speakers, i use the power of the mixer to drive my monitors, the only problem is controlling the volume of my monitors, as both my mains and monitors has one master control , so i use the input gain of the crossover to increase the mains , but in the near future i have to buy a sperate amp for the monitors, my monitors are 200 watts at 8 ohms, my mixer gives me 300 at 4 ohms per side. so the power i get from my monitors at 8 ohms is around 160 ohms.

i was planning to buy Q44 EV amp , for my monitors but its quite expensive , do u recommend any other good amp for my monitors.

i have not bought a seperate equalizer , as i dint feel the need. do u think i should buy one ,

i m based in dubai , so the behringer u get here is all made in china , malaysia , where is yours original made from?

Behringer is a German company, but everything is assembled in China. I wouldn't be too concerned about the quality. I own a lot of Behringer gear and have never had a single problem with any of it. They did have quality issues a few years back but seem to have improved significantly.

There are many other companies that make good amps, QSC, Crown, Peavey, Yamaha, all of these companies make very good amps though usually more expensive than Behringer. Nady actually makes pretty good amps that are very reasonably priced.

Why don't you use the Aux channel (Master section) to go to your crossover, amp, and mains? This channel has it's own volume fader, so you will have seperate control over your mains and monitors. Go out of Aux Send (#23 in your manual) to your crossover. Also, each seperate input channel has an Aux fader, so you have lots of control over the mix in every way.

While the mixer's internal amps are usually used to power your mains, and the Aux is used to go to a seperate amp to power monitors, there is no reason that you can't do just the opposite. It should work fine.

I don't think you necessarily need seperate EQ's for the mains and monitors. The primary reason for seperate EQs is that you usually have a lot more problems with feedback from the monitors than mains. So you often have to EQ the monitors a little differently, bigger cuts in some frequencies.

The way you are set up now I see a little problem. With mains and monitors volume basically the same, you end up having to keep volume low to prevent feedback in the monitors, and this keeps your volume down in the mains. So you need seperate volume controls for each. You can usually really crank the mains without feedback problems, but you usually have to keep monitors down. This is why I suggest you use Aux Send which has it's own volume control to go to your crossover, amp, and mains. Now you will be able to really crank the mains but keep the volume down in the monitors.

i use two amps

cp2200 ev - for subs
cp2200ev - for tops

i use AC one crossover EV . i dont use the mixer internal amplifier . i normally do functions for people more then 200 pax ,

if i take an out from the mixer aux . where can i connect it on the crossover ? as both the inputs are used for the subs amp and tops amp?

Not sure I am following you completely.

I would use the mixer's internal amps to power your floor monitors. They are just about the perfect wattage for monitors to begin with.

Then go out of the Aux Send into your crossover. Send the mids and highs from the crossover to the amp powering your mains, and the lows from the crossover to the amp powering your subs.

Just my 2 cents, but this seems like it would work very well. Actually, I know this would work, because this is precisely how I run my system. I use my mixer's two 250W amps to power four floor monitors. I come out of the Pre-Amp sends (same as Aux Send) into my EQ, then crossover, then seperate amps for my Mains and Subs. The only difference between me and you is I have the EQ inbetween the mixer and crossover. EQs are nice, but you can use the mixer's EQ and it will work fine. I just wanted a little more control than my mixer's 9-band EQ gave me.

i do just the same , i use my internal amp to power my monitors as it would give me around 160 watts at 8 ohms. my only worry was that there is only one control for the master and the mains to control the volume of the speakers. so i use the crossovers input gain to control the volume of FOH speakers if need be to increase . though i have an aux channel but dont have an additional amplifier to power my monitors seperately from an aux input

my setup

dynacord mixer - ( main outs L/R ) - Crossover - amps lows
I
monitors I
amps mid/high
thanx a lot for your help wes

another question would u happen to knw how to manually count
BPM of a song?

another question would u happen to knw how to manually count
BPM of a song?

Get a stopwatch, set it to 30 seconds and let it count down. Count the number of beats of the song in the meantime. Multiply the number of counted beats by two and you've got your BPM. Why would you care though? Most FX units that have tempo-based paramters allow you to tap the tempo in.

i m planning to put my hands in dj in too lol.

thanx wes ,
will try it out now