hi..
i m a new member..thx for this nice site.and now here is my question :shock:
i ve been playing guitar for about 5 years..but mostly i played at home with my 15watt amplifier...now i had a band and i bought a 65Watt amplifier(my guitar is Fender Strat Mexican by the way).but i still use my amp at low volume levels at home.. so when i turn up the volume in studio,the nice tones(mostly overdrive tones) i found at home dissapears!!.also clean tones become so harsh and overdriven...so should i practise always in studio to find my tones for my band, or can i play in the studio with the tone i found at home with little adjustments :?: ...thanks
use the controls on your guitar, turn down the volume knob to clean up your sound.
I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes.
- Jimi Hendrix
Hi UninviteD, welcome to Guitar Noise!
Yes, there is a big difference between playing a small bedroom amp at low volume compared to a more powerful amp played at stage volumes.
It takes practice to play loud. Every mistake is super amplified! :shock:
If you like the tone of your small amp, why don't you use that in the studio? Most people use small amps in the studio. Bigger, more powerful amps are primarily for the stage.
It is easy to get high gain distortion on a small amp. They go into saturation at low volumes. But to get the same tone on a bigger amp you have to crank it too. AND IT WILL BE LOUD. So that is what you are not used to.
Joe (Forrok Star) would almost certainly recommend an attenuator for your 65W amp. This allows you to really crank the amp but bring the volume down to where you could use it in the studio.
There are other tricks people use. Some people put their amp in a seperate room where they can really crank it. Put a mic on it and run it to your console. Now you can play at high volumes and record without going deaf!
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
guys.thanks for your reply..but i use my 65watt amp in studio and home..i mean the same amp for both jobs..that's why i wonder if i could get the tone i discover while playing at home with my 65watt amp also the same tone at the studio with the same amp...does attenuaters solve the problem?..for example i use attenuater and crank my amp at a relative volume at home..than i take my amp to studio and don't use the attenuater(it s loud); does it give me the same sound?..if so i can prepare my sounds at home and play the same sound at high volume in studio..that's all i want:(
Well, you're going to get somewhat different tones with an attenuator and playing loudly without one. They do affect the tone. Can't you record with the attenuator?
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
yes i can record with it of course....so while using an attenuater with my amp, at the stage i can mic my amp right?...so i don't have to turn it off and change my home made tone ;)
By any chance is this a solid state amp? If you turn them up they can get buzzy rather than smoothly overdriven.
Doug
well...it s Laney TF200..it s a hybrid amp (like marshall valvestates)...
Well, that usually means it's got a tube like a 12AX7 in a preamp stage and solid state power stage. That's backward from how most folks who like output stage tube overdrive would like it, though some solid state amps don't sound too bad "cranked."
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
UniviteD
Yeah, I would take the attenuator to the studio to get that same tone you get at home and just mic the amp.
Some people claim attenuators affect the tone, especially that they roll off the highs a little bit. But that's what your tone controls are for. If you find this to be the case, then boost your highs a little. You should be able to find the same tone you get at home with a little tweaking.
As far as mic'ing your amp, it is best not to put the mic at the center of the speaker but maybe about halfway to the edge of the cone. You might have to experiment with the distance. I usually place the mic about 6" from the speaker. You just have to listen till you get the tone you like.
If you have a Shure SM57 mic they are especially good for mic'ing instruments.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Can you use an attenuator on a solid state amp? Would there be much difference in sound anyway?
Doug
Obviously you can. The questioner's doing it. (The valve in the preamp stage doesn't count, it's the output stage you're attenuating, and his is solid state.) The question is, would you want to? He does.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
thanks guys..i really got the answers i want..i ll buy a attenuater. don't know a brand yet.but i ll search for it.. i ll also work in studio more often to crank my amp naturally...i think i can't improve my tone quality only working at home and without playing with the band...
Just incase you didn't know attenuaters greatly reduce the life of your tubes in your amp. Also been known to cause other problems with electrics if you use them for long periods.
What you are describing is called clipping. There's a few ways to short it. If you use effects then reprogram them. Most people play their amps in their rooms at low volumes, only way you can configure your amp for on stage is to set it up at on stage level even in your room.
Also just a word to anyone else, if you buy a bass stack amp you basically eradicate this problem. When used with guitars bass amps push more air so you can match band volumes with out having to crank it fully up and they are much cleaner at higher volumes and clip far less.
If you love the tone your getting with your amp set the way you have it, leave it. There are other ways of amplifiying your tone without having to lose what you already have. Some Studio's anymore don't want guitar players coming in with mega watt amps and blasting the place apart anymore. There's just no need. To many options to get the job done without doing that. Using an attenuator on a solid-state amp you need to be even more careful with solid-state amps, seem they to get real hot real quick and to a more extreme than an all tube amp which runs hot to begin with.
Set the amp your amp up just the same way you do at home and have the studio mic it. it is means putting 4 or 5 mic's on it then thats what they'll have to do. Yes, you can record off an attenuator as long as it has a line level out, but you still need a speaker connected to it. With a dummy-load you do not need a speaker connected. If your amp has a line level or CD out you can also use that, or headphone level out they can also use that. They only need line levels to record you.
Hope this helps.
Joe
